August 3, 2020

Lens review: GEO Color Nine Light Red

Hello folks!

I'm continuing with the circle lens reviews again, need to pick up the pace as the sunlight hours will soon start decreasing and that's gonna make things harder for me. ^^" Today I'm reviewing the GEO Color Nine Light Red, a tiny dark red lens that is quite suitable for cosplay if you need said color.

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 honestly bought these ages ago and have no memory from what site; they seem a bit hard to find and I remember they were hard to find all those years ago too. It's almost as if I wonder if this series has been discontinued since then? Whatever the case I will still review them as it's a nice lens and this color is pretty hard to come by.

One lens in.
This is a quite small lens, there's not a particularly big enlargement effect although there is a black rim that does add an illusion of bigger eyes.  They are just slightly bigger than my natural iris as you can see, pretty good if you don't want moe eyes. :) I would maybe recommend these if you need dark red lenses for a serious or shounen type anime character cosplay.

So it's a super dark red, like really dark. The darkest red lens I've worn to date, I think? It's a deep color, a bit wine red in shade but it's intense and definitely cool. The design is quite simple but sometimes less is more! I would say that the design and modest size makes these very versatile. The opacity is great, I have nothing to complain about as it obviously changes my eye color. One might notice though that when you look closer the whole print of the lens itself is made up of countless tiny dots, this makes it so that your real eye color does somewhat affect the final color outcome – in my case the lenses have a slight hue of a cherry red in the vials but turn blood red when worn.

Lens photos ahead ~
All photos taken by me during an August noon 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.
In a corridor with poor, distant natural light only.
Facing a window. (not sun side)
Outdoors, back against the sun. (facing the wall)
Outdoors, facing the sun while standing under a shadow.
Outdoors, facing the sun.
I can't really judge comfort as these had sadly expired by the time I got around to do this review so I basically just snapped the photos and immediately discarded the lenses after. Yes, this is the fate of most lenses I've reviewed lately and will be for many more to come as I found that goddamn box that I had yeeted into storage and forgot about and yes, it was filled with lenses. So sadly there was a lot of pretty lenses in the box but I figured I'd at least review them in case it helps someone, out there, some day. 
So yep, in other words I can only base comfort on my first (and only) impression of wearing these lenses for the approximately 20 minutes it took to take the photos. They felt kinda decent, I did feel them in my eyes but it wasn't outright uncomfortable except for that one lens was a lil' bit scratchy while the other one was perfectly fine. My vision was slightly blurred and they might have been a tiny bit drying? I'm honestly not sure if it was the lenses or my eyes cuz my eyes were already dry before I started doing the review lol. But yeah, on a good day (assuming I had non-expired lenses, of course) I would maybe have been able to wear these around 3-4 hours I think, which is pretty decent considering how sensitive and naturally dry my eyes are.

I don't have so much to say about these lenses, really. They are small, have a rarer bloodish shade of red and thanks to the simple design they lend themselves to cosplay, Halloween monsters and why not metalheads, goths and others who dress in dark styles. This is maybe not as much of a cutesy lens as most circle lenses are so it's a rather "low threshold" lens to try if you're a first-timer or looking for an unnatural color that somehow doesn't have fake plastered all over it.

Distance photo below.

 
Short summary:

Color: 6/10 
A really deep, dark red lens. Yes, the name Light Red is deceiving lol.
Design: 6/10 
It's a simple design with a black rim, single color and has a streaked center.
Opacity: 8/10
My eyes are obviously not light blue-gray anymore. Great coverage despite the "dotty print".
Enlargement: 4/10 
Very slight enlargement effect, mainly just an illusion from the black rim. Won't make or break anything.
Comfort: 5/10 
Overall quite decent but perhaps a bit dryish and one of the lenses was a little bit scratchy? Minor vision blur.
Naturalness: 3/10 
Cut the color some slack and it's not too shabby due to the lack of size.. for being a red lens.

Thanks for reading my blog! More reviews coming soon~

July 25, 2020

Lens review: Vassen Dolly Plus Green

Hello everyone!

It is me and it's time for another circle lens review. This time it's the Vassen Dolly Plus Green, sometimes also spelled as Vassen Dolly+ Green. Not gonna lie, I had high hopes for these and was sooooo disappointed! D:

Hang on, I'll show y'all~



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


Look how gorgeous that color appears in the vials! I was admiring it for so long, hoping they'd be just as vibrant and fresh when worn but alas, my hopes and dreams were crushed in the mud. ;_; Honestly many years ago these were among my top "must try" lenses and the disappointment I felt once I saw them in my eyes was immense. I really wanted them to actually have that cheerful, turquoise color but no...

One lens in.
Urrrrgh! I just can't. Look at that ugly, boring color that just muddled up into a near soulless mess with my eyes! I don't remember when I've last been this let down by lenses. I dislike these and now I can only hope that the other Dolly Plus lenses I have yet to review will have a nicer color...

But if we ignore the sub-par color payoff for a while I'd like to say that the design itself is likable, it's a cute and very versatile style that can be used for many things. It's maybe not the most unique as I'm sure there are lenses out there with similar designs, but this is a good "base design". Also, as with most Vassen lenses these are on the bigger side, in terms of size, and the black rim adds a dolly look along with the illusion of even bigger eyes. 

The opacity is... well. It does change my eye color but I think it blends and thus darkened way too much to look good. I don't know, maybe these would look a lot better on other eye colors? On my light eyes it looks like shit most of the time, unless I go outdoors during sunshine or get that coveted 'halo effect' to appear, then the true color of the lenses will peek out a bit. Yeah I know I'm being quite harsh, it could have been worse but my expectations were super high; I had been saving these for that perfect photoshoot and then I forgot about their existence cuz I stored them away in a box for literal years. Oh well, unlike with the previous lenses I reviewed I feel no regretti spaghetti over these lenses having expired by the time I, err, refound them.

Lens photos below!
All photos taken by me during a July noon with a semi-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.
Indoors, in a corridor with poor distant natural light.
Facing a 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.
In terms of comfort I, once again, are basing my grades on like 15 minutes of first impressions due to the lenses having expired by the time I got around to do this review. This means that I literally only wore them to take these photos and then I immediately discarded them. I stress, do not wear expired lenses for anime conventions etc even if they feel okay. It is always a risk to your eyes.  
But what I can say from wearing these lenses that short time was that they feel thin and I barely felt them. They were potentially a bit dryish but there were no other discomforts and I suspect that, if they had not passed expiry date I could potentially have worn them around 3-4 hours, which is pretty decent in my book. I have super dry and sensitive eyes naturally so anything past 4 hours without eyedrops is rare.

I don't know, maybe someone out there likes these but for me they are ugly as shite unless in specific light conditions. The design is pretty but the color is just horrible. I would not recommend these if you have the same or a similar eye color to me (grayish blue), unless you specifically need this color for a cosplay or just, you know, you actually like it? I really don't, ahahah. This kind of color is exactly what I fear I'd get when I buy blue-green lenses. But oh well, now I know not to buy these although for someone else these might be exactly what they are looking for. Life is weird like that.

Distance photo below.


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

Short summary:


Color: 2/10
Bleugh! Immensely disappointing on light gray-blue eyes. Was hoping for a fresh, popping and bold turquoise but got an uninspiring
mess of swamp troll poo. :(
Design: 8/10 

Cute and simple, very versatile style with a dolly effect.
Opacity: 3/10 
It changes the color of my eyes but my real eye color affects the outcome a lot and well, it's not pretty.
Enlargement: 8/10
Very big.
Comfort: 6/10 
Thin and I barely feel them. Potentially drying but I have dry eyes naturally so not sure if lenses or bad eye day lol.
Naturalness: 4/10
Too big to really be believable.

Would you wear these or do you also find them underwhelming?

July 21, 2020

Lens review: Vassen Sweet Bliss Red

Hello folks~

Today's review will be about the Vassen Sweet Bliss Red, sometimes also known as Vassen Cloud Nine Red. This is an amazing lens for cosplay, it really pops and the color is awesome!

Let's do this!



Base curve: 8.6 mm
Diameter: 14.5 mm
Water content: 55% 
Life span: 1 year (I recommend 6 months)


This is a lens with a design that stands out! There's this bold, striking black rim with small black lines running along it that creates a very cartoony effect. The color is placed in what to me looks like "teary eye" styled blocks with varying transparency. This is quite an unique way to do the color and one might think that, with such an intense shade of red, that the lenses would look really over-the-top when worn but it actually looks just perfect due to the opacity not being solid all through.Yes, some spots are more see-through than others but this is a clever way to slightly lessen the unnatural impact, even if red lenses are unnatural by default lol. What I'm saying is that if the design was different these would look a lot freakier and more like crazy style lenses.

One lens in.
OMGGGGG these are so beautiful!? Like holy crud I'm kicking myself for forgetting that I had these because these lenses would have been so frickin' perfect for cosplay. ;_; Yes, sadly these had expired by the time I found that forgotten cardboard box I had stashed them in. Fuck my life. And it's not like they were the only pretty lenses in that box, rip. 
Oh well, I got to wear them for the review at least and now I definitely know that these are on the repurchase list for when I need red lenses again! It's such a pretty color, very intense and the 'anime' look is so eye-catching. There is a big enlargement effect and I did notice slight red corners in my field of vision while I was indoors, likely due to the pupil hole being just a tad smaller than on average circle lenses. It's nothing that really hinders or bother me in any way though.

My natural eye color is a grayish blue and the color coverage is just right! It is obviously red, even when viewed from a distance but it looks lively and youthful due to the previously mentioned "teary eye" effect, which I adore. Vassen Sweet Bliss (or Cloud Nine) is such a cute lens series!

Lens photos below!
All photos taken by me during a July noon with a semi-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.
Facing the window, not sun side.
Indoors, in a corridor with only poor distant natural light.
Outdoors, back against sun. Facing wall.
Outdoors, facing the sun while standing under a shadow.
Outdoors, facing the sun directly.
I can't grade comfort fairly, as the lenses had expired by the time I did this review, but based on my first impressions during the short time I wore them I can say that they felt very comfortable and they were thin. So thin in fact that the lenses were a bit floppy on my fingers and thus a bit hard to insert lol. I have very dry eyes naturally but I did not experience any discomfort whatsoever, although I would still not recommend wearing expired lenses for any event. I only wore these for the time it took to snap the photos and then I immediately discarded them for safety reasons, approximately 15 minutes.

So if I hadn't gushed enough already I will say it once more – these lenses are a great choice for cosplayers! Like really, no doubt. Of course personal preference is still a thing but if you are looking for a cartoon style lens with great color intensity, adorable design and that doesn't look creepy then this is where it's at! A stellar choice for cosplay (duh!), j-fashion and why not goths? Rock these babies!

Distance photo!


Want to see Sweet Bliss lenses in other colors?
Check these out: Gray, Brown, Green, Pink, Violet, Blue
 
Short summary:

Color: 9/10
Amazing and intriguing medium red shade that is sure to be pickep up.
Very bold!
Design: 9/10 

Super cute "teary eye" style lens that looks very much like Japanese cartoons.
Opacity: 8/10 
Great coverage, my eyes are obviously red. Real eye color does show through due to the design but that's really not an issue in this case, in fact it's a good thing as it dampens the "crazy lens" effect.
Enlargement: 8/10
Definitely big and with a notable dolly eye effect.
Comfort: 7/10 
Thin and invisible to wear. A bit floppy in handling. Red corners in vision in poor light conditions. Estimated 4-5 hours of wear on dry, sensitive eyes.
Naturalness: 2/10
If you are getting cartoony red lenses hoping they'd be natural I don't know what to tell you? Naturalness is kinda not the point with these even if they avoid looking freaky.

Thanks for reading my blog!

July 6, 2020

[Sponsored] Cosplayflying Touken Ranbu Kashuu Kiyomitsu mini photoshoot!

Good day beans~

I promised a mini photoshoot after the Kashuu Kiyomitsu cosplay costume review I did recently and here it now is! This costume was sponsored by Cosplayflying but my opinions are no less my own than usual and yes, I am very happy with this costume! It fits a bit snug and I plan to replace the armors but otherwise this costume is great and, best of all, it actually was 100% accurate to the stock photos on the site! I had to double-check to believe it haha!
I will include some links after the photos on where you can get your own Kashuu cosplay like this – or any other costume you desire! Be sure to check it out~

Fun fact about this photoshoot is that we actually took these photos at midnight. Yes, we have midnight sun up here where I live and it means that the sun never sets during the summer. And yes, you get used to it. I would have loved to get more photos but we got so bombed by uninvited guests that it got unbearable fairly fast... namely a metric fuckton of mosquitos that assaulted both me and my friend at all times. I don't know why but my whole life I've been a literal mosquito magnet, it's horrible, I can barely go outside during summers without getting at least half a dozen bites within minutes. ;_; I AM THE UNDISPUTED KING OF MOSQUITO BITES LOLOLOL. And summer nights are the worst but our only option was to take the photos on this one day because the weather was clear (it rained the other days) and well, we just had to endure getting eaten alive. No joke but I swear we had at least fifty flying suckers buzzing around us at all times – we were swatting them and cursing profanities every second because you literally could not take a pose without having at least ten of the fuckers somewhere on your costume. Tbh it wasn't as graceful as the photos make you believe. xD I have pictures on my camera where I have three on my forehead alone and I just can't. Just looking at some of the unused photos makes me feel the itch. D:

But now it's photo time!

Cosplayer: Shiro Samurai (Kashuu Kiyomitsu)
Photographer: Heesman
Photo editor: Shiro Samurai
 



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

USE DISCOUNT CODE CFSS2019920 TO GET 12% OFF YOUR PURCHASE~
 (using the code doesn't benefit me*, it just saves you money!)

This Kashuu costume is, at the time of writing, retailing at $72.99 excluding shipping & handling fees and honestly, it's easily worth that price! You can use it as a base for modifications if you aren't too good at sewing from scratch yourself but still want to make it more "your own". It looks exactly like advertised too (which is rare for online costume shops) and the quality is very good for the inexpensive price. If you don't want to be Kashuu there's a lot of other sword boys to choose from along with other anime and manga characters, video game characters, movie characters and also of course the popular superheroes and Disney icons. 
I must admit that Cosplayflying has a better variety than average as well, I find character costumes that I've not seen on the more known cosplay stores! And yes, I wholeheartedly recommend them if you want to buy a ready-made costume that is both cheap and of good quality considering the price. ^^ Just make sure to order at least a couple months in advance as shipping from overseas tends to take quite long. To finish this I'd like to add that whether you are a dedicated cosplayer, a beginner or just looking for a Halloween outfit you can be sure to find a costume that suits you. Dressing up is for everyone!

* = as in I don't get any monetary benefits from any sales. But if many people use the code it can help me get to do more reviews in the future which is a win-win situation, you save money and I can help the cosplay community even more~



That's all I have to say for this time! Thanks for reading my blog!
A big thank you also goes to Cosplayflying for this opportunity!
Shiro Samurai says goodbye.

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

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Detail photos ahead!
All photos taken by Heesman.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Full cosplay photos below!
Photos taken by Heesman.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

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.