Luka Megurine - Just Be Friends photoshoot

Hi folks and happy New Year!

Even though I haven't written that many con summaries this year I attended many events in 2023 (I will publish those summaries next year - and also at least try to make blog posts more often since I've kind of miss writing these regularly). One of the events was Nekocon in Kuopio for which I made a new cosplay: my own design version of the VOCALOID Luka Megurine, more specifically her Just Be Friends version. Even though the costume isn't the best out there I still wanted to get some pics of it - and here they are! 

Photographer & photo edit © Shiro Samurai.

This one is definitely my favorite one <3

Favorite even though I was literally just standing still and almost fell because of the high heels lol.

...and, well, of course there just happened to be a sign that was a bit too hilarious and I just had to have a picture taken with it.

(I think the sign was actually warning people not to park there or they´d get a fine.)

There are the photoshoot pics of this costume! Even though the dress itself isn't the professionally made it still looks surprisingly good in pics imo.

See you guys in 2024~!

Until next time.

-Firith

Nekocon 2023

Well... *khm* I know I'm super late with this summary too but better late than never, I guess. So yeah, here comes my Nekocon 2023 summary!

Nekocon was held 15th-16th of July at Kuopion musiikkikeskus (Kuopio Music Centre). I was supposed to leave for Kuopio on 14th of July, which I indeed did - just more than two hours late since my (now former since I´ve moved to another city) neighbor's cat decided to cause a scene - or rather, disappear into thin air :)) 

You see, I had promised to be a, err, cat-sitter when my neighbor and roommate were on a holiday/fishing trip. The cat in question had decided to take a little adventure on his own - likely in a nearby forest - and didn't come home when I called for him. The clock was ticking, I was supposed to be on my way towards Kuopio at that point and there I was, panicking and fuming at the same time. In the end I called the cat's owner and explained the situation - and turned out that they were about to leave the cottage they had been staying at since the weather in the north had taken a turn for worse and fishing would have been basically impossible. He told me that he would look for the cat himself and I could leave - two hours behind my schedule.
That meowing disaster came back home next day so had I stayed there I would have had to skip the whole con.

The drive to Kuopio went well, except for experiencing some anxiety at the freeway near Tampere but luckily it was nothing too bad. I arrived at Kuopio after six o'clock in the evening and drove straight to Rauhalahti Spa where I and Shiro Samurai would be staying for the weekend. You see, I happened a spot a good price for the hotel room, informed him about it and since I happen to have a driving license and a car (also known as it didn't really matter if there was some distance between the hotel and con venue)... Well... Why wouldn't I take the offer and have a relaxing weekend?
Anyway, like I stated I was a few hours late. Shiro Samurai had arrived at Kuopio a couple of hours before me and I had contacted the hotel if he could have the other key to the room already. That was okay with the hotel staff and when I got to the room he was already chilling there - I just dumped my stuff in the corner and proceeded to do the same. 

Our hotel room ft. cosplay chaos.

 

(Pics © Shiro Samurai if not mentioned otherwise.)

I think that during the evening we didn't do much; visited the nearby store and spent an hour or so in the spa. After that it was time to go to sleep - we were supposed to wake up pretty early because we didn't want to miss the hotel breakfast.

The morning came way too quickly in my opinion; someone's child had been crying for half of the night and even though I understand that there are babies that can't sleep because of pains etc., I wasn't too amused waking up after, like, three hours of sleep or so. Well, that's life. *shrugs*
We went to the hotel breakfast, had an apple juice that was going through identity crisis (it was literally just water lol) and then... It was time to do our make-ups and put on our cosplays. My cosplay for the weekend was Luka Megurine's Just Be Friends version (own design) and Shiro Samurai cosplayed Kisuke Urahara from Bleach. This year's Nekocon's theme was nostalgy and I think these characters fit it pretty well.
After a fight with trolling false eyelashes and eyeliner that didn't want to obey me I was ready to put on my - way too wrinkled - cosplay. I wasn't too happy with the dress; I mean, it could've been a lot better IF I had found a better fabric for it. I mean, I made some great mistakes with the patterns too (I have to make them myself since I can't find patterns as big as I would need thanks to being plus-sized and having a pear-modeled body) but still to this day I think a lot could've been saved had I used better materials. However, I had to work with what I could get and what was within my budget - which wasn't too great either at that point.
However, despite the wrinkles and errors in pattern-making the dress was surprisingly okay to wear and I made the decision to keep it on at least for a photoshoot.

I texted Sallukka and asked where they and their boyfriend were. I got a reply pretty soon; they informed that they were already at the event venue and there was a looooooong queue to the ticket exchange booth. This proved to be very true when we got to Musiikkikeskus; the queue was at least 150 meters long!
We decided to get a few photos taken while we waited for the queue to get shorter; first Shiro Samurai photoshooted my costume and then we switched roles since he wanted to get some pics taken of his Urahara cosplay too. I will publish my photoshoot pics in a separate post, otherwise this one will become unbearably long.

The wrist band. Gotta love the colors!

The con venue entrance.

 

Entrance hall overview pics.

Pohjois-Savon Seta ry's table.

To be honest, I don't remember much what we did on Saturday after photoshoots and fetching the wrist bands. You see, it was very warm both outside and inside the building, and I get nauseous and light-headed very easily when it's too warm so my memories are, unfortunately, pretty blurry. I remember checking out the Artisans´ Alley though - I even bought a few prints from si3art! A few years ago I barely checked out Artisans´Alley/Artists´ Alley, nowadays it's the first thing I check when I go to a con. 

Artisans' Alley and Merchants' Hall were pretty crowded at times.

Artisans' Alley overview.

On Saturday there were no panels or lectures we would have wanted to attend to; doesn't mean that their quality would've been bad, there was just nothing within our interests. We ran into Sallukka at one point and discussed about having some dinner together but eventually didn't happen this time. Hope we can fix that at some point - and btw, Sallukka, your costume was awesome! <3 

Head Hunter Store´s table.

On the front you can see a corner of Bard & Jester´s table, the one with manga books is Fantasiapelit's booth.

Hey there, friend!

Me and Shiro Samurai left the con building after a few hours; we were more interested in taking a dip in the spa and hanging out in the hotel room than staying at a con and sweating like there's no tomorrow. First we wanted to have something to eat though - and oh boy, that... Kind of became a derp show.
At first we googled some places and found a sushi restaurant near the center of Kuopio. We decided to drive there - and at this point I must mention that I'm not too familiar with the town in question so we placed our trust in Google Maps to guide us to the right place. And it... Kind of did... I just didn't see a parking lot anywhere when we got there! We quickly decided to search for one - and ended up driving all around Kuopio without a clear destination. Eventually we typed "Kuopion musiikkikeskus" to our Maps and drove to the familiar parking lot of the con venue.
We walked back to the center - or, well, Kuopio plaza - and finally got to the sushi place. And saw the price list. Which was waaaay beyond our budget so we quickly abandoned the idea. There really were no other restaurants we would have wanted to dine in (well, there was Hesburger and its nuggets are delicious but that wasn't an option at the time) so we just fetched a few energy drinks from a nearby shop and made our way back to the car, hungry and defeated.

We did some more brainstorming but couldn't come up with any solutions... Until we remembered there was a Scan Burger restaurant in the same floor than the spa. So yeah, we totally went there - the customer service was top-tier and the food was delicious!
After eating our meals we took a dip in the spa and just hanged out for the rest of the evening before going to sleep. And I slept poorly again.

Sunday morning came and after breakfast it was time to pack our stuff and leave the hotel. We were also in a bit of a hurry; Shiro Samurai wanted to see "Tolkuton plays Muumimetallia" show and I wanted to see the interview of the other guest of honor, Seppo Pääkkönen (the other one was the Finnish youtuber Namikolinx). He is a famous voice actor here in Finland and his voice has been a big part of my childhood <3 He has voiced for example Buster in Lady and the Tramp 2: Scamp´s Adventure, Rothbart in The Swan Princess 1 and Hades in Hercules - obviously in the Finnish versions of the movies. Of course it would have been interesting to see Tolkuton's show too but I hope I get the chance to check it in another con! 

One could also play some video games right next to the Artists' Alley!

 

 

Artists' Alley. Yes, it was also crowded.

Before attending these shows we + Sallukka and their boyfriend Dongrieg visited Artists' Alley where I ran into Nana and Momo, also known as bunicorn_design. I chatted with them for a while, checked out the other artists (and made a couple of purchases) and then it was literally time to run to check out the shows. Sallukka and Dongrieg accompanied me to Pääkkönen's interview since they had already seen Tolkuton in Tracon.

(Pics from now on taken by yours truly w/ mobile phone so yeah, there is a quality drop, sorry about that - I really should buy a new camera at some point since my old one kind of called it quits.)

Ain't Hades such a mood sometimes though? :'D

 

The interview was one rollercoaster of emotions and I had hard time holding back my tears; seeing a man whom I have idolized since I was a child felt so unreal! He spoke about his career, its highs and downs and why he eventually quit voice acting.
I didn't have time to queue up and wait for his autograph but even seeing him made me pretty emotional; thank you Seppo for making my childhood so awesome! 

After that we had a small break and then it was time for the next programs we wanted to attend to. This time the other three went to see Bardic Inspiration concert while I made my way to a panel about Asian horror stories.
The panel was very interesting and it was so nice to see that it was not all about the Japanese horror stories; of course there were couple of them too but there were stories for example from Thailand and Vietnam too. I think my favorite ones were the stories about Mae Nak and the Krasue (don't google if you don´t like horror). The program was 45 minutes long (I think?) but if it ever gets a part 2 I will surely go and check that out too - it feels like a few stories had to be dropped from this panel because of the time limit. However, it was still very entertaining and sure gave me the chills!

 

 

And after the panel it was time to leave - needless to say how bad it felt to start driving to the other direction than the others but oh well, couldn't really be helped...
I will surely attend Nekocon in the future too; I enjoyed the con and got some of the con hype back too (along with some flashbacks to the past Animecons which were also in July and it was always pretty hot both outside and inside lol, some things don't change). It was a comfy and nice con from which I have many happy memories now <3

My con loot looks like this! ^__^

Tighnari, lady Alcina Dimitrescu and Grell by si3art, Klee by iaia.

Earrings by bunicorn_design, skull key chain by Niramuchu Art & Design and the Undertaker pin and Genshin Impact charms by si3art.

Also bought some lovely skull stickers from aroaava and decorated my calendar with them <3

That´s all for now folks!
I have multiple con summaries and circle lens reviews to write ( + Luka's photoshoot pics to publish) so at least there will be a lot of content after I get my thesis done :'D I won't make a WIP post about Luka's dress since I don't really find it worth it; so many people have done the same costume way better and written WIPs about it so... Yeah, not really worth the effort ^^" However, the said dress will be mentioned in the near future again...

Until next time... Which is hopefully soon since I'm pretty damn late with most of my posts.

- Firith

Sastamalan cosplay-päivä

 ...I know my summaries are often a bit late but this must be a record or something since the event was held in the end of May - 27th of May to be precise. This will be quite photo heavy post since the event itself was pretty small and thus I don't have that much to say about it - doesn't mean I wouldn't have enjoyed my time there though.

But, anyway.
Like I stated, Sastamalan cosplay-päivä (Sastamala´s cosplay day), was held on 27th of May and since it doesn't take longer than approximately one hour to drive there I thought "why not" and decided to pay a visit to this small cosplay event held at Sastamala's library. My company (and photographer) for the con was Shiro Samurai who happened to be in Southern Finland at the time. 

 (All pics © Shiro Samurai.)

Event schedule poster.

 

The library entrance.

 

Sastamala is pretty familiar town to me since I have visited my friend there for a few times - still had to ask Google Maps for help though when it came to the issue of navigating but we found our way to the library pretty easily after I had taken one wrong turn lol. The event had already started by the time we got there but we were still there in time - in other words, the cosplay competition was just about to start when we walked in.

 

The immediate view after walking into the library.

There were surprisingly many contestants - a lot more than for example at Euran Mangapäivä (Eura's manga day) a few years ago, even though the conventions were quite similar otherwise (read: small library events in small towns)! The contestants were of varying ages but I think that most of them were basically kids. Since most kids are known to be shy it meant that they practically walked to the stage, stayed there for a few seconds to make a couple of different poses and then walked off the stage. I think a couple of them spoke a few words to the mic but most of them didn't have the courage - which is obviously totally okay, it's not that easy! The competition took approximately 15 minutes and after that the judges made their final decisions about the winners.
The four winners were announced soon after the competition and I think both me and Shiro Samurai were surprised by the quality of the prizes - I mean, huge plush animals, anyone? It may have resulted in me wanting a big plush unicorn which I'm still yet to buy...

Cosplay competition in full swing! The lady in red and black kitsune costume works at Sastamala's library and was the main organizer of the event.

Winners of the cosplay competition.

After the competition I think we went to take a proof pic of my witch inspired outfit and then went to check the small space that was for Artist's Alley and merchants. I think I dropped my jaw luckily I´ve got two eiku when I saw a big name selling their stuff there, namely Bard & Jester - I mean, this really was a small event so seeing them there was very surprising.
...well, until we learnt that they actually have a shop at Sastamala. That explains a lot - it still left a smile on my face though since this is exactly what "support your local" means, be it merchant or event tai kyläbaari. Way to go, Bard & Jester! <3

They have so much nice stuff in sale <3

 

After checking out the Artist's Alley I chatted with the main organizer of the event for a while. Turned out the event was more successful than it was last year and that made me smile; these small events really are needed as a starting step for beginners and as a breather of more seasoned congoers. I really hope that Sastamala's cosplay day will be held in the future too!

We also took a quick check on the activities held in the library - to be honest there were more than I had expected beforehand. One could, for example, decorate a balloon to their liking, take part in a lottery draw (Sastamala's cosplay day had its own merchandise - still regretting that I didn't buy a coffee mug even though I have way too many coffee mugs already) and read and, if one had a library card to PIKI-kirjastot (Pirkanmaan Kirjastot also known as Pirkanmaa's libraries), loan theme-fitting books!

Themed books!

Congoers decorating balloons.

After that we left the library, paid a visit to a nearby Lidl to get some energy drinks it's pretty essential that the driver stays awake and drove to my place to hang out until Shiro Samurai had to leave for the North.
And that's how our Sastamala's cosplay day went! It was nice to see that many congoers at the library; even though library cons have become more and more popular it can't be taken for granted that an event would be a success. This one, however, definitely was; the congoers had fun and the ones who took part to the cosplay competition sure gained a lot of experience and confidence! <3 The library cons (pretty much all of them, at least afaik) are free too and that's a big thumbs up from me. Many times going to a con requires quite a lot of money (ticket, traveling, sleeping accommodation/airbnb/hotel etc.) and not everyone can afford it, especially in this financial situation that doesn't seem to get any better... 

I sure wish to see Sastamala's cosplay day happening in the future too and will be happy to attend it again! <3 

My witch-inspired outfit of the day!
Necklace: Niramuchu Art & Design

 

 

 

Sooo... I also have other summaries (and circle lens reviews) that I should write and I sure hope to find some time to do so. I'm writing my thesis at the moment and just trying to get it done so I would graduate in planned schedule.
Next post will also be a con summary - I attended Nekocon in July - so stay tuned!

 (Oh! I also bought a few magnets from aroaava and even took a pic of my con loot but the pic disappeared when my phone broke. I will upload a pic here when I take a new one.)

- Firith

Kummacon 2023 - surprise visit in Oulu

Yeah, I know, it's been ages since the con but working and studying have been eating up my time and I haven´t had time to write this summary, sorry about that x__x
But enough of excuses, let's roll~!

Frankly, I have as much to tell about how I ended up in the con as about the con itself; don't get this wrong, I really enjoyed Kummacon, but the way I ended up there was... Interesting... xD
I was supposed to spend a long weekend with my best friend Gure at her and her girlfriend's place. We left Eura early in the Thursday (18th of May) morning to get as much time to hang out as possible. Since we live a few hundred kilometers apart these days, each minute counts when we see each other. This time our reunion was... A bit shorter than we had expected xD

We got to their place and went straight inside. Her girlfriend had been sewing me a cosplay costume since I really wanted to do a photoshoot but didn't really have time to sew myself this time. The costume in this case was Miku Hatsune's Rotten Girl, Grotesque Romance - I will sew that myself when I have time but frankly, I don't have much of that at the time really, no pun intended.
After exchanging a few words I noticed that something was going on; Gure's girlfriend seemed to be deep in thought. The conversation that followed shortly went like this:

Le girlfriend: How long were you planning to hang out exactly? Like, how many days?
Me: Over the weekend. Why?
Le girlfriend: ...Gure. Did you actually forget you booked flights on 20th of May..?
Gure: Wait what I was sure it was 21!? I haven't even started packing yet... And I have no idea where my passport is!
Me: Ehm what? How do you forget a thing like that? And where have you seen that passport last time?
Gure: I... Think it was in my student apartment... In Oulu...
Me: ...roadtrip, anyone? :D

So that's how I ended up in Oulu in the first place; my dear best friend had accidentally double-booked herself and now we had to fetch some stuff from Oulu! Gure, if you ever read this: never change, please, I need entertainment in my life xD
We left in a hurry; it was "OHMYGODISITALREADYTHATLATE" o'clock so yeah, had to start driving to reach Oulu before 3 a.m. or something x__x I also took the cosplay costume with me; the upper part of it didn't really fit but I don't blame Gure's girlfriend of it; after all she had been sewing the costume without seeing me even once during the process. It's not that badly off, I just couldn't fix it on the road, but I will certainly do that! The skirt, however, was very beautiful and nice to wear. Thank you so much! <3

We only stopped once; I think it was at Viitasaari when we stopped to eat something at the local ABC service station, otherwise we just drove to reach our destination in time. During those way too many hours we concluded that a mosquito made out of toxic masculinity is a masculito and also begun to plan what we could do when we actually do have time to hang out next time xD
It was past midnight when we finally reached our destination and went almost straight to bed - or, well, two mattresses spread out on the apartment floor. I was a bit tired after driving so many hours so I slept pretty well - only woke up a couple of times when I slept in a bad position and my back started hurting. 

We woke up during the Friday morning, Gure found her passport - and then surprised me by saying that I could have a mini vacation there since I drove that far! She lent me the other key to her apartment and shortly after took a train back to south. Still thankful for this gesture; I've been stressed out to Hell and back for a few months now so I could really use a vacation <3
So yeah, now I was in Oulu all by myself so it was time to start figuring out what to do. I started googling events on 20th and 21st of May and immediately stumbled upon Kummacon's website. It lit a light bulb over my head; I had my Miku cosplay stuff with me since Gure and I had planned to take a photoshoot during the weekend (she would have been my KAITO) so I could attend the con and even cosplay in it! I first thought about informing my northern friends about my arrival but then decided to keep it a surprise this time - after all I was quite sure I would bump into at least some of them. And I was right! <3

Saturday morning came after an almost sleepless night; that house had walls as thick as paper so I could hear some drunken shouting from somewhere, not directly from behind the wall but I think it was someone at the floor below. People: there is a silence time for a reason. Please, could you even try to obey it..?
So I woke up and started putting on my costume and make-up; didn't really feel like eating (I often feel nauseous on mornings and this was no exception) so I skipped the breakfast. Besides I knew that Sini Helminen would be having a panel in Kummacon and since I admire her work I really wanted to see that panel! She is absolutely fantastic writer and her panel was about writing so yeah, I knew I would enjoy it.
Gure's neighbors got their fair share of my "fuck this shit and fuck my life" monologue I had when putting on my circle lenses; for some reason lenses have recently refused to attach on my eye and it makes inserting them a bit difficult. I guess my eyes are more dry than normally or something, that's the only reason I've been able to come up with.

I exited the apartment and when I checked the clock I realized I would probably be at the con venue the minute the panel would start so I had to hurry. Luckily my Google Maps didn't fail me this time and make me take routes that aren't allowed for cars (it did that on Thusday) or anything.

The con venue from the outside.

 

The entrance hall. There were visible rainbow flags, so nice to see acceptance! <3 There were also a couple of sellers downstairs.

 

All photos in this post are taken by Shiro Samurai if not mentioned otherwise.

I was right; I was at Oulu International School precisely when the panel was about to start so I practically ran into the room in which it was held, went to sit on a fairly empty row - and noticed I had sat right next to Sallukka and their boyfriend! <3 It was such a nice surprise - especially since I know that Sallukka doesn't really write that much so I was surprised to see them at the panel. The panel itself was about writing fantasy literature and what can go wrong when writing the said genre - apparently everything if one isn't careful xD Have to say, I myself have made quite many rookie mistakes when writing backstories for my characters so yeah, have to be a bit more careful from now on to avoid those traps lol.
After the panel Sallukka and their boyfriend decided to hit the town. I decided to stay and listen to the panel about LGBTQ+ literature but they promised me they would inform me when they get back so I wouldn't have to hang out alone. Thank you guys <3
This following panel/conversation was pretty entertaining to listen to. I don't think there were that many new things to me but there were topics I strongly agree with, such as "sexual and gender minorities should be more visible in literature too". I really liked this panel a lot too!

This was located near the panel room. There were different drawings on Saturday and Sunday; this pic was taken on Saturday.

 

After this I decided to sit outside for a while since I was practically dying; I could feel the air stand still upstairs and since I had a face mask (yeah I still wear it when it's way too crowded in my opinion) it felt twice as bad... So yeah, outside I went!
It was pretty warm (if one ignored the freezing wind) so I enjoyed sitting outside and watch other congoers make Tik Tok videos, chat and play different "school yard games" until Sallukka and their boyfriend came back. By the time we all were screaming for coffee so we went to check out Kumma Kahvila (a cafeteria) and saw Shiro Samurai working there! He told us his working hours and I promised to hang out with him after them; after all Sallukka had told me that they wouldn't stay for that long since they had a birthday party to attend to. So yeah, now I was sure I would have company for the whole day! 

Me, Sallukka and their boyfriend drank our coffees (and both of them ate their hamburgers they also bought from the café) and then decided to scout artist's alley that took place in both floors. It was a wise solution; the place was pretty damn crowded at times and it was hard to move around. Maybe next year a bigger event venue would be a good solution since Kummacon apparently has become more popular during the years? Oh, and please, no more sitting on the stairs and blocking the way. It was quite difficult to walk up or down the stairs at times when people had decided to use them as chairs (well yeah there weren't too many chairs around but still)...
We also checked out Kumma Kirppis (a flea market) and both of them found some manga to read. I didn't really find anything to buy and, well, I need to get rid of some of my stuff anyway since I'm moving soon so yeah, no reason to buy more stuff when I already have tons of it x__x

Pictures from Artist's Alley, both upstairs and downstairs.

After checking out the artist's alley and Kumma Kirppis we decided to go outside to take some pictures and selfies. I took a few proof picture of Sallukka's school uniform!Takao and then they took a proof picture of me wearing the costume. They also lent me a hoodie to wear since it was pretty windy and I was freezing, thank you! <3

Rotten Girl loves everyone <3 Ignore my photobombing bag lol.

A better la selfie photo of my make-up. I was pretty satisfied with it to be honest, just will use different false eyelashes when I have a proper photoshoot.

Excuse me for phone quality pics that are also pretty big; didn't want to edit their size because, well, it would have had a negative effect on the quality which isn't great to begin with.
Also gotta love how my wig color changes depending on the light conditions lol.

 We also went to a nearby park to enjoy some drinks and talk about future cosplay plans before Sallukka and I decided to see the cosplay competition. Their boyfriend had gotten a bit anxious so he went back to the car to read some manga while we headed back inside to watch the competition. Neither of us has competed in ages and we wanted to see the skill level there is these days. Our conclusion after the competition: we belong in the trash can. But seriously, the costumes and props were amazing! Congratulations to the winners for winning and to all contestants for having the courage to climb up on that stage! <3
After the competition I noticed that Shiro Samurai had messaged me. His shift had ended and he was waiting for me upstairs so I went to search for him and pretty soon found him. We made a plan of checking out the artists' tables and sellers' tables; I, of course, already knew what would be in sale thanks to the scouting before but didn't really mind checking out the tables again. At this point Sallukka told me that they had to leave and we said bye bye to our friend; let's meet again as soon as possible! <3

Urumi's table.

I couldn't resist; I just had to buy a beautiful crescent moon necklace from niramuchu - I had been eyeing it for the whole day and at this point had to buy it since I knew I would feel bad if I wouldn't. I will certainly buy more stuff from niramuchu in the future; it's made with talent and quality!
And, well, I had to buy a packet of Pocky sticks too. Couldn't resist that one either; they were matcha flavored and I hadn't tested them before so yeah, bought them (and liked them!).
Oh, and Shiro Samurai was the best and bought me two key chains from the artist's alley, Klee and Mona from Genshin Impact! <3 I'm a Klee main and I also have Mona on my main team so yeah, precious mages are precious x)

After scouting the area Shiro Samurai and I decided to have some Chinese food to eat - at this point I realized I hadn't eaten anything during the day, oops - and then go to Gure's apartment; you see, neither of us have that much money and it was fine with Gure that he would spend the night at her apartment too so yeah, of course I introduced this cheap option to him.
I don't think we did much during the evening, played some games on our Nintendo Switch consoles and then went to sleep.

Sunday morning. We took our stuff, checked that everything was okay in the apartment since we wouldn't be going back there anymore and then headed out to the convention. Or, well, to be exact, I drove Shiro Samurai there (the con wasn't open to visitors just yet, only for the staff) and visited a local Prisma market myself since I was so damn sleepy I needed an energy drink to stay awake.
I got to the con when it had opened its doors for visitors too and went almost immediately to the room in which people could just hang out. Shiro Samurai was working again so I figured out I could do something productive during that time and do some school stuff; took me a couple of hours to write one essay but yeah, progress.

I think on Sunday I didn't attend any other programs than the lolita fashion show. I'm not really into lolita style myself; by this I mean I wouldn't wear clothes like that since I don't really feel like they would suit me. However, I consider different lolita styles interesting and wanted to see people show off their outfits. The fashion show wasn't that long, only lasted for 10-15 minutes, but there weren't that many models to begin with so yeah, understandable.
I don't think I really did anything else at the con since I had to leave pretty early; long driving distance is long. However, I think that Kummacon really was worth all that driving and I will certainly attend it in the future too! :)
...likely more intentionally next time though xD

My con loot. Sadly can't remember who is the artist behind the key chains but they are pretty darn cute! ;__; The crescent moon necklace by niramuchu.

So yeah, this was my con summary about Kummacon 2023!
Next post will likely be a summary of another, smaller event so stay tuned!

- Firith

Circle lens review: G&G Diamond Grey

Hello~!

Time for another circle lens review. This time I'm reviewing a very beautiful lens; G&G Diamond Grey. I had pretty high expectations for this lens and I wasn't disappointed - these ones really delivered! 

Important note: I got these lenses from a friend who lost interest in wearing and reviewing circle lenses. These lenses had a wrong prescription for me and I think that these were close to their expiration date/already expired so thus I can not grade the comfort. However, I will say a few words about the comfort in general - pretty much my first impression of these. Remember: wearing lenses that are past their expiration date/broken/have the wrong prescription for you is a dangerous thing to do and it can damage your eyes for good so seriously, don't do it. I wore these lenses for half an hour and then threw them away so I had these on only for this review. Thank you. 

This circle lens review is non-sponsored.

The vials of the lenses.

The lenses in their vials.

Base curve: 8,6 mm/8,9 mm
Diameter: 14,5 mm
Water content: 38 %
Life span: 1 year

So... Apparently with these beauties you get to choose which base curve you want. I think that choosing the one you want happens by writing it on additional information when ordering the lenses? Whatever the case I think it's seriously a good thing; 8,9 mm seems to be a trademark for G&G lenses but it doesn't fit everyone's eyes - at least not mine, I still have some flashbacks to the bloodshot effect that occurred back in the days... So yeah, if these beauties really are available with 8,6 mm base curve I can totally imagine ordering these for use!

Inserting these was actually quite easy; I don't recall any problems with it, at least not any major ones. Might have tried to curl around my finger a bit but that happens to me almost every time I try to insert a lens so yeah, nothing new under the sun. These settled in my eyes nicely after the first few minutes; I have always had more or less problems with G&G lenses because of the 8,9 mm base curve but this time I didn't feel any scratching or anything. For the first few minutes they felt like they were moving quite a lot though; I almost got concerned would they even settle but eventually they did. Thickness was pretty average I think - I don't recall these being thicker or thinner than usual.

 

One lens in.

Yup, the enlargement effect is there and it's even better than I expected! It doesn't make my eyes look huge but makes them a lot more noticeable. That much was probably to be expected though; the diameter isn't that large in the end. But even just by the size these couldn't be mistaken for my real eyes - these are too big for that.

The lens design is awesome! I have always had that eye emoji glance towards lenses which have the diamond-like print on them and these definitely do deliver; to be honest, right now these are in my top 10 favourites. The print really is diamond-like and in my opinion (in most light conditions) the print makes your eyes look like they were actually shining. Also like the black limbal ring; it isn't that thick but noticeable enough to give my eyes that "fantasy gaze"; I could easily imagine myself picking these if I ever decided to cosplay a fairy, a mermaid or some other magical creature. For alternative fashion these lenses work well - in my opinion these could fit many different styles! Also, am I the only one who sees a small halo effect too..?
These blend pretty well with my natural eye colour as well; my eyes are a mixture of grey, blue and green (grey being a dominant color) and even though I can clearly see my own eye colour shining through these lenses kind of... Boost it and make it look prettier. I could say that these work well in both light and dark eyes (the latter one judging by the official product pictures on PinkyParadise 's site)! ^__^

Now the lens pictures! Shiro Samurai took all the pictures for this review, thank you so much~!

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.

 

Yellow roomlight.

Bathroom light.

With a flash.

Facing the window.

Back against the sun.

Facing the (clouded) sun.

From the distance.

• The color of these lenses is 8/10; beautiful shade of grey that blends nicely with naturally grey eyes, also like how the black details add some extra spice to these!
  
  
• In my opinion the design is 10/10 - I have a thing for this diamond-like design and these lenses make no exception to that; these also work both for cosplay AND alternative styles!
  
  
• I had to think about the opacity for a while but I would say 5/10. These do indeed blend nicely with my natural eye color, however they also let it shine through quite a lot.
  
  
• The naturalness is 2/10. The color adds some point to this section too but c'mon, who has diamond-like eyes by nature? These are also a bit too enlarging to look natural.
  
  
• Speaking about the enlargement, I would rate it 6/10. These are not HUUUUGE but the enlargement effect definitely is there.
  
  

Phew, that's one more review off the table - many more to come so if you're interested in circle lens reviews, stay tuned! 

Until next time.

-Firith