Circle lens review: I.Fairy Ash Brown

Hello everybody~!
It's time for the first circle lens review of 2025 - and also time for the last circle lens review of the oldest batch I had lying around! This time we're reviewing a beautiful brown lens, namely I.Fairy Ash Brown. Let's roll!
My photographer for this review was - as per usual - Shiro Samurai, thank you! ^^ 

Important note: I got these lenses from someone who totally 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 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.

And, just like before, this circle lens review is non-sponsored.

The vials of the lenses.

The lenses in their vials.

Base curve: 8,6 mm
Diameter: 16,2 mm
Water content: 55 %
Life span: 1 year (I recommend 6 months)

Inserting these was pretty easy. No curling up around my finger, no stingy feeling, nothing of the sort. The only thing I do recall though that I started seeing double after inserting these; however I think these lenses were among the oldest ones of the batch so that combined with the wrong prescription likely plays a part here. These also felt a bit thicker than the other I.Fairy lenses I reviewed that day even though their stats state pretty much the same.

One lens in to show the enlargement.

Huh. To be honest I expected these to look more enlarging than they do. I mean, of course the enlargement effect is there and it is notable, but frankly I expected these to deliver a bit more. I can't say that these would have been a disappointment, not at all! These just didn't quite meet the expectations I had for these.
I have a feeling it might be partly because of the print and color. In the vials these lenses look quite mysterious and they even seem to have hints of gold in them in certain light conditions; however in my eyes these look surprisingly natural despite being enlarging lenses. And speaking of these factors I must first say that I love the color. It's warm brown, one of my favorite colors in circle lenses 💓There are slightly lighter shades of brown too which makes these lenses quite vibrant - and give them a softer and more natural look. 
These also look surprisingly good in my light-colored eyes; these look like these were designed to enhance dark eyes (the claim based on the design of these) but they do deliver in gray eyes too!

The print... It doesn't look very natural up close, I admit that. For some reason it slightly reminds me of both a Bengal cat and roaring fire, especially with this color combination. However these do look surprisingly natural from afar which makes these perfect for those "casual alt" looks; I could see myself wearing these to a witchcore inspired outfit, for example. 
I wouldn't use these as cosplay lenses though. Even though these are quite pigmented and have a very thick limbal ring giving those anime aesthetics... I wouldn't call I.Fairy Ash Brown a cosplay lens. Or at least I can't think of a character with eyes like this, OCs making exceptions. 

Let's continue - to the lens photos!

These pictures were taken on a rather cloudy day in June 2021. These aren't filtered in any way; they've only been re-sized.

Natural roomlight.

Yellow roomlight.

Bathroom light.

Flash photo.

Facing window.

Back against the sun.

Facing the sun.

From the distance.

• The color is 9/10. Beautiful, warm, vibrant brown. The only thing that bothers me a bit is that the color doesn't - in my opinion - really match the name of the product.
  
  
• The design is 9/10. It's outstanding but not too "in your face".
  
  
• The opacity is 9/10. The lens is very pigmented on the parts there is actually color. On light eyes the pupil hole lets your own eye color through quite a bit though but well, almost every dark lens in light eyes does that.
  
  
• The naturalness is 4/10. These look surprisingly natural from a distance despite of the enlargement effect. Wouldn't call these actually natural though.
  
  
• The enlargement 8/10. The effect is there but it's not as notable as one could expect from a lens of this brand.
  
  

So there it is, the last review of the oldest batch! 
Doesn't mean that this would have been the last one of the reviews in which I can't grade the comfort for the reasons stated in the beginning of the review though; there are quite many of them to be written but hey, at least they won't be from 2021... 😅

My next post will likely be a circle lens review, a Konekocon cosplay plan reveal or a con summary -  we'll see which one it is when the time comes~!

Until next time.

-Firith

Cosplay year 2024 - Witchy time!

Hello everyone~!

It's been a while since I last made one of these posts; the last one seems to be from... Uh... 2017 (under the 2018 year tag)... Oops. In my defense I have quite recently started attending cons and making costumes again after many silent years so yeah, some mercy please :'D 
2024 sure was a blast, both my personal life and cosplay-wise! In December 2023 I graduated from school (Library and Information Services, Bachelor of Business Administration) and in January 2024 I moved to the north since I had been hired to work here as a librarian. So yes, finally I'm where I feel like I belong to. Unfortunately, the year wasn't all rainbows and sunshine; I'm very likely to get a few - quite severe - diagnoses in the near future and I must admit that there are months of which I really don't remember that much. However, I do believe that next year will be a lot better mental health wise too! ❤

Despite all the struggles and all I traveled all over Finland and attended multiple conventions. The con line-up of 2024 looks like this:

Kummacon - Oulu, Finland
Nekocon - Kuopio, Finland
Mericon - Rauma, Finland
Matsucon - Oulu, Finland
Gingacon - Tampere, Finland
Northern Lights Anime Party - Rovaniemi, Finland

My favorite event was Nekocon, there's literally no competition of the first place. This doesn't mean I wouldn't have enjoyed the other conventions too, I really did! It's just that at Nekocon I actually was able to relax properly - this may have had something to do with staying at a spa hotel but anyway. I also like Kuopio as a city a lot and even though it was hot af outside I can't really complain; the weather was beautiful and the convention was very well hosted. 
It's also probably because it was literally the only convention of the year where I didn't work or compete. Again, don't get me wrong. I enjoy competing and working at conventions - even as an organizer, like I did in Mericon. Sometimes it's just good to relax for the weekend, enjoy the hobby and get photos of your costume without having a rush. 

STUFF I DID IN CONVENTIONS

I competed at Matsucon, Gingacon and Northern Lights Anime Party.
I was a volunteer worker at Kummacon and Matsucon.
I was one of the organizers behind Mericon (and in 2025 I will be the person responsible for the cosplay competition and everything related to that so the mantle of the main organizer isn't on my shoulders anymore).
I hosted a book talk at Kummacon. 

🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑

I also debuted two new costumes; Alicia from the original Moominvalley series and Kiki from the Ghibli movie Kiki's Delivery Service. Seemingly I had some sort of a witchy theme in 2024; I assure you, it was not intended but it just happened lol. I also half-considered making Klee from Genshin Impact at some point of the year but never got around that, would have fit the theme though.

Thanks Shiro Samurai for the compilation pic! ^.^

I cosplayed Alicia at Kummacon and Northern Lights Anime Party.
I cosplayed Kiki at Nekocon (Saturday), Matsucon (Saturday) and Gingacon.
At Mericon I wore a pirate-y tavern keeper inspired outfit. I also wore an alternative fashion outfit on Nekocon's Sunday.  

I have also kind of made a promise to myself and to the environment. Looking back I have made so many costumes that I wore only once or twice. This, however, never really fit in my values and sure doesn't these days. Some of the old cosplays are still wearable once I lose some weight but some don't even exist anymore.
Wasting resources like that isn't really cool and thus I have decided to make costumes that can be worn multiple times - and which are easy to modify once I lose some of the weight (even the pictures don't really show how obese I really am so yes, this is from a health point of view since I don't want to get a damn cardiac arrest at this point of my life). Make it about quality, not quantity - that's my new motto for this hobby.

🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑

Overall I consider 2024 a good year. 
I already have plans for 2025 too so if you're interested in them then stay tuned - the first convention of the year is right behind the corner! And no, it's not Desucon Frostbite; even though I would like to attend that one too at some point I didn't really have a chance to fight for the tickets so yeah, that's a no for me. Instead I'm going to attend a lot smaller convention in a familiar place; Konekocon, here I come! ❤
A big thank you goes to everyone who has accompanied me to conventions in 2024 - you were a huge part of my con experiences! ❤ Also a special thanks goes to Shiro Samurai who was my trusted photographer and travel companion; seriously, can't thank you enough.

Already looking forward to the cosplay year 2025! ✨

Until next time (which, very likely, is a circle lens review in the near future).

- Firith