As you may have noticed, coloured contacts has been part of my makeup box since pretty much my first cosplay. I don’t wear glasses or lenses for vision (yet), so for me my first time wearing lenses was a bit of a nightmare. I think the first few times putting in lenses, I spent almost an hour. I even remember one particularly stressful convention where I ended up having to get my husband to put in my lenses, because I was just too tense.

It’s been more than 10 years now of me using coloured lenses for cosplay, so I would say I have a lot of experience, despite not being an everyday lens wearer.
Perhaps because of this, I was recently contacted by Funky Lenses, who asked me if I was interested in writing a review about their lenses if they sent me a few pairs. I agreed, because I am genuinely always on the look out for new sources of coloured lenses – somehow it has become harder and harder for me to source just the right ones in the last years. They let me pick out two sets myself, and I went with types that I usually choose when shopping for lense. One pair in “Big Eye Party Green” and one pair in “Starburst“. I usually use somewhat natural green lenses for my Rapunzel cosplays, and some more striking purple ones for my elves (even though I know it’s incorrect lore-wise, but I think it’s pretty).

The lenses are packaged in a little box with blister packs inside. I’ve had the type of contacts that come in little glass vials and need to be soaked in fresh lens fluid before you can use them in the past, and that type really sucks, so I was happy to see that these were packaged in the ready-to-use blister packs.

I tried the green lenses first. Sadly, I don’t feel this colour really does much for me. I do think they look nice, but they are too close to my natural eye colour to really make my eyes pop. My eyes are naturally light blue, so I don’t really have issues with the coloured lenses not covering, but in this case, I think the lenses are just made to look very natural to the point of being more of an everyday-thing rather than a cosplay look. For cosplay, I prefer when it really pops when I have in lenses – it’s supposed to look unnatural if you’re cosplaying game or cartoon characters.

Below you see a photo of my eyes (one with lens, one without) and also the product photo from the shop. Maybe it’s one of those rare cases where it would have worked better on a darker eye.

Next I tried the other pair of lenses – the Starburst patterned ones. I picked these, because I like lenses that are white or near-white near the pupil and brightly coloured around that. I feel like it gives the eyes a sort of glowy colour, without being creepy like white or white-out lenses.

And the colour really does look great! Below how they look on me vs the product photo

These look pretty much as I expected from the product photo, and they cover my natural colour very well.

Now, I have one issue, and for me it’s a big one, but it might not be for others.

I have a tiny head and tiny eyes. Probably it’s not something you thought about, but I wear children’s size hats, and my eyes are proportional to my face. It’s a benefit, because this means that I can find wigs big enough for my head AND hair, but it also gives me issues sometimes with lenses.

Because of my tiny eyes, the size of lenses sometimes just isn’t right. If you had prescription lenses, you’d get your eyes measured and buy lenses in the correct size. Probably, even for coloured lenses that would be a good idea but – I like to live life a little dangerous. And coloured lenses rarely come with different size options.

I will try to explain the lens sizing and why these particular ones did not fit my eye very well. Please note that I am by no means an expert on this – but perhaps you tried lenses and they were very uncomfortable and you’re wondering why. In that case, it may be the same for you.

So when you have the right diameter and the right basic curve (BC), your lens will look like the first/left example below, but if the diameter is too big and/or the BC is too flat (higher number = flatter), it will look like the second/right example, and I believe that is what my problem is with these lenses:

Since I don’t wear lenses for daily use, I haven’t seen an optician. But there is a reason this is recommended and in some countries required – wearing lenses that are the wrong size is very uncomfortable and in some cases it can even damage your eye. If you are not aware how a well-fitting lens is supposed to feel, you might think it’s normal to feel discomfort. And to some extend, it is – coloured contacts are often a little stiffer than daily lenses, but they should never be painful. So if you try out contacts and it hurts to wear them – take them out. Maybe it’s just because your eyes are not used to them, but maybe it is the wrong size, and in that case, you shouldn’t wear them.

But back to these lenses – the green pair is 14,2mm/8,6BC and the purple pair is 14,5mm/8,6BC. The purple pair were unfortunately extra uncomfortable to me. I think my correct size is 14mm/8.6BC, because so far, lenses of that size were most comfortable to me.

However, the average person fits 14,2mm/8,6BC, so this is a good size to try out first, as there’s a good chance they will fit you.

In the case of these lenses, they do seem quite subtle and soft, so I don’t think the issues I had were caused by bad lenses – just bad fit for me.

Do you want to try out any of the lenses from Funky Lenses? Then you can use the coupon code “SKYMONE” for 10% off on your order!