Genshin Impact = 90 % of my cosplay plans pt. 1

A bit over a year ago I begun to play Genshin Impact. At first I was thinking that I'd just check it out and would continue to play if I enjoyed it.

And now... Well, I'm not going to lie, it's part of my daily routines to play Genshin Impact. I fell in love pretty much with everything in the game; the story is awesome, the characters have become quite dear to me, the graphics are top quality and the music... I could listen to it for hours and not get bored. At some point the characters of this game begun to invade my cosplay plans and now 90 % of said plans are Genshin Impact characters send help - and now I'm going to list which characters I'm likely to cosplay in the future! 

Obviously not in the near future though; these costumes require quite a lot of money, time and skill - and I have none of those at the moment but... I can always dream about cosplaying these dearies. 

And no, I definitely didn't steal this blog post idea from Shiro Samurai. Definitely not.

Character: Lisa

Let's spark things up a little~

 

The Witch of Purple Rose, the lazy librarian, the perfect waifu... A dear child has many names. When I first saw Lisa I fell in love with her personality; she's quite laid-back but does her duties as a librarian - and she can be quite fierce when she gets angry. To this day she's still my favorite character in the game. I also love her design - the color scheme, the clothes, the details, everything. She's probably going to be one of the first ones I'm going to make and a sure one to happen too.

Character: Rosaria

Work hard and live each day to the fullest. That is what life in Mondstadt is all about, isn't it?

 

Rosaria... She's a very dear character to me. Being a bit of a lone wolf she wanders along her own paths, not really giving a single fuck what anyone thinks of her. She's strong and independent lady who doesn't take orders from others - except if she really has to. Rosaria has strong opinions about... Well, pretty much everything and doesn't really hang out with anyone. I actually pulled her from a wish banner before I met her in the game for the first time so at first I fell in love with her design - and when I actually got to know her personality too I realized that I like this character a lot. She's also a sure one to happen at some point.

Character: Amber

 

Outrider Amber reporting for duty! Just say the word if you ever need my help!

 

To be honest, this one surprised me, myself and I too. I don't usually like characters like Amber; she's "The little Miss Sunshine", always kind and polite and usually over-enthusiastic about her work and life overall. I have to say that at first I didn't like her that much and found her a bit annoying - she was way too positive about everything if you asked me. But, at some point, I noticed that I didn't hate her that much anymore and that she's actually quite nice character; she's helpful and kind and she also has the talent to see the silver lining on a storm cloud. She's a sweet one. I also love her design, especially the new outfit (seen in the picture above) and it's likely the one I'm going to make.

Character: Lumine (the female Traveler)

There´s still a long road ahead.

 

In the beginning of the game the player gets to choose whether they want a male or a female avatar. Usually I take the male one but I found myself liking the design of the female avatar, Lumine, more so I chose her - and I wasn't disappointed in my choice. Her design is simply amazing; it looks very simple (or at least when compared to other Genshin Impact characters) but actually it's filled with small details. I'm not usually a fan of pure white color either but it fits this character pretty well! I can't say anything about her personality in this context; you see, the player kind of builds the Traveler's personality so it really depends of the player what kind of a character the Traveler becomes. I went with the sarcastic one.
Lumine is pretty likely to happen - probably even among the first ones yet definitely not the first. 

Character: Beidou

I chose you as my crewmate, as my comrade on the sea. It gives me great pride to be able to say that.

 

Beidou - this goodhearted and straightforward pirate queen stole my heart when I got to know her personality. To be honest, at first I wasn't too fond of her design; in my eyes red and purple never really were a good combination but after a while I realized that those colors reflect Beidou's personality; if there was such a thing as "responsible yet passionate wild child" I would definitely use it to describe her. She's also very smart and opinionated character - just the type I like. She's one of the characters that is pretty likely to happen.

Character: Ningguang

There's no style in resorting to violence. It's simply the worst of all the bad decisions you could make.

 

Ningguang... I'm not going to lie. At first I outright hated her with passion; she seemed to be the worst kind of snob out there. It took me quite a while to learn to appreciate her personality and realize that she hadn't gotten everything on a golden tray - she has had to work hard for her success, sometimes even without proper rest. When I finally convinced myself to give her a second chance I noticed that her personality is actually great; she is hard-working and sophisticated yet ready to defend her people when it's required from her.
I still dislike her regular outfit but I love this Orchid's Evening Gown; in my eyes blue suits her much better than gold and still symbolizes her social status - after all, in the past blue was the color meant for royals and the rich. Mainly because it was expensive af but... Anyway. 

So, here's part one of the characters I'm going to cosplay in the future - and yes, this is the first part. I'll also write a second part in the near future since I realized that if I had put all the characters I want to cosplay in one post it would've become a kilometer long list so... Yeah. 

Oh, and if you wonder - those cursive parts are character voice-overs. 

Until next time - which is likely to be another circle lens review.

- Firith

Circle lens review: GEO Mimi Cafe Macchiato Brown

Like I said in my Kummacon post I have quite a few circle lens reviews waiting to be posted. The pictures for all of them were taken a few months ago (summer 2021) but because of lack of time etc. I couldn't make these posts earlier.

However, now we're going to roll in a few (non-sponsored) reviews, first of them being Geo Mimi Cafe Macchiato Brown! 

Note: unlike the other lenses I'm about to review these ones didn't have prescription and they weren't expired, thus I'm able to rate the comfort too. Never wear lenses that are expired, have wrong prescription or feel uncomfortable in your eye(s), they might cause serious damage to your eyes. I have experienced that years ago and suffered from 'fog' hindering my vision for quite a while but by some miracle my eyesight wasn't damaged for good. Don't learn your lesson the hard way. Don't wear expired/uncomfortable lenses. Thank you.

I had bought these lenses a few years ago for a steampunk photoshoot which, obviously, didn't happen. When I visited Shiro Samurai a few months ago he asked if I had any circle lenses I'd like to have review photos taken of and... Well... Let's just say that I had, these beauties being one pair. 

 

All photos are taken by Shiro Samurai.

 

The vials of the lenses.

Lenses in their vials, another one showing the wrong side of the lenses.

Lenses in their vials.

 

 Base curve: 8,8 mm
Diameter: 14.8 mm
Water content: 38 %
Life span: 1 year

Inserting these was fairly easy (if you don't take into consideration the fact that I hadn't worn circle lenses in over a year before taking these photos so yeah, inserting these was a bit of a circus); they tried to curl around my finger a bit but to be honest I've reviewed lenses that do it so much that inserting them is almost impossible - for example these ones I reviewed a couple of years ago - that I didn't really let this bother me. I didn't feel the left lens almost at all after the insertion, the right one every now and then but it didn't feel too irritating, at least not at first.

 

One lens in.

The enlargement effect is quite noticeable. However, I noticed almost immediately that because of their design they're not very suitable for cosplay lenses (except if a character has specifically eyes like this). I would wear these for fantasy-themed photoshoots/alternative fashions, for example steampunk goth for which I originally intended to wear these to.

The comfort was quite good for 3-4 hours; I didn't feel the left lens at all and the right lens every now and then like I mentioned earlier. However, after approximately 4 hours it felt like these suddenly dried in my eyes or something - the feeling was awful and I immediately took off the lenses. It felt like I'd have had my eyes full of dirt and my vision became foggy quite fast. This isn't the first time I've had problems with lenses from this series though; years ago when I reviewed these beauties I faced pretty much the same problem. I suppose it might be because of the base curve of these lenses; with 8,6 mm base curve I usually don't have any problems at all, 8,7 mm is okay-ish but 8,8 mm has always caused some troubles. If your eyes were fine with the latter base curve I'd say that these lenses could be quite comfortable and wearable even for several hours! 

I love the design of these lenses; it's like a magical whirlwind that for some reason reminds me of fairies - don't ask why but they're the first thing that come to my mind when I look at these lenses. The many shades of brown bring depth to the color scheme of these lenses making them look pretty mystical. There are also small black dots which break the whirlwind-like pattern in a way that only boosts the beauty of the lens design. Had these been more comfortable I would've ordered a new pair immediately - these are probably one of the most beautiful lenses I've ever worn. Not very natural though; I got quite a few stares when we visited a grocery store.

Because I'm apparently at loss of words when I try to describe how they look like, let's speed up the pace and move to the lens photos! 

The pictures were taken on a rather cloudy day in June 2021. These aren't filtered in any way, only their size has been changed since the original photos were quite big.
(Note: we took pictures of quite many lenses on the same day so the light conditions are going to be the same in the next few reviews too.)

 

Natural roomlight.

Bathroom light.

Flash photo.

Facing window.

Outdoors, standing in the shadow.

Facing the (clouded) sun.

From the distance.

• The color is 9/10. There are many beautiful shades of brown; however I feel like these lenses would be better for dark-eyed people - the color clashes quite a lot with my grey/blue/green eye color which you can see shining through the pupil hole.
   
• I would rate the design 10/10. Fell in love with it.
   
• I'd say that the opacity is 7/10. Fairly good yet you can clearly see my own eye color peeking from behind the lenses - might be because of the design and the light brown color used in the lens.
   
• The comfort was 6,5/10. Okay for the while it was okay, outright awful when these started acting up. I still think that it's because of the base curve.
   
• The naturalness is 4/10. The pattern is far from natural and these are way too big to pass as my natural eyes. However, the brown color gives them some naturalness points.
  
  
• The enlargement is 8,5/10. I've worn lenses that are even more enlarging but well, these aren't from the least enlarging end either.
  

 

So, this is the first one of quite many circle lens reviews I'm about to write in the near future. This was also the only one in which I was able to grade the comfort; the other pairs were expired and had a wrong prescription so don't look forward to seeing a comfort grade in the upcoming reviews. :'D 

Until next time.

- Firith