perjantai 7. maaliskuuta 2025

Circle lens review: MAX Elegance Tri-Tone Gray

Hello everyone~!

It's time for another circle lens review~ 
This time I'll review a pair of MAX Elegance Tri-Tone Gray lenses. To be honest it took me quite a while to form an opinion about these ones. Why? Keep on reading to get the answer!
Photos are taken by Shiro Samurai, thanks a lot! ^^ 
And yes, these pics were taken a while ago too, oops.

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, once again, this circle lens review is non-sponsored.

The vials of the lenses.


The lenses in their vials.

Base curve: 8,6 mm
Diameter: 15 mm
Water content: 42 %
Life span: 1 year (I recommend 6 months)

Inserting these was pretty easy. The right lens irritated my eye a bit at first though but it settled after a while. After that I barely felt these in my eyes. These were also pretty thin and overall comfortable to wear; had these not been expired I probably would have worn these a few more times.

One lens in to show the enlargement.

Ooooookay. I think these look even a bit creepy due to the enlargement effect - these sure do deliver! To be honest I didn't really have that high hopes for the enlargement since, well, a 15 mm diameter isn't really that big - especially not when compared to many I.Fairy lenses which have the diameter of 16,2 mm. But, as you can see, the effect is actually very notable. 
For some reason these lenses seem to give my eyes even a bit... Feral look, and I'm not sure if that's a bad or a good thing lol. In my opinion these look a bit unsettling in my eyes.

The color took me by surprise. When I saw these in vials I remember thinking "well, these don't actually look gray, but maybe they will when I insert these". What I sure didn't expect was a color bordering on light blue! To be honest I felt a bit disappointed at this point. The color sure is beautiful and I can think of a few mythical creatures (for example mermaids and unicorn gijinkas) it could work for but it really doesn't deliver the color that is actually stated in the name of these lenses. Well, there is some gray in these but... I don't know, all I see is blue lol. But hey, at least they work well together with light-colored eyes (as you can see, my eyes are mostly gray)!
The print is actually pretty nice even though it doesn't work for me that well. These actually made me think of winter and cracking ice. The print makes it possible for your own eye color to show through a bit but not too much. What I really do like about these lenses that these have pretty thin limbal ring - had it been any thicker these lenses would have gone to the "creepy af" category. 
I'd say that these would work pretty well for mythical creature (inspired) costumes for example! However, otherwise I don't really see MAX Elegance Tri-Tone Gray as a cosplay lens.

Honestly, it took me half an eternity to actually form an opinion what I really do think about these lenses. They're very beautiful and unique in their own way, however these don't really deliver the color they promise (at least not in light-colored eyes) and they look a bit too creepy for my taste. So yeah, still don't really know - except that I like these more than I dislike them.

To the lens photos it is!

These pics were taken on a half-cloudy midwinter day. These haven't been filtered in any way, they've only been re-sized. 

Natural roomlight.

Bathroom light.

Flash photo.

Facing window.

Back against the sun.

Facing the sun while standing under a shadow.

Facing the sun.

From the distance.

  • The color is 7/10. It's quite beautiful and even unique in some way - however I couldn't call these gray even if my life depended on it.

  • The design is 7/10. Not the most creative out there but beautiful in its own way. Gives my eyes a stern and feral look though - not sure if good or not.

  • The opacity is 7/10. These lenses let my own eye color through quite a bit if you ask me - that might be because of the design but yeah, not the most opaque lens out there.

  • The naturalness is 3/10. I mean, the color kind of is natural, however the design and enlargement effect make these look quite unnatural. 

  • The enlargement is 9/10 - a lot more enlarging than I expected!

So that's it for now~!
Even though I'm still not sure if I like these ones or not I would be interested in trying out the other colors from this lens series, especially the gold ones. Maybe in the future! 💛
There are still many lens reviews to come so if you like these, stay tuned~

Until next time.

-Firith

keskiviikko 19. helmikuuta 2025

Konekocon 2025 - My con hype was seemingly on vacation

Hello guys~ 

Less than two months into this year and I'm already writing a con report? Must be some sort of a record, honestly. 
But yeah, this is my report of Konekocon 2025 which was held on 1st of February at Kuopio, more precisely at Kuopion Taidelukio Lumit. If you wonder why the name of the event sounds familiar it's because Konekocon is actually a "kitten" version of Nekocon (I mean it's quite literally in the name)! 

The entrance to the con building.

(All pictures are - as per usual - taken by Shiro Samurai).

We - meaning Shiro Samurai and I - left for Kuopio on 31st of January, also known as the day before the con. This time we took the train to Kuopio since my car doesn't really like winter that much (also known as I didn't really trust it to take us to our destination and back) and this also affected our choice of an accommodation.

You see, usually we stay at the Rauhalahti Spa when we're in this very specific part of eastern Finland. However, it's located a few kilometers away from the city center and thus it became a part of "not on option" list quite quickly when we started going through our options a couple of months before the con. Why was that an issue this time? Well, we didn't have the car this time and there was no way we would pay 20+ euros per each taxi needed since neither of us is Flintheart Glomgold ^^'
It was at this point when I remembered one thing. Back in the days when my family still traveled all over Finland with me when I attended conventions we used to reserve a room at Sokos Hotel Puijonsarvi when we were at Kuopio. I think we were once in Scandic but I have a feeling it wasn't as good option for some reason. I quickly checked the hotel's website and noticed that the rooms still had an affordable price - and after a few clicks the accommodation for the weekend was secured. Phew!

Eventually we arrived at Kuopio, took a taxi to the hotel and checked in. After that we dumped our stuff to our room and pretty much immediately headed out to scout for a place where we'd eat dinner. It didn't take us too long to find a Nepalese restaurant which was located in a shopping center called Apaja. The food was really delicious and even though the restaurant wasn't exactly cheap I sure would eat there again!

After dinner we walked back to the hotel and watched National Geographic for the rest of the evening and I miserably failed in trying to get some con hype. Eventually we went to sleep - I think neither of us slept that well though since it was so damn warm in the room. I need to take medicine these days so I could have a proper sleep and even that didn't really help me sooooo... :)))
Morning came way too quickly and I had zero interest to get up but obviously had to unless I wanted to skip the hotel breakfast. Since neither of us didn't want to do that mistake we zombied our ways downstairs and ate a very yummy breakfast! 
...still a bit salty about not getting a macaron though. When I try to make those at home I always manage to burn them a common skill issue but they also cost a lot at a grocery store so yeah, I was a bit disappointed for not getting one :((

When we had eaten it was time to shower and put on a costume - which, in my case, meant a shiny Jigglypuff gijinka! 
...and guess if putting on the costume went smoothly? Nooooooope. I have literally no idea what had cursed our con morning but clearly something since things were so difficult, especially doing the make-up! D:< Shiro Samurai's eyeliner wings ended up being quite asymmetrical and my face didn't want to co-operate at all. Most of my eye shadows didn't have enough pigment - eventually the one I picked doesn't even show in the pics so that was a good-for-nothing headache -, I kept fucking up my eyeliner and had a blending hell with my blush and almost ended up looking like a fucking clown! -__- I first considered putting on some fake eyelashes for extra cuteness but I probably would have glued them onto my eyeballs so I skipped them. 
Next time I will count the perkeles during the make-up show and publish the result in that con's summary.

Eventually we were ready to leave for the con. We took a taxi since it was quite slippery and it looked like it was going to start raining so yeah, nope. 
It didn't take us long to arrive at Lumit and the first thing we did was exchanging our PDF tickets to wristbands. We had agreed on taking some proof pictures of our costumes after that since there still was some natural light outside. And, as you can probably guess at this point, it didn't go very smoothly. I mean we had fun but it took quite a while to get decent pics since I ended up looking like a damn puffer fish most of the time :'D

Character: Jigglypuff (gijinka)
Source: Pokémon
Cosplayer: yours truly
Photos & editShiro Samurai

"You weren't paying attention? Well, what kind of mustache do you want? >:C"

I don't know how to be cute okay ;__;

After taking pics we went inside since it wasn't exactly warm outside lol.

The cloak room area.


The 1st floor lobby.

To be honest I felt a bit... I don't know. "Disappointed" isn't exactly the word but I to be honest I had expected to see a bit more theme-related decorations etc. Yes, I wanted kittens in my life. I also know that the event had at least 500 attendants but somehow the venue seemed quite empty. There were 1000 tickets for sale but the event never got sold out so yeah, the venue was a bit too spacious for the amount of people there. Usually it's the other way around; I think that this is the first time I've ever seen it be this way.
The first thing we checked out was the Artists' Alley/Merchandise Hall which was located in the gym hall - also known as the same room where the gaming consoles were located in Nekocon. There was plenty of space to move around and personally I think this was one of the best Artists' Alley experiences I've ever had! 

Omg so much space!



I didn't buy that much stuff this time though; just a few humorous stickers I decorated my calendar with (can't remember the artist, sorry!)  and a pair of black spider earrings made by bunicorn_design, also known as Momo. I've known them approximately for 10 years but since we don't live close to each other we don't meet that often. It was so nice to chat with them and their assistant (who recognized me before I recognized her, oops)! 💓

After checking out the Artists' Alley we decided to check out the flea market... Which, to be honest, turned out to be quite interesting experience and not in a good way. I don't really mind that the tables were pretty empty - I mean, that's something that can't be affected since it's dependent on whether people want to sell their stuff there or not. But could someone teach people about pricing policy? I mean... At least I'm not ready to pay 20-30 euros for an item that is about to break into pieces even from a very gentle touch. 
Of course it's more than okay to sell stuff you have made yourself - just check its condition first and let that define the value. Something that comes apart just by looking at it is definitely not worth 20 euros or more.
After shaking our heads in disbelief for a few minutes we decided to check the second floor of the building. There we found some non-stop activities, such as gaming room and a karaoke room. There was also 'silent room' - a place where one can hang out in total silence. They have become more and more common in conventions and I think that they are seriously a wonderful thing; if someone gets overwhelmed or anxious or just wants some peace during a hectic con day they can just go there and charge their social batteries. 

Karaoke going on.

The gaming room.

The stairs leading to the first floor and the stage.

I have a small complaint about the karaoke though. I mean, it was mostly very well hosted (and the microphones' volume was really low so the singer's voice couldn't be heard - perfect for people who want to sing but are anxious about their voice) but the queuing system was basically non-existent. I would have wanted to sing at least something - would have even fit the character! - but when I realized that getting a singing turn was a speed competition I gave up and just sat there for a while, watching others sing. 
I seriously do hope that this gets fixed in the future. A clear queuing system is always the best in these kind of programs; at least I don't really find it fun to run for the mic to get a turn. 
After a while we decided to go to the main lobby. The program we intended to check out - Snowflake Harmony, a Miku Hatsune dance show - was about to start anyway so yeah, we left the karaoke room and almost immediately walked to Black Box, also known as the room where the dance show was hosted. 

Emi as Miku Hatsune.

I really didn't know what to expect from the show; I mean, the host was a minor and this was her first time performing solo. But I must say that she did very well; the lip sync was basically perfect, her dancing skills were good (and the choreographies were at least mostly the correct ones!) and she even interacted fluently with the audience in between the dances - and stayed in character all the time! Performing is a skill that can always be developed further but I must say that she's off to a great start on that path.
And it took me a week to get World Is Mine out of my head.
This kind of made me want to start dancing again tbh. When I was younger I used to dance but had to quit the hobby many years ago - and I have missed it ever since. I have never been talented in most sports but dancing was something I actually enjoyed... Well, maybe in the future since I actually have some cosplay plans related to dancing!
...though I must really polish my skills before that. They're very rusty lol.

After Snowflake Harmony we considered watching the cosplay catwalk which was the last program of the day but eventually gave up on that idea since we were quite tired and just wanted to get something to eat lol. 
At the hotel we took off our costumes and relaxed for a while before walking to a nearby (very cheap but very good) pizzeria to eat.

#tired

Some drinks and snacks for the evening!

We stayed at the hotel for two nights which means that in Sunday morning it was time to eat some hotel breakfast, pack our bags and check out of the hotel - and that basically was the end of our Konekocon weekend.

I must say that I'm not very likely to attend Konekocon again. 
By this I don't mean that it would have been all bad or anything; it did have its moments, there was a lot of entertainment and Lumit is a good building for hosting a convention since there is a lot of space and it's very near to the city center. So yeah, not all bad and definitely worth checking out if you live at or near Kuopio!
But is this con really worth traveling from the north, paying for the train tickets, accommodation etc.? To that I must sadly answer no. Konekocon was a nice experience but it kind of... Lacked something. I don't know if it's the lack of people, the problems with the current time of the year or what, but I just somehow didn't get the con hype I usually do (eventually). I also didn't feel like I would've belonged to the target audience of the con; I mean, I felt like I was 10-15 years older than most of the other con visitors! D: 
So yes, this was very likely my first and last Konekocon. I will still attend the summer version since I've always enjoyed it, but this... Wasn't really my cup of tea.

The next convention of the year is right behind the corner - and guess who is at the organizing end again? :D So yes, expect to see another con summary (and a bunch of circle lens reviews) in the near future~!

Until next time.

-Firith

tiistai 14. tammikuuta 2025

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

torstai 2. tammikuuta 2025

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

torstai 19. joulukuuta 2024

Northern Lights Anime Party 2024 - I got asked to compete!

Hello folks!

It's time for a con summary; I really thought Gingacon would have been my last con for this year but that sure wasn't the case. About 2,5 weeks ago I stumbled upon Matsucon's story in Instagram where they promoted this new-to-me event - Northern Lights Anime Party - which would be held 14th of December at Rovaniemi, more precisely at Monitoritalo Monde. After quickly checking out the event's website and Instagram profile I messaged Shiro Samurai if he would be interested in going - and got a green light since Rovaniemi really isn't that far away.
I was about to go there anyway since one of my friends, Hant, happened to be working at Rovaniemi - he usually lives in the south and we hadn't seen each other in literal years so I wasn't going to let this opportunity to meet him slip out of hands. He happens to be into cosplay and alt fashion too so I informed him about the event too and he was willing to join us, yay!

The entrance to the con building. Notice the NLAP banner on the wall.


I picked Shiro Samurai up on Friday the 13th which kind of ended up living up to its name lol. You see, we both had a feeling that we were forgetting something very, very obvious but just couldn't figure out what. We drove to Kemi, more specifically to Sallukka and Dongrieg's place since Shiro Samurai would stay the night there (I couldn't exactly let him stay at my place since one of us would have had to sleep on the floor in that case lol). We were watching Dongrieg play and I don't exactly remember which one of us four made a comment about a dead camera...
And then it hit me.
The camera. 
I looked at Shiro Samurai who looked like it was dawning upon him too. The conversation went pretty much like this...

Me: "Did you, by any chance, take your camera with you?"
Shiro Samurai: "No I did not, that's the thing we fucking forgot!"

I mean... All these years and neither of us had paid any thought to it. I still feel a bit embarrassed for not noticing this since it's pretty obvious that we would need a camera if we wanted to take some pictures for our con summaries. 
Luck was at least a bit on our side though; I still hadn't gotten rid of my Canon I bought all those years ago. I mean, it still works - there's just some dirt on the mirror that I would need to get rid of since it leaves black dots to the pics. We decided to roll with it this time. It might not be as good as Shiro Samurai's Nikon but definitely better than no camera at all lol.

The Saturday morning came.
And I slept in because I didn't wake up to the alarms.
Luckily not too much, only for about 20 minutes, so I still had time to take a shower and do my make-up. I had planned to change into costume - I had decided to wear Alicia from Moominvalley - at my place but quickly scrapped the idea because I was already running late. So I just grabbed my belongings, texted Shiro Samurai that I was on my way to the railway station and took a taxi there. No way I was walking with that amount of stuff in a hurry when it was slippery af outside. It didn't take too long for the train to arrive at the station and when it did we hopped in and begun our short trip to Rovaniemi. I messaged Hant that we were on our way and we agreed to meet at the event venue - it would have made no sense if he first walked to Rovaniemi railway station to meet us and then with us back to the con lol. 

No jumping under the train! (This is also the only pic I took for this summary, others are taken by Shiro Samurai.)


Except that we didn't walk either.
If it was cold in Kemi, it sure was that in Rovaniemi too - literally twice as cold! We decided to take a taxi again... And ended up paying way too much for that short trip. You see, when I asked the taxi drivers around they all told me that the minimum price was 25 euros. I turned down quite many offers until an older man approached us. He told me the same price but was willing to give us some sort of a discount. Since it was getting cold and we were freezing I agreed to that; still way too expensive considering that he didn't have to drive for long (and I kind of had to help him with my Google Maps lol) but at least a bit more reasonable. I think that the company behind these drivers had given them the same instructions and the discount amount they could give to people - and no, it isn't even illegal to ask that much for a short trip. A few years ago the Finnish taxi law enabled this kind of bullshit so of course some of the companies make the most of it. I'm not exactly blaming the drivers here, they are just doing their job (and this seriously is a first world problem, I know that) but I sure do hope they get their share of the money, after all they are the ones doing all that work! 

Okay, rant over.

We arrived at Monitoritalo Monde and immediately started to look for a dressing room. Shiro Samurai asked a con volunteer (or, well, it later turned out that they were one of the main organizers but we didn't know it at that point) where we could change into our costumes and we were instructed to make use of the bathrooms. After a very short thinking process we decided to invade one of the bathrooms for a moment - but before we did that I spotted Hant sitting on a sofa and informed him that I'd just put my costume on quickly and then give him the wig I had promised he could borrow for the day. Eventually the wig ended up becoming his lol.

An overview of the lobby...

...and more specifically the very comfy sofas!

I changed from a tired librarian to a young curious witch in no time and left the bathroom so Shiro Samurai could do his make-up and change into costume in peace. I went to sit on the sofa with Hant and we begun chatting; it had been so long since we had last seen so there was a lot to talk about! At some point I noticed a con volunteer approaching us; they were clearly about to come to talk to us so we turned our attention to them.
And they... Actually asked me to compete in the cosplay competition!
My mind went blank for a moment there; it was said in the rules that at least 80 % of the costume should be self-made and Alicia DEFINITELY doesn't fill that criteria. I mean I have made and modified parts for her but 80 %? Uh-oh, nope. I explained this to them and the answer was "It's okay, if there's anything you have made yourself it's fine". At that point I caught the drift of what was going on; they had extended the application time for the cosplay competition the day before the con so I assumed that The Curse Of Being A Small Event had hit them too. Also known as: there were not enough contestants. At that point I decided to give it a go; I sure hadn't planned to compete but I wasn't about to say no to the chance either! I was given the instructions to meet up with other contestants in approximately 30 minutes; before that I was free to do whatever I wanted so I continued chatting with Hant and waiting for Shiro Samurai to get ready.

I guess this was some sort of the "Who is the best husbando of them all?" kind of 'contest' where you could vote for your favorite by drawing a heart next to their pic. Still no idea who won though. I voted for Wriothesley after this pic was taken.


About five minutes before the competition he emerged from the bathroom, now in costume, and we had a very short time to plan our next steps. I left my things with Hant since Shiro Samurai would start taking the convention pictures and it wouldn't have been very practical to have one heavy extra bag with him lol. Hant on the other hand told me that he would watch the competition so yeah, totally a better solution.
I met up with the other contestants by the stage and felt like a frickin' dinosaur. I mean the youngest contestant sure was about 20 years younger than me! D: Nothing wrong with that, of course - I just felt pretty old lol.

🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑

At this point I would like to take a moment to explain how this competition was planned. The first part of it was the catwalk I'm speaking about right now. The catwalk itself consisted of going to the stage when the contestant heard their number (mine was 4) and name, do about two or three quick poses and then exit the stage. A very, very traditional catwalk which works in most cases - and especially in smaller conventions. This type of contest doesn't require that much performing skills since they are mostly about the costume; however these days the stage performance in these matters more than it did about 10 years ago so it's not a good idea to neglect that part either. Good poses can make a huge difference in the final result! Saying this as someone who has been a contestant for many times and also a judge for a few times. 

The next part was judging the costumes. Normally the costumes are judged before the catwalk part but this time the judging was after it. Personally I prefer the more known way but, to be honest, does the order in this really matter that much, especially in smaller competitions? I believe that the result would have been the same even if the judging was held before the catwalk.

The final part was the award ceremony which was held several hours after the competition. This may sound like a weird decision but I'm throwing in a wild guess: it might be because the con itself was pretty small and there weren't too many programs otherwise either. If the award ceremony was held earlier at least some people would have left many hours before the con closed its doors for the day - and since it was a small event there weren't like thousands of visitors to begin with. I myself have used this tactic when I planned Mericon's cosplay competition; there has been (and will be) a 45 min time gap between the competition itself and the award ceremony unless I come up with an even better idea. 

So yes, NLAP's cosplay competition was pretty traditional - it just had its own twists to the traditions. This was also their first cosplay competition (this was a second time the convention was held) so yes, it's more than understandable that there were a few hiccups along the way - but more of those later in the summary.

🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑


We were briefly explained what was going to happen and given our stage numbers - as mentioned, mine was 4 this time. There were six contestants in total so yeah, definitely not a big competition. We formed up a queue, waited for hearing our names and walked to the stage when we heard it. The whole competition was over in just a few minutes but that didn't surprise me - especially considering that there weren't too many contestants to begin with. However, I think that the catwalk part went well and the host was great - so supportive towards us contestants! 💓
After the catwalk it was a bit unclear when the judging would happen but eventually we were given instructions to follow one of the con workers to the back. I told Hant where I was going and that I'd catch up with him and Shiro Samurai a bit later. After that I walked to the corridor in the back where we were told to wait for a minute so the judges could get ready to do their job. Fair enough. We didn't have to wait long either; in just a few minutes the judging begun.

I must say that this must have been the fastest costume judging I have ever attended to. Normally it takes approximately about 10 minutes to judge a costume and even that might not be enough. This time, however, it took just a couple of minutes per costume. From what I heard from the other contestants, many of them had a bought cosplay on them or such so there likely wasn't that much to tell about the costumes anyway; I didn't have that much to tell about Alicia either. The questions I was asked were pretty basic, such as which parts I had made myself and so on. I also got feedback about my stage presentation looking natural and good. I must say that it made me quite happy; as someone who suffers from anxiety/panic disorder it took me years to get myself to this point with stage presentation. And the strive to become even better is definitely still there.
I would like to mention something that could be called 'constructive criticism' though. I know that this was the first cosplay competition ever hosted at NLAP and if you take that into consideration I'd say that everything went pretty well. But next year a separate room for judging the costumes would be an improvement; this time there were people picking up their jackets etc. from the room during the judging. It didn't really bother me that much since I'm used to the judging situations but from what I heard many of the contestants were first-timers and thus quite nervous. Getting interrupted in the middle of telling about your costume might result in "mind going blank", also known as forgetting a lot you were about to say - and telling those things to judges is extremely important. However, I'm not being too harsh about this; there likely weren't too many spare rooms to begin with so I do understand the solution. Just... If possible next year, a separate room for the judging would work in favor of both, contestants and judges.

After the judging I was free to go to explore the con. I picked up my bag from Hant who was about to make a pin at a pin... Uh, workshop, hosted by the library of Rovaniemi. It's always nice to see libraries getting involved with these kind of events; there even was a pop-up library in the middle of the lobby! 💓 It really warmed my heart to see people take interest in it. 

Said pop-up library.


Hant also mentioned that he wasn't sure where Shiro Samurai had gone. I had a feeling I would find him at the Artists' Alley and so I climbed upstairs where it was located... And I was right, I almost walked into him when I had taken the last few steps lol. He was almost done taking the venue pics - and we both were more than ready to go to eat. Hant also appeared upstairs after making that pin and after the short discussion we decided to check the Artists' Alley first and then go eat at the nearby Kotipizza. It was literally in the same building, just in the other end of it, and none of us was really up to walking any greater distance to fetch some food since it was pretty damn cold outside. 

The cloakroom/info desk and the stairs leading upstairs.

A guardian of the stairs? :'D

A part of the Artists' Alley ft. Hant's back and my phone screen.


The corridor/upstairs lobby where the Artists' Alley was located was a bit narrow but still okay; I didn't bump into everything and everyone when I moved around. There were quite many sellers; I think seven or eight plus the info/promotion table of Seta. It was nice to see that there were both new (at least to me) and old artists selling their stuff; it seems like it's not too easy to get a table from the Artists' Alley in the first place so I was happy to see that so many had applied and got accepted to sell their stuff at NLAP! On the first round I don't remember really buying anything aside from one envelope that contained mystery products which later turned out to be LGBTQIA+ related stickers, to name one group of products.

After the pretty quick tour around the Artists' Alley we went to get something to eat. First I checked when the award ceremony of the cosplay competition would be held; I wasn't really expecting to win anything but wanted to still be there to see who would be announced as the winner. We had multiple hours of time so yeah, pizza o'clock it was! 
We dragged our arses to Kotipizza, ordered our pizzas and, while waiting for our food, took a few silly group selfies with a snowman family - which got dubbed as "This could have been us: snowman version" xD 

A group selfie ❤

AND THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THERE'S A PAPARAZZI AMONG YOUR GROUP GOD DAMN IT x"DDD There's a reason why I pose for pictures when I want to look presentable :'D


During our time at the restaurant we also did a few raids in Pokémon Go. I'm not too active player these days but Hant wanted to do a few raids and needed people to raid with him so me and Shiro Samurai joined the fun. I think we did two or three raids until we checked the clock and noticed that it was time to back to the convention place. Shiro Samurai and I had been looking forward to the hurt/comfort themed panel but when I checked the program I realized that we had missed it. Tbh I was a bit sour about it back then since, well, the topic seemed interesting enough but it was kind of a no can do situation; we wouldn't have had time to grab anything to eat any earlier or any later so yeah, we chose survival over our interests. *sniff*
Once back at the con my body was already screaming for caffeine and thus I ordered a cup of coffee from the small café that was located near the building's entrance. The venue overall was quite small too - minus the hall where the cosplay competition and some of the other programs were held, I swear to to god it was about 75 % of the whole venue! However, the venue was surprisingly functional and I really don't have anything bad to say about it; an event this small wouldn't have needed any bigger venue. Maybe in the future they will need one though but this year this was just fine.

Mascot donuts! 🍩 I found this idea pretty cute tbh.


Pretty soon Hant and Shiro Samurai went upstairs to play some D'n'D; the dungeon master had prepared a short-ish campaign to play at the con. I was supposed to go to check it out too but I realized that the award ceremony would be soon so I decided to stick downstairs to speak with the librarians. At this point I noticed from the corner of my eye that something was going on at the stage. I looked up and saw some other contestants standing there. It didn't take long to count 1 + 1: the award ceremony had begun a bit early and I had missed it completely! 
I saw some of the con workers approaching me and asked them about the results (and I had guessed the winner right, congrats to them! 💓). Apparently they had assumed that I had already left - I'm not sure had they been specifically looking for me or anything but anyway - and decided to have the ceremony with the contestants they could find. I got apologized over this but I told them that it was fine; I can totally understand the stress related to organizing a convention so yeah, a few hiccups can occur, no matter how carefully you plan everything. I chatted with them for a while and then decided to change out of cosplay; after all I had had it on for six hours already and lenses even longer so yeah, definitely wanted something more comfortable to wear (even though, I must note, Alicia is one of my most comfortable costumes to wear).

After changing out of costume I did a second round at the Artists' Alley and this time bought some stuff from a few sellers. When my small shopping spree was over I checked the clock and realized that it wouldn't take too long for a taxi to arrive (this time I booked one via Menevä Taksi, I sure wasn't ready to pay overprice for a ride second time that day) and texted Shiro Samurai about it. After a while I got the reply; they still weren't ready with the campaign. When the minutes passed by I texted him that I would go to the taxi beforehand; they had just finished playing and were about to come downstairs. I decided to go to look for the taxi though - you see, the app showed me a weird-ish place where the car was parked at but eventually I found it near Kotipizza. The app didn't really point there but I guess that's the app's problem. Not too long after that Shiro Samurai caught up with me, we boarded the taxi and it took us to the railway station where our train was already waiting on the tracks.
To our horror there was someone coughing and sneezing right next to our seats (literally on the other side of the very narrow corridor) but it really couldn't be helped - and I strongly believe that that person is to blame about the flu we both managed to catch -.-" What an ending to a con journey. Yay. Been on a sick leave for almost a week now and even though I'm starting to feel quite fine this still gets on my nerves...

But what do I think of Northern Lights Anime Party?
My feelings towards the event, despite the minor hiccups with the schedule and such, are very positive. A small, low-threshold event for the beginners, for the seasoned congoers and for everyone in between! It was clear that everything that had been done was done with love and passion for this hobby. It was so nice to see a convention here in northern Finland; even the smallest ones have the power to get people with same interests gather together and get some new friends and experiences. If I understood correctly they plan to host NLAP next year too and I can say for sure that I will attend it - in one way or another! 💓
I think that events like this are really what the Finnish con scene need right now. Don't get me wrong, we also need the big events, R18 events etc., but also these ones to make it as easy as possible for people to start cosplaying and going to conventions. After the biggest pandemic years the con culture has started to wake up from its slumber and with this awakening many new conventions have come to exist, this one among them. I really look forward to attending Northern Lights Anime Party in the future too - and as long as something is done with a mixture of love, passion and skill I believe that that 'something' truly does have a bright future ahead of it.

Oh, and if anyone's wondering what's with the flashy name: NLAP 2023 was pretty much what the name says, a 3-hour event with some programs, music and snacks (I may have checked their IG posts from last year too and got this explanation). They just hadn't changed it and to be honest I don't really see a reason for it, it sure does stand out. Some name-themed decorations would be a nice add next year to make this convention even more distinctive! ✨

This was, for real, my last convention for this year. I considered attending Nordsken too but eventually decided to not to go; I will be visiting my family in the south during that time so yeah, it's a bit of a no can do. 
Back to the circle lens reviews it is then - at least for a while.

Until next time.

-Firith