Monday, September 15, 2014

Lens review: Vassen Lollipop Red



This time it's the Vassen Lollipop Red's turn. They also go under the name I.Fairy Cara Red. I was very drawn to these because of their design, and also because I really wanted red contacts. It's my first pair of red lenses. I decided to wear them on the 7th of September because I had put them to soak in solution on the previous day. I happened to be trying on my vampire fangs (of the Scarecrow brand) on the same day so I got in the "vampire" mood and did some creepy make-up too.
But first, pictures of the bottles. Diameter is 14.5mm and base curve is 8.6mm, pretty usual.

Photographer is Shiro Samurai.


The left lens is on the "right" side; the right lens is on the "wrong" side.
One lens in.
Now with creepy make-up.

Taken in normal room light, facing the window. It's cloudy.
Taken indoors, with flash.
Yellow bathroom light...
Taken outdoors, with the flash, in the evening. It's still cloudy.
Still outdoors, without flash, no sun.
Taken under a lamp in the stairs. Yellow light.
Taken in the corridor, right under a lamp with white-ish light.


From a distance.
So... I like these a lot, but I was a bit disappointed comfort-wise. Don't get me wrong, they are comfortable to wear but lately I've only worn very comfortable contacts (like the EOS New Adult Brown and I.Fairy Tofi Gold) so I felt a difference. I felt them slightly in my eyes. Also the pupil hole is fairly small so I was seeing red corners pretty often. At times it was a bit of a hinder for my vision. These contacts move easily in my eyes too - half my vision goes red for a split-second when I blink.
But they are still comfortable to wear for several hours in a row, and I barely felt them in my eyes. 
They are very bright and they look obviously red even in bad light so you'd better have some appropriate make-up.

In short: 

Color: 10/10
You can see in any light that they are bright red. The pupil hole doesn't let any of your eye color show either.
Opacity: 9/10
Not 100% opaque but they still cover your eye color. I assume they look slightly darker on brown eyes.
Design: 10/10
Very bright and sparkly.
Enlargement: 8/10
Pretty good enlargement. 
Comfort: 7/10
As I wrote you can wear them for a while but the red corners are slightly annoying and give a small restriction of my vision at times. I feel them in my eyes, but it's very slight so it's not really a problem.
Naturalness: 0/10
The only natural thing about these is that I still have eyes.

Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Lens review: White Mesh/Screen lenses


This time I'll review something a bit different. The White Screen or White Mesh lenses are part of the Crazy/Halloween/Cosplay/Animation/Special effects type of contacts. I got the impression that people want to try this kind of freaky contacts but that they are scared. I don't know how true this is, really. At least, I was scared of the limited vision that these contacts would give me.
It turned out much better than I feared - my vision wasn't quite as limited as I thought it would be.
Also, for people like me who have a vision defect and who usually can't try any "Crazy" lenses because they don't come in prescription... exceptions exist. Honey Color has the White Mesh in prescription here!
Before I forget: these lenses have a diameter of 14.0mm and a base curve of 8.6mm.

Let's get to the review now.
Photographer: Shiro Samurai.

Lenses in the bottles. They do have prescription!
The left lens is on the "right" side and the right lens is on the "wrong" side.
I'll put this into my eye. (flash photo)
One lens in.
Both. Taken indoors while facing the window.
Normal room light (during the evening).
Bathroom light.
Room light; taken with flash.
Outdoors. It's cloudy.
Outdoors, looking at the sun.
From a distance.

Okay, so... wow. These are really freaky. They give this "white eye" effect I was looking for.
Now you probably wonder how it feels to have these things in your eyes... It's not bad. I don't see dots everywhere but my vision is limited - it feels like I'm in the fog. The brighter the light, the thicker the "fog" will be.
- In a dark room, I didn't even feel or notice the contacts in my eyes. My vision was just like it usually is in the darkness.
- In dim light, I notice a slight difference. It's just like little fog.
- In bright light (outdoors in the sunlight) it can be harder to see. I can still see outlines of things without problems but it was a bit harder to make out my photographer's traits even when he was standing close. This also happens indoors when close to a window. If I look toward a light, the white haze is more obvious. It looks like a white veil in front of my eyes.

So I could see fairly well despite the fog/haze. I went to town and bought some stuff without major problems. I freaked out a kid who stared at my eyes. I could bike safely. I can read as long as the letters are big enough, or as long as I'm close enough. I haven't tried reading a book but I could read signs and car registers. It was only a little harder than usual.
Despite the white fog, my vision was sharp thanks to the prescription.
There is also a trick to avoid having the white fog for a second. If you squint a lot or look through a small hole, your vision will be just like usual.
All in all, the white haze isn't much of a handicap. For me who is slightly short-sighted, the "fog" isn't much more of a problem than not wearing contacts at all.

So if you want to try the White Mesh aka White Screen contacts, dogo ahead. They're freaky and they aren't very troublesome to wear. Be assured that people will stare at you while you wear these though; they are very noticeable even from a distance.

In short:

Color: 9/10
They aren't pure white (just almost); they show as a light grey circle that effectively covers your iris and pupil. It's still quite the effect!
Design: 10/10
They do what they promise. I can't judge them on how pretty they are but on how effective they are - how well the pattern covers my iris.
Opacity: 10/10
They ate up my eyes. The mesh/screen doesn't let your iris and pupil show at all.
Enlargement: 3/10
Very slight. But who cares about a bigger iris when it looks like you don't even have one?
Comfort: 10/10
The question of comfort is a tough one but I will give points for comfort only, without taking the white haze into account. I don't feel them in my eyes at all.
It's true that the "fog" feeling affects comfort but you know it when you buy this kind of contacts that they will limit your vision.
Naturalness: 0/10
I'm not sure that even a blind person would have such freaky eyes.