July 5, 2020

[Sponsored] Cosplayflying review: Touken Ranbu Kashuu Kiyomitsu cosplay costume!

Hello fellow geeks!

This review is super late due to the corona virus screwing things up and also because I had no available photographer for a long time. Thankfully now the wait is over and I'm super excited to share this costume review with you all~

Cosplayflying contacted me for a sponsorship offer quite some time ago, I had heard of this shop before and I'm pretty sure I've been oogling the site at least a couple times too lmao. I happily accepted to collaborate as I genuinely enjoy to do reviews and keep the cosplay community informed about everything from lenses to online costume stores. And who doesn't love the opportunity to get a new cosplay? :'D

It wasn't easy to decide on what costume I wanted to review as there's a huge sortiment and constant new arrivals from the latest anime shows. Cosplayflying also sells costumes from TV-series, movies, video games and of course the ever popular superheroes! They also sell wigs and cosplay shoes.
I have to admit that I've been out of the loop with what all the new animes are so, hehe, I ended up picking a costume from something familiar to me since some years back – Touken Ranbu, which I still enjoy. There's a lot of potential cosplay candidates among the sword boys but I chose to go with the smol bean Kashuu Kiyomitsu as I have already cosplayed his uchiban/casual version before and thus already have like the wig and such~

My reviews are always 100% my genuine opinion, no matter if the items were sponsored or bought with my own money. I never compromise my honesty and true thoughts to my readers. 

With all of that said I want to welcome you warmly to a completely honest review of Cosplayflying! I hope you will find this post helpful and feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions after you're done reading.

 Let's go!


~ "Forewords" ~ 

I'd like to mention before I start with this costume review that I often have eagle eyes when I browse cosplay shops, meaning that I do look at even the smallest details and try to figure out how accurate it is to the character in question. Now, of course, I also keep my expectations realistic – you can't get something that's 100% accurate, well-made and with high-end quality fabrics for cheap. "You get what you pay for" is still a relevant saying. 
And also, in the case of Touken Ranbu in particular, I've noticed that every online cosplay store I've come across seems like they started producing the character costumes way before the artbooks existed, meaning that the backside of the costumes often are inaccurate to some degree. This is simply because, back then, no one knew what the backsides of the costumes looked like and so early costume creators had to guess, including cosplay shops. I acknowledge this and this is also why I will be more lenient on the accuracy grading, even though I own one of the artbooks myself.


  ~ Packaging and shipping ~

I am unable to say exactly how long shipping took but, based on the email exchange dates I had with the contact person, I'd say it took roughly one and a half month to arrive from China to Sweden. That's a bit longer than usual but some busy holidays happened during the transit time which, most likely, made my package delayed. I am quite sure that unless you make an order during Christmas, Halloween, Chinese New Year or some other busy event you should be able to get your costume within a month.

This is what the package looked like straight out of the mailbox.
So my costume arrived in the typical plastic wrapping. Thankfully it's just fabric and thus this kind of lightweight shipping has very little risk to damage the contents inside, despite the lack of protection.
I teared up the plastic bag and inside it all the costume pieces were in this one big ziplock bag. It's a little bit like a clothing bag but not so fancy. The ziplock bag does a good job of keeping everything inside, it's very easy to open and close and yes, it's reusable and quite roomy.

All costume parts in the bag.

 ~ Costume thoughts, fabrics and sewing quality ~

When I check the product page on the store there is no mention on what fabric types the costume parts are made of but yeah, they feel and behave like your typical bought costumes feel and behave. Most of the fabrics are lightweight and my educated guess would say that everything is polyester, except maybe for the white undershirt that could be a polycotton blend. Synthetic fabrics are readily available and cheap so they are by far the most common fabric type you'll get when you buy costumes ready-made online. I personally prefer natural fibers when I sew costumes myself but you'd be naive to expect like a linen or wool costume to cost less than 100 dollars so yeah, one can safely assume that bought costumes are like 90% synthetic fabrics haha.

So when I pulled out the costume from the bag I was met with the new costume smell. I don't know why but that smell makes me all giddy and excited lol! My first impression of the costume was that it's pretty nice and extremely accurate to the stock photos on the site. Like I actually went back to compare my received costume to the photos online and I legit can't find a single thing that's different even the golden buttons have the exact same rose pattern on them. Major points right there.

Sewing quality is generally fine on a quick look, seams are straight, edges are serged (although the serger thread settings have been wonky on some places xD) and there weren't that many loose threads poking out. I managed to almost rip the butt seam on the pants though when I crouched down for photos... oops. Thankfully that's an easy fix.

Vest (left) and shirt (right) straight out of the bag.
Pants (left) and jacket (right) straight out of the bag.
The white undershirt is your ordinary button-up dress shirt except with a stand-up collar. It has darts, it's figure sewn and it has cuffs at the sleeves with single button closure. It's thankfully not very see-through at all and, even if it was, the black vest would keep it covered. I don't want to lewd Kashuu as in my eyes he's just a boy lmao.

The vest is pretty nice, it's not a boxy fit at all and it has the proper darts in front and back on both sides. It's sleeveless and the fit is actually pretty snug as it's figure sewn too. Oh, and the inside is lined and the buttons go all the way down and the buttons are metallic with golden color. The vest opens up at the front completely, meaning that all buttonholes are real ones.

I don't really have anything to say about the pants, it's your typical costume pants with pressed legs. One thing to note though is that the golden rope thingy is attached to the pants through two belt loops and can't be removed unless you release it with a seam ripper. The pants have a button and zipper for closure but thankfully there's a bit of elastic at the back, to give some extra width would you need it.

The jacket is my favorite part, of course it is. It's the most recognizable and fancy part of the costume! The emblems (or kamon, to be precise) are printed on and seem to be of good quality. The lapels are lined with gold trims and attached to the main body of the jacket so that they stay in place and look crisp. There's three metallic golden buttons on each side of the jacket's front but they are purely decorational as Kashuu wear his jacket open and well, there's no buttonholes for them anyway and the jacket is too narrow lol. The black and red rhombic lining is just like Kashuu has in the game and it's a very nice detail! The jacket also has slight shoulder padding to make it fit better and look more important. Oh and yeah, the length is down to my knees.
My only little nitpicks are that the jacket would feel even more valuable if the main fabric had some weight to it but now it at least flares out during windy days and that's pretty cool too. Another little thing I'd like to mention is that according to the artbook Kashuu has a strap on the back of the jacket (it's probably there to gather excess material) and I actually messaged Cosplayflying and asked if they could add this strap and sent with reference photos. They did not do it nor did they answer that part of the email, so either they didn't understand or they ignored or missed my request. Regardless it's no big deal.

All the decorations laid out.
So the costume consists of four main parts (shirt, vest, jacket and pants) and then a bunch of what I'd like to call decorations like the belt, the scarf and the hand armors which come in two parts and are made of PU-leather, aka pleather. The hand armors consist of a lower part and an upper part – the lower part attaches with wide elastic on the back while the upper part has straps with buttons at the ends. The belt is also PU-leather with a metallic belt buckle, it definitely feels like a costume belt as the belt itself is really really thin and it would likely wear down quickly if you used it daily.

Bracers attach like this on the underside.
The armors are what I expected them to be, in good and bad. They look decent and you can tell they are for Kashuu's costume but they are simple and lack details. Also, they are soft so they don't really look like armor, ya know? This is just me being picky but I acknowledge that you obviously won't get professional worbla armors from a Chinese cosplay store so it's pretty much always pleather and well, pleather easily looks cheap in my opinion. I will likely replace these at some point as they are too big for me anyways (the upper parts are huge, they spin around my arms and won't stay put) but for now they will work. Also, I don't understand why the lower halves don't have a "finger ring" so that you could secure them in place by treading the loop through your middle finger. Feels a bit like a missed no-brainer. ^^" Yes, they also move around a bit but far from as much as the upper bracers as the elastic keeps them on tightly.

The hair clip came attached to the bracer, which left teeth marks on the pleather.
The hairpin is supposed to be the white ribbon for the ponytail but I didn't use it as I already have my wig tied by other means. It's a considerate addition in case they add in case you forgot this little detail.

The scarf is very simple and loooong.
And lastly there's the scarf Kashuu wears hanging from his neck. It's really long, just like it should be, and the material is lightweight and pleasant to the touch. The fabric has some elastic qualities and it's very soft; I think it might actually be tricot or something like that as the scarf doesn't feel like the typical polyester at all. It flies in the wind easily if you move around. It's basically made as a long strip of fabric that has been folded in half, sewn shut and then the edges have been cut up and sealed with a seam across to make the tassels. Very simple.

What is included:
• Undershirt
• Vest
• Jacket
• Belt
• Gloves and bracers
• Hairpin
• Scarf
• Pants

What is NOT included:
• Wig
• Earrings
• Sword 
Boots

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Detail photos ahead!
All photos taken by Heesman.
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Jacket front close-up.
Emblem close-up. Notice the lapel has decorative fabric.
Rope thingy, belt and lining details.
Back close-up of jacket hem. It flares outwards.
Two-part hand armor details.
This cosplay is about 100% accurate to the stock photos on the site, which is awesome. I can only speak for this particular costume so make sure to study the stock photos closely as you are likely to get something really similar to it if you buy from Cosplayflying.

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Full cosplay photos below!
Photos taken by Heesman.
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Front view.
Side view.
Back view.
Want to get your own Kashuu Kiyomitsu cosplay? Check links below!

Link to Cosplayflying main page: Cosplayflying Online Cosplay Store
Costume link: Cosplayflying Kashuu Kiyomitsu Cosplay Costume

BONUS: USE DISCOUNT CODE CFSS2019920 TO GET 12% OFF~

CLICK HERE FOR MORE COSPLAY PHOTOS!



Cosplayflying store & Kashuu Kiyomitsu costume rundown Pros and cons:

+ Fabrics are pretty nice
+ 100% accurate to store's stock photos
+ The fact they even had Kashuu's battle costume
+ Mostly accurate to official character references
+ Sewing quality is fine
+ Metallic belt buckle and buttons
+ Jacket details
+ Shipping time as expected
+ Safe packaging
+ Very affordable prices, great value
+ Customer service speaks good English

+/- Some costume parts were a tight fit (note: custom size)

- Bracer armor straps are huge
- I asked to get the jacket strap added but they missed it


~ Sizing ~

I never fit into any standard sizes so I always have to ask for custom size, which is a bit troublesome as even then I rarely receive a perfect fit. Some parts are often too big and others too small and this applies to all cosplay online stores in general. In the case of Kashuu's costume it was mainly snug but still wearable, the only thing I couldn't button down completely (that is supposed to be buttoned) was the white shirt but thankfully no one will ever see my unbuttoned sin as the vest hides it. xD 
I want to mention that I am pretty sure that even if you order "custom size" it won't actually be custom, I am fairly certain that the store just mixes and matches stuff from the standard sizes to get one that is as close to your size as possible you can get lucky with an amazing fit this way or you might get something that is closer but still not perfect. :) 
Just be prepared with bought costumes that it's likely you might need to do some small modifications yourself so yeah, some sewing handiness (or a relative who can help) is a great asset.


Kashuu Kiyomitsu reference image.


~ Conclusion and final thoughts ~

I am overall super pleased with Cosplayflying and my received costume. I was so happy they contacted me and that they've been so patient through this whole covid-19 situation that grossly delayed my review. ;_;
The cosplay is really beautiful on photos, it's fun to wear and very recognizable for fans of the game (and anime)! I might do some smaller modifications at some point to make it even better but even as-is this costume is great and ready for an anime convention, a themed party, video game events or any kind of social geeky meetup where you want to dress up. Be nerdy and rock it!

Cosplayflying's turn-around times are comparable to other Asia-based online shops, so make sure you plan in advance and order at least a couple months prior to the event you need the costume for, just to make sure that if anything happens you still have time. Quality seems similar to their competitors but I have to say that getting a cosplay that looks exactly like on the stock photos was huuuuuge! I can't of course know if it's 100% accuracy for all costumes on their site (which there are a ton of, in my opinion they have more costumes than other stores and of rarer characters too!) but I trust Cosplayflying a lot after this review and I'd love to work with them again.

Any negative pointers I brought up are honestly so minor it's really of no concern considering how incredibly cheap this costume is, which is $72.99 at the time of writing. If you think that's expensive for a full costume you honestly have no idea how much it would actually cost to hire a professional seamstress to custom-make a costume for you. No but seriously, I enjoy making costumes but I also enjoy just vibin' and sometimes having the costume arrive ready-made in your mailbox is incredibly convenient. I give two thumbs up to Cosplayflying and I would not hesitate to recommend them forward!

Final Grade (from A-F): A-
Recommend to others: Yes



That about sums it up. I hope you found this review helpful and hey, if you are new here and like what you see do hit that "follower" button!

A huge thank you goes out to Cosplayflying for making this review possible and to you for reading this!
Shiro Samurai out.

June 29, 2020

[Sponsored] Rosegal online fashion shop review!

Hello folks!

Remember this post I made a while back? Yep, this is what that was for. :) 

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. I doubt that the products I'm showing are available anymore but I still want to share this review. This is an almost complete repost of the original blog entry, any new edits I will specifically mark with an edit note and italics.

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So, Rosegal contacted me a while ago and offered a collaboration; I took a quick look at the site, liked it and then I also did some googling, as I always do before I accept an offer. I was really concerned that several sites claimed them to be a scam as being honest is extremely important to me when I do reviews. I was wiggling back and forth for a while before I decided on taking the bait as I'd get a chance to see for my own eyes what they're like.

Rosegal is a fashion and clothing online store; the styles they carry vary from mainstream to alternative and everything in between. You are guaranteed to find something you like and the sortiment changes every now and then. There's also sales often! 

Kindly note that the items I'm reviewing in this post were sponsored by Rosegal but that ALL opinions and text is my own. I do not compromise my honesty. Ever.

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Shipping: I honestly don't remember the exact shipping time at all so I'm gonna refrain from mentioning that as I don't want to be terribly wrong, but it might have been around 2 weeks. Now I need to mention that I searched on their site but couldn't find any information about where they were located prior to agreeing to partner with them, which I thought was pretty weird. I ended up googling and found that they were from China, much to my expectations, and the package also confirmed it when it arrived. The shipment went through the Netherlands and I assume the courier was "PostNL" because that's what the printed label says. Not sure if they shipped from an European warehouse or if they shipped from China and just repackaged in Europe and took a different carrier.

The package was this kind of light gray plastic bag and inside the items were packaged separately. All the small accessories were in their own small plastic bags and the sweatshirt and the pants were also separate.
I regret to inform that I am 100% sure that I took photos of the package before I opened it but I've checked through my computers, the camera's SD card and everything and they're nowhere to be found! I have no idea where the photos went but if I have to guess I think the files either got corrupted (happens sometimes) or I might have accidentally deleted them when I was making room for more photos.

Products: Rosegal offered me products for a set price total and I ended up picking one sweatshirt, harem pants, two necklaces and a fake leather bracelet. I'll add product links below while I go through each piece of clothing. ^^ Enjoy!  
Edit: The links do not work anymore as the products have sold out and been removed from the sortiment since then.

I'm sorry I don't have one of those fashionable
houses and fancy mirrors to take photos on, lmao.
The shirt I got was the Water Drop Printed Crew Neck Sweatshirt (in size L) and I must admit that it's stinking cute! Rosegal's online shop has an insane amount of products for sale, you can literally spend hours just scrolling page after page! Needless to say I had a hard time deciding on what I wanted as there were so many options to choose from. I eventually settled on this adorable whale shirt and I'm so glad that I did – in case you have no idea I'll just mention quickly that I've always been extremely fascinated by the sea, ships, marine life and so on and yeah, whales are no exception. This print is just irresistibly cute and colorful!

Whale print close-up.
The color is a really dark blue and I had a surprise when I saw that the sweatshirt is actually 95% cotton and 5% polyester. I was dead-set on it being polyester as I've come to assume cheap clothing, especially from overseas, always is chemical fibers. It's soft to the touch and comfortable and I was just overall positively surprised. I must mention though that I am not completely convinced that it really is almost fully cotton as the touch of the fabric is a bit, different – it's almost as if the surface could have been processed or treated with something to make it more, err, slippery or silky, I guess. If I wanted to be sure I could always do a burn test but I have no fabric scraps so oh well. Yes, I'm studying to become a tailor and we've recently had a course on how to tell different fabric types apart by burning them and checking how they behave...
I did not spot any poor sewing, weird seams or such – it seemed completely normal. I have not tried washing it yet so I don't know how especially the print will behave; I hope it won't flake, crack or anything. 

Shirt worn. Sorry I was a bit tired. x)
This is the kind of clothing that I'd call a "fashion sweater" or "blog sweater", meaning that I wouldn't wear it for full days but mainly for photographing and such, to keep it from deteriorating too fast as I love the cute, water-spouting whale a bit too much for my own good...
The shirt's tag says it's made in China and should be washed in 30°C to prolong its life. I don't expect this kind of alternative fashion clothing to last very long as daily wear and so I use them gently.
 
Sleeve mouth is rib knit...
... and so is the hem.
I got some slight red rashes at the wrists after wearing the sweater for a while, I think it's because the sleeve ribs are a bit tight. The overall fit/pattern is okay but quite snug, even the L size. As an European guy who's below average height (the shirt is marketed for men?) and has a smallish build it's still tight-fitting so yeah, China size it is.

Next up is the pants, which are actually my first harem pants ever. It's the Vintage Geometric Print Casual Harem Pants. Not gonna lie, I've been wanting to buy harem pants for years as I love the look of baggy, slightly eccentric wear. There were several prints to choose from but I picked these mainly because of the color and vintage vibes.


Weirdly enough there is no tush tag at all, meaning I have no idea how to care for these or what material they are and where they've been made. I would assume made in China at least but the feel of the fabric is like medium-weight cotton or muslin but the product page claims polyester, which has me hella confused. Again, a burn test would easily show which one it is but if it really is polyester then damn, that's a good copy. *shrugs* Whatever it is it feels nice and the pants are really roomy.
They actually only come in one size and funnily enough I was concerned that they'd be too small (China size is always a risk) but they are really freaking big, like really. When I first pulled them out you should have seen my face, it was this mix of confusion and horror. xD Like I was sure I'd be able to fit me and my clone in it at the same time, lmao. I'm not kidding, they're really huge! Much bigger than I expected, although I have no previous experience with harem pants so I can't compare with what's usual.

Notice the elastic waistband.
The feet and waist has elastics to keep them in place. There's two butt pockets as well.
These are super easy to wear and will fit quite literally anyone, although I feel like they're a bit on the tall side. I probably could pull them up all the way to my chest if I wanted but that would look hella ridiculous so nuh-uh.
I actually wore these out when I went to visit an outdoor market and I had no problem with biking in them; I thought it would be hazardous because of the super low crotch but it was actually fine. Yes, the crotch seam is of course super low, which makes the typical look of cozy harem pants. Fair warning though that in some unflattering poses/angles it might look like you're wearing a giant diaper for a second, haha.

And now we get to the accessories. I've been a metalhead for most of my life so of course I checked if there were anything cool for my tastes too, as I like both cute and cool stuff. I ended up finding the Punk Faux Leather Wolf Printing Bracelet, a brown fake leather wristband with a wolf design!




It's pretty straightforward and what you'd expect. There's a notable fake leather smell but I actually like the smell, haha. You close it with the typical buckle and strap closure and the whole bracelet feels pretty solid. It's made in China just like almost everything is nowadays although much to my surprise this was actually quite generous in size and adjustable on top of that. This bracelet should fit just fine for most people.

Bracelet laid out flat.
The wolf head print is on both ends so it's pretty sure to be visible. I think it's a pretty rad accessory for punk fans, rockers and others who dig this kind of accessories! It seems durable enough, considering the inexpensive price and so I have no complaints. I'll most likely wear it for concerts and such.

Next is the Artificial Gem Moon Round Pendant Necklace. A moon shaped necklace with a fantasy feeling to it. I actually bought a really similar one years ago from SheIn although I can't find it. I guess I chose this as a reserve in case I lost my original one, as I did like it.


The site says that it's alloy but that seems a bit... unspecific to me? Oh well. The chain's a bit on the short end (can't be pulled over head, at least not for me) and the closure system is the typical one you see on a majority of all necklaces. It closes with no issues, doesn't seem to be flimsy or of poor quality either. It's a beautiful necklace and the blue "galaxy ball" is eye-catching. I don't worry that it would fall apart anytime soon and I feel like it will bring a lot to my outfits whenever I wear it out!

Last but not least we have the PU Leather Anchor Pendant Choker. I know it's meant for women but who the fudge cares? Breaking gender norms is lit. No but seriously, I picked this because of my marine fascination and yeah, I love anchors. The title says PU leather but that seems wrong to me, to be honest. It seems like fabric and has a soft, velvet-ish touch. It's not leathery at all.


I don't think I've ever owned a choker before but eh, gotta try something new every once in a blue moon! The pendant is super nice, no idea what material it is exactly but I hope that it won't rust. It's made in China too (surprise surprise) and was ultra cheap. For the price I really can't complain, it does it's job, looks nice enough and the closure system is the same as on the moon necklace. It's a bit snug so yeah, good thing I have a small build in this case because even just a slightly wider neck and it would have been unwearable so yeah, on that front it makes sense it's marketed for women.

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That about sums it up for this review on what I got from Rosegal and my experiences and impressions! Thank you for reading this far. 

Quality ★★★★☆
Price  ★★★★★
Value ★★★★☆
Shipping  ★★★☆☆
Customer service ★★★☆☆

Summary: I didn't have any trouble with their service or products at all and I'm happy with what I got! Everything was of generally decent quality (especially considering the price), the kind that you'd expect from inexpensive Asia based fashion shops – if you've bought from SheIn or similar shops you'll know what kind of quality to expect, although it can still vary a lot depending on what exactly you buy. "You get what you pay for" definitely applies.
My general rule of thumb for my own purchases is to focus on casual wear, like t-shirts and such, as that's much more likely to be as advertised and not a potential disappointment if the quality isn't up to par with your expectations. I certainly would think twice before ordering anything that I know is supposed to be expensive (let's say fancier dresses, suits and bridal stuff) but yeah, that's just me. Oh, and material information seems like it could be inaccurate too. 
Also, I can't really say anything about their customer service as I did not have to deal with it.

Edit: I've been wearing those harem pants a lot; washed them, took them on a trip to Germany in late 2019 where I wore them daily both indoors and outdoors. I've worn them in sunshine and rain and they are by far my favorite pants in my whole closet. The quality has held up after all this time and I'm amazed with them. I legit want to throw all my other pants into a fire pit and just buy a ton of harem pants lol. I've improved the overall quality score with one star.

Overall my experience with Rosegal is a positive one and I'd feel safe dealing with them in the future as well. I don't feel like I got anything of poor quality and even though the prices seem like a "too good to be true" case sometimes, I still feel like they're trustable and deliver products that match the stock images, at least as long as you use some common sense when shopping. I give major points for the absolutely massive selection of goods ranging from wigs and clothes to home decor as well – can't deny it's convenient to have everything in the same place. Although it does stir in me a slight feeling of "jack of all trades but master of none" haha.
I also feel a need to state that I am very well aware that, as a blogger and reviewer, that I'm more likely to be given their best service so yeah, I can't guarantee that they will give that same service to everyone. Any online website is always a risk, unfortunately. But my personal experience is a good one, based on this collaboration and the products that I chose. :)

Edit: I just want to clarify that I am very aware of how bad "fast/cheap fashion" is for the environment, but in my defense I extremely rarely buy new clothes. I mainly buy second-hand and try to only buy what I really want or what I need. Shop responsibly to save our planet.


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Thank you for reading. Thank you Rosegal for this opportunity!
Shiro Samurai out.

June 20, 2020

Lens review: Princess Pinky Green Werewolf

Rawr!

Nah, just kidding. I will do a circle lens review today and it's a funky monster lens known as Princess Pinky Green Werewolf! :D You might remember that ages ago, back when I first started using lenses, I reviewed the Orange Werewolf lenses it was a bit nostalgic to try these bad boys on, haha. In fact that previous review is my most viewed lens review to date.

Let's do this!



Base curve: 8.6 mm
Diameter: 14.5 mm
Water content: 38%
Life span: 1 year (I recommend 6 months)


So unlike that previous review with the GEO Animation CP-A3 these lenses are what I expect when I grab myself some crazy lenses! These are fearless, bold, have insane opacity and there's not an inch of doubt that these wouldn't show from a long distance. In fact it wouldn't surprise me if I scared the crap out of my perpetually drunk neighbor with these. xD

I suspect the Princess Pinky brand is unique to Pinky Paradise, that's where I got mine. I don't remember buying these for any particular cosplay, although I can definitely see these used for some characters. I actually just bought these because I simply wanted to try them.

One lens in.
I popped one into my eye and was blown away. These are so intense and vivid it's nuts! No regrets! I absolutely love these babies, the green color is unapologetically opaque and it's monstrous in a good way. That yellow inner circle adds to the creepiness and, while it looks a bit silly up close, it actually looks cool from a distance. The only slight minus is how abrupt the pupil hole is but I can't really complain because that's quite standard on crazy and super opaque lenses in general.
There is also a very distinct, rather thick black limbal ring which frames the eyes and makes them stand out even more. Also, you might notice that unlike most crazy lenses these are actually quite big, aka there is a notable enlargement boost.

Lens photos ahead ~
All photos taken by me during a June morning with a clear 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 distant natural light.
Facing window. Not sun side.
Outdoors, back against sun. Facing wall.
Outdoors, facing sun while standing under a shadow.
Outdoors, facing sun directly.
I regret not getting around to these earlier because by the time I did this review these lenses had already expired, sadly. :'( This means that I had to discard them as soon as I was done taking the photos crai evritim and that also means that my comfort grades are based solely on a single first impression and a rough estimate on wearing time which, in this case, I think might be somewhere around 3-5 hours on dry eyes. But from what little time I wore these I can tell that they were overall comfortable and invisible to wear except for that the left lens was a bit stingy directly after insertion but that it disappeared soon enough. These lenses give me colored corners at the edges of my vision, especially in poorer lights (indoors) where the pupil is dilated. This is very common with crazy lenses in general because they often have a smaller pupil hole than your average circle lens.

I would recommend these lenses for Halloween parties, funky fashion, punk rockers, monsters, cosplayers, evil skeleton lords of the dead and anything else you can imagine that would be better with some absolutely ballistic eyes of madness! Oh, and werewolves of course, probably radioactive ones. In all honesty if you like flashy, batshit crazy lenses that turn heads then you'll want these in your arsenal. 

Distance photo!


Check out my other review! It's here: Orange

Short summary:

Color: 10/10 
Hyper bold, as green as green can be and all over your face. HELL YEAH.
Design: 8/10 
It might not be detailed but it mimics a wolf's eye and it works for the intended purpose.
Opacity: 10/10
You won't get any more opaque lenses than this. Very dense pigmentation, no transparency.
Enlargement: 5/10 
For a crazy lens these are big but it's still not a lot.
Comfort: 7/10 
Comfortable, I barely feel them except for colored corners in my vision. Rough estimate 3-5 hours on dry eyes, which is solid.
Naturalness: 0/10 
I really don't think so lmao.

Hope you enjoyed this review, stay tuned for more!

June 18, 2020

Lens review: GEO Animation CP-A3

Yoo!

It's been a while since I last did a review for an animation style lens so today I'll do just that. I will review the GEO Animation CP-A3, a pink/violet anime style lens!

Let's go~



Base curve: 8.6 mm
Diameter: 14.2 mm
Water content: 40±2
Life span: 1 year (I recommend 6 months)


I've reviewed several of GEO's Animation style lenses before so if you are curious about other designs you can find my previous reviews over here, just scroll to the end of the list.

As with any GEO lenses make sure that your pair has the correct authenticity stickers before you proceed to wear them because yes, fake lenses exist and especially counterfeit GEO lenses as it's one of the most popular brands. Always buy your lenses from a reputable online store.

One lens in.
So I tried these lenses on and I'm not gonna lie, my immediate reaction was disappointment. These feel notably more "washed out" and lackluster than the other GEO Animation lenses I've tried. They don't really 'pop', so to say, and when you look close you can clearly see the net-like pixelation and to be honest it's rather ugly and looks fake. I mean yeah these look fake regardless but when I buy this kind of animation/crazy lenses I've come to expect an intensely opaque lens that borderline jumps at you. xD These just feel very tame and boring to me, idk really, your mileage may vary.

Regarding the design itself it's the type that I'd call the "shoujo manga" style, a pinkish violet base color with white light flecks scattered about to mimic teary eyes I guess. These are rather small, there's only a modest enlargement effect and the dark limbal ring is barely noticeable it doesn't really provide any additional cutesy points.

Lens photos ahead ~
All photos taken by me during a June morning with a clear 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.

Natural room light indoors.
Yellow room light indoors.
Bathroom light.
Flash photo.
Unlit corridor. Poor distant natural light.
Facing window. Not sun side.
Outdoors, back against the sun. Facing wall.
Outdoors, facing the sun while standing under a shadow.
Outdoors, facing the sun directly.
As with most other lens reviews I've been doing lately I only got around to do this review once the lenses had expired sadly, which means that I immediately discarded them once I was done taking photos for this review and that also means that I can't really grade comfort properly. Thus my comfort grade is based on first impressions only and a rough estimate for wearing time, which I deem to be around 4-5 hours on dry eyes. Yes, I know I've been trashing these lenses but the comfort was surprisingly good in fact. They were comfortable, thin and I barely felt them at all. There were no notable colored corners or vision blur.

I'm not sure if I would recommend these lenses, it depends on if you need this particular design for a cosplay or not. I mean if you plan to cosplay like something from Sailor Moon or the like then sure, get these, but otherwise I'm not sure because I doubt these would really show up that well on photos tbh. On close-ups they are fine and you can clearly tell my eyes have an unnatural color to them. I think the CP-A3 would work for kawaii fashion styles though, maybe even more so than for cosplaying. Arrgh I can't decide if I like these or not.

Distance photo below.


Short summary:

Color: 6/10 
It's a nice pinkish violet color but for a crazy/animation lens it isn't bright enough.
Design: 6/10 
It has a teary eye design inspired by Japanese cartoons. It's cute.
Opacity: 6/10
My eyes turn pink alright, but the pigmentation is rather sparse as you can clearly see the net-like pixels and gaps if you look closer.
Enlargement: 4/10 
There's a tiny size boost but it's not really noticeable unless you only wear one lens.
Comfort: 7/10 
Comfy, thin and I barely feel them. No tunnel vision or colored corners. Estimated 4-5 hours on dry eyes.
Naturalness: 4/10 
Well, I guess this is the highest natural score I'll ever give a GEO Animation lens lol.

Thanks for reading my blog!