Hello everyone! This will be lens madness week as I have a couple of new lenses to show you. I am very excited about these and although I am not a frequent lens wearer, I do love the extra pop it can give eyes for special occasions and photos. I hope you guys find the photos and reviews helpful. ^^

The first are a pair of Soloticas that were generously sent to me from wrlens.com. Although I haven't personally ordered through their website, the people I talked to were very kind and their website is very user-friendly since it is already set up in English. They also have an informative blog with real photos of the lenses in eyes as well as video reviews. From my experience, they are also quick to answer e-mails.

I already have tried ocre, mel, and ice so I thought I would get something new this time. Verde Marine is an aqua color which is a very bright bluish-green. In most photos I've seen of this color, the color has leaned more toward bright blue but in natural light on me, it looks almost hulk green at times. Maybe it is because I have very dark eyes and have red undertones in my eyes. I have no idea.

Anyway, here are my photos:

My package of goodies. There was a nylon Solotica backpack-sack, bubble-wrapped lenses, lens case (color matches lens color), and a note.



It came like this. Weird that it was ripped. But I think the name is the same guy at wrlens who sent me the package.


Pretty lenses! See how the pattern gets more translucent in the center? This gives the lens a blended pupil for a more natural look.


Opening the bottle



And here are a few photos of the verde marines in my eyes:

(all without flash) next to my cosmetic light, next to window, batrhoom light


bathroom light


how it looks from farther away


by the window


in direct sunlight


window behind me


window again


And a couple of me just being silly.




Overall, I do like these lenses but I think I prefer my hidrocharme ices. I would've liked these to have been a bit more blue and I'm not sure if it's just the camera or what, but I think these make me look more tan. They are not a very natural color. I also didn't do any color-correcting in my photos and the camera made me look either too yellow or too red with these on. Very strange! They are very fun and dramatic lenses though. If you like drama, these are for you. I also think they'd be more flattering with lighter hair.

Stay tuned for my review on EOS Adult Grey lenses next time. :)

Here's a couple of very different looks I've sported lately. I recently had a commenter accuse me of always using the same technique with different colors. Not that this is really in defense of that (since I took the photos before the comment was made) but I suppose it is proof that, no, I don't always do my makeup and shadows in the exact same way! I do love to experiment and that includes two of my favorites, the sweet look and the smokey look.

First off is a look I call "Sugar Plum" as it is a mix of pinks, purples, and a hint of innocent sparkle.

Eyes:
NYX trio in Team Spirit - Lilac color
NYX Purple single shadow
NYX cherry (with a very light hand)
NYX Vanilla Sky for highlight
Revlon colorstay eyeliner in Vixen (plum)
NYX jumbo eye pencil in cottage cheese

Lips:
Revlon Super Lustrous Lipgloss in a nude/clear color
Revlon Sugar Sugar Lip Topping in Snowflake

Face:
NYX Mosaic Powder in Highlighter

Sorry, but I can't seem to remember what blush I was wearing! Possibly NYX Powder Blush in Pinky.





My second look is a sultrier Smokey Evergreen eye. I used Revlon Bedroom Eyes powder liner in Jaded as the basis for this look and I really love how it turned out. It's actually really simple to do and a little sexy but still appropriate for daytime.

Other than highlighter I really only used that one color using what I'd call an "almond eye" technique. I didn't really shape the shadow other than to follow the curve of my lid. If you have an almond on its side, the highest curve would be where the shadow hits highest, 3/4 out from your lid. This look emphasizes the crease (or tucked eyelid for monolidders) and lets the smokey eye peek out when you blink. Apply the green shadow and highlight under the brow.

The most important part is to take a good blending brush and blend the green shadow up so that it looks soft. Use the same green shadow to line the bottom lash line softly. Fill in your brows to balance the dark eye, add black liner and mascara and you are done!





Oh, for this look I also definitely used J. Lynne mineral foundation, blush (Crush), and lipgloss (lip glaze in Julianne). Here are some swatches.




Also, Jennifer lip glaze pic. Fun coral pink color which I love not just because it has my namesake!

I'm loving my Jennifer lipgloss! Weeee!


Dang this is a long post, but I also wanted to add my Solotica Hidrocharme Branca (Ice) since it's been so long. This is with the Smokey Evergreen look.


From afar...


Hope you aren't too freezing where you are. It's 8 degrees Fahrenheit here right now! RIDICULOUS!

xoxo

Been super busy lately. I started a new job this week (yay!) so I haven't had much time to myself, but I am really excited about the opportunity. The commute is a killer hour but you gotta do what you can, right? It's a graphic design position which is a bit different than what I did in school but so far it's been a lot of hands-on stuff, which I love. It's certainly been a blessing to get to be paid for being creative. :)

I also recently bought another pair of Soloticas in my favorite style, hidrocharme. I really love these. The lens itself has a white color on it which blends with my dark brown eyes to create a lovely light blue color. In real life, indoors, it looks like a light smokey blue-grey but I think the lenses really show off best with flash. Don't they seem to glow and have depth? I was impressed!

I personally think this lens is for those with tanned skin. The blue color tends to wash me out a bit (which I don't mind) but I think on someone with lighter skin it might do worse unless they have heavy eye makeup on. Contrast is a big key. More contrast will almost always look more attractive and light eyes plus faint makeup is a recipe for washed-outness.

In general though, I love how different these look compared to other lenses on the market. Light-colored and natural at the same time! Here's some photos so you can judge for yourself.

no flash:


with flash:


comparison of no lenses vs. lenses:


silliness:


Alright. I'm super spent but I hope everyone is having a nice weekend! Let me know what you think of the lenses and any music/podcast suggestions for long drives. My current obsession is This American Life. It really makes you think, and in a weird way makes me feel less lonely in a sea of new people.

Love you guys~

I've been getting a lot of questions about where and how to order Solotica lenses lately from Soompi, Youtube, and my blog, so I thought I'd make a post about it. First of all, these lenses are Brazilian which means you will ONLY find them online from sites like Viallure or lentesdecontato.net. These websites are in Portugese so it may be helpful to use some translator.

There are a few things to keep in mind. First, the price of the lenses on the websites is in BRL (Brazilian reales) so you will need to convert the money into USD (American dollars) or whatever money you are using to pay. So don't freak out and think each lens is $150 USD! The lenses usually run around $40-50 USD depending on what style you buy, and shipping is around $20 USD. Shipping cost of course varies between sites so make sure you double check on all costs.

You will need to know what style and color you want. For that, you can google Solotica to find pictures but here is a breakdown:

* azul: blue
* verde: green (only looks natural on light eyes)
* verde marine: aqua
* ocre: greyish brown
* mel: honey (usually looks green)
* grafite: grey (usually looks blue)
* ice -not pictured-: white (usually looks light blue or grey, was called "branca")

Hidrocor (Most opaque, no limbal ring)


Hidrocharme (Middle opacity, thicker limbal ring)


Natural Colors (Least opaque, thin and light grey limbal ring)

These lenses are semi-opaque, which means that they are not completely a solid color but have little dots that blend with your natural eye color. The model for the color chart has light brown, honey-colored eyes and as you can see, each color blends in with his real eye color. This is a VERY IMPORTANT thing to know, because the color of the lens will be different on different eyes. For instance, on my medium reddish-brown eyes, the NC ocres (orangey yellow lens) looked honey-grey while the Hidrocharme mels (yellow lens) look foresty green. Mels actually mean "honey" in portugese and look lime green or yellow on light eyes! My advice would be to do your homework on these lenses. Look at photos of the lens on someone with your similar eye color.

From what I know, natural colors can sometimes be too translucent for very dark eyes so they don't show up as well as charmes or cors. Charmes can give you an "innocent" look by enlarging your iris, while cors are the most natural. You just have to worry about "bleeding" with cors in certain colors (mel, ocre) because it may look like you have a yellow ring around your iris if your iris is small, which isn't the prettiest thing. Grafite (grey, but actually looks dark blue) and branca/ice (white, but looks light blue) don't give you a bleeding problem because their base color is white and blends in with your sclera. The limbal ring in natural colors and charmes masks the bleeding problem. Also, verde marine is more of a bright greenish aqua than in the color chart.

Viallure now has an English-version of their website. Just click on the little British flag at the top right of the page. On the order page, the price is for 1 lens, and you need 2 so double the cost for the price of the lenses. Your order will show up on the next page with 1 lens for the right eye, and 1 lens for the left eye. Finish ordering through the website or e-mail or IM Ana Paula (English-speaking rep for Viallure) at viallure@hotmail.com if you get confused and would like to order that way. Ana is very nice and Viallure has great service. Just as an additional note, they will ask you for an ID number, but just give them a random number that you write down for your records.

For Lentesdecontacto.net, the process will be in Portugese, but I've heard that they pack the lenses safer than Viallure. I may be wrong on this, but I think both companies are now accepting paypal payment if you are worried about credit card information. Also, tutorials for ordering from either site can be found at the Lensaholics forum in this thread: http://lensaholics.proboards102.com/index.cgi?board=solotica&action=display&thread=4214
I hope that helps everyone out and I hope you guys enjoy these beautiful lenses as much as I do!



EDIT 5/9/09: Due to e-mails and comments from various companies promoting or "calling out" websites for being good to buy from or being scammers, I have disabled the comments for this post. If you do have questions, please comment on the most current blog post. I urge everyone to be very careful in purchasing Soloticas online. Use a lot of discretion and do your research. If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Thanks guys.

I got some new lenses. They are from Solotica, the same brand as the ones I got before, but this is a different style and color. This one is the Hidrocharme style which has a stronger limbal ring (black ring outside the iris) and the color is Mel, which means honey in Portugese, but looks green in person.

They were darker than I thought they would be at first, but after seeing them in different lighting conditions I was really amazed at how they transform. Sometimes they are dark green, sometimes they are light green, but they are always somewhat translucent and show up well. It's like how real irises change color in different light! Way to go, Solotica, you are my eyes' new best friend.

I have so much fun switching up how I look from my clothes to my jewelry to my makeup. I rarely wear the same outfit twice, as I mix and match everything I own. Maybe it's just boredom, but I love the variety. Maybe this is why I was so drawn to colored contacts. Don't get me wrong, I am fine with my own eye color, but it can be exciting to see the changes that a face can go through simply with a little bit of color over your eyes.

I recently got a pair of lenses from the most natural semi-opaque brand, Solotica. The style is Natural Colors in the color Ocre. It was a lot of fun to glance at myself in the mirror and see the change, which was enhanced by heavier eye makeup. I even felt like at times, I looked less Asian, which is just weird. :/ For the most part though, I love this color! Just thought I'd share some pics.