Today I want to talk about circle lenses, and my journey to getting some. This will be in two parts because, well, it has been indeed a journey.
Circle lenses are used by cosplayers and people in general to look cuter. They make the iris' look bigger, and usually, change the color as well. They were first used by k-pop stars and has migrated to American kawaii culture. Also, most circle lens stores are online and come from Korea.
Being someone who is devoted to cosplay it was just a matter of time before I got some myself. There were two things that were stopping me before:
1. They are expensive
2. I wear a prescription and thus they would be even more expensive
On both of these I was wrong. Circle lenses are pretty affordable, especially since they have a life span of about a year.
So first I looked up circle lens stores. I already knew about PinkyParadise from watching YouTubers such as xxScreamKiwixx and DrewDisaster, who are not cosplayers but use circle lenses as just part of their beauty routine. Then I just googled "Circle Lenses" to find more stores to check prices.
I started by checking PinkyParadise.com and Eyecandys.com. Both of these are the top search results. Pinky Paradise is by far the most popular site and they have a good reputation. EyeCandy's is the second top result and I found some nice reviews for them.
I was hesitant at first with Pinky Paradise. It seemed that not long ago people weren't too happy with the site, although I couldn't find out exactly why, I don't like taking risks with my eyes, after all I need them to see. So I started with Eye Candy's (you can check out their site here: http://www.eyecandys.com/). I was looking for blue contacts to start with since I was hoping to get them before my next convention, I would be cosplaying Harley Quinn and Panty Anarchy and they both have blue eyes. I was also looking for a certain diameter, about 14.5 or up and also I wanted something with a rather thick black ring around the outside. Both of these factors make your eyes look more animated and big. Of course, I also needed them in my prescription.
*Side Note: to find your prescription for circle lenses, just check the side of your contact box (as long as your prescription is up to date). Make sure you know the prescription for both eyes. for example my prescription is -4.50 in one eye and -5.00 in the other, I believe the minus' mean that I'm near sighted? I don't know, I'm not a doctor and I don't play one on TV.*
So to start I went through the drop down menus. I first went through the prescription menu and chose my range of vision which for Eye Candy's is -0.50 - -6.00, the ranges help filter through the available contacts. Then I just scanned through the results to find the best blue lenses until I found these:
So naturally I was about the fill out my prescription so I could order them but...
I wasn't able too..
After I quick scan of the page I saw the side note that prescriptions were not available to the U.S. yet.
Great...
So I decided to move on and go with PinkyParadise (you can check out their site and these specific lenses here: https://www.pinkyparadise.com/GEO-Xtra-WBS-202-Bella-Blue-p/a8-wbs202.htm) and found these ones and I totally fell in love with them!
They looks so animated and bright! And they had great reviews! And as you know (if you follow me on Facebook) anything that makes me more of an anime character, I want.
Now PinkyParadise if really nice in that you can order your exact prescription, they have a huge selection! So I put in my info and added it to my cart...
Except I wasn't able too...
They were sold out my -5.00 prescription!
Great...
Back to the drawing board...
So I googled "Prescription Circle Lenses" and I got the same two top results but looking a little farther down I found this site: Geo Colored Lenses (http://www.geocolouredlenses.com/). They have good reviews, although they aren't really popular. But they are FDA approved and the quality seemed good.
Wasting no time, I immediately searched for the lenses I wanted. They are called GEO Xtra WBS 202 Bella Blue by the way. And I found them! And in my Prescription! And I got a coupon for 20% off!
I was so excited! So I immediately put them in my cart. It got weird right away. First I decided to create an account with them since I figured I'd probably buy from them again. That was fine. But then I had to add in my shipping address and the format was just... odd. It's hard to explain and I thought maybe the screen didn't load correctly but I had to do this twice and it was the same both times. After that I had to put in my credit card info and I'm not sure if this is common for korean sites but I had to choose the exact the bank my card is from? It also forwarded me to a completely different site to pay. It even warned me that the site goes by several different names (I guess for if I check my bank statement?).
Anyway, I went through all their hoops until I was finally able to confirm my purchase. Yay right??
Not Yay...
The screen told me that my transaction failed... Okay, whatever, so I did it all again and I got the same result. So I decided to take a break. I few minutes later I got an email telling me that I still needed to pay for order and after reading the entire email if found out that their site was updating and wouldn't be fully up and running until later that night.
Ok, fine.
Fast forward to the next morning, I went through the whole process again annnnd...
Nope
I got the same result.
I GIVE UP! I was pretty frustrated at this point so I put my laptop away and went to work.
After I calmed down a bit I figured I had to just go with Pinky Paradise and wait until my prescription was back in stock.
So I'll be waiting and as soon as it's back in stock I'll be ordering them. Hopefully before Katsucon or Tekko,
After I order them and get them I'll finish this journey.
Thanks for sticking around this far! I hope you guys enjoyed it!
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