Lens review: Vassen Dolly Plus Brown

 Hello folks!

 

I planned to share a circle lens review today and it's gonna be about the Vassen Dolly Plus Browns, sometimes also spelled as Vassen Dolly+ Brown.  I don't know what the current situation for these lenses is but they used to be one of the evergreens for cosplay and, back in the day when yellowish lenses were super rare, these were a go-to lens for many cosplayers who needed yellow or golden eyes for a character.

Now let's do this~

 

Base curve: 8.6 mm
Diameter: 14.5 mm

Water content: 42% 

Life span: 1 year (I recommend 6 months)

 

So this is a big and dolly lens just like the name implies, it should come as no surprise that Vassen lenses usually are on the bigger side. It's a very lovely, easily palatable lens that is attractive and will look great on almost everyone. It has a certain delightful 'anime look' to it as well, making it a good pick for cosplaying.

 

The color is a lovely very yellowish brown, in fact so much that if these didn't have brown in the name I would just call them yellow. It's a pretty color, not the easiest to find and surprisingly natural for being what is basically a very unnatural shade of "brown". They blend rather well into my eyes, the transition from the colorful parts into my natural iris is smooth and not jarring. The design is super cute and there's a big, prominent black rim to add to the illusion of moe moe eyes.

It should be noted though that these are not really brown as the name implies so yeah, if you're considering buying these and expecting a brown lens you're probably gonna end up being disappointed. This lens is commonly known to be a more goldenish, honey-like color – at least within the cosplay community. So if that's what you're looking for then the Vassen Dolly Plus Browns are a good choice.

 

One lens in.

The color shows up really well and the payoff is great. It's decently vibrant, fresh and lively. The color coverage appears to be dense enough to not allow for a 'halo effect', but I'm not completely sure on that as it was cloudy the one and only time I wore these lenses. I'm honestly bummed about that cuz the sun was out when I started prepping and then, of course, once I'm done the sun had been swallowed up by this huge mass of clouds. -.- Typical.

Lens photos ahead! All photos taken by me during a February noon with a cloudy sky. There's no color filters or such on the close-up photos and that's so that the colors would be as true to real life as possible.

Indoors, natural room light.

Indoors, yellow room light.

Bathroom light.

Flash photo.

Unlit corridor, poor natural light in the distance.

Facing a window, not sun side. (aka backyard view)

Outdoors, back against where the sun would be. (facing wall)

Outdoors, facing the direction of the sun while standing under a roof.

Outdoors, facing the direction where the sun would have been.

I've already mentioned it many times on previous lens reviews but yeah, these were also a part of the expired bunch I found in a cardboard box I had stashed away and forgotten about, for years. Which means I only wore the lenses to take the photos needed for this review and then immediately discarded them. I can not grade comfort properly due to this so my comfort grading is not complete nor necessarily even fair, take it as a rough estimate.

Comfort appeared to be fine for the 10 or so odd minutes I wore these lenses, they were thin and I barely felt them in my eyes. They were comfy, no scratching or such but they might have been a bit dryish but honestly, it's impossible to say if it's the lenses or my naturally dry eyes acting up. Regardless these were pleasant to wear and my wild guess is that I could have worn them for 3-5 hours if they hadn't been expired. 

 

All in all I think this is a lovely lens that is still relevant. It's beautiful, has a gorgeous honey color and would work really well for both cosplay and fashion. You could even use these lenses to be a less-scary vampire, a supernatural seductress or any magical creature you see fit. It's a fun lens and yes, I kinda wish I had found the box earlier so I would have gotten some use out of these...

Distance photo~

Looking for reviews of Dolly Plus lenses in other colors?
I got you covered: Green, Blue, Violet, Gray, Red

Short summary:

Color: 8/10
Not really a brown lens, more like a beautiful mid-to-dark golden or yellow color. It's sublime.
Design: 8/10 
Cutesy style lens that works for most looks. It has this 'manga' style to it.
Opacity: 7/10 

Color coverage is good and the edges blend nicely into my eyes without compromising intensity and effect.
Enlargement: 8/10
Definitely dolly and big, the black rim is huge and impactful.

Comfort: 7/10 

Appears to be thin and comfortable. I barely felt that I had lenses on and I have sensitive, dry eyes.
Naturalness: 2/10

Too big and well, the color is of an unnatural shade so these won't really fly far.

Thanks for reading, more coming soon!

Shiro Samurai out.

Lens review: Super Pinky Black

Hello in da house!

It's time to start the new year 2021 and, as I said in the previous post, there's gonna be a lot of circle lens reviews this year too as I still have quite a stockpile to go through. Rip me and my hoarding tendencies. ;_; I will quickly review the Super Pinky Black this time around and yes, this should be my last Super Pinky review.

Let's go!

 

Base curve: 8.6 mm
Diameter: 14.8 mm

Water content: 45%

Life span: 1 year (I recommend 6 months)

 

I honestly don't quite remember where I bought these lenses all those years ago, most stores that carried the Super Pinky series did not have the black ones for some reason. But I saw these somewhere and curiosity got the better of me so yeah, had to try. 

 

These are identical to the other Super Pinky lenses, except that they are black of course. I've only worn two different black lenses before this so it's a color I don't have a lot of experience with. I think part of the excitement for me, as a light-eyed caucasian, is because black as a color is such a huge contrast to my naturally gray-blue eyes.

 

One lens in.

 

Well, these are actually not super dark or anything. When worn it's more like a dark gray rather than a full-on black, if that makes sense. It's not opaque by any means but it's not like I expected them to be either. The design of the lens resembles a human iris and is semi-realistic; the color is in this kind of streaky pattern with varying intensity, meaning that some parts are more transparent than others. The print is simple, versatile and likable. They blend surprisingly well with my real eye color!

The size is commendable. It's a pretty big lens but not humongous. If you want moe moe cutesy eyes these will work but they can be worn for other looks as well.

 

Lens photos below! 

All photos taken by me during a completely cloudy January noon. All photos are free from filters and the like to be as close to real life as possible.

 

Indoors, natural room light.

Indoors, yellow room light.

Flash photo.

Unlit corridor, very poor natural light in the distance.

Facing a window indoors, not sun side.

Outdoors, back against where the sun would be if it was visible.

Outdoors, facing where the sun would have been.

 

As with most of my lens reviews lately – I can't really grade comfort as I'm only doing these reviews to show photos of lenses that have already expired, sadly. I bought a lot of lenses several years back and then the years went by so fast I did not have time to wear them... and simply forgot I had so many. I know it's a waste but I figured I'd at least take photos quickly so that maybe these reviews can help someone out there. *shrugs* And yes, I immediately discard all expired lenses once I'm done taking photos (approximately 10 minutes) and, for the love of god, please don't wear expired lenses to anime conventions or such to save money.

But the little I can tell from my first and only impressions of wearing these lenses was that they felt thin, I didn't really feel much that I was wearing lenses and they seemed overall to be comfortable. There was a slight vision blur when I was indoors in poor light conditions but that's most likely caused by the pupil hole being somewhat smaller than on your average circle lens. Which often is a good thing as it makes it so that less of your real eye color is visible in the center.

Distance photo. Yep, coronavirus fashion with bathrobe and face mask. xD

Want to see the Super Pinky lenses in other colors?
Check out these reviews: Violet, Red, Green, Wine Red

 

Short summary:

Color: 7/10 
Very dark gray more than a true black, still a nice color and works surprisingly well on light eyes.
Design: 6/10 
Simple iris-like design with a streaky print. Versatile.
Opacity: 8/10
It definitely changes my eye color visibly so I can't really complain.
Enlargement: 7/10 
Definitely on the big side but the lack of a pronounced limbal ring hampers the illusion a tad.
Comfort: 7/10 
Appears to be solid. Thin and I don't feel them much. Slight vision blur in poor lights. Expected 3-4 hours of wear on super dry eyes.
Naturalness: 3/10 
Would probably look more natural on brown eyes but it's not bad on me either?

Thanks for reading! Feel free to drop a comment if you have any questions.

Shiro Samurai out.

Year of Cosplay 2020

Hello folks!

Well, this year didn't really go as planned. I'm pretty sure that when 2020 began many of us were hopeful and looking forward to a great year and new aspirations yada yada. But most of humanity ended up getting kicked in the nuts... with a tomahawk missile. :D So we all know that corona virus happened, it came from nowhere and messed shit up. Big time. It's still far from over and there's just so much uncertainty and anxiety about the current situation and what the future will bring. I remember thinking 2019 was a shitty year but 2020 was like "hold my beer" lol.

I was hoping to get my cosplaying back on track but with quite literally the whole con season cancelled the inspiration just dwindled to nothing. I think many people can relate, haha.
I haven't been to a single convention this whole year and that's a new record low. And somehow it doesn't even feel as bad as one might initially think (even though I had some cravings)? At least I've had time to focus on other important stuff.

Conventions attended: 0

It would have been nice to go to a convention or two, but no can do. No one saw this coming. 

I'm glad Närcon and the rest cancelled their big events, it would have been very irresponsible of them to go on after all that backlash on social media earlier this spring; I mean, they were still posting international guests when the corona was in full swing and it rightfully angered some people. Maybe next year the situation will be better.

Okay so, in terms of cosplay there hasn't been much going on. I started my Edward Kenway costume back in February but it's on ice now as I'm having a break from studies. I still definitely want to do that costume and I'm excited about it – Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag is one of my favorite games to date! Aside from that my only other cosplay post has been the Kashuu Kiyomitsu cosplay review and the photoshoot and well, a ton of circle lens reviews. Yes, I still have a lot more lens reviews to do so expect to see lots of that kind of content next year as well.

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...

 

 

And just like previous years there's still no cosplay compilation photo. So you get a dumb meme instead. :D  

~~~

I was lowkey hoping for 2020 to be a good year and, outside of cosplay, at least one really nice thing did happen (I'll probably do a blog post about it later) but in terms of cosplay there's barely been any progress. Well, there is a cosplay secret going on but it will remain a secret for a while longer. ^^"

Oh and yeah, most of us active bloggers probably noticed that Blogger did change this year and I'm still struggling to learn how to use this new version. Adapt, overcome, conquer. Or something like that.

And before we leave this year behind I want to thank all my readers, sponsors and friends who are still here – I hope you all have a great new year ahead! After all, it's gonna be hard to beat 2020 in terms of shittiness. :D Thank you so much for everything, cheers!

Bye bye & Happy New Year 2021!

Lens review: Bella Lunar Red

Hello and happy Remembrance Day!

It's me again scribbling up a new circle lens review to share! Yep, I still have a lot left to do. This time I'm trying out the Bella brand for the second time – it's time for the Bella Lunar Red! I grabbed these pretties from a limited flash sale over at Momoko Lens some few years back, I am not affiliated with their site but figured I'd mention where I got these lenses in case anyone wants to know. Sadly I've not been able to find this pair on their site since then so yeah, it's possible that this lens is unavailable for good. *sniff*

Chin up! I will still treat y'all to a review~

Notice the sticker is holofoil! :D

Base curve: 8.6 mm
Diameter: 14.5 mm
Water content: 40% 
Life span: 1 year

Here we go with the blisters again. I'm such a pro at opening glass vials after years of experience but I'm having such a hard time opening blisters it's real awkward, lmao. I'm horrified of accidentally using so much force to rip up the backing so that the lens flies into Narnia or some shit. :D

Okay so, I have actually worn these lenses already a couple months back but due to light conditions I was unable to do the review back then. You see, these are the same lenses that I used for the Kashuu Kiyomitsu photoshoot in the middle of the night. Click on the link to see additional photos of these lenses when worn with an actual cosplay.

One lens in.

The color payoff is still impressive as all hell. All my yes, that's some intense as fuck red! This is a 10/10 cosplay lens every day of the week. Not to mention that the design is really unique with those cute lil' triangle trims and that red color is just absolutely amazing. I have no words for it, it's so bright and vibrant that it's gonna be hard to beat. If you look closer you'll notice that the base that the red color is on has this kind of "burst" style that draws the viewer's gaze towards the center – it looks really fierce and full of energy!
There is a moderate enlargement effect but that's not the main draw of the lenses, just a nice bonus.

Lens photos ahead!

All photos taken by me during a noon with a mostly cloudy sky. There's no color filters or such on the close-up photos and that's so that the colors would be as true to real life as possible.

Indoors, natural room light.

Indoors, yellow room light.

Bathroom light.

In a corridor, weak distant natural light only.

Flash photo.

Facing a window, not sun side.

Outdoors, back against sun. (facing wall)

Outdoors, facing sun while standing under a shadow. (cloudy)

Outdoors, facing the sun. (sun is hidden by clouds)

I easily wore these lenses for the Kashuu photoshoot at least 1 hour in the middle of the night, with tired dry eyes and assaulted by millions of mosquitos. These are very thin, I barely even feel that I have lenses on when I wear them and they are overall pleasant to wear. I did notice a few times in poor light conditions that the edges of my vision had slight red corners, this is honestly no big deal though – one can easily ignore it. I have no doubts that I could easily wear these lenses for at least 3 hours, possibly up to 5 hours.

I'd easily recommend these to any cosplayers, goths, dark fashion fans and anyone who fancies screaming red eyes for any occasion! Not only is the color very impressive, the design is beautiful and really eye-catching too with its subtle unique features. Red lenses are generally speaking often vibrant and great but I feel like these are a notch brighter than average and thus even better. This is such a fun lens, full of intensity and fighting spirit!

Distance photo~

 Check out this other Bella Luna review I did: Yellow

 

Short summary:

Color: 10/10
Amazing, hyper bright and impactful red. Let loose the demons!
Design: 8/10 
Unique cute "triangle edge trim" combined with a burst patterning for intensity.
Opacity: 10/10 

Immense color coverage. Clearly red in any light conditions and when viewed from a distance too.
Enlargement: 5/10
Quite average enlargement, works well for most people I'd say.

Comfort: 8/10 

Thin and sometimes I don't feel them at all. Very solid comfort.
Naturalness: 0/10

Not a chance bro. Not even trying.

Thanks for reading this review, more will come!

Shiro Samurai out.

Lens review: I.Fairy Moonlite Yellow

Yo-hi-ho!

Oh shit, two yellow lens reviews in a row?! Yes it's true! :D This does not happen often but I am doing it and this time it's the I.Fairy Moonlite Yellow, a super bright yellow lens with all the sass in the world, let's go!

Base curve: 8.6 mm
Diameter: 16.2 mm

Water content: 55%

Life span: 1 year (I recommend 6 months)

Just like with the blue and green pair these are huge and with very solid color coverage. The design basically consists of a cute dotted inner circle, a black rim and then just a boatload of vibrant yellow that will cover even your deepest, darkest soul. Okay, almost.

One lens in.

This is such a bright, fresh and vibrant yellow color and it has all the charm and attitude to back it up! They are pretty damn big as well and do provide a somewhat dolly look, depending on how you dress up of course. I get some lowkey 'anime' vibes from these as well and I feel like it's a worthwhile lens for cosplaying, especially if you need lenses that will show up from any distance.

The thing with the design of these lenses is how flippin' large the pupil hole is! Like almost literally my complete iris is visible through the center and the yellow begins almost where my real iris ends. You can in some lights see a slight 'halo effect' where the overlap of iris and lens occurs.
Some people don't like this look and most times I'm not a fan of huge pupil holes either... except for this particular design on which it works in a cool way. I think it's the huge contrast in color, the unapologetic vibrancy of the lens that just throws any attempts at normalcy through the window. :D These lenses are over the top and they won't step down from that throne!

Lens photos below!
All photos taken by me during a noon with a clear sky. All close-up photos are free from color filters and such and that's so that the colors would be as true to real life as possible.

Indoors, natural room light.

Indoors, yellow room light.

Bathroom light.

In a corridor, weak distant natural light only.

Flash photo.

Facing a window. (not sun side)

Outdoors, back against the sun. (facing wall)

Outdoors, facing the sun while under a shadow.

Outdoors, facing the sun.

Just like with the other lens reviews I've done these past months (and the ones I will be doing for a while longer) these lenses were sadly in the cardboard box I had forgotten about. They were expired  by the time I found them again so I can't grade comfort properly and will base the grade solely on the few minutes I wore these lenses for the sake of taking these review photos. My first (and only) impression was that these lenses were thin, I didnt feel them at all and they appeared to be comfortable overall. If anything there might have been a very slight drying sensation although that could easily just as well be my naturally dry eyes acting up, as they always do. My guess is that these lenses I could likely wear for 4-5 hours if they had not been expired. I of course immediately discarded these lenses after I was done taking the photos, do not wear expired lenses to events etc.

I would honestly recommend these if you like lenses that turn heads or if you just have an affinity for unnatural lenses. These are beautiful and slightly crazy at the same time, I love that thrilling combo haha. This is such an simple yet unique design and combined with yellow, which is a rare lens color in itself, it becomes such a treat! This is great for cosplay, j-fashion, pastel goth, cyberpunk and whatnot. The sky's the limit!

Distance photo~

Want to see more Moonlite colors reviewed? 

I got you covered: Blue, Green

Short summary:

Color: 10/10
Amazingly true yellow lens, for the thrill-seekers who want to stand out. 
Design: 7/10
A cute dotted inner circle coupled with a thin black rim and opaque yellow. Simple but effectful.
Opacity: 10/10
Extremely covering and all over your faces.
Enlargement: 8/10
Belongs in the big eye club.
Comfort: 7/10
Thin, I don't feel them in my eyes at all and overall comfy. Perhaps a tiny bit drying?
Naturalness: 0/10
Biggest nope in history.

Thanks for reading!

Shiro Samurai out ~