April 8, 2018

Lens review: Beaucon Shimmer Green

Hello sweeties!

I'm back and I'm still clinging on to the hope that I'll eventually find a Beaucon lens that my eyes will grant their seal of approval to. ;_; I really like their lenses and how they cater to smaller diameters but I swear I have some sort of Beaucon curse on me, lmao. But hey, I'll review the wonderfully natural Beaucon Shimmer Green today, let's go!



Base curve: 8.6 mm
Diameter: 14.0 mm
Water content: 45%
Life span: 1 year (I recommend 6 months)



I usually jump straight for the vibrant and artsy circle lenses but every once in a blue moon I feel the itch to try a more natural pair. I wasn't expecting much from these in the color department but, much to my surprise, I feel compelled to say that I think these lenses are the most natural green lens that I've tried! Something about their look and color is luminous and really eye-catching, yet somehow retaining the image of a natural green.

One lens in.
The size increase is very minor and I honestly don't notice the difference unless I'm just wearing a single lens. When looking at the lenses in the vials I was expecting a rather bland, possibly muddy green but what I got was this bright and lively green that actually is really pretty. I'm surprised that it manages to look so natural while still being eye-catching – green lenses tend to either turn into this bland ugly color or completely disappear on my light blue-gray eyes. Beaucon knows how to get the colors right!


Lens photos below!
All photos taken by yours truly during an April afternoon 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.

Apartment, natural room light.
Apartment, yellow room light.
Bathroom light.
Flash photo.
Facing the window.
Outdoors, facing the sun.
Outdoors, back against the sun.
In terms of naturalness this is the most beautiful green lens I've tried so far. There is a really slight 'halo effect' and the colors blend well with my real eyes, giving a really realistic yet enhanced look. This lens is for those who wish to subtly change their appearance – it's a soft, delicate green that puts one dreaming.

I wish these lenses (just like all other Beaucon lenses) would be more comfortable as I'd love to wear them out. One of the lenses felt a bit scratchy and overall comfort was sub-par. I could wear them for about 1 hour before they started drying so yeah, I'd estimate anything between 1-3 hours on my dry and sensitive eyes. I've said it many times but my eyes just don't like Beaucon brand lenses, much to my sadness, and although this is the case for me it might just as well be that you would have no problems with them; everyone's eyes are different and thus comfort is always highly individual.
I think the Shimmer Green would be great for LARP, movie character cosplay and fantasy creations. I could also see them work for some video game characters, depending on how realistically the characters are designed. For anime eyes and such these would be too small and not bold enough but, then again, I would totally wear these for portraying elves and other fairytale figures!

Distance photos!




Want to see Beaucon Shimmer lenses in other colors?
Check these out: Blue, Gray

Short summary:

Color: 7/10
Beautiful natural green at its finest.
Design: 6/10
Realistic design with a thin dark limbal ring. Simple but effectful.
Opacity: 6/10
Wonderful blending while still turning my eyes undeniably green.
Enlargement: 2/10 

Size increase is there but it's so discreet that you don't notice it much.
Comfort: 3/10
One of the lenses felt a bit scratchy but otherwise okay-ish. Wearing time around 1-3 hours on really dry eyes. Not the best I've had but not the worst either.
Naturalness: 8/10
Alluring green that manages to look natural while keeping it interesting.


Shiro Samurai says bye bye and thanks for reading!

March 30, 2018

Lens review: GEO Princess Mimi Starmish Brown

Hello fabulous folks out there!

Today is a circle lens day and I'm finally gonna review a pair that I've had in my possession for years – the super popular GEO Princess Mimi Starmish Brown (sometimes just simply called GEO Starmish Brown), designed by Japanese fashion model Mai Hirose. I've heard these sell like hotcakes in Japan but today I'll show you what they look like on a light-eyed person. ^_- Also, these lenses can be identified by their code thingy XKP-304.

Let's go!



Base curve: 8.6 mm
Diameter: 14.5 mm
Water content: 42%
Life span: 1 year (I recommend 6 months)


As with any legitimate GEO lenses these came with authenticity stickers; you can find a serial number code on each sticker that you can enter online to make sure that your lenses are safe to wear. Never buy cosmetic lenses from markets and other shady places where you can't verify their origin!

I think I originally bought these lenses because I was curious about their light orange-ish brown color, which is not all that common. I remember thinking that these could be that perfect match for cosplaying characters who have those kind of honey or caramel-ish brown eyes that the ordinary brown lenses would be way too dark for. Also, who doesn't want to try a lens that everyone else is raving about? :D

One lens in.
These lenses are on the bigger scale but not overwhelming – I suspect that the thick limbal ring adds to the illusion. The color does indeed turn into this kind of caramel color on my eyes and it actually matches quite well; I was half-way expecting the lenses to clash more as my eyes are light blue-gray and the only thing close to brown on my eyes is a golden ring around the pupil. You can tell where the lens ends and my real eye color begins but the pupil hole is not as glaringly large as on most other big lenses so yeah, it actually doesn't even look bad on my eyes!

Lens photos below!
All photos taken by yours truly during a March afternoon 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. 


Natural room light in my apartment.
Yellow light in my apartment.
Bathroom light.
Flash photo.
Facing the window in my apartment.
Outdoors, back against the sun.
Outdoors, facing the sun.
It's a really cute, alluring and charming lens that makes your eyes look youthful and awake. Definitely suitable for both cosplay and fashion because of its generous color, which also happens to be good on the coverage front. The enlargement effect is there and, although I suspect these might look the best on dark eyes, they still look helluva good on my peepers as well!

Regarding comfort I'd say that the Starmish Brown are pretty good. I can easily wear them for 2 hours and I have naturally dry eyes. These do, for some reason, give me a slight vision blur but it's nothing that really bothers me. Overall they are comfortable and I feel pretty safe to say that I believe I could wear these for anywhere between 3-5 hours. There is no itchiness or anything of the sort, although my eyes were a bit red after I took them out.

I would recommend these lenses if you are looking for this kind of specific brown shade that borders on orange territory. The design is pretty ordinary (in the sense that there's no fancy patterns etc) but it does its intended job well and these lenses are thus a great addition to any fans arsenal.

Distance photo!


Short summary:

Color: 7/10
Vivid orange-ish brown color that you don't come across too often. Innocent and full of life.
Design: 7/10
Simple yet striking design that ups your eye game to eleven!

Opacity: 7/10
These do notably change my eye color to brown but the pigmentation appears irregularly printed, which gives a more natural appearance rather than solid, unrealistic coverage.

Enlargement: 7/10
Definitely enlarges your eyes.
Comfort: 6/10
Pretty good. No itchiness or anything but slightly blurs my vision. Wearing time anywhere between 3-5 hours on dry eyes.
Naturalness: 4/10

If we ignore the size and the black rim these do at least make some sort of effort to not look too fake. 


Thanks for reading! ^-^

March 25, 2018

[Sponsored] Lens review: EOS Super Neon Blue

Hello folks!

It's me again and today's post will be all about some awesome blue circle lenses called EOS Super Neon Blue, hang with me and I'll tell you all about them! \o/ Let it be known that this gorgeous pair was sponsored from LoveShoppingholics, my latest partner. This review will include me detailing my experiences with them as well so yeah, let's get to it!

The lenses that I'm reviewing in this blog post were sponsored by LoveShoppingholics, meaning that I did not pay for the product(s) out of my own pocket. This does, however, not affect my honesty in any way. The words and opinions in this review are mine and mine alone, I don't ever compromise the truth.



Base curve: 8.8 mm
Diameter: 14.8 mm
Water content: 38%
Life span: 1 year (I recommend 6 months)




Before I get to the fun part I want to say a few words about LoveShoppingholics and their store. They originally contacted me already on June last year and asked for a collaboration, but I declined the offer as I was really busy with school and some other real-life urgencies that stressed me out; I simply didn't have the time nor energy to take on another sponsor deal at that point in life. They were kind and understanding and so I wrote back to them on December when things had calmed down a bit – they answered after three days and said that they'd be really glad to work with me. ;w; We went through the details and they would always reply either on the same day or on the day after, which I thought was really good!

I am not sure when exactly they shipped my lenses but I think it's pretty safe to assume that shipping took around a month, as it got caugh in the Christmas rush, and I received the lenses on mid-January. I'm sorry I have forgotten what the actual shipment looked like but I think it was just an ordinary padded envelope? I had to pick it up from the nearest postal service as it was not delivered directly home.

Regarding the actual store I guess that it's overall nice-looking but feels a bit cluttered and hard to use? I don't really like the layout as it feels confusing, but at least there are filters, categories etc to help you navigate. Maybe it's just my browser but both the FAQ and the About Us pages seem to be empty/missing as nothing's turning up when I click on them. Same thing goes for other information links found at the bottom of their store, which concerns me. I hope it's just my browser or that it got lost when the site had its makeover, as I recall it looked different before. But yeah, as I can't access any basic information about their company it's a bit hard for me to tell anything about them and being sure that I'm not spreading false information. What I do know though is that they sell Korean circle lenses along with makeup products, beauty products and some fashion items. Their copyright at the bottom says 2005-2018 so if that's to be believed then they've been around for quite a long time!
Also, I did know of their site even before they contacted me, although I had not purchased from them.

I sadly can't give you more information as the site seems incomplete in that regard. ^^" But what I do know is that they are quick to answer emails, very patient and understanding and they ship within reasonable time frames. The lenses I received appear normal and safe to wear, so that seems to be alright!


And now back to the review!

The lenses came in this cute drawstring bag!
All package contents laid out.
The lenses arrived wrapped in this kind of spongy foam and were inside a cute drawstring bag with a pink bow on it. It's the small details that make the experience! With them also came a lens case and a 'thank you ' card. I'm not too excited about the cute animal cases as, although I'll admit they're stinking cute, I've had multiple experiences with them leaking during travels and thus I only use them for "home lenses" – to be on the safe side.

~***~

Before wearing any contact lenses I always take them out of their little glass bottles and put them to soak overnight in lens solution – it's not recommended to wear lenses straight out of the vials, in case you didn't know it. The solution that the lenses come stored in is not the same as the ordinary solution you buy from the pharmacy etc.

One lens in. Notice size difference!
I had no trouble inserting these lenses (despite the fact that my eyes were super dry and stingy on one of the days) and they felt nice directly. On the first day I tried these I could wear them for 1 full hour despite that my eyes were screamingly dry already before I put them in, which is quite a feat as my eyes usually don't do contacts at all on dry days, hah. I tried them again on a "normal eyes day" and 2 hours went by easily with no problems, which leads me to assume that approximate wearing time on dry peepers are around 2-4 hours – on non-dry eyes longer, of course. These lenses don't feel stingy or anything of the sort and I, quite honestly, don't feel them in my eyes. My eyes do feel dry after I take the lenses off but yeah, that's not different from any other pair of lenses that I've worn.

The design of the EOS Super Neon series is really likable. It's simple and thus plays it safe but because it's got such a massive limbal ring going on it appears really striking and effectful! The color tends to the dark side but it doesn't get lost as an indistinguishable blob of blackness when viewed from a distance, which is good. Yes, the lenses stay undeniably blue and the blue shade itself is mesmerizing and pulls the viewer's gaze in. I've been feeling like blue lenses for the past couple weeks and these are amazing! 
One thing that had me surprised was that I expected these lenses to look massive because of the wide black rim but, lo and behold, they don't eat up my eyes and transform me into a dolly E.T. x) Of course the size increase is there but it's more versatile than I initially thought!

Lens photos below!
All photos taken by me during a March afternoon with a cloudy sky and snowy weather. 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.


Apartment, natural room light.
Apartment, yellow room light.
Bathroom light.
Facing window, sun side.
Facing window, not sun side.
Flash photo. (indoors)
Outdoors, back against sun. (facing wall)
Outdoors, facing the sun... or more like, the cloudy sky.
The coverage is pretty solid and these lenses look really good on my light blue-gray eyes! I'm quite confident these are suitable for cosplay as well because the color is, after all, quite vibrant. I'd still first-hand use them as a fashion lens but they definitely have enough impact to serve in many fields!

Distance photos!




Want more EOS Super Neon lenses?
Check out my other reviews: Green, Violet, Brown, Gray

Short summary:

Color: 8/10
Beautiful, dreamy and intriguing blue color that has a soul to it.
Design: 8/10
Simple yet stylish design with a wide black rim and plenty of depth.
Opacity: 8/10

Can't claim anything else except that they cover well on light eyes. No complaints!

Enlargement: 6/10
Smaller than I initially expected, but looks gorgeous nonetheless.
Comfort: 6/10
Pretty okay. My estimate is about 2-4 hours on super-dry eyes like me. There's no apparent stinginess or irritation.
Naturalness: 3/10

Too big and bold to look convincing. More magical than realistic.

Thank you so much for reading my review, I hope you liked it! ^_^
Big thanks to LoveShoppingholics for making it possible~

March 15, 2018

Okamicon 2018 – Chaos and doggos

Hello fluffbutts!

It's time to write about Okamicon, the new con in Sundsvall that was held on 9-11 March and which had marketed itself as being LGBT embracing. Don't get me wrong, pretty much all cons are LGBT-friendly (as it feels like a majority of congoers fit into that spectrum in one way or another), but Okamicon had it visible on their website and *prepare for it* ON THEIR MASCOT DOGGO. ♥ 
I'm not gonna lie, despite what my opinions about the con might or might not be I must admit that I am in love with their mascot and it's easily my favorite con mascot now and forever, period. I just love the representation of the different pride flags as the wolf's earrings and the design overall is just to my liking. Truth be told, part of the reason I even went to the con was because I loved the mascot so much, lmao. #fanboynumberone

I'm gonna open up my wordy treasure chest and let's get to the summary! 
Please note that the photographs have varying photo quality (aka light conditions) and that's simply because I didn't have a chance to take all photos during daylight hours as I was working a majority of my time there.

Okamicon banner at the entrance.
My journey to Okamicon started with cat puke. Wonderful. I woke up early on the morning and while in the bathroom I noticed that my cat Kili was gagging, but before I had time to react he had vomited all over the carpet. And not just any carpet – the fluffiest, newest carpet that would be as hard to clean as possible. I was like "are you fucking kidding me?" because I totally had not reserved time for anything additional and I was already stressed. So yeah, my morning starts with furiously cleaning up cat puke for a liberal 30 minutes before I get to do anything else. -.- By the time I get to the breakfast I get a call from Carina that her husband will come get me soon. I'm like "oh fuck I'm not even done with breakfast". So yeah, stressful.
I pack all the cat stuff, my con stuff and finish whatever morning preparations I usually do and headed into the car. I got a ride to Carina's place and my cats stayed there over the weekend while Sacchan and her friend came to take care of them. I waited for Carina's daughters to get ready and then we drove southwards to Sundsvall.

I need to mention that a bit less than a week before the con I had still not received any kind of working time schedule and this deeply worried me. I knew that I was accepted into the entrance team but nothing more. I had sent a message to my team leader, asking about my work hours (twice, to boot) but hadn't received a reply and it had been days – and the con inched closer and closer. I found this really weird and unprofessional because, earlier, he had replied on a timely manner but now that the con was extremely close the communication had dropped dead. Nothing. Nada. Dead.
Needless to say, while I was sitting in the car driving 600+ kilometers from home I started to feel anxious. "What if I got there and they had actually cancelled my shifts? What if..." Driving from so far away and not even knowing your goddamn working hours was a stressful combination – what if we drove all that way for nothing?
I got desperate enough to write a public message on Okamicon's Facebook page and that's when I finally got a reply. Except not from my team leader but from another con worker. Thankfully I knew him from another con and he said that he would act as the middle-man between me and my leader as seemingly my leader was really busy right now.
We talked about the situation and he said that he'd send me the work shift hours. We had some issues with getting it to work as my phone couldn't open the files at first, but we found a way and... I was about ready to flip my shit when I saw which shifts I had been assigned.
...
...
...
I HAD THE VERY FIRST SHIFT ON FRIDAY AND THE VERY LAST SHIFT ON SUNDAY?! ME, THE PERSON WHO PROBABLY HAS THE FARTHEST TRAVEL DISTANCE BETWEEN SUNDSVALL AND HOME. How the fuck did they think when they wrote this? >_>
Okay, I appreciate that they tried to give me (and possibly everyone else) free time during the activities that we wanted to attend but... they're missing one tiny but crucial detail – I STILL LIVE 600+ KILOMETERS AWAY AND I NEED TO GET BACK HOME EARLY ON SUNDAY MORNING BECAUSE THE DRIVE BACK TAKES APPROX. 7 HOURS AND I HAVE SCHOOL ON MONDAY TO WHICH I HAVE TO WAKE UP EARLIER THAN A CHICKEN HAS TIME TO FART. I CAN'T WORK ON SUNDAY UNTIL FREAKING 17:00.

Fun part? Because I didn't know my working schedule, before the departure day, we couldn't plan on how early we'd have to leave so that I would surely be there on time for when my shift starts. We knew that the con opened 17:00 but we had no idea who'd work the first pass and thus we didn't aim to be there exactly when the doors opened. Also, there was a traffic accident and stuff and so the trip took a bit longer than usual anyway – I remember when there was 15 min left to the opening (and my shift, which I had now been made aware of) we were still in like Härnösand or something...
So yeah, very professional to give someone who lives 7+ hours away the first shift of the day and inform about it late as shit, aka on the afternoon OF THE ACTUAL CON DAY. Halleluja. -.- And I would have been without the info until I got to the con, if I had not actively asked about it...

Okay, enough salt for now.
We eventually got to Sundsvall, where we struggled to find our hotel (more like hostel) and there we quickly left our belongings before heading to the con. I was really tired and drained at this point and I think, most of all, I just wanted to eat and go sleep.

We had room number 112. Send help pls.
I was already at least 1 hour late to my shift and when I got there I was relieved to notice that my team leader was a really nice guy. I asked him what my work tasks would be and if it was similar to how things were done in Skecon (I worked entrance there) and he was like "nothing's like in Skecon because there's total chaos everywhere :D" – how reassuring. I looked around me and yeah, couldn't deny that.
Amidst this mess there was a positive thing too; I heard that my shifts had been completely scrapped because the Okamicon organizers had deemed that the second entrance (where I was supposed to work) was pointless to keep and so they closed it. This in turn meant that I could personally jump in and choose what working times I wanted on the first entrance – holy frick my salvation! I later heard some rumors that they planned to take the second entrance back but seemingly it never happened. So confusing.

Okamicon entrance. It was held in Centrumvillan, some sort of school building
me thinks, not 100% sure.
The rest of my company went to eat pizza and I had to stay at the con to work. I had explained at the con that I can't do any shifts on Sunday (because we'll leave early) and so I had double shifts on Saturday to compensate. Because of my lateness I worked extra, until about 21:00 or something (I can't remember exactly), before I called it a day because I got too tired to continue. My team leader was very understanding as it had been a long trip down. He also apologized for the schedule mess and lack of responses, seemingly he had been sitting in a train or something? Not too sure how that limits you from checking messages (and not responding for ~days~) but oh well, I'll buy it.

EDIT: I got it confirmed that he didn't, in fact, have any phone network on the train, which explains things.

Inner entrance doors. Notice the doggos. Those were plastered
all over the place, it was hilarious.
My work mates were friendly and I liked the overall feeling of the con, despite the chaos on Friday. Then again, I did hear that the reason for some of the chaos was beyond the con's control. Seemingly they didn't get permission to rig the event on the day before, as they had wanted to, and so they had to build it from scratch on Friday – the same day on which the doors would open. Yikes! Needless to say they got a less-than-stellar start and a tight time frame to prepare the convention for the masses. It's understandable.
Also, I heard that when the opening hour was closing in that some con workers just stood there doing nothing when there was a lot of stuff left to do. Now there could be all kinds of reasons for that so I won't say anything more about it since I don't know the details. Another thing I happened to hear was that some stuff that the con had ordered had not yet arrived on Friday and that also contributed to the chaotic feeling.

The con ticket was super cute with a galaxy color theme!
As a con worker we got these special t-shirts to wear to make it clear who's an attendant and who's a worker. Ordinary con workers had these super bright pink shirts, security had lime green ones and the organizers had dark violet. Also, all workers were called 'kohai' and organizers were 'sempai'. Maybe I'm getting too old for these jokes as I wasn't too sure how to feel about having a shirt that says "notice me sempai" on it, lmao. I felt a peculiar mixture of amusement, embarrassment and cringe, sprinkled with a spice of weeb.

My pink weeb workshirt. :))
The back was better tbh.
(yes, the photo is taken on a mirror but is flipped)
Back at the hotel I went to sleep before long. I was really tired. Like no shit.

Saturday came. I went to eat hotel breakfast, which had the smallest variety I've ever seen but oh well, there was enough good stuff to get me filled and content. Brie cheese on bread, fuck yeah!
Back in the hotel room I started attaching my shiny Mightyena gijinka's ears to the wig. I had literally sewn the ears in a hurry the day before the con and had some problems trying to attach them to the wig. After a lot of twisting and turning I managed to get them to stay on with the help of safety pins (I also tried handsewing them on but it didn't work).
My work shift would start at 12:00 and I got a ride from this same wonderful person who drove me to the hostel yesterday night when Carina couldn't. He arrived a bit late but everything went okay anyway and I jumped straight into my working shift. The con felt a bit more collected now and things seemed to run decently. I was working until 16:00 but I had permission to go and snap some photos, while the sunlight was still going strong, and so I did.

It was really chill to work at the entrance. Main tasks were greeting people, checking that everyone had con bands on their wrists (aka paid to get in) and check that the metal piece keeping the band secured wasn't loose. We also of course sold and scanned in tickets, watched so that no drugged or suspicious people etc came in and helped opening the doors for those who had their hands full and such.
Most of the time it was slightly boring (I felt a bit abundant as well, three people working at the same time felt a bit overkill on such a small con) as you were stuck sitting in the same place for hours on end, but that's a pretty obvious part of the job as you kind of double as a gateguard, lol. I must mention though that I was a bit disappointed that there weren't any candies for us entrance worker; we were kinda promised that on the online application lol, "come work here and get sweets!".
Also, one thing we noticed was that seemingly Okamicon had forgotten to inform that they had hired Centrumvillan for the whole weekend and that all other activites were cancelled for said weekend – we had several youths walking in and expecting there to be some sort of "fritidsgården" activity but we had to turn them around and explain that no, there is no such thing this weekend as Okamicon is here. It got a bit tiresome after a while. How come it had not been announced in advance?

Okamicon seen from the entrance.
Entrance view but from a different direction. The green
area is the cafeteria.
Sloth cafe. (on Saturday they sold
alcohol-free drinks, shame those weren't
available with food tickets, fml. :C)
Speaking of food tickets. We con workers got two for each shift we did, which basically translated to two meals. Not very nutritious nor healthy meals though, mind you – toast and a soda or Billy's pan pizza and soda. I know cons tend to have crappy food options (this is not just Okamicon) but at the same time I can't help but roll my eyes at the irony how the typical con mantra is "eat, drink, shower and sleep" and still the food options are so limited and poor in nutrition that it kinda defeats the purpose, lmao.
And while we are on the food talk I must admit that there was something that bothered me with Okamicon's menu. While applying to work at the con we all had to fill in if we had any (food) allergies and I had mentioned ham in there – not because I'm straight-up allergic but because I avoid it on a high scale because the consistency and taste of a majority of pork products makes me gag. Okay, so when I got to actually order something I must admit that I felt let down that there were so few options... and none were ham-free or had it compensated with something else (any other meat, anyone?). I mean, Skecon last year had a myriad of Billy's pan pizza flavors (incl. Gorby's) but Okamicon only had *drumroll* the original one. The exact one that I can't eat to save my life. I swear I was the only kid in grade school who legit hated pizza days because it was Billy's original and that shit makes me gag to hell and back. I simply can't swallow it. Everyone probably thought I was weird as fuck.
Okay, so no Billy's then. My other choice was toast. Toast with ham and cheese and grill spice, if wanted. You could get vegan version and such but there was nothing to make up for the ham if you opted out of it. No ham just meant a toast with cheese and possible grill spice, nothing else. I'm sorry but that's so poor that even a poorfag like me feels disappointed. *headdesk* It wouldn't have been hard to have at least another option like chicken or literally anything else, just ~something~ for us that can't stand eating pork. Tuna would have been godtier, just saying.
Felt pointless to mention special diets in the first place when applying and then have it not accounted for. Blah.

Literally what I lived on for two days. Toast with cheese.
(except for candies and hotel breakfast)
I can't claim that I felt especially healthy and full of energy at the con but my overall feeling of it is still positive. Okamicon had a roomy and light location (a lot of windows) that provided a comfy feel, similar to that on other small-scale conventions.

There was little merchandise to buy and I'm not sure if there even was an Artist's Alley at all? Correct me if I'm wrong but I can't remember seeing it.

Dealer's hall.
Dealer's hall.
Dealer's hall items. There ain't no con without Pocky and Ramune.
Second-hand video games and stuff.
Besökarnas försäljningsbord.
"Besökarnas försäljningsbord" (lit. visitiors selling table) was there though, although it mainly consisted of manga pockets and thus nothing of interest to me. The only thing I bought was a Ho-Oh figurine – I suspect it's one of the earlier pre-order bonus figurines that came when ordering Pokémon video games and thus it's typically worth more than what I paid for it. xD Besides, it's really nice looking!

Some kind of activity room...?
There was stuff to do if you got bored.
When my first Saturday shift ended on 16:00 I quickly went to change into cosplay. I had 4 hours of free time before my night shift would start. An organizer had told me earlier that there were no separate changing rooms and so, if you wanted to get into cosplay, you had to change in the toilets. Now this wouldn't have been a problem but there were like... three toilets in total. All three were of course occupied when I was out of my shift and I didn't feel like waiting for an unknown time and so I asked an organizer if there really is no other bathroom anywhere? Turned out that there was one in the karaoke room but it was a bit hidden. There we go.
While I was there I heard three guys singing together We are Number One and it was fekkin' glorious. Possibly the best part of the whole con. x)

Shitty photo but whatevs, proof at least
that I wore shiny Mightyena.
I messed up my makeup (damn those triangles under the eyes, my brown eyeliner died on me...) but at least I didn't have the possibility for a photoshoot so it didn't matter that much in the end anyway. I want to photoshoot this costume later and fix the ears so that they actually stand up. Don't wanna be sad doggo. Oh and yeah, I totally picked Mightyena to fit in with the con's canine theme. :D

While in costume I had a group of really young kids asking me if those lenses were my real eyes. I just said that no, of course not. How can anyone even think that? xD They said that my eyes looked creepy because they were so bright that it looked like they were shining in the dark... ooooh. To be honest I was standing in a darker corridor at this time, hörrhörr.

No con without drawn memes somewhere.
Something that surprised me at Okamicon was the oversized chess board and the other colorful game game placed on some of the tables near the entrance. I've never seen that done before! I have no idea how to play chess but, if I knew, I think I would have tried it. I should ask my friend to teach me...

Chess and whatever-that-colorful-one-is.
Okamicon was on two floors. Near the entrance were stairs leading to the basement floor. Down there was the cloak room, the Harry Potter themed chill room and the video games room. On first glance it looked like there wasn't much going on there (narrow corridor with closed doors) but if you peeked into the rooms with open doors you found activities. I didn't stay for long but I noticed that the Harry Potter room had crafting supplies on the table and it seemed like the motives were inspired from the wizard world.

Stairs leading downstairs.
Close-up on the cool video game sign and the tournament list.
The video game room was one of the first things I checked out as soon as I was done putting on my cosplay. My initial reaction was disappointment, mainly because there were no retro consoles and everything was from the two latest generations (or that's what it looked like on a quick glance). I've said it before on previous con summaries but I'm a retro lover and one of the best ways to kill time at a con when you're alone is to play on a Super Nintendo or a Nintendo 64, at least for me. But guess what? There wasn't even a single Nintendo console, blasphemy! D: I only saw Xboxes and PlayStations; nothing wrong with that but yeah, why no Nintendo? I understand if the kind people lending their consoles simply didn't have any but yeah, I was looking forward to playing some older games to spend my time because I was alone at the con for the whole duration of it.

Video game room.
Video game room.
I was about to sit down and play some Soul Calibur 5... until I realized it was for Xbox. I don't know how to Xbox. And so I just walked away.

The Harry Potter themed crafts and chill room.
One thing that makes me sad is that I missed/forgot about the two activities that I really wanted to go see, namely the Pokémon 2000 movie (nostalgy!!) and Your Name, aka Kimi no Na wa. When I realized on Saturday afternoon, while working, that I had missed the Pokémon movie I was not so happy. *insert dramatic no here*
This means that I didn't go to any activities. I did consider the cosplay competition at first but I quickly scrapped the idea when it dawned on me that it starts super late on 22:00. I don't understand why the heck you'd put the main program of the con on such a late hour? I've seen some other cons do it as well (looking at you, Närcon) and I'm sitting here like "why the actual fuck?", lmao. The younger audience will probably leave to sleep before that and oldies like me will be too tired at that point anyway. I just don't understand why cosplay competitions can't be held on like the early evening or such? Would make a lot more sense. Heck, if I participated in the competition I would be too tired to even put on the cosplay so late and, if I had worn it since the con day began, then both me and my costume would look like a greasy potato once the competition finally got around. I guess it works for some people but for me it's just a major turn-off when I see that the cosplay competition runs until midnight. Just no.

Okamicon posters galore.
Weird ships...
I'm actually struggling to remember what I did and that's probably because I didn't do much at all. ^^" Frankly, I was quite bored for most of the time – not because the con was necessarily lackluster but because I was without company for the whole weekend. Normally small cons are super enjoyable when you share the fun with people you like to hang out with but, this time, some shit happened and my travel buddies were barely at the con at all (they found it boring) and so I was left on my own. I missed my usual con company and I think the lack of being social made my overall con experience a bit.. meh.

The door leads to the cosplay workshop.
Cosplay costumes on display.
I have no idea what the purpose of those displayed costumes were (used on a panel maybe? I got the impression they had all been competed in) but they were standing outside the cosplay workshop. No offense but that kimono outfit was so wrinkled that it was impossible to not notice it. It looked so out of place because the two others were so crisp and neat. :S

Karaoke room.
I'm not sure if there was a Guest of Honor but I must say that I did expect the LGBT focus to be more... visible. I could only find one booth that catered to it, although if there were panels I'm not sure. Still a nice little thing but I guess I was just expecting more? I feel like I'm being soooo negative. xD

Okamicon general view.
The LGBT promotion booth.
I changed out of cosplay around 19:00 and prepared for my second Saturday work shift, which was from 20-22. Somewhere along the lines I started to get a headache and, luckily, once my shift was over (just when people started lining up for the cosplay competition, in fact) this same guy who gave me a ride earlier showed up. ;A; He was my con hero, bless.

I was surprised to see the sleeping accommodation in the
con building?! Convenient (assuming it's not noisy).
I don't feel like talking about the car trip back home and such and so I'll just end this summary here. It's already a lot longer than I intended, oops.

Okamicon or Okamehcon?

I have really mixed feelings about this con, to be honest. There were many issues of varying degrees but things did, on the bigger scale, work sufficiently enough to make the whole experience feel like a con experience and not just a clusterfuck with brightly colored people in it. A lot of the con feel came from the funny decorations (doggos everywhere) and the kind people. Also, I am fully aware that this was the first Okamicon and thus some degree of error is to be expected and forgiven but, tbh, I've been to a lot of other (then) small first-time cons that did things better.
It was a slow-paced and relaxed "hang with your friends" type of con and I went in with low to average expectations – I did expect it to be bigger than the cons in the north and that's simply because Sundsvall is about half-way in Sweden and so I thought it could attract more visitors. I was disappointed by a lot of stuff but I would still say that I want to see how Okamicon will evolve and thus I would attend it a second time. It was decent – nothing extraordinary but not a complete flop either. There is a lot of room for improvements and I'm pretty sure that the organizers are already aware of what to do differently for next time.

One thing that I've forgot to mention, and which did bother me, was that there seemed to be no printed activity schedules or such anywhere – so the only way to know what was happening, when and where was to keep religiously checking Okamicon's website and/or social media. I also heard that it was pretty pointless anyway because seemingly a lot of the planned activities were moved, cancelled etc. 
I feel like I've come to expect activity schedules to be visible somewhere at the con and thus the lack of any gave the false feeling of there actually not being anything going on. Okay, there were a few papers taped here and there informing about a single activity but there weren't many of them... and one of them was placed in a dangerous place. -.- I mean really, put a sign on one of the stair steps so that you trip on the stairs while trying to read it as you go up? I almost faceplanted thanks to that dumbass sign; whoever thought it was a good idea to place it there deserves a cactus up their ass. :)

tl;dr – Okamicon faced some major hiccups but it was still somehow enjoyable enough to deserve a second chance from me (aka I would go there again), possibly because it was powered by cute shibes and loafbutt corgis being plastered all over the place.


Thanks for reading and I promise, no hard feelings despite how savage I might have sounded. x) This is definitely not to be taken as a "I hate Okamicon" post!! I will likely return if Okamicon is arranged again. I probably forgot to write something but oh well.