Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Lens review: Vassen Dori Blue


Lately I've been feeling like wearing blue circle lenses and the only blue pair I had at hand was my EOS Max Misty Blue, which I decided to throw away because every time I wore them, I had bloodshot eyes afterward.
So I wanted some blue lenses that would be kind to my eyes instead. I found this pair, the Vassen Dori Blue (that also goes under the name BĂ©uberry Sweet Eyes Blue) and I couldn't find any reviews of them. So I bought them with the intention to review them.
Their base curve is the usual 8.6mm. I don't know what the actual diameter is because it's written as 16.0mm on beuberry.com and as 14.5mm on PinkyParadise. Same thing for the water content, one says 55% and the other says 42%. 
But let's move on to the review. First, pictures of the lenses in the bottles.
All pictures are taken by Shiro Samurai. They are unedited to show real colors.

In the bottles.
The lens on the left shows "wrong" side.
Flash pic. The lens on the right shows "wrong" side.
On my finger, "wrong" side up.
I put them in lens solution and let them soak in there overnight. I then wore them on the 20th of October but took the pics on the 22nd because I didn't have time or good light on the 20th. 


One lens in. Pay attention to the enlargement.
Taken outdoors, facing the sunlight.
Outdoors. I'm turning my back to the sun.
Outdoors. I'm facing the light, it got brighter.
Outdoors. I'm on the "shadow" side of the building now.
Still outdoors, facing the light. Sun is starting to set.
Taken outdoors with a cloudy sky.
Indoors, facing the light coming from outside. Flash pic.
Same as above but without flash.
Taken indoors, facing a window.
Indoors. Yellow lamp light.
Indoors. Flash pic.
Bathroom light.
Sideway glance. (taken indoors, facing a window in normal roomlight)
And this is how they appear from a distance. 

Outdoors, in the shadows.
Indoors, facing the window.

In short:

Color: 9/10
Obvious and vibrant color. Even in bad light, it's impossible to miss. Very pretty blue as well.
Design: 9/10
The flower-like pattern is delicate-looking and cute. Definitely not common.
Opacity: 8/10
They cover your real color well, except in the middle because the pupil hole is pretty big. So they are opaque on the edges and blend in the middle, which is a good combination. It looks especially pretty on light eyes.
Enlargement: 9/10
They definitely look bigger than 14.5mm but they don't eat up my eyes like 16.0mm either... I wonder what the real diameter is? They enlarge beautifully in any case.
Comfort: 8/10
I could easily wear them for a very long time without problems. At times I completely forgot about them. -EDIT- They lost in comfort pretty fast; now they start feeling semi-dry after about three hours. Eye drops should fix this just fine.
Naturalness: 3/10
They're too vibrant and big to be natural... but ironically, someone actually thought that they were my real eyes.

Are you interested in the Vassen Dori Pink? I reviewed them too here.

Friday, October 3, 2014

Lens review: GEO Mimi Cafe Waffle Gray


This time I want to share my discovery of the Mimi Cafe Waffle Gray lenses of the GEO brand. They are from the Cafe Mimi series, just like the Mimi Cafe Latte Brown, which I have reviewed before. I was really satisfied with the Latte Brown so I was eager of trying more lenses of the same series! I was expecting good comfort and a pretty pattern. 
Expectations fulfilled? 

I opened them on Sunday 28th of September and put them to soak in solution. I left them in this bath overnight and put them on Monday morning. The 8.7mm base curve wasn't a problem when I popped them in my eyes, and neither was the 15mm diameter. As soon as both were in my eyes, I noticed something annoying though - they were moving all the time. Every time I blinked they would slide upward in my eyes before sliding back in place the next second. It didn't hurt or anything but it was really irritating (for my nerves, not for my eyes).
I ignored it and went outside. It was windy and I was biking; I kept worrying the contacts would pop out of my eyes. Even when I was indoors I had this feeling a few times. At least five times during the morning it felt like the contacts would pop out of my eyes.
By this point I was fairly annoyed and very disappointed by the lack of comfort. 
I didn't get to take pics for my review on Monday because the weather was cloudy and dark so I wore the same contacts on the following day, 30th of September. This time they behaved better. They didn't move as annoyingly much, but still more than your usual circle lenses.
Of course it's still possible to wear them, but I find them rather uncomfortable for being circle lenses. I don't think it has anything to do with base curve or diameter. I have lenses that have a base curve of 8.8mm (the EOS Max Misty Blue) and some that have a diameter of 16.2mm (the I.Fairy Tofi Gold) and neither of them feels this uncomfortable or moves this much in my eyes.
Comfort-wise, still better than the EOS Dolly Eye Brown

Now for pictures.

Photographer is Shiro Samurai. All pics are unedited to show real colors, as usual.

Bottles.
It's hard to tell apart "right" and "wrong" side.
On my finger.
One lens in. Notice enlargement.
Looking into the sun. It's sunset and I'm outdoors.
Outdoors, turning my back to the sun.
Outdoors, on the "shadow" side of the building.
Outdoors in the sunlight. For some reason it's less bright.
Indoors. Shitty yellow-ish light in the staircase.
Indoors, looking through the window.
It's still sunset and the light hitting my eyes is very bright.
Indoors. White-ish light in the corridor.
Indoors, standing in front of a window in the corridor.
Indoors. Flash pic.
Bathroom light.
Normal room light (sunset-ish).
In front of another window.
Sideways glance.
Now some pics taken from a distance.






 Bonus pic!

It didn't want to cooperate.
In short: 

Color: 8/10
The three colors give a special look and don't blend into each other. The lenses sometimes look pretty dark though. The color isn't vibrant either, but it's dull in a good way.
Design: 10/10
Original, noticeable and very pretty.
Opacity: 9/10
They don't blend in my natural (fairly light) eye color but I assume they would look darker on brown eyes. The transparent hole in the middle lets little to none of the real eye color show.
Enlargement: 8/10
They look bigger than they seem.
Comfort: 6/10
I was disappointed by the comfort. I feel them in my eyes every now and then. There is also this annoying thing that they move all the time, so I get blurred vision when I blink because the colored part of the contact moves to partially cover my pupil. I also feel it when they move. The 42% water content doesn't seem to help.
Naturalness: 4/10
This pattern is totally natural... not.