Top 50 Cosplay Blogs

Hello!

I'm just making a quick post because I recently learned that my blog has been selected by one of Feedspot's panelists to be part of the "Top 50 Cosplay Blogs" on the internet. It's a comprehensive list of blogs run by cosplayers like me, just as well as cosplay stores and news sites. 

I'm honored to be part of this list and surprised that I'm as high up as number 9 currently. :D Not gonna lie I think it's kinda wholesome that my contribution to the community is noticed and acknowledged like this – I've had this blog since December 2011, so it's definitely been around for a while and I do plan to keep it alive for many more years to come. Motivation boost go!

But anygays, the link to the list is posted above so if you wanna check who else made the cut then head over there – you might find some new cool blogs to follow!

See ya next month~
Shiro Samurai out.

Lens review: GEO Xtra Lotus Brown

Yo!

Here it is, my other circle lens review for this month. I'm trying to motivate myself to keep pushing these reviews out as I still have a looooot left to go through. OTL 

Today's review is the GEO Xtra Lotus Brown, a pretty lens with a lotus flower design! The identification code for these lenses is WFL-A14.

Let's go!

 

Base curve: 8.8 mm
Diameter: 14.8 mm

Water content: 40±2%

Life span: 1 year (I recommend 6 months)

 

These lenses are a part of the GEO Xtra Flower series, inspired by...well, flowers. GEO is a well-known brand that has been around for a long time and all their lenses should come with authenticity stickers, that you can check up online to make sure that your received pair is legit. Yes, fake lenses do exist so do your research and be mindful of what stores you buy from.

 

GEO lenses can be both big and small but this particular series is on the big side, as one can probably guess from the fact that they have Xtra in the name. 

One lens in.

These lenses have a soft, delicate brown shade that is accentuated by the gray parts in the design. The brown color doesn't show up a lot on my eyes but you can tell there's something different going on and the effect is still pretty magical. The print has a petal design that's honestly really soft and pretty – it looks a bit like the lens is rimmed with crystals or something! I actually really like this type of artsy design, it's lovely and mesmerizing. 

And yes, due to the design not being particularly opaque there is some transparency that ends up making an alluring 'halo effect' on my eyes. Oh and yeah, these lenses blend wonderfully into my light gray-blue eyes in a way that isn't distracting at all, in my opinion. The transition is really smooth and I don't know why but these lenses just appear very fairytale-like to me and I love it.

This is the kind of lens that is more for fashion and enhancement effect than for color change. The unique design is its strong suit. I feel like this is not really a cosplay lens as I doubt it would show up enough when photographed from a distance.

 Lens close-up photos ahead.

All photos taken by me during an April noon with a partly 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.

Facing a window (backyard, not sun side).

Outdoors, back against the sun. (facing wall)

Outdoors, facing the sun while standing under a shadow.

Outdoors, facing the sun.

Sadly I can't grade comfort properly. These lenses had expired by the time I found where I had stashed them away years ago, oops. Oh well, as with many other lens reviews I've done recently I figured I'd at least take some photos before I throw them away so that maybe it helps someone out there. 

But from what I can tell from my first (and only) time wearing these lenses was that they felt thin and comfy, I didn't really notice much that I had lenses on. They were a bit floppy and hard to insert due to how big and thin they are – they kept flopping over on my finger lol. But yeah, had these lenses been fresh I believe I could have worn them the usual 3-4 hours keeping in mind that my eyes are naturally dry af.

So yeah, if you like flashy and fancy lenses with eye-catching designs then you might want to try something from the GEO Lotus series. They're a treat with the 'halo effect', dual color (gray and the main color) and that delicate petal-like design. A beautiful lens for close-up photos and sparkling days~

Distance photo below.

 

Want to see Xtra Lotus lenses in other colors?
I have reviewed a few: Gray, Green, Violet

Short summary:

Color: 7/10
Delicate light brown color, there's not a lot of it but it goes really well with my natural eye color and it brings out the golden-ish brown ring closest to my pupils.

Design: 8/10

A detailed, artistic lotus flower print that looks like crystals. It's honestly gorgeous.

Opacity: 5/10

These are not very opaque, think of them as an enhancer type of lens more than a colored lens.

Enlargement: 7/10

These are somewhat big but definitely not too big.

Comfort: 7/10

Appeared to be comfortable to wear, thin and I barely felt them. A bit floppy to handle.

Naturalness: 4/10

If you excuse the size and extravagant print then these aren't all that crazy.

Thanks for reading! See you next time~
Shiro Samurai out.

Lens review: GEO Angel Brown

 Hello everyone!

 

It's been a while, I've had to motivate myself to keep up with the blog lately. I've been quite busy with other things and well, there's not a lot going on in terms of cosplay right now so I'm mostly just chilling at home playing video games lol. 

But today I wanted to do a circle lens review and it's gonna be the GEO Angel Brown, their identification number is CM-834. I have no memory how I got these lenses but I think they might have been from one of those "buy 2 get 1 free surprise pair" type of deals cuz I clearly have no memory of consciously purchasing these lenses lmao. xD

Base curve: 8.6 mm
Diameter: 14.2 mm

Water content: 40±2% 

Life span: 1 year (I recommend 6 months)

 

This is the kind of super classic circle lens design, like it's so basic that this is the type of lens I immediately imagine in my head when I hear the world "circle lenses". :'D I feel like lenses similar to this one has been around for a long time and have been copied and adapted by several major brands over the years. In all its simplicity it's even perhaps a bit boring to me? It's been done to death, ya know?

One lens in.

I don't have so much to say about these lenses. They represent the cutesy, moe style with a big size and a rather big black limbal ring too. There's some black streaks at the center and some dotted "spikes" meeting these lines from the opposite side. The general look is a bit cartoony or 'anime', if you may.

I'm not really a fan of the color, it turns into this rather bland and uninspiring brown on my light gray-blue eyes. I feel like these lenses are likely meant for dark-eyed individuals as they don't really blend well on my eyes either; the part where my eye color shows through the pupil ring clashes quite a bit. ^^"

 Lens close-up photos ahead.

All photos taken by me during an April 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.

Flash photo.

Facing a window to the backyard (not sun side).

Outdoors, back against the (hidden) sun. (facing the wall)

Outdoors, facing the sun (hidden) while standing under the roof's shadow.

Outdoors, facing the sun while it's hidden by a veil of clouds.

I can't really grade comfort (as has been the norm for a while now, if you've been reading my other reviews) as these lenses had expired by the time I found them stashed away. I quite literally just took the photos and then immediately discarded them so yeah, the only things about comfort that I can say are essentially first impressions based on 10 minutes of wearing the lenses. 

But what little I can say is that they felt thin overall and I didn't feel the right lens much at all. The left lens though was horrible, it constantly stung and was almost unbearable. I had some trouble inserting the lenses too, they didn't really want to stick to my eyes and kept falling out although that might just as well have been because I have not handled circle lenses in two months. I have no idea how comfortable these would potentially be if they hadn't been expired but my wild guess is something between 2-4 hours on very dry eyes like mine.

So here we are, at the end of the review. I'm not sure if I would recommend these lenses for anyone with a similar eye color as me, it's a pretty dull color in my opinion. I do like brown lenses sometimes but the essence of what makes brown a beautiful and alluring color is lacking in these. I do suspect that these lenses would come to their right on hazel or light brown eyes. Oh and yeah, I almost wonder if it isn't my own eye color that somewhat shines through and makes the brown color of the lenses mix and look more... grayish? 

Distance photo~

In these corona times I'm part of the #bathrobegang

Short summary:

Color: 4/10 

Meh. Would probably look nice on hazel/brown eyes but on me it looks kinda muddy and dull.

Design: 5/10 

Probably the most basic circle lens design there is. Everyone has worn a similar lens to these lol.

Opacity: 7/10

It does change my eye color considerably but it's not crazy opaque. Feels like your natural eye color affects the outcome.

Enlargement: 7/10 

This is a pretty damn big lens. The black rim is huge and gives a very dolly look.

Comfort: 4/10 

They're okay I guess. Can't really grade comfort but they were thin and decent, save for the left lens which was horribly stingy and irritating the whole 10 minutes I wore them.

Naturalness: 3/10 

These are way too big and noticeable to really fool anyone to think your eyes actually look like that.

Thanks for reading my blog. Another review coming soon~

Shiro Samurai out.

[Sponsored] Review: Lashvillage Naturel 301 (Femme Classic) false eyelashes

 Hello beauties!

 

This is an old review from 2018 that I originally posted on my other blog, which has since been deleted, and that I'm now reposting here. This is an almost complete repost of the original blog entry with some smaller edits where needed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

  Most people are familiar with LensVillage as a store that sells circle lenses. I've been collaborating with them since 2015 (I bought from them even before that!) and while I've only reviewed lenses before I got an opportunity to review a pair of false eyelashes back in 2018 when they were first introducing them to the store. Now it should be mentioned that I'm not someone who uses falsies much at all, except for cosplay sometimes, but I couldn't let this chance slip by as I got the opportunity to review something new. And I like trying new things.

The product I'm showing in this review was sponsored, but rest assured that I don't compromise my honesty nor true thoughts. This review is 100% my own opinion. All photos are taken by me.

Lensvillage has their own false lash brand called Lashvillage, funnily enough. The site says "Lashvillage lashes are made of 100% sterilized faux mink. Each lash strip is knotted and feathered by hand to achieve the highest quality." and that sounds pretty good to me. I'll admit I have zero to little prior knowledge of false lashes as this is literally my third ever pair, of which the two other ones are Dolly Wink lashes (I will review these eventually). I will have a hard time to compare these lashes with others as I don't really have any prior experience of quality norms and such. 

Lashvillage, at the time I originally made this review (2018), had five different pairs to choose from and I got number 301, which was called Lashes Femme Classic #301 on the site although the box itself just simply says Naturel 301. The naming seems confusing but I'm basing my review primarily on what the package I got had written on it (although it seems like the 301s were later changed from Naturel to Femme Classic). Whatever the real name is supposed to be, what we have at hand is a pair that I feel suits its name pretty well – these feel like a pretty safe bet for ordinary yet glamorous lashes.

EDIT: LensVillage seems to currently only carry three pairs of lashes, the 301s aren't among them. There is a "Femme Classic #101" but I don't think that's the same product because, while the 301 isn't available, it is shown on a promotional image (along with the Glam Luxe #502 that is also unavailable). I don't know why these two styles have seemingly been discontinued but it is how it is. Oh and yeah, I do think that the current 101s aren't the same as the 301s so please don't think this is a review for the 101.

 

These lashes cost 8,50 dollars at the time of writing this review (and also did in 2018) and my gut feeling says that it's a pretty decent price. I have no idea what random drugstore lashes tend to cost so I'm not gonna say so much more about the price. xD The package is really cute and elegant and has a window so that you can see what the lashes look like.

EDIT: Based on the current promotional image on the site it looks like, sometime after the initial release and now, that LensVillage has changed the look of the packaging. What I'm reviewing is the original, old packaging from 2018.

They are pretty soft to the touch and have a natural-ish shine to them. If I brush my fingers against the lashes they spring back to their original shape quickly enough. The lash count seems fine and the length of the lash itself doesn't seem to be absurdly long – I don't have to cut them to get them to fit my eye shape. I think these would fit most eye shapes and sizes. 

Lash glue is not included with these so you'll have to supply that yourself! 

 

Eye makeup, no mascara.

Eye makeup, with mascara.

Full eye makeup, colored lenses and false lashes.

I think it's because of my inexperience but I had a really hard time trying to get these on. They just wouldn't stick (could be the glue getting old, hadn't used it in a really long time) and it took me several tries to just get one lash on. I had some trouble getting them to stay like they should and not do the "half of the lashes point downwards and other half upwards" effect, which sadly happened a bit anyway, despite my best efforts to avoid it. I have no idea if my troubles could stem from the fact that I have ridiculously thick and long lashes naturally (someone wanna trade?) and so the falsies have to, err, fight for their spot lol. It was impossible to get them on the lash line. Another thing could be my neverending eyelids somehow pushing them out of place or something, I dunno. Luckily once I got them on they stayed on and so I won the fight and looked pretty for the remainder of the day!

I feel like the lashes are long, feminine and they give off this kind of luxurious effect. I think these could be seen as natural-looking to most frequent lash wearers but yeah, as I've worn falsies below 4 times total in all my life I am still not used to how I look with them on and so I personally think it looks unnatural. :'D I also need to mention that these are really lightweight when worn, I don't feel them much and they aren't annoying in any way! I don't feel like they'll droop down as soon as I blink etc.

Here's some close-up photos of the lashes in different angles and lights:

If there's anything that I feel a bit unsure about quality-wise it is that several individual lashes came off when I was trying to clean the glue residue (mainly peeling it off with my nails); it could just as well have been me being a bit too rough-handed or impatient but I don't know – my Dolly Wink lashes didn't lose a single strand with similar treatment back in the days so I dunno really? I have too little prior experience to really be able to tell if this is normal or not and yeah, I apologize if I am not all that helpful but this is legit my first lash review ever.

Super close-ups on one eye:

 

So yeah, despite me having a hard time getting these pretties to stay on and some individual lashes coming off perhaps a bit too easily, I am satisfied with this pair. It's a really pretty lash pair and I'm happy I took the chance to try these when they were launched. I think I just need more lash wearing practice to make application smoother in the future. xD It's a super cute, elegant pair with a comfortable design and I think these lashes could be very versatile in their use – school, work, parties, special occasions or just for fun!

Oh and yeah, shipping from overseas took about 2 weeks. I can't remember the exact time it took but the shipment was in one of those typical plastic bags/envelopes. I did not have to pay any additional custom fees.

I've never had any issues dealing with Lensvillage and I'd warmly recommend them to anyone who wants to buy eye fashion products. Lensvillage is one of the better known online circle lens stores out there but they also sell false lashes nowadays. Also, you get free worldwide shipping on orders over 40 dollars right now, which is a pretty generous deal! Truth be told I've been raving about them even before I was sponsored (they were my go-to shop already back then) so I really mean it when I say that I genuinely vouch for their store.

View from typical selfie distance.

Thanks for reading my blog and thanks for LensVillage for this opportunity~

~ Shiro Samurai out.

Lens review: Vassen Dolly Eye Blue

Hello people!

I'll pop a circle lens review for you all today and it's a kinda mysterious lens. You see, I bought these lenses years ago on Honeycolor and they have since then completely disappeared and I can't find them anywhere. The only reason I know for sure it was that particular store is because I have saved the order confirmation from 2015 in my emails. I will review a lens known simply as Dolly Eye Blue which, according to the identification tag on the order receipt being VDE, along with the label stating Vassen as manufacturer I can safely say that this is (or was?) Vassen's try at a copy of the hugely popular EOS Dolly Eye series. So yes, the full name of the lens is essentially Vassen Dolly Eye Blue.
Please note: This is NOT the same lens as EOS Dolly Eye.

Now let's go!

Base curve: 8.6 mm
Diameter: 15.0 mm

Water content: 38% 

Life span: 1 year (I recommend 6 months)

 

I feel like I did a huge mistake by completely forgetting to do any kind of side-by-side comparison of these lenses next to the real deal, aka EOS Dolly Eye lenses. And now it's too late because I already discarded them before the thought struck my mind. So the only thing I have to go by now is my memory because I distinctly remember comparing the lenses in their vials to each other years ago and noticing that yes, they are not exact copies. I might remember wrong (as I said, it's been years and this was visual memory only, I did not make notes anywhere) but I'm pretty sure the Vassen Dolly Eyes were a bit bigger in size and when you looked closely you could see that the tiny black lines that make up the patterning were also very slightly different. But other than that they were very similar and you could definitely tell the intention was to mimic the EOS Dolly Eye.

 

One lens in.

 

This is a big, cartoony, very bright and colorful lens that has the 'anime look' to it. It basically screams cosplay. The color is super opaque, there's a prominent black limbal ring to add to the illusion of big eyes and well, it's overall a cute and youthful lens. The blue color is really vibrant, unnatural and shows up well even from a distance, it's not crazy lens level nor freaky but just really costume-ish, you know? These are too extravagant to really function as a daily lens but for any funky styles they're great!

I've already mentioned it but the design is almost a complete ripoff of the EOS Dolly Eye and most people who are into circle lenses have probably either worn or at least heard of those lenses so yeah, I don't think it's really necessary for me to detail their design at this point. ^^" You can search my blog for EOS Dolly Eye reviews to compare them yourself if you want to, I've reviewed those before.

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.

Indoors, unlit corridor with distant poor natural light.

Indoors, facing a window (not sun side). Weirdly blue.

Outdoors, back against the direction of the sun. (facing wall)

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

Outdoors, facing the direction where the sun would have been. (cloudy)

I wore these for my review of the Hamilton uniform that I used to cosplay America from Hetalia. These lenses had expired before I opened them so I only wore them for the photos and then immediately discarded them. That means I can't really grade comfort properly but what I can say is that, for the time I did wear these lenses, they were extremely comfortable. They were very thin despite the size, super comfortable and I literally did not even feel that I had lenses on and that's saying quite a lot because I have really dry and sensitive eyes naturally. I did see blue corners at the edges of my vision in poorer light conditions though, but that's to be expected with heavily pigmented lenses like these that also happen to have a somewhat smaller pupil hole than your average circle lens.

I ended up wearing these lenses for 1 hour in total before all photos were taken and by the comfort alone you'd never have guessed they were expired. I still really don't recommend to wear expired lenses for any prolonged time. This was an emergency solution as I did not have any other suitable blue lenses in a pinch.

All in all this was a really pleasant lens and I would have repurchased them if they had not disappeared of the face of the earth. The color payoff is amazing for costumers and alternative fashion, the design is a copy of the EOS Dolly Eye except a bit bigger in size and with a miniscule difference in details. It's a fun and bright lens, shame I didn't buy other colors of these and even more shame that I forgot I had these until it was too late to really get to enjoy them. Oh well.

Distance photo taken with my phone (because I had a brainfart and forgot to take one with my camera).

Shitty yellow kitchen light, rip. ;_;

Short summary:

Color: 8/10
Very nice, very impactful blue color. It's not crazy bright but vibrant enough for cosplay.
Design: 7/10 
Simple, cartoony style that is quite cute and very likable. Big black rim.
Opacity: 10/10 

Amazing color coverage, no doubts. On par with the most covering lenses out there.
Enlargement: 6/10
Notably big but not the biggest there is. Bigger than EOS Dolly Eye, for sure.

Comfort: 9/10 

Thin and I did not feel them at all. Slight blue corners in vision. I assume I could easily have worn them for 4-5 hours on my super dry eyes.
Naturalness: 1/10

Too big, dolly and colorful, these won't fly at all.

Thanks for reading!

Shiro Samurai out.