Monday, September 5, 2011

Playing With Geo Mimi Circle Lens

As a beauty blog reader, I had been reading many posts from people who use circle lenses. I was always curious about it and stupidly thought that it was available only to people who needed to wear contacts for corrective vision purposes. It wasn't until recently that I learned that they are available as a non-presciption and non-corrective lens. This piqued my interest in them even more. I actually have sensitive eyes and don't like it when anything goes into them so I've always thought that if I ever needed to wear glasses, I probably would never use contacts since I can't see how I would be able to stand something on my eye. (I only recently started needing to wear glasses but only for reading.)

Recently Blair had tweeted that she was selling a pair of Geo Mimi Lens. I believe that it was in a gray color. I have to admit that curiosity got the better of me and I rationalized it was something that I should try as a beauty blogger. I went ahed and tweeted her back that I wanted to purchase it. Please check out her blog as she does quite a few posts on different contact lens and it looks so pretty on her.


I've actually had it for a while now but I needed to research on how to open the bottles, care for the lens and how to insert and take them out. I also finally got together with Mai, who wears contacts, so I had her help with showing me how to insert them and take them out. Unfortunately, she only uses hard contacts so it's a little different.

Here is my eye before I inserted the contact:


And this is the end result:


Can you see a difference? No? Don't worry if you don't because there actually is no difference! The 2nd picture was taken 12 hours after the first picture and after I had tried and tried and tried to insert the contact, but to no avail. Mai and I were laughing at first because it was quite hilarious. I've come to the conclusion that I can't spread my eyelids far apart enough to insert the lens. The lens is actually quite large and every time I try to insert it, my eyelids are not spread far apart enough that the lens actually inverts and molds itself to my finger. I finally did manage to insert it into my other eye--I guess that the lids are looser and can spread apart farther. Unfortunately, I could feel the lens in my eye and my vision was a bit cloudy. I'm not sure if it's because it wasn't centered properly or if that's how it is. I also thought that it looked a bit scary as my eye didn't look pretty and doll-like as I've seen with other wearers of these type of lens. My eye looked like a reptile's eye!

My conclusion on this is that I'm so glad that I tried it. I know that it's not for me. My eyelids can't spread far apart enough to insert it in. Besides, with me being older, I'm afraid that if I continue to spread my eyelids that far apart, it will lose whatever elasticity there is and will droop something awful. I'll stick with my own beady little eyes.

*Kat*

26 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi Kat! I can not stop smiling while I was reading your post. See recently my brother for some reason decided he wanted color lenses too. I guess the trend is not contained to just us bloggers but it's catching on with the younger kids too. Anyways, he spent almost an hour trying to put on the lenses! I find that lens designs and colors are a hit or miss, and there are also normal sized lenses if you want to colored contacts another try. I really appreciate you trying out these lenses and sharing your experience with us. Not everything is for everyone and I like how you are so honest about that.

galpal.hi said...

@Fannie--Thank you so much for your comment! It was certainly an interesting experience. After trying for so long, my eyes started to rebel and got irritated so I stopped. I hope that your brother ended up being successful.

I like being honest with my reviews, good or bad. Of course, it's with the understanding that it is my own personal experience and that what works or doesn't work for me, may not be the same for others.

Have a great week!

*Kat*

Brianna said...

I tried them when I was in Japan for Halloween one year. I will have to post the picture sometime, me with black eyes is sorta freaky.
I totally feel your pain with having to try and put them in, I don't wear contacts and had the hardest time trying to get them in my eye and feel comfortable. Usually by the time they were in properly my eye was so irritated that it was red.
If I ever had to wear glasses, I think I might wear glasses instead of contacts!

Jamilla Camel said...

I need varifocal contacts, and there are no circle/coloured lenses out there that acommodate my ageing eyes!

breakingrumours said...

I actually looked at the 2nd picture for a good 2 mins before I found out there is no difference between those 2. In my head I was like??? impossible that there wasn't any diff if the contact lens is on lol. I had a tough time and almost similar experience when I first started using contact lens,now its better but I don't wear it often XD

galpal.hi said...

@Brianna--I'm with you on just sticking to eyeglasses. I really didn't like having to pry my eyelids so far apart.

*Kat*

galpal.hi said...

@Jamilla--The glasses that I have are reading glasses so they are bifocals. It's a rare occasion when I wear them so trying to wear circle lenses wouldn't have been too much of a problem, or so I thought.

*Kat*

galpal.hi said...

@breakingrumours--OMG, LOL! I was wondering if I would catch anyone with that! If it had looked really pretty and doll-like when it went into that one eye, I would have tried again to get it into the other eye just to see what it would look like with both eyes. Even if I could wear them comfortably and get them in easily, it wasn't my plan to wear it on a regular basis.

*Kat*

Jen said...

omg.. hahahha, i can't stop laughing at that last sentence! You're so funny =O I totally know what you mean.. i had this trouble when I first started wearing lens >.<;; and it doesnt help i also have tiny little beady eyes :( I've grown use to putting them in now though. I'm glad you got to try them out and see if they were/weren't for you :)

Joey said...

haha sorry, I found that quite funny. I remember my first time wearing normal contacts more than 10 years ago and it took me so long to put it in my eye. However, the 2nd day I tried it, like magic, it went in and I never looked back.

I'm not sure why yours is a bit cloudy, btu it should definitely not be like that. Good contacts should also feel comfortable ie. you don't feel anything.

I've an unopened pair of Mimi's, but am a bit hesitant to use because it's the widest diameter I've ever had. Though other gyaru girls look really pretty in them, I always prefer a more subtle look, perhaps with a bit of colour change.

Sorry I rambled a bit

Vanity Fashionista said...

Aww lol. I've tried a few circle lenses and I do like them, but it's such a hassle to put them in.
I always have trouble, it either inverts onto my finger or I just blink and it goes all wrong lol.

. said...

Ohh Kat, you did give me a good chuckle! Sorry, I shouldn't laugh because I know how difficult it is to put contacts in! I also struggle as I feel my eyes don't spread far enough apart either. I find holding the contact on my middle finger of my right hand helps, and then using all my other 'stronger' fingers to wrench my eye apart, if that makes any sense. That said, I suppose you won't be giving it another go... It's a shame you didn't like the way it looked! I've never tried coloured circle lenses befoe except the dailies I wear!

Anonymous said...

Contact lenses. *sigh* I hate contact lenses. That is because I have pretty bad myopia (nearsightedness), and used to wear contact lenses almost all my life. I've been wearing glasses for the past 3 years because I was sick of wearing contact lenses, especially in the evening when my eyes were so tired. Now I wear them only when I go swimming (vacation or swimming pool).
Sandy

galpal.hi said...

@Jen--Haha! It's funny, sad but true--I have beady little eyes. I'm glad that you were finally able to put them in.

*Kat*

galpal.hi said...

@Joey--Thank you for your comment! You didn't ramble at all! I guess that I'll give it a try again but I do feel that it's probably too big for my eyes. I agree with you that the gyaru girls look so pretty in them. While I'm too old to be going for the gyaru look, I wanted to try it out, for curiousity's sake.

*Kat*

galpal.hi said...

@Vanity-Fashionista--I'm so glad that I'm not the only one who had problems with the lens inverting.

*Kat*

galpal.hi said...

@Jian--No don't worry, laugh all that you want because it really is quite funny. I'm sure that you would have been rolling if you were here when I was trying to get it in. Mai is on the side telling me that I have to spread it far apart and stick it in. Then she'd be saying there it went in! Aaawww it didn't. Gosh, if anyone was just listening in on our conversation without knowing what we were trying to do, it must have sounded quite perverted!

*Kat*

galpal.hi said...

@Sandy--Mai doesn't like them much either. She says that by 3:00 or so she has to take them out because her eyes get irritated. She has to wear them because of really bad eyesight too.

*Kat*

Bijin Blair said...

Awww, it's a shame that you had a hard time inserting them!

I can't get used to the size of my own irides after popping the lenses out, my eye makeup looks wrong somehow.. haha

Kai said...

how many mm is the Mimi? I think the fact that you never wore contacts before could contribute to how difficult it was to get in into your eyes too. When i first got my contacts it also took me a while to try to get the contacts in (at the doc's office with regular contacts), but after figuring out how putting it in feels, it became less of a problem. soft contacts are also, well, really soft, so they tend to invert easily. try making sure your finger is completely dry (ie the moisture is primarily in the cup of the contacts and none on your finger) so that the contacts would adhere to your eyeball rather than try to stick to your finger.

and use two hands. i can't remember exactly how i do it (it's so natural i sometimes forget lol) but i think for right eye, i put contact on tip of my left index finger, then use right index finger and left middle finger to hold my top and bottom eyelid of right eye open. look straight ahead and sorta "zone out" (ie when you're not focusing on looking, but sorta just half zoned out?) and then put the contacts in. i noticed when i do it this way, my left eye automatically readjust to focus so i sorta use my left eye to see where i'm putting my contacts on my right eye? it probably sounds totally weird!

then repeat with left eye but switch hands. the point is to keep one eye free to be able to see properly (ie hand not blocking the vision) since you obviously can't see out of the eye you're putting the contacts in. using fingers to hold your lids in place prevents your eyes to automatically try to close up.

when taking it out, hold top and bottom lid open with fingers and look UP, and use index and thumb to pinch the bottom of the lense slightly. it'll pop out super easily. I used to try to look forward and pinch and it's always so difficult and at end of the taking out, my eyes would be bright red. but by looking up, it comes out way easier with almost no irritation. :D

i've been primarily using 14.5mm and 14.0mm tho, haven't tried 15mm or higher so i dunno how hard those are to deal with.

if you wanna try a smaller sized diameter and more natural, try Hana SPC hyper circle gray:
http://pinkyparadise.com/webshaper/store/viewProd.asp?pkProductItem=19

they're not huge enlargement but look incredibly natural on my brown eyes. most people only notice there's something striking about my eyes, but it doesn't look reptilian or anything. :D Hana SPC is also incredibly comfortable!

galpal.hi said...

@Blair--I'll try playing around with it a little more. I just don't like the fact that I have to stretch out my eyelids so much.

Your eyes always look so beautiful with whatever lens you wear.

*Kat*

galpal.hi said...

@Kai--Thank you so much for your very detailed instructions. It was very helpful. I did use two hands to try inserting the lens. One thing that you mentioned was really helpful--keeping my finger dry. The finger that was holding the lens was wet, which is probably why it made it that much easier for the lens to invert itself onto my finger.

I'm going to give it a go again but want to rest my poor eyelids for a while longer.

I just checked the bottle and the lens diameter is 15.0.

Thank you again for your very helpful comment!

*Kat*

Steph said...

I was wondering if you posted the wrong picture for a second... lol I was remembering back all the princess mimi grey reviews i had seen and all of them looked vibrant... except yours 0.o then i read on... tsk tsk kat, got me fooled!!! haha

I regularly wear hard contacts, so when I first tried circle lenses they weren't hard to adjust to. Looking back to the first time I tried hard/ soft contacts, it was uncomfortable, after all it is a foreign object in your eye. Anyways did you remember to soak the lens in solution for at least 8hrs before popping them in? makes a big difference in comfort! As for the cloudy vision, maybe your eyes are too dilated, for the viewing hole for this lens.

I freaked out after I put in my first pair of circle lenses too, it made my irises look so big and scary... like a posessed alien baby 0.o but with a little make up, it solves the problem =D

Anyhow thanks for sharing your experience with us, and your reasoning for not trying again is very valid =] and makes me worried about my own lids...

BV said...

I was like... "hey, that doesn't look grey?" in the second picture! Hehehehehe you got me good!

I wear contacts because I have tremendously bad eyesight. I was told at 15 or 16 that my eyesight would stabilise as I became an adult. I must be effing Peter Pan because my eyesight is still getting gradually worse every year - 20 years later!

It takes time to get used to putting them in - I think you would get a great result with either black circle lens (my preferred fave) or a really nice dark brown...? I think it does make me look more alert and my eyes bigger... I mean aside from surgery - it is my only option!

Thanks for this post... very entertaining!

cheers
BV

galpal.hi said...

@Steph--LOL! I was wondering if I would catch anyone. I try to be fair when I blog and do reviews. I share my own personal experiences, good and bad.

Yeah, really worried about over stretching my eyelids...

*Kat*

galpal.hi said...

@BV--Hehe! I've been really blessed with good eyesight. My mom used to call me "eagle eyes" because I would find even the tiniest thing when items would get dropped and lost. Unfortunately, I can't say the same now as I'm getting the "senior" disease of far-sightedness and need reading glasses. I'll admit that I don't use them though.

Thanks for your suggestion on the results that you get with the circle lens.

*Kat*