September 21, 2016

Lens review: Princess Pinky Twilight Blue

Hello pipol ~ 

Today I will review an ice blue circle lens, namely the Princess Pinky Twilight Blue! I bought these lenses several years ago (one of my first pairs, to be honest) and I've been saving them for a specific cosplay but yeah, they expire really soon so I can't wait much longer without opening them. ^^" I originally bought these lenses to use for an Original Character of mine, but I also planned later on that these could work for Gin Ichimaru from Bleach etc. But hey, let's get to the review!

Base curve: 8.6 mm
Diameter: 14.5 mm
Water content: 38%
Life span: 1 year (I recommend 6 months)

Back in the days, when I started cosplaying, these were the lenses that everyone seemed to recommend to you online if you needed really ice blue or light blue cosplay lenses. The Princess Pinky Twilight Blue were one of the few, if only, actually good super light blue lenses in the market that weren't crazy animation lenses. Needless to say these lenses used to be rather popular from what I've gathered but yeah, now that they've got competition I'm not sure if they've lost their rave position in, at least, the cosplay community. They used to be the go-to ice blue colored contact lens for cosplayers, despite being infamous for their poor comfort – I'll tell you more about that soon!

But yeah, the design is surprisingly natural-looking, except for the obviously light color. It seems to try to mimic a real iris and the effect is really flattering and pleasant. Closest to the pupil hole there's some yellow and I think that's great because it makes the lenses blend more seamlessly into my real eye color, which is a light blue-gray. I think that it would have "clashed" more if the lenses didn't have the yellow inner part, if you know what I mean. They are quite realistic in terms of design – the color, not so.

One lens in.
The thing that these lenses have going for them is their color and their small size, which makes them ideal for cosplaying male characters and whatever other characters that simply doesn't work with big dolly eyes. So even though there are now other vibrant light blue lenses out there, like the I.Fairy Moonlite Blue, the Twilight Blues still appear to be the only choice for those who really don't want big lenses, for whatever reason. At least I haven't found any ice blue lens that is just as small as these.
I should also note that despite having a stated diameter of 14.5 mm these certainly don't look that big and that's because, upon closer inspection, you'll notice that the design is actually printed quite far away from the edges – which makes the lenses appear notably smaller. The "true diameter" would be more like a 14.2 mm or something like that; note though that I didn't measure them or anything, this is just me spontaneously comparing them in my mind to other small lenses I've had.

Lens photos ahead ~
All photos taken by me during an September afternoon with a semi-clear sky.

Facing the window in my apartment, sun side (cloudy).
Apartment room light, only natural light from the window.
Bathroom light.
Flash photo.
White-ish corridor light.
Yellow corridor light.
Yellow light in the staircase.
Standing in the staircase, with my back against a window.
Indoors storage room, with natural light coming from the side.
Outdoors, back against the sun. (aka facing the wall)
Outdoors, facing the sun while standing in the shadow.
Outdoors, facing sun directly.
Indoors, sideway view. (standing close to the window, cloudy)
I really want to like these lenses but the comfort is absolutely horrible. ;__; They are hard to insert because they are super thin, floppy and flimsy and yeah, these lenses basically "sink" into your finger (because of their thinness) when you try to prepare to put them into your eye; this also makes it incredibly difficult to figure out which side is the right/wrong side because I honestly can't tell the difference the print also looks the same on both sides. When I try to clean these lenses they fold all over the place and yeah, really flimsy and hard to handle. :/ But despite them being extremely thin they still feel appalling to wear – I had problems with getting them into my eyes and, once I did, they were really uncomfortable from the first second... and it didn't get much better afterwards, either. One of the lenses even folded the upper part of it while inside my eye and yeah, it took a while for them to "set". Really troublesome.
The right lens was incredibly uncomfortable and scratchy and I just wanted to take it out as soon as I put it in; the discomfort didn't go away even after I cleaned and reinserted the lens several times. The left lens wasn't much better but at least my eye sorta got used to it
– the right lens kept feeling like shit though. It basically felt like the lenses glued to my eyes (a "pulling" feeling) and were overall just stingy, irritating and I could contantly feel them.
I honestly took them off as soon as I was done taking the photos, which means after approximately 30 minutes. I'd never be able to wear these for a convention day, maybe a short photoshoot at most; my rough estimate for wearing these lenses would be a maximum duration of 1 or 1,5 hours
– and that's if you're really stubborn and determined. They really aren't that far from unwearable and, I'm sorry to say, but I think there's some truth to why so many people have found the Princess Pinky Twilight series uncomfortable. :( I know some people have been lucky with the comfort of these but a majority hasn't. I guess I was kinda hoping to be an exception (wishful thinking?) but turns out these lenses are just as bad in comfort as everyone else is saying – it's really a bummer because they'd otherwise be great for cosplay. I'm so disappointed because I could have had a lot of use for these peepers... :|

Distance photo!

What can I say? I held up my hopes for these lenses, despite from what I've heard, but they really are as bad in the comfort department as people say – I can't wear these without really pushing myself to not take them off; already 30 minutes of wear was hard enough to withstand. So yeah, I really can't recommend these, unless you really need an ice blue lens that has a minimal enlargement effect and, even then, I'd say that these lenses fall into the "photoshoot only" category. They are not fit to wear for extended time and don't even think about wearing these to a full convention day... unless you're a hardcore masochist willing to take risks.
Sadly, the Princess Pinky Twilight Blue is the only really small light blue circle lenses that I know of so yeah, there might not be anything out there to replace them if the size is a critical factor for your costume...

Short summary:

Color: 8/10 
Vivid yet realistic ice blue color that shows up well, without being overwhelming.
Design: 7/10 
Seems to resemble a real iris design, except a bit flashier. Flattering.
Opacity: 8/10
The colored areas are surprisingly opaque.
Enlargement: 3/10
Really small with only a slight size increase.
Comfort: 2/10 
Plain bad. I feel them clearly in my eyes at all times. Really scratchy and irritating to wear I took them off after 30 minutes because I couldn't stand them.
Naturalness: 7/10 
Despite the color these manage to balance on the fine line between unnatural and natural. The rather realistic print does factor in.

 Thanks for viewing and I hope you found this review helpful ~

1 comment:

Angie said...

I have worn this lens in the past for my Korra cosplay around 3 years ago. They felt comfortable frist for a few hours then I had to take them out. But I love the colors and the design. Nice review tho!