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

Circle lens review: Princess Pinky Eclipse Blue

Hello~!

A new circle lens review is here! ^__^
The pair that gets reviewed this time is Princess Pinky Eclipse Blue, a light blue lens that sure does stand out. Without further yapping, let's roll~
All pictures of this post are taken by Shiro Samurai, thank you! ^^ These pics were also taken a while ago, more specifically when I still lived in the southern part of Finland so yeah, it's been a while. 

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, this one is also non-sponsored. 

The vials of the lenses.

The lenses in their vials.

Base curve: 8,6 mm
Diameter: 14,5 mm
Water content: 38 %
Life span: 1 year (I recommend 6 months)

Inserting these was pretty much the basic experience of inserting a circle lens in your eye. These might have curled around my finger just a bit but it was nothing too bad. Based on those 15 minutes I had these in my eyes they felt quite comfortable; these weren't stingy at all or anything of the sort. 

One lens in to show the enlargement.

My first thought here was "Oh, I have doll eyes now?" :'D These do have a quite notable enlargement effect and, indeed, that made me immediately think of porcelain dolls. 

To be honest I hadn't expected the color to be so vibrant and even... Somewhat bold. These lenses look so baby blue in their vials that I was a bit shocked to see how these look in my eyes tbh :'D However I still like the color a lot. I had my suspicions when I saw that these only have one shade of blue but in my (gray) eyes it looks like there was a gradient effect going on, starting dark in the middle and becoming more and more light towards the borders of the lenses. Maybe I should have expected this effect on some level though; as you can see from the vial pictures you can practically see through the lens quite easily, which means that these aren't the most opaque ones out there. In this case, however, it only seems to make the color even more intense when your own eye color gets through - or at least I like it better this way! 💙
The design is simple but pretty. There are two rings of black, the outer and the inner one, and the colored part - in this case blue - is in between them. Simple but effective - and everything but natural! Not my favorite design out there though since I prefer more... Complex designs, however these are more effective than they might first look like. I can see some halo effect going on too! Mentioning the obvious here too: the pupil hole is quite big and thus it shows a lot of your own eye color. I don't know if this is less visible on dark eyes but at least it's clearly visible on light eyes.

To the pics! 
These pictures were taken on a sunny summer day. These aren't filtered in any ways, just re-sized.

NOTE: since these were taken at the house I lived in at the time, the light conditions are different from usual.

Natural light through the window.

Bad corridor light.

Bathroom light.

Flash photo.

    Room light, shadowy side of the house.

Facing the sun that tried to burn my eyes off.

Back against the sun.

From the distance.

• The color is 8/10. A very beautiful shade of blue.
  
  
• The design is 5/10. It's way too simple to actually be to my liking but I don't really dislike it that much either, hence why a very average grade.
  
  
• The opacity is 6/10. The blue is obviously there but in the end these are pretty transparent. Creates a beautiful and vibrant effect though!
  
  
• The naturalness is 2/10. Don't try to claim that you know someone with eyes like this, you most certainly don't. In other words, these don't look natural at all. 
  
  
• The enlargement is 7/10. These indeed make your eyes look a lot bigger, giving them a somewhat doll-like look. 

And that's one review off the table~!

My next post will very likely be a circle lens review too but after that it just might be a time for third con summary of the year! x) Stay tuned~!

Until next time.

-Firith

Kemin Mangapäivä 2025 - Back in business!

Hello everyone and welcome to the second con summary of the year! ^^ 

Canva was strong with this one.

(All pictures of the post are taken by Shiro Samurai, thank you very much - I seriously wouldn't have had time.)

I think the title pretty much tells it all - Kemin Mangapäivä was held on 8th of March at Kemin kulttuurikeskus for the first time in 10 years! This event was quite popular back in the days but for several reasons it got buried under the sands of time until now. 

The story behind the resurrection pretty much goes like this: as I have mentioned several times, a bit over a year ago I moved to north because I applied for a vacancy (a librarian) here and actually got the job. Very soon I learnt that Outi, the person behind Kemin Mangapäivä AND Kitacon all those years ago, was still working at Kemi's children's cultural center. It took one phone call to arrange a meeting with her and Sanna (her colleague) - and in that very meeting we decided to host Kemin Mangapäivä once again and wake it from its slumber!

...and the decision was made in the beginning of January, literally two months before the con itself.

I would like to state that even though there were quite a few hiccups along the way - typos in the con program, problems with our social media account etc. - things went smoothly considering the time we had for organizing the event. In this summary I probably won't go into too much detail about things that need to be done for a convention when organizing one but I'm actually considering writing a post about those in the future. 

But yes, let's continue with the summary!

I woke up around 7.20 am. - Kulttuurikeskus is literally a two-minute drive or a ten-minute walk away from my apartment so yes, I wasn't really in any rush. I took a shower, grabbed the stuff I needed to take with me and drove to Kulttuurikeskus. I was there around 8.30, which meant I had plenty of time to put up to information signs. My colleagues Ilkka and Olli were already there and while they mostly didn't participate in the event stuff they also took care of the visitors and customer service! Ilkka had also promised to act as a second judge in the drawing competition that was held within the drawing workshop, hosted by Shiro Samurai. 

I was ready with the signs in about 30 minutes which in other words meant that I could enjoy my morning coffee in peace - and that turned out to be the last peaceful moment of the day lol. My third colleague Johanna - who was specifically there for the event and to help with the customer service - arrived at work during our morning break and I was able to give her the needed instructions. After this it was time to start putting on my costume of the day, namely Alicia. 

The entrance to the event venue.

I would also like to point out that even though there are not many people in the pictures below we had plenty of visitors. The lack of people is simply because Shiro Samurai took the pictures before he started hosting the drawing workshop/drawing contest which means it was in the very beginning of the event. 

When I was putting on my costume I got a message from said host who informed me that he had arrived at the library - literally when I was in the middle of doing my eyeliner lol :'D I told him to look for Outi to fetch the pens etc. he could use at the workshop and then Ilkka who would have the papers for drawing. I also told him I would check up with him soon and returned to doing my make-up which actually turned out okay-ish. When I checked the clock though I got a small heart attack; it was already almost 11 am! I felt the nausea hit me but tried to ignore it - I knew it was just my nerves acting up and I tried to soothe myself with some prep talk. Not sure how well I managed but because there was no time to have a meltdown of any sort I just... Kind of had to get my shit together and just roll with it lol. 

The children's and youth department of the library. At the end of the corridor is the gaming/hang out room where the drawing workshop was hosted - and yes, there are also gaming consoles!

The adult's section of the library. A sight like this - in a much smaller library but anyway - made me want to become a librarian. I was a kid back then so yes, profession-wise I am where I always wanted to be.

I practically ran downstairs to check up with Shiro Samurai. He had basically everything under control so I went to check up with Outi and Sanna who were hosting a non-stop pin workshop. In the same room with them was also Matsucon's promotion table and quite a few comic character statues lol. I chatted for a while with the people in the room and then walked to the lobby where the Artists' Alley was located - and ran into Sallukka, Dongrieg and Jefu. The latter one also hosted a program at Kemin Mangapäivä (he gave tips about 2020s anime series worth watching) and Sallukka acted as a second cosplay judge, me being the other. 

Speaking of the cosplay competition: we quickly agreed to scout for participants from the venue. You see, in the Saturday morning we had two contestants. TWO. It's a bit hard to have a competition with just two participants so yes, we needed to do something about this. To be honest: even though I'm quite known to be stubborn af I even considered cancelling the competition. However, some gut instinct told me not to and I'm pretty damn happy I didn't since we actually got four more contestants to participate! Being stubborn can be either a curse or a blessing and in this case, fortunately, it was the latter one. Two of the new contestants were actually familiar faces from Kummacon - we were all a bit surprised when we recognized each other :'D 

A part of the Artists' Alley, pictured from the front door.

A general hallway picture.

Same hallway, pictured from the library's door.

Around 12 pm me and Sallukka started the pre-judging of the contestants. Each one of them were given 10 minutes to tell about their cosplay; what techniques they had used, their favorite parts of the costume, which part was the most challenging to make etc. I must say that making the decision wasn't very easy; all of them had put so much effort to making their costumes, tried new techniques and everything! However, me and Sallukka had agreed that there would only be one winner, also known as other prizes weren't given. This may have had something to do with our budget which was a very lonely and round ZERO.

It took us about 50 minutes to judge everyone - not everybody had that much to tell about their cosplay - and after that we could finally sit down for a minute. And I could eat my lunch. We didn't have that much time though; I wanted to check up with Shiro Samurai AND I needed to give some new instructions to Johanna before we would start guiding people to the backstage... Or, well, to the upstairs corridor from which we could enter the big auditorium, also known as the venue of the cosplay competition. So yes, I ate pretty quickly and then we - also known as me and Sallukka - walked to the drawing workshop. Shiro Samurai told us that there were some entries to the drawing contest; all of them just happened to be from within the same age group so he and Ilkka would have to re-think a few things, namely who to reward and the criteria for that. For clarification: originally there were three different categories based on certain age groups but since all the entries were from within the same one... Yeah. 

After this it was time to gather the cosplay contestants and go upstairs with the elevator. There were eight people in the same elevator and someone commented "Considering how much Finnish people like their personal space we make horribly small elevators" and to be honest I couldn't agree more - it was so crammed! :'D Luckily the ride up didn't take more than a few seconds and we could exit our metallic cocoon. 

We checked the stage quickly, I gave the last instructions there, the contestants formed up a queue and soon it was time for the competition to begin! To be honest it wasn't a long one, about 15 minutes or so since we didn't have any entr'acte or anything of the sort. But we managed to host it, yay! <3 I'm so thankful to all of our brave contestants (and some of them even said that they would take part next year too which almost brought me to tears, no joke), thank you for taking a part to the competition! A special thanks goes to Sallukka: I wouldn't have managed without you and it truly was an honor to work with you 💚

Oh, we also had a photo booth, the photographer being a student from Lappia! <3 Too bad I didn't have time to get a group photo with my friends even though we talked about it.

When the cosplay competition was over I noticed that Shiro Samurai had messaged me. He and Ilkka were now judging the drawings and we figured we could tag along since we were already done with our duties. 

Eventually me and Sallukka became some sort of judges for the drawing contest too. Shiro Samurai and Ilkka had decided to reward two drawings, one as a winner and one with honorable mention. If judging the cosplay competition was hard, this was even more difficult since the entries were pretty much equal in skill! D: It took us quite a while to decide the two but eventually we came to an agreement and could host the small prize ceremony. 

After that it was time for me to host my program; I had decided to act as a filler and host a same panel about cosplay memories I had hosted in Mericon 2023... As a filler xD Yes, we had some hard time first to actually get people to host programs but in the end there were three panels, a drawing workshop/contest, a cosplay competition and the pin workshop (plus the Artists' Alley which was popular even with the library's regular customers)! The third one to host a panel was Hannele from Piiri.

I was checking the time since the clock on the wall definitely didn't show the right time lol.

And after my panel Mangapäivä was officially over! I felt so damn drained tbh; even lifting a finger felt like a mission impossible. The front door of the library was already locked at this point so my duty was to check there weren't any people inside anymore and turn off the lights. I hanged out with Shiro Samurai for a while since he was waiting for a ride back home and when his mother came to pick him up I also drove home. 

And slept until I went to have a glass of wine with Sallukka. We totally deserved it.

As you can see, it was one hell of a hectic day but we made it, yay!

The date for the next Mangapäivä hasn't been decided yet but I can say for sure that the event will be organized next year too! 💚 Even though Mangapäivä will (at least very likely) be a small event in the future too we will definitely take into consideration the feedback we have gotten and do some things even better next year~!

...I mean, now we literally have a year for preparations so yes, there is actually time to do things better next time. However, I'm still very pleased with how we pulled this year through; even though I'm a perfectionist by nature I do realize that we couldn't have done nothing more. And, at least sometimes, doing your best is more than enough. This time it definitely was.

My next blog post will very likely be a circle lens review 'cause the next con I will attend is in May so yeah, no summaries before that. Already looking forward to that though! 👀

Until next time.

-Firith