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

Cosplay plans for 2023

Hello folks!

It's been a lot of time since I wrote a post like this. Yeah, I published a part of my Genshin Impact cosplay plans but it's certain that none of them is going to happen this year. However, I am going to make at least one cosplay this year but aiming to make these ones!
I have to admit, I'm a bit nervous about making a costume again... It's been literal YEARS since I last sew anything. Yikes. Wish me luck with these.

Let's take a look!

Chizuru Yukimura from Hakuouki Shinsengumi Kitan

...yep. She's very likely to happen this year. I've always liked Chizuru; she's gentle and genuinely wants to help people around her - even if it endangered her. She's determined and strong-willed young woman - probably not that much of a fighter but definitely not a damsell in distress. I have already bought and gotten some stuff for her and am likely to do a make-up test during the spring. The costume is likely to be debuted during autumn. I will cosplay the anime version of her; in all honesty I don't have the time to make the details of the game version. 

Miku Hatsune, Rotten Girl Grotesque Romance

This costume will certainly be re-made; I have already bought her a new wig and the lenses are on their way. I'm once again going to make my own design but the character will be recognizible; her trademark hair, red dress etc. I'm going to have to re-make pretty much everything - last time I wasn't 100 % happy with the costume. Cosplaying her back in the days was fun though, probably mainly because the costume was so comfortable to wear and it didn't take ages to dress up lol. I hope I can make this new costume as (or even more) comfortable as the old one...

Luka Megurine, Magnet

Well, let's say that there will probably be some WIP posts coming this year about this costume so that's why I decided to add her on my 2023 cosplay plan list. I'm likely to do a long dress this time since I think it suits me better than the short one. I know I won't be able to finish this costume this year but yeah, at least gonna start making it. Probably gonna start with buying a new wig for her, the one I have now is okay but not fully what I want.

Not that many plans for this year (and two of them are re-makes lol) but hey, it's a start after a quite long hiatus.
Mostly I will make these for photoshoots - I'm likely to attend a couple of cons this year but frankly I prefer photoshoots to cosplaying at cons these days.

Next post will be a circle lens review - I have quite many of those waiting to be written. However I will also write - at least some kind of - WIP post of Miku during the spring so stay tuned if you're interested in hearing more of that project!

Until next time.

Firith

Circle lens review: Pop C Dark Grey

Hello people!

This time I'm reviewing a dark lens - Pop C Dark Grey. To be honest I was quite excited to see how dark lenses would look like in my eyes; I've worn plenty of brown lenses but never dark grey or black. Well, less talk, more information and pictures - let's go! 

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 lens vials.

The lenses in their vials.

Base curve: 8.6 mm
Diameter: 15.5 mm
Water content: 38 %
Life span: 1 year

I have to mention at this point that finding the basic information wasn't a task too easy; the base curve and diameter were mentioned in the vials but the water content and life span were not. I'm still not sure who is the manufacturer of these lenses but the best search result implied that these lenses would be manufactured by Dolly Eye so I used the basic information I found with those key words. I'm still not sure if this is the case so don't consider this to be the one and only truth - the vials and information otherwise matched so I assume this is the case but like I said, I can't be 100 % sure.

Inserting these was... An operation in itself. I hadn't worn circle lenses in ages so I had pretty much forgotten how to put them in my eyes. I recall these curling around my finger quite a lot but, then again, my finger was still moist because of the lens solution etc. so it might have played a part in this. The diameter is also quite large but the lens didn't look so big on my fingertip so I have to admit, I had problems to figure out how big the lenses actually were and thus failed to keep my eye open enough when inserting the lens. However, when I finally got these in my eyes they settled easily and were surprisingly comfortable to wear! They were a bit on the thick side though but it didn't really disturb me that much.

One lens in.

 

I have to say that even though the diameter is quite large these lenses don't look that big. There is some enlargement going on and these are definitely too big to look natural, but... Still. I was kind of expecting at least a small "moe eye effect" but as you can see it's not there, at least not in my opinion.

I like the design of these lenses a lot. It's quite simple and, to be honest, when the lenses were still in their vials I thought that these would look quite boring in my eyes. I assumed there wouldn't be much color; the almost black limbal ring surely caught my attention immediately when I saw these lenses but otherwise it looked like the lighter part of the lens would disappear in my natural eye color. However, when I put these into my eyes the effect was immediate - they gave my eyes this "dark, deep and mysterious" look and I love it!
This definitely is a dark lens - almost light black in my opinion! As you can see, my eyes are a mixture of light grey, blue and green (light grey being the dominant color) - in other words, I have light-colored eyes. I don't know how these lenses would look like in darker eyes but I think that the 'light grey' part blends with my natural eye color quite well making the lenses look slightly more natural than they actually are.

And now, the lens photos! Shiro Samurai was once again the one who took the pictures, 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.)

 

Yellow roomlight.

 

Bathroom light.

With a flash.

Facing the window.

Back against the sun.

Facing the (clouded) sun.

From the distance.

• I rate the color 8/10. It's definitely dark grey, in my eyes almost light black. However, had the color been a bit more vibrant it would have made the lenses a bit livelier.
  
  
• The design deserves the same grade, 8/10. I seriously like it and it fits many different situations from cosplay to alternative fashion. It's not the most original design though - it's quite simple and someone could consider it even a bit boring.
  
  
• The opacity is 7/10. My own eye color doesn't peak from behind the lenses that much and they also blend with my natural eye color very nicely.
  
  
• I think that the naturalness is 4/10. The design makes them look more natural than they actually are - yet these could never be mistaken as my real eyes.
  
  
• The enlargement is 6/10. There is some enlargement effect going on, however I expected more since the diameter implied these would be big lenses. Not claiming that these would be small lenses either, in my opinion something in between.

 

That's all for now!
Be prepared for a bunch of circle lens reviews in the future - they will be the main content of this blog for a while now so yeah, prepare for that.

Until next time.

- Firith

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

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

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

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

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

Character: Lisa

Let's spark things up a little~

 

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

Character: Rosaria

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

 

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

Character: Amber

 

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

 

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

Character: Lumine (the female Traveler)

There´s still a long road ahead.

 

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

Character: Beidou

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

 

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

Character: Ningguang

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

 

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

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

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

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

- Firith

Circle lens review: GEO Mimi Cafe Macchiato Brown

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

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

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

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

 

All photos are taken by Shiro Samurai.

 

The vials of the lenses.

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

Lenses in their vials.

 

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

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

 

One lens in.

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

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

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

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

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

 

Natural roomlight.

Bathroom light.

Flash photo.

Facing window.

Outdoors, standing in the shadow.

Facing the (clouded) sun.

From the distance.

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

 

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

Until next time.

- Firith

Luka Megurine photoshoot

 Oh wow, two blog updates during this year. Such amazing, much wow.

...khm, yeah.

 During Kummacon I wanted to have a photoshoot of my Magnet!Luka Megurine cosplay. We (me, Shiro Samurai and his aunt) drove around Oulu for a couple of hours and found a few good locations - without further talk, the photoshoot pictures! 

Character: Luka Megurine 

"Series": Vocaloid

Version: Magnet

Cosplayer: yours truly

Photographers: Shiro Samurai

I'm still surprised that I didn't feel cold pretty much at all.

Shiro Samurai's aunt also took a pic that I seriously like a lot! <3 

Photographer: Lenkku.

...and of course when people photoshoot me... One can't avoid derps.

It looks like my eyes were closed but at least this shows how strong my eyeshadow game was lol.

My tattoos decided to troll me.

"Multa. Loppuu. Elämästä. Moti." (It looks like I just lost all motivation to live lol. Quote: Iha Just Imus.)

Lenkku also took this "behind the scenes" picture. Gotta love how I'm censored by that birch xD

That's all folks!

Happy New Year 2022! 

-Firith