Kummacon 2025 - When a millennial goes to a con

Hello everybody!
It's time for the 3rd con summary of the year, just like I mentioned a couple of posts ago~ This post is about Kummacon which was held on 17th-18th of May in Oulu. The location was the same as it has been for the past couple of years, namely Oulun kansainvälinen koulu (Oulu's international school). How did it go then? Read further and you will know - though I must mention already at this point that I enjoyed my weekend a lot! ^^ 

The theme of this year was Aqua!

And, as per usual, Shiro Samurai took all the pics, thank you! 💖

We departed for Oulu from Kemi on the 16th of May, also known as the day before the con. Since my car has been acting up I asked Shiro Samurai if his mom could drive him to Kemi's bus station and luckily that was a thumbs up; to be honest it would have been kind of sad if we had missed the bus because of a car malfunction. Usually we also prefer the train but this time it was a bit of a no can do since the schedules didn't fit ours, hence why we took the Onnibus this time - and, well, it was quite a bit cheaper lol. The bus ride took a bit over an hour and I decided to use that time for listening to an audio book (book in question being It by Stephen King). Usually I prefer reading books but sometimes it's more convenient to just listen - I mean, I'm quite sure the other drivers wouldn't approve if I read a book while driving not to mention that would be illegal. In no time we arrived at Oulu and when we stepped out of the bus I happened to notice a taxi nearby. The driver had just left a customer at Oulu's bus station so he could now drive us to our destination, also known as Sokos Hotel Arina. We usually stay there if we have an overnight trip to Oulu because, well, it's convenient and it really is a good hotel.

Once at the hotel we checked in and just hung out for a while before checking the ResQ app - and holy shit, there was bubble tea available! Might have been the quickest transaction in a while :'D Before fetching our bobas we decided to check out the store called Underground which sells alternative fashion, piercing jewelry (and they also do piercings!) and witch stuff. I was a bit too tempted to buy some spell candles but eventually had to choose between them and a T-shirt with a 40 % discount. It took me a while to decide but I chose the T-shirt this time; after all those candles will very likely be there the next time I visit the store but the shirt definitely wouldn't have been. When we - or, well, this time just me - were done with the shopping we noticed that we were quite close to the train station, which also means we were close to Asian Market. Let's just say that I hadn't planned on spending so much money there but I just couldn't say no to mochis lol. After that we went to fetch our bobas and went back to the hotel.

And then I wonder why I'm not losing weight :') Not everything in the pic belonged to me tho :'D

When we had finished our bobas it was time to get moving again. You see, we were selling some of our stuff at Kumma Kirppis (the con's own flea market) this time too and since we were volunteers we had to bring our stuff to the con venue on Friday. Luckily the weather was nice and the walk wasn't that long, approximately 650 meters according to Google Maps. To be honest I hadn't even realized before how close the school really is to our accommodation!
When we arrived at the school one of the main organizers was in the lobby. She promised to take our stuff to the flea market on our behalf which was so nice of her! <3 The con was still being built - there were sellers putting up their booths and such - but we had already informed people that we wouldn't participate in that since we arrived pretty late. So yeah, basically we just did a quick visit to the school and then decided to fetch something to eat. After a while of thinking we decided to walk to a Chinese restaurant which is located near the train station; we have eaten there before so we knew the food would be good well, it wasn't as good as it used to be but still pretty fine. When we had eaten enough we asked for boxes so we could take the leftovers with us - this saved us some money during the weekend.

Back at the hotel I watched the last episode of My Happy Marriage (an anime that is on Netflix) and then I turned on the TV so we could watch some National Geographic programs. I think this is becoming a new hotel tradition :'D But well, the channel is very entertaining so yeah, why not. At some point I took a shower and then decided to go to bed. 
Did I sleep enough?
Definitely not.

When I woke up in the morning I noticed a few things: my head was hurting from the lack of sleep, my back was hurting because I had slept in a funny position and my eyes were so dry they were hurting too. How to know you are a millennial or older: even sleeping can hurt you. I dragged my hurting bones - and other parts of my body too - to the shower before we went to eat some breakfast. Usually I take the shower after the breakfast but this time I figured I could save myself some time if I did it before and ended up being right about that.
I half-forced my breakfast down my throat - I'm usually at least a bit nauseous in the mornings and this time was no different - and then we went back to our room to put on our costumes. I dressed up as Dragonair (gijinka) from Pokémon and Shiro Samurai had decided that nostalgia is the way and cosplayed Jushiro Ukitake from Bleach. Fun fact: this was the first time I saw him cosplay Ukitake even though that's practically his signature cosplay. 
Even though everything went quite smoothly we still ended up being in hurry! Well, nothing new at this point though - we both have more or less time blindness (mine being in a form 'leaving place A at the time I have promised to already be at place B' - this is why my bestie Gure has told me "Okay so if you say you will be at my place around 1 pm I will expect you to show up around 3 pm") so yeah, that was to be expected. We took a taxi to the con venue this time though; I sweat very easily and didn't want to walk to the venue so I wouldn't ruin my make-up before taking the proof photos. Yes, I am actually pretty vain.

Yes, we were tired. No, I didn't have any plans to unalive anyone even though I look like it, the sun was just hurting my eyes.

There were some outdoor activities this year too.

When we arrived at the con it was almost time for Shiro Samurai's first shift. He worked as a generalist volunteer no I just didn't yoink the term from him shhh during the weekend meanwhile I... Had multiple roles lol. On Saturday I worked as a cosplay judge which meant that I would have several hours to roam around before my duties would start so yeah, had to figure out what to do. We had agreed to take some proof photos of our cosplays when Shiro Samurai would have a break - which meant I had an hour or so for exploring the con. Well, I had already spotted where I would visit first after dropping my stuff in the green room...

IT'S A BOOKMOBILE!! *o*

Khm. Yeah.
Everybody who knows me well enough is very aware of the fact that it's almost impossible to keep me away from libraries, bookmobiles etc. if I have chance to visit one. I love being surrounded by books; behind every cover there is a new story, a new adventure, a new journey waiting for you and that's just magical 💕 I've been this way ever since I was a kid and seemingly this is a permanent thing - not complaining though. 
So yes, the first thing I did was checking out the bookmobile Kauno which is one of the two bookmobiles owned by Oulu city library (the other one is called Onneli, very likely named after one of the main characters of the Onneli ja Anneli book series). The staff there was super nice and when I mentioned I also work in a library I got a very detailed tour in the library on wheels - they had some very neat stuff there! I spent there a good 20 minutes and when I was leaving some people boarded the bus and complimented my cosplay! ;__; I suspect they didn't really know what character I was cosplaying (especially since I didn't have the 'head wings' at the time) but the compliments sure felt good! These things combined gave a great start to my con weekend.

I still had some time to kill so I decided to go inside - and almost instantly headed for the green room since holy shit it was hot and crowded in the lobby, not to mention the Artists' Alley! 

I mean...

...I said the lobby was crowded.

Since I didn't want to get a damn anxiety attack (I have a panic/anxiety disorder and it gets triggered easily in big crowds) I made my way downstairs and sat in the green room for a while. I actually chatted there with one of the main organizers, the person responsible of the guest of honor and the guest of honor, J.S. Meresmaa! If their name isn't familiar to you, here's some information: J.S. Meresmaa is a writer who was recognized by the big audience in Finland after they wrote the Mifonki series. After that they have written a lot of novels - mainly fantasy novels for young people and young adults - and some short stories for adults. Their works, especially some of their short stories, have been translated to multiple other languages too. 
Quite soon Shiro Samurai entered the green room; it was time to get some pictures taken in the nearby park area. We were supposed to take just proof pictures that we had costumes on but somehow it turned into a photoshoot that lasted for 2 hours :'D At first we took pictures of my costume - which was a bit challenging since the location I wanted to use quickly turned out to be quite bad because of the harsh sunlight - and then it was my time behind the camera. During the photoshoot we also spotted some mandarin ducks, got stuck in a spruce branch and almost broke our knees and other body parts in one way or another. #millennials

Fun fact: I couldn't move my hands because the wings aren't attached to my wig just yet in any way so I had to hold on to them. They were made by Shiro Samurai btw, thanks a lot! 💙

I will publish the other photos in a separate post - in the end we got a few good shots each. Time well spent, even though we missed the guest of honor's panel. Oh well, couldn't be helped. 

After the photoshoot it was time to walk back to the con venue and start/continue working! I waited for the other cosplay judges to appear upstairs and soon enough I spotted Ilona and Yuri. There were a couple of hiccups before the pre-judging could begin; none of us had gotten a list of the characters and contestants but luckily the host, Reetta, had one so I quickly took a photo of the list. Probably a bit needless to say but since we hadn't gotten this information we didn't have the reference pictures either - which pretty much meant that Google became our best friend for approximately 30 minutes. Oh well, all's well that ends well and we got the pre-judging done in time - in fact we were even quicker than we had expected!
We were supposed to pick three winners (placements 1-3) and one honorary mention. Well... Picking them was quite easy but we had to think about the placements for a while. After a while of brainstorming we decided to let the stage performance to be the final judge and let's just say that it indeed did turn some tables in the end! 

After the competition I decided to check the flea market and then wait for Shiro Samurai to be done with his shift so we could walk back to the hotel together. Or, well, at first I was about to call a taxi because walking felt like I was stepping on hot glass shards but in the end we decided to walk - after all the distance wasn't that long.
Once we reached the hotel we took off our cosplays, relaxed for a while and then it was time to fetch some bubble tea and ciders for the evening - you see, it was time for the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 final! There was just the right amount of time to do the grocery shopping and warm up our leftover Chinese food in the microwave; the hotel staff was amazing and let us borrow some plates etc. from the restaurant! <3 

Soon enough it was time for the competition to start! 

I mean Tommy Cash is quite a mood, don't you think? :'D #caffeineaddict
I love how unhinged his show was! xD Estonia was actually one of my favorites this year.

Austria's song - which ended up winning the whole contest - was so haunting and beautiful at the same time ;__;

...and then there's Iceland slapping us with tentacles xD

Ich komme - kommst du auch? ;) Yes, I'm a big fan of Erika Vikman and even though this song isn't my favorite by her it's still fucking awesome, such a bitch slap to patriarchal values!

I swear to god, Finns have never been learning Swedish as enthusiastically as they have during this spring thanks to KAJ :'D #eisaapeittää

Bringing back the dab! Baby Lasagna & Käärijä, the winners of hearts 💙💚

I'm so happy that Austria won - honestly, the performance and song were amazing!

It took us a while to fall asleep after the contest but, eventually, we managed - me a couple of hours before Shiro Samurai though. Which is also why I can't understand why I was the one tired during Sunday :'D 

On Sunday neither of us cosplayed; we would have to sit on a train later that day and move a mountain of stuff from place A to place B so we kind of couldn't be bothered lol. In the morning we woke up, had some breakfast, packed our stuff and left for Kummacon. Both of us were working on Sunday too, Shiro Samurai still as a generalist volunteer and I at the info desk in the lobby. I also hosted a book talk about classic books, such as Jane Austen's Sense and sensibility and John Wyndham's The day of the triffids. But yes, first it was time for work!

I don't have that much to say about working at the info desk - except that it was very chill and I enjoyed it a lot. Actually I enjoyed it so much that I could easily apply for it again! The people working with me were nice and even though I can't remember everything I sure can say that we had some peak humor and neat conversations~!

My first shift lasted for two hours after which it was time for the book talk! I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed with the fact that I didn't manage to read seven books as I had intended to - I ran out of time and had to roll with six. In pages that means approximately 1630 pages which, in the end, isn't really that much lol (especially considering that some books alone have that many pages). But well, I had to roll with what I had.

I actually had a handful of listeners - it's always nice to see people who like books and want to get new reading tips! ^^ 

The book on the screen is Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones.

After the book talk I had a break during which I ate a bit and checked out the Artists' Alley and the Artisans' Alley for the last time with Shiro Samurai (who was working but walking around was kind of part of his job you know). Ended up buying some stuff but not really that much. I'm still on a "sell these things your teenage self thought you absolutely NEED to have and which you never even looked at after buying them" mission and don't really want any extra stuff lying around my apartment right now ^^" Well, I mainly bought stickers this time to decorate my next year's calendar with when the time comes!

This could be found at the Artists' Alley. It's pretty sad that a sign like this is even needed...

The Artisans' Alley was very popular! These pictures were taken during Saturday though; it wasn't quite as crammed on Sunday.

There were also other activities, such as...

...a very neat Lego display...

...the gaming room...

...and anime karaoke!

Sadly I didn't have time to participate in most of the activities but at least I managed to check out the Lego display - it was awesome! I noticed that there was no escape room this year though; maybe there weren't enough volunteers or something for that? And I don't mean this as a sting; hosting escape rooms isn't exactly just a walk in the park. Just noticed it was absent this year lol.

After some walking around it was time for me to return to my work station for one more hour!

Part of the lobby during Sunday. There were still plenty of visitors!

Our last hour at the con went smoothly and when that was over we grabbed our unsold flea market items there were quite many and other stuff and called a taxi to take us to the railway station. No way we would walk there with the amount of stuff we had!
The train ride to Kemi went smoothly and once we got there Shiro Samurai's mom was waiting for us at the train station; she had kindly promised to take me home too so I wouldn't have to walk or take one more taxi, thank you! 💓

Honestly, I feel like this summary is kind of all over the place :'D

But yeah, I truly enjoyed this year's Kummacon a lot - hopefully I can attend it next year too! And yes, my millennial bones still ache lol. 

The next post I'll publish will be the Dragonair photoshoot~ 💙

After that... Eh... Back to circle lens reviews it is lol. I will attend Nekocon in July but I have seriously no idea if I manage to make a new cosplay before that, also known as can't really promise any WIP posts either (as if I wrote those that often these days anyway).

Until next ti--- Wait!!

Even the small Toripolliisi was rooting for Erika Vikman! #erikavision2025

Well, now I've said everything I was supposed to say in this post :'D

Until next time.

-Firith

Kummacon 2025 cosplay plans!

Heyo~!
It's been a while since I've done one of these posts :'D Usually my cosplay plans change more often than I change my socks (which, thank you for asking, happens on a daily basis) but now there's no time for that anymore so I can safely post this lol. Kummacon is held this upcoming weekend and I'm going to attend it as a volunteer AND panel host, woop woop~ 

The con's theme this year is Aqua so at first I would have liked to make something water-themed. A month or so before the con I suddenly realized that I would not have time or money to make some important pieces of the costume and had to scrap the plans I had back then for now.
I kind of felt like I had accidentally come to a dead end; I didn't want to wear Kiki or Alicia again since the former needs some repairs and the latter I wore to Kummacon last year so yeah, I wanted something different lol. Luckily I didn't have to brainstorm alone and soon Shiro Samurai (who will also accompany me to the con) came up with an idea I just couldn't say no to... 💙

Dragonair from Pokémon

Last year I had some sort of a witchy theme, this year's theme is apparently Pokémon gijinkas... xD 

But yes, this time I will cosplay Dragonair, one of my favorite Pokémons! ^.^ This gijinka will likely experience some heavy modifying in the future (to start with more accurate color scheme and all) but this time I will roll with what I already have.

At Kummacon I will

• work as an info desk volunteer (Sunday)
• work as a cosplay judge (Saturday)
• host a book talk (Sunday)

Third convention of the year, let's go~!!

Until next time (which will be a con summary).

-Firith

Circle lens review: ICK Adora Green

Greetings~!
Even though the next convention of the year is right around the corner (more specifically on the upcoming weekend!) there's still time for another circle lens review x) Our main character today is a pretty lens called ICK Adora Green that ngl kind of stole my heart 💚

My photographer for this lens review was Shiro Samurai (which very likely surprises nobody at this point), thank you! ^.^ These photos were also taken when I still lived in the south, hence why a bit different light conditions than usual.

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 yeah, no sponsors this time either. 

I honestly don't even know why I'm still specifying this since I've never written a sponsored circle lens review but well, I have specified this in the past so I'll likely keep doing this in the future too lol.

The vials of the lenses.

The lenses in their vials.

Base curve: 8,6 mm

Diameter: 15,0 mm

Water content: 42 %

Life span: 1 year (I recommend 6 months)

Inserting these was easy; there was no curling around finger and they settled quickly in their places. Even though I can't really say anything about comfort, these felt surprisingly good in my eyes even though they had expired long before taking these photos. So yes, I'm very tempted to buy another color from this lens series (sold at Ifairycon to name one) and see how comfortable these actually are! 

One lens in to show the enlargement.

These seriously belong to the "pick us for doll eyes" category. The enlargement effect is notable and without make-up it's even a bit creepy, as you can see in the picture above. 

The color is a very beautiful shade of dark green - in fact that's very close to my favorite color and yes, I did fall in love with these lenses pretty much immediately. I must admit though that I didn't expect these to look this dark in my eyes; it sure was a pleasant surprise! I think the black dots might play a part here; they most likely darken the color quite a bit. It's no surprise that the pupil hole is so big that my own eye color (gray) can be seen a bit too, however I don't really think it's that disturbing since these blend well with my natural eye color. The opacity is good otherwise though - I mean the lenses are clearly green - and based on the product picture on Ifairycon's website these cover dark brown eyes very well too!

The design is basic and unique, both at the same time. The sides of the pupil hole seem to be a bit irregular (might also be an optical illusion caused by the black dot details), surprisingly giving these a slightly more natural look - even though these can't be called natural to save anyone's life. These were clearly designed to be cosplay and alternative fashion lenses. I'm starting to wonder if I should actually wear these to my Alicia cosplay someday! I also think these would work well for both female and bishounen characters since these aren't too moe either. Just the right amount of moe, I'd say :'D

Then to the lens photos! 

These pictures were taken during a sunny summer day. There are no filters in the pics, they've just been re-sized. 

Bathroom light (ft. strong natural light through the bathroom window).

Bad corridor light.

Natural light through the window.

Flash photo.

Roomlight, shadowy side of the house.

Facing the sun.

Back against the sun.

From the distance.

• The color is 10/10. A very beautiful shade of green.
  
  
• The design is 9/10. Even though it looks pretty basic at first it sure does look unique in your eyes. To be honest one of my favorite lenses by far!
  
  
• The opacity is 9/10. These are clearly green and don't really let your own eye color through - minus the pupil hole.
  
  
• The naturalness is 3/10. These are way too big in size and intense in color to be mistaken for anyone's real eyes, however the color itself admittedly grants these a few points in this category too. 
  
  
• The enlargement is 8/10. It's indeed notable.
  
  

Okay, now we're ready with these beauties~! I'm seriously interested in buying other colors from this lens series too and very likely will do that in the future. 
My next post will be a cosplay plan post - it will be up in a couple of days - and after that the third con summary of the year! ^.^

...and, after those, back to the circle lens reviews it is.

Until next time.

-Firith

Circle lens review: Vassen Kirei Red

Yo~!
Dropping yet another circle lens review today! I still have a huge backlog on these; even though I managed to get through the oldest batch there are still about 20 reviews to write so yeah, I won't be running out of content anytime soon :'D The star of this review is Vassen Kirei Red, a lens that sure does deliver.
The pics for this review are taken by none other than Shiro Samurai, thanks a lot! ^^ These pics were also taken when I still lived in the south so yeah, the light conditions are a bit different than in most of my reviews.

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, as per usual, this review is not sponsored.

The vials of the lenses.

The lenses in their vials.

Base curve: 8,6 mm
Diameter: 14,5 mm
Water content: 42 %
Life span: 1 year (I recommend 6 months)

These were very easy to insert, no surprises there. What did surprise me a bit though is that the lens felt a bit thicker than I had expected. When I inserted the second lens it felt a bit scratchy at first but after a few blinks the feeling went away; I think that may have had something to do with the fact that these lenses were already expired by the time I reviewed them. I only had these in my eyes for about 15 minutes so I can't say that much about the comfort, however these felt like lenses I could wear for about 4-5 hours before my eyes would start feeling dry.

One lens in to show the enlargement.

The enlargement effect is notable but not in the "freaky af" category. This does indeed look like a good cosplay lens if you want some enlargement to your eyes but not anything "too moe".

The color is certainly red, that can't be argued. To be honest to me it looks like the very definition of red; the shade is very bright and and quite vibrant. As you can probably see - at least from the vial pics - these lenses do have some black and yellow details in them, making the red pop out even more. I suspect the shade would look a bit darker in dark/brown eyes; in my gray eyes it's very bright. The opacity of the lens is very good: your eyes will definitely look red with these. The pupil hole is quite big though and your own eye color will be visible there, however it's the case with most circle lenses anyway so yeah, not exactly big news. Or news at all.

The more you look at the design the more you notice there's going on. There are many details that look quite simple but, when united, add a lot of depth to the lens design. The black limbal ring is quite thick, giving these an instant anime/cartoon character look. There are also some smaller black details here and there, making the color of the lens look even more intense than it would without them. Design-wise: clearly a cosplay lens. I could imagine these would also look good in some alternative outfits too if you want something simple yet outstanding for your eyes.

Since pictures tell more than thousand words, let's get to them next!

These pictures were taken on a sunny summer evening. There are no filters or anything in the pics, they are just re-sized.

Natural light through the window.

Bad corridor light.

Bathroom light.

Flash photo.

Room light, shadowy side of the house.

Facing the sun.

Back against the sun.

From the distance.

• The color is 10/10. A very, very bright red that sure delivers!
  
  
• The design is 8/10. Quite simple but beautiful in its own way - and very suitable for a cosplay lens!
  
  
• The opacity is 8/10. These are very pigmented and don't really let your own eye color through - minus the pupil hole. 
  
  
• The naturalness is 2/10. The size isn't the most unnatural there but yeah, otherwise not natural at all.
  
  
• The enlargement is 7/10. The effect is there, however it's not "in your face".

Aaaand that's a wrap!
Like I mentioned in the beginning of this post, I still have A LOT of circle lens reviews to write. On top of that I'm also dreaming about making at least one costume this year (and by making I mean sewing it myself lol, there will be new costumes this year anyway though!) AND there will be quite many con summaries this year - seems like I'll be busy with writing stuff~!

If you like my content, stay tuned - there will be lots this year! ^^ 

Until next time.

-Firith