Circle Lens Review: Dueba/DollyEye Dreamy.i Blue from ISZO Circle Lens

Free lenses? That's funny! I can't get sponsored to save my life... This time, I bought my lenses from ISZO Circle Lens. The reason for buying from ISZO instead of PinkyParadise was cost... More on that later. Who wants to see some lenses?!

I bought blue lenses because I needed them for my Stocking Anarchy cosplay and I'm on my last pair completely out of contact lenses... They're expensive for clear lenses!* Argh, why, Acuvue? I find my Acuvue lenses to be twenty million times more delicate/easy to lose. I tore one, lost another... Now I went to several different places to find my perfect blue lenses at a decent price (or on sale or with a coupon code) that also offered my prescription. I knew ISZO from a friend who tried to win a contest they were hosting.

(Completely useless screen-shot)

The website is laid out nicely and really easy to navigate. You can choose from color or from a brand's drop-down menu which lists the styles. They offer a lens package with your choice of 4 lenses for $70 and 4 lens cases. If I had some other friends who wore lenses, we could get together and do a group order this way ~ Sadly that's not possible, because I'm friendless when it comes to sharing the circle lens love. They, of course, have prescription lenses!

An envelope like this ~

These came from Malaysia, where ISZO is based. Your basic padded envelope, which is common for lenses to be packed in. I've never had a problem with vials being broken. That would be awful. The vials themselves were wrapped in layers of bubble wrap for their protection again, which also isn't unusual. It makes me happy actually! I feel like my lenses have been safe the whole way! Plus bubble wrap is fun to pop. All that went into a plastic goodie bag ~

Everything came in that cute little baggy! The lenses were in a layer of bubblewrap.

Circle lenses come in glass vials with rubber stoppers, covered by these godawful little metal rims (not saying I don't appreciate the safety) but these rims are troublesome because the cap is difficult to pull up. The plastic cap also states the corrective power on top; for me, it's -2.75 (I'm bliiiiiiiiiiind without lenses!). You have to find the arrow on the rim and push the plastic cap up. Then you pull the cap back and take that rim with it! Carefully, please. I use pliers when I don't have Ze Boyfriend to pull them up for me. (While I did have him around to help, I didn't need him this time! I managed it myself.)

One insanely blown up image of the lens bottle. Taken with my iPod. Mergh...

The stats on these lenses are...

• Diameter: 14.5mm (The label lists them as 15.0mm but they're definitely 14.5!)
• Base curve: 8.6mm
• Water content: 38%
• Available in green, brown, grey, pink, blue and violet.

No lenses and totally blind (yes, I am very tired. And yes, my brows need to be done again)

One lens, still totally blind and getting a headache to take this picture.

Let's start with color and the enlarging. The lenses are actually quite a pretty color in my opinion. A nice cornflower-ish blue with a bit of a sunburst where the black limbal ring meets the blue color and something like a solar eclipse effect in the center. In the promo photos on the brown-eyed models, the lenses look a little lighter than lapis lazuli blue. On my hazel-green eyes, it's more of a lapis lazuli under incandescent lights and I've barely seen them under sunlight. As for their enlarging, being this is my second/third pair of 14.5's**, they enlarge very little. I had a pair of G&G lenses that were only 14.5mm but enlarged very well! Almost too well...

In terms of comfort, I wore these for about 6 hours after letting them soak for 6 hours before wear (normally I do this for 8 but 6 was fine). They did need a slight adjustment so the blue didn't slide over my pupil but after, they were just fine. I don't really notice them on my eyes; no super drying or problems with shifting when I blink.

These, I think, are my first Dueba/DollyEye lenses. I read on one blog that Dueba and G&G are the same company; I only know that DollyEye is Dueba and supposedly, the shops receive the lenses without labels to apply their own. On a side note, I love the animal case I got–a fluorescent green bear. The wells are deeper than the animal cases I usually get and I actually prefer this one, because it has a bead chain that can be attached to a bag zipper, a keychain, etc. The face is cute too. I want more of these cases specifically!

ISZO sells the Dreamy series for $15.00 with $5 shipping. Not bad! They ship internationally (of course!), so no worries if you're concerned if you can get lenses from them. Here's a list they have actually, which you might find helpful! And a little FAQ on delivery.

I mentioned cost before... While I would normally just buy from PinkyParadise, I didn't have the amount I needed to spend on the lenses I was going to get from PP. This led to a search for the perfect blue lenses at a price in my personal budget (I had $42, with $23.98 going to my wig!).

So let's talk about my tiny issue with ISZO. Very tiny issue. I placed my order, it went to processing. It sat at processing for quite a while without an update and I emailed ISZO asking when it would be shipped because it had been about 4 days since it entered processing. I only became concerned because they say they only take 1 to 2 business days (Monday through Friday) to process. I received a reply quickly, I believe within 24 hours, and was told it would ship out in 2 days after my email. I didn't receive any updates to my order and emailed again because it still said processing. Oh bugger... I thought I would have to open a dispute through PayPal! I then got a shipping notification as well as a delayed reply after stating I might open a dispute (never did, obviously and never needed to!). They sent out my lenses July 26th. I don't know how they update their order system, but that was just a little frustrating. I was informed by Neko Choo (how cute is that name?) that the system is done by hand. Interesting! But to receive no news is disconcerting. They did at least respond quickly and I'm really very happy about their customer service. I wonder if they were just really busy with orders? There are a lot of cons happening about now!

I'm not mad at ISZO; it was, most likely, an automated error I now have a feeling this was just due to a high volume of orders. No huge deal. I do recommend ISZO because, though they have a small selection, the prices are quite decent and a reply within 24 hours is great. My only complaint is actually with the United States Postal Service. Don't call something "Track & Confirm" if you can't actually know where your package might be. USPS just baffles me.

*Genius me ripped the right one and they were both so covered in lint that no amount of rinsing would get it off. My fingers were linty on top of that. My case even had lint in it. Whyyyyyyyyyyyy... The pains of being blind as a bat in sunlight.

**The reason it says "second/third" is because there are differing opinions on the size of Vassen/i.Fairy's Dolly+/Dolly Plus Red! LensVillage and ISZO list the diameter as being 16.2, but PinkyParadise has them as 14.5/15.0mm. Oh joy... I can say, the Dolly+/Dolly Plus did not make my eyes look bigger, they pretty much looked unchanged in size (I guess my eyes are 14.0? My clear lenses are 14.5 mm) but were noticeably red. I really think the Dolly+/Dolly Plus are 14.5mm. Your results may vary with them.

PS: This wasn't posted Friday (sigh!) because lo-and-behold my iPod decided there wasn't anymore space for my photos and then the World's Worst Camera (aka my completely unbranded, unnamed camera, a birthday present-- none of the buttons are LABELED!) messed up all the bottle shots I had saved on it's internal memory. I also didn't realize: I left the bottles at Ze Boyfriend's... Not that I could upload my photos from the camera; didn't have my memory card, Ze Boyfriend's card reader doesn't work and of course, I don't have the cord that fits my camera.

It hasn't been a fun time... I'll probably get a full-face photo this weekend, complete with my Stocking wig.

SPOOKEHDOOM