Honestly, I don't even know what to say.
Those years have been a journey full of joy, tears, frustration and laughter. There have been ups and downs, failures after failures before finally succeeding.
That journey wouldn't have been half as funny without friends... And you, my dear readers.
Thank you - that's all I can say (since I'm pretty speechless at the moment). <3
Today I decided to write something different.
Usually you see me in the pictures, posing and all. But sometimes, just sometimes, I'm also behind the camera.
I haven't done many photoshoots during these years. Yes, a couple of years ago I used to take just some pics with Xaoryuubut because of the lack of time we didn't get many chances to take more photoshoots at that point. We still don't have the damn time. :D
I've mostly photographed nature, especially during the autumn when the colors were very bright and vivid.
I also bought a new camera a couple of months ago to get pictures with better quality. Honestly, my old camera is good in some situations but not in photoshoots...
But here they are, some pictures~!
(Note; if there's a person in the photo, I have asked their permission to upload it here.)
Nature & animals
I took this picture through the window. Believe me, it was quite hard to attract Mörri's attention (yep, that's the name of our cat).
My friend's pony! <3 I take care of him every now and then. :)
And here are the ladies of my friend's pony! x) In this pic the fog is quite visible and it was quite hard to get my camera to co-operate with me... x__x
Cats at the stable (and the leg photobomb is provided by my friend Janina)! <3
This picture was actually taken today. The sky was beautifully pastel-colored and the fog made the nearby fields look mystical... And yes, I live in the countryside.
(Note: the last two pics were taken with DAI's camera since I didn't have my good camera back then.)
I don't edit the pictures I've taken, by the way. It's only because Gimp and Photoshop allied against me and don't work on my computer at the moment.
Of course there were more pics taken in the photoshoots but I'm not sure if I should tell more about those photoshoots in separate posts... Tell me your opinion about this!
Anyway, thank you everybody for reading this, reading my blog and supporting me! <3 By the way, if you want me to take pics of you (for example cosplay photoshoots) just tell me - you get the photographer and I get some practice! c: You can leave a comment in the comment box, send me an e-mail or contact me somewhere else on social media.
You can also read my very first blog post on this blog right here. It's in Finnish but it contains some basic information of me, myself and I. Yep, I think that for example my writing style is nowadays quite different. And yes, I still write song lyrics every now and then but I haven't sold them to anybody in a long time.
The title tells it all. This is the summary of the cosplay year 2016.
This was the year when I got absolutely nothing done. Yes, I ordered a shitload of new wigs and lenses + bought new fabrics, even started to make new costumes, but this year turned out to be more hectic and stressful than I could have imagined and cosplaying wasn't my priority number one.
(Btw, picture credits can be found on con summaries.)
But let's see what I actually did in 2016!
Yukicon 3.0 was held in Helsinki in February. I almost decided not to attend it since my physical health wasn't very great at the time but since I had been selected to host a lecture there I had to attend it... And I don't regret it.
Hosting a lecture for the first time was, of course, quite stressful and made me nervous but somehow I managed to stand in front of the audience for half an hour. And that's going to happen in Yukicon 4.0 too - I will be hosting a lecture about StarStable Online with my friend Merezone (who kindly recorded my lecture in this year's Yukicon)!
(The lecture is only in Finnish but basically I just spoke about the psychological and philosophical issues in the game series called Starshine Legacy.)
My costumes in Yukicon were these two:
Josh from Starshine Legacy in Saturday.
Gijinka!Darkrai from Pokémon in Sunday.
I didn't make almost any effort for these costumes - like I said, my physical condition was shit and on top of that I was working as a helper teacher at the time I still think that all the symptoms I had were caused by stress so I didn't have that much free time either.
Anyway, I enjoyed this year's Yukicon a bit more than last year's, probably because it was held in a different building. When the con took place in Espoo the building there felt always very crowded and small. In Helsinki that problem didn't exist. Despite my constantly nauseous and tired feeling I enjoyed my first con of the year!
I was supposed to compete in Tampere Kuplii 2016 and that would have been my main reason to go there. Sadly I didn't manage to make my costume ready Chikane Himemiya, you're still my greatest enemy and it meant no competing for me. Anyway, I had already told my friends that I would attend it, at least for one day, so I couldn't skip it.
And yes, I attended it only for a one day and that was quite good decision - I didn't feel good at the con. I still don't know why, I just felt restless and tired at the same time for the whole Saturday. I'm not saying that the con itself would've been shitty or anything, I just wasn't feeling up to hanging out etc.
This year Tampere Kuplii was held in Tampere-talo (in the previous years it was held in the Finlayson area) and the change was... At least interesting. Well, I'm positive that things will be easier to organize there from now on.
My "cosplay" in Kuplii was casual!young!Severus Snape. I just didn't want to put on any "real" cosplay. You get what I mean.
I don't have anything else to say about Kuplii. Quite nice con, like it has always been. Hopefully next year I will get to compete there again.
Cosvision. Oh, Cosvision...
I don't think that I'm the only one thinking that the con itself wasn't very good. The location was good but Verkatehdas is simply just too small place to hold a convention if you actually want the convention to be big, For a smaller con the building would have been just fine, but... Ghh. Let's just say that I attended this con just to meet people whom I usually see, like, once in two years. I enjoyed their company but, sadly, I didn't enjoy the con almost at all.
I like the surrounding areas of Verkatehdas though; there were parks etc. in which it was easy to have photoshoots!
My cosplays for the Cosvision weekend were these:
2p!France from Hetalia: Axis Powers.
Ayame Sohma from Fruits Basket.
I didn't make anything myself for my 2p!France cosplay, I just bought everything for it(and actually the jeans belong to my Josh cosplay). I didn't even order a wig since my own hair was quite good for this cosplay at the time.
And Ayame... Well, it's one of my "if I don't have anything else, I'll take this with me" costumes. Nothing else to say about.
So, Cosvision was one of those "hang out with friends" cons to me. Except that this one was more expensive than the other "hanging out" cons I attended this year...
Tracon was held in Tampere-talo in September. It has always been one of those "I have to attend it!!" conventions since I begun cosplaying in Tracon 2012 nostalgia is strong with this one. I actually managed to make a costume for Tracon - sadly I'm not very pleased with it. You see, in the fabric shop I had to choose the fabric by color and not the material...
And I fucked it up at that point.
I also hosted a lecture in Tracon about Hetalia. I never found any kind of video material about it - it would've been nice to see it afterwards and look for things to improve but no can do. Maybe I'll learn with time.
This year, however, I didn't enjoy Tracon that much. I don't even know why; the con was well organized etc., but for some reason something felt very off.
Anyway, the cosplays...
North Italy from Hetalia: Axis Powers.
Ebony Darkness Dementia Raven Way from a fanfic My Immortal, written by Tara Gillesbie.
I made Italy specifically for Tracon and, well... It could've been worse but it could've been better. I'm likely to improve the costume, make-up etc. in the future when I find time and energy for it. Right now I don't feel up to it.
I bought a new wig for Ebony (I will link the store later if I find their website again) and improved her make-up. I also decided to wear different shoes this time. I think that I managed to improve her pretty well... Even though this was one of the most uncomfortable costumes I wore this year.
I also attended Kitacon this year; I happened to be in Northern Finland when the con was held. The con itself was one of those small cons where you just hang out with your friends. Sadly I just wasn't in the mood of attending the con and my own mood (a bit tired and a bit anxious) took revenge on me in the shape of anxiety attacks and feeling sick. I just don't like small places with a lot of people... Perhaps I'll get used to it at some point.
I still liked the con itself - if I happen to be in the north the next time the con is held, I will attend it. I can't let one bad experience ruin it for me.
I cosplayed - once again - Ayame Sohma.
Skecon - perhaps my favourite con this year!
At first I wasn't even supposed to attend it but, in the end, I decided to go there - and I haven't regretted my decision at all. The campus area was simply a great place for a convention, people were kind and the most important thing: I had fun.
This was also the first con in which I slept in a dorm can't find a better word for it and not in anyone's apartment/in a hotel room. At first I was a bit afraid to try it because my back and my left leg ache chronically but I found out quite soon that sleeping on a floor doesn't damage them any further.
The cosplays for the Skecon weekend:
Japan from Hetalia: Axis Powers.
...well, you know this snek quite well already.
I also competed with my Ayame costume; I didn't place (to be honest, I didn't even think that I would place) but I had fun - it was quite nice to compete after such a long time! I had actually forgotten how much I love to be on a stage. <3
But yeah, there it is - my cosplay year 2016. Hopefully 2017 will be at least a bit better - I already have some plans for it. I will also finish some other costumes when I have time and when I feel up to it. Hopefully I'll also get more pics of my costumes because I've been a bit lazy with photoshoots once again, oops...
Since the gods of weather were finally on my side, I decided to make a new (non-sponsored) circle lens review. This time I'll review Super Pinky Green, my first green circle lenses. Let's go!
The vials of the lenses.
The lenses in their vials.
Base curve: 8.6 mm
Diameter: 14.8 mm
Water content: 45 %
Life span: 1 year
Quite basic lenses according to the measures, just a bit larger than Sweet Bliss Brown lenses I reviewed in July (the water content is a bit bigger also).
Let's say that these lenses were ordered for my Tetsuhiro Morinaga cosplay (which I definitely will make in the future) but I just couldn't resist checking out if these lenses will really be good for that one.
By the way, a tip; don't insert the lenses into your eyes straight after opening the vials, especially if you have sensitive eyes - the solution in the vials makes at least my eyes water and hurt. I don't know if everybody reacts to the original solution like that but I don't recommend testing it either. Let them soak in a new solution at least for a few hours.
One lens in, notice the enlargement. I had to take this picture with a flash though, thanks camera for not co-operating...
Like I had thought, these lenses have pretty much the same enlargement than Sweet Bliss Brown lenses. Inserting them wasn't a lot different either; I could really feel these in my eyes, especially in my left eye, straight after inserting them. Luckily the scratchy feeling disappeared quite soon, in fifteen minutes or so (and yes, I checked if there was anything wrong with the lens itself but there were no flaws or any dirt in it).
The first couple of hours went quite smoothly but during the third hour I had these in my eyes they begun to blur my vision and I couldn't see clearly. Later, after almost four hours they begun to feel dry. This might have something to do with the fact that my eyes are still under the "as dry as Sahara" effect...
After 4,5 - 5 hours I decided to take these off since the blur and the scratchy feeling (caused by the dryness) begun to irritate me to no end.
The color of these lenses is something in between forest green and olive green - can't actually describe it better. There's also the semi-thick dark grey limbal ring but in my eyes it seems to disappear somewhere making these look a bit more unnatural than they already are (because of the enlargement). The design itself, however, is quite basic and relatively natural.
But yes, some lens photos!
Note; I have blue/grey/green eyes myself - in other words, light-colored eyes. My natural eye color blended to the lens color almost perfectly, that's something I actually liked!
Indoors, bathroom light (for some reason the bathroom light was almost red, wtf).
Indoors, with a flash.
Indoors, under the fluorescent lamp.
Outdoors, facing the (almost non-existent) sun.
Outdoors, back against the sun.
Distance photo.
I rate the color 7/10 - who wouldn't enjoy this rather vivid green? But, when thinking about Morinaga, these lenses might be just a bit too light. I could still use these for that cosplay but I'm also keeping my eyes open if some other options appear.
The design is 8,5/10 - they're quite natural, the color blends nicely with the light eye color at least. The limbal ring could be darker though, the dark grey ring seems to disappear somewhere in my opinion.
The comfort... 6,5/10. I could feel these when inserting them into my eyes and after a few hours they begun to feel pretty dry. They also blurred my vision quite a bit. I've had lenses with worse comfort too but wearing these wasn't very enjoyable either. But, like I said before, my eyes were dry before inserting the lenses so the lack of comfort might be because of it.
I think that the naturalness is 8/10, quite average. The enlarging effect makes them look a bit unnatural but the color and the design save quite much. Personally I think that in a crowded place (in a city for example) people would notice these but not think about it too much.
The enlargement is 9/10 - I mean, look at the third pic. :DD
Got any questions? Ask in the comment box, contact me on social media or send me an e-mail!
