ACen: Year 1

All my con reflections get super lengthy, so prepare for lots of information and pictures!!! ^^

This past weekend, Tom visited Chicago again. One of the plans was to attend Anime Central, which ended up being a blast. We only had one and a half days planned since it was our first time at that con. I prefer to ease my way into bigger cons; test the waters.

On Friday, we commuted over to the con to pick up our Saturday badges and snuck around the dealers hall for a bit getting most of our shopping done. I wore my Jigoku Shoujo/Core project cosplay, and unfortunately my camera died before I could get many decent pictures....

 ...but I have a shoot planned for this outfit anyway, so look forward to it! (◠ω◠✿)

After sneaking around on Friday and doing most of our shopping, we still went back into the dealer's hall on Saturday with our spending-happy friend Nancy. Nancy was kind enough to photograph our Saturday cosplays, but I don't have many pictures yet. 

I do however, have this iPhone photo of me posing with LITTLEKURIBOH (a.k.a. the talent of YuGiOh abridged)!!

He recognized our Venture Brothers cosplay (which was an honor!), and was so so nice! It totally made my entire con experience to be able to meet him. I never thought I'd be able to, but wow! Such a pleasant surprise. ヽ(゜∇゜)ノ

I bought a ton of gifts for friends at his booth, but since they're autographed or given away already, I won't post them online~ ;P

Now, to the sweet haul!!!~*

Tom was nice enough to pay for pretty much everything we bought. I only bought gifts for other people that weren't able to attend. (◡︿◡)

Pictured: Wall Scroll, Mami Tomoe Nendoroid, Gurren Lagann Movies 1 & 2, The complete 2nd season of Code Geass, Hair clips, Rings, D. Gray Man artbook, Asuza figure, and Pinkie Pie keychain

The only panel we attended was the premiere of the Panty and Stocking dub, which we both appreciated immensely. P&S is one of my all time favorites, so it was great to see justice done to it. Definitely recommend purchasing the DVDs from Funimation when they are released!!

At the end, we got this adorable free poster, and a couple postcards. They were also giving out prizes at the end, but so many people left right after the viewing that they had a lot of prizes left over! Tom and I stuck it out and I ended up getting a gorgeous Scanty and Kneesocks wallscroll!! I was worried I wouldn't have room for it, but I worked something out. ;) You'll see them displayed in other posts. 

vvvv

 ^^^^
Our friend Nancy was sweet enough to buy this amazing No. 6 poster for me. ;o; When I first saw it, I had so many feels. (OTP!!!) I knew I had to have it, and Nancy made my dream come true~* haha <3

My clips! I'm in love with them. It's always hard for me to justify buying accessories since I can make bows myself no problem... but I don't know how to knit cute, soft, loli bows like this one, so I had to get it.

 Rings!! They are so overkill, I love it. I have so many gaudy rings. They are the best.

^

Tom's DVDs

These are the gifts I bought for my sisters!! I wish I could have gotten them more, but I didn't have much money. ;o; I tried to pick out what they would love best though. 

Finally, my piece de resistance... the famed $70 and-then-suddenly $80 Mami Nendoroid....

It was a huge punch in the gut to Tom and I both when the sales dude sold her to us with $10 tax!!! -falls over- Like wtffff (┛◉Д◉)┛彡┻━┻

I had her pre-ordered, but my distributor never got her in! I called and they said she wouldn't be coming to America, but to keep an eye out at cons. Luckily, we found her, and even more lucky, Tom was willing to buy her for me. I've been dying to display her with Ciel so they can have tea together. <3

These pictures really do her no justice. She is gorgeous in real life!!! I don't even have all her pieces displayed. 

 I'm gonna have to switch their heads sometime, now that I finally have two nendos... heh hehh hehhhh.

Our con adventure ended after the Adult Swim photoshoot when someone pulled the fire alarm and everyone had to evacuate the building.... :/
 It was really a ridiculous situation, but we were about to head home anyway, so it ended alright. It was then that we really got to see how many people were at the con!!
ACen was huge and every second was so much fun~ I wish I had gotten to see more people, but there is always next year. See you then!!
xo

CandyLens Review!!

This has been an amazing week of deliveries for me! I've received all the packages that I was looking forward to within 5 days of each other. And Tom is arriving tonight,  so I'm definitely in a good mood.

Anyhow, I'm doing a review on the contact lens' site CandyLens.

I ordered the Geo Extra Forest Red from them about two weeks ago for my Enma Ai/Hell Girl cosplay. Worried that they wouldn't arrive in time for ACen, I kindly asked them to send the items as soon as possible.

Well, they arrived yesterday alongside the wig I ordered off ebay for the very same cosplay! Very very fast service! I was so pleased and immediately got to testing them out.

obligatory contacts vs. regular eyeball photo...

Even from far away, you can still see how big and red they are! 

I was so pleased since the last pair of contacts I bought were small and didn't change anything about my eye color but make them dark BLEH color!! >3< That was frustrating. I can't remember where I ordered those old contacts, but I won't be buying from them again. CandyLens, however, has such amazing service and quality that I'm not afraid to buy from them again!! In fact, I could use another couple pairs right now for my Hime-Gyaru looks.

It's been about a year since I put Geo-style contacts in, so it took me a REALLY long time to put them in. But I stayed patient and got them in fine after about 20 minutes (!!). Getting them out was a little tough too, since I have long nails. I had to look up a tutorial. ^^;; 

Now for some close-ups....

From the side...

These are the other contents of the package. The lenses arrived safely in the brown box, and the absolutely ADORABLE piggy contact case was included for free. I love it! It's so sweet. They even included a sweet little card thanking me and telling me to enjoy my lenses. It certainly brought a smile to my face.

Service: 9/10


Quality: 8.5/10


Enjoyment: 7/10
~Just because of all the trouble I had getting them in/taking them out. That's really 90% my fault though. ^^;

Overall, I would absolutely order from CandyLens again!! Great service and products. I'm very pleased. :)
Thank you, CandyLens!!

Character Corner: SEGA Ciel

This new blogger layout is throwing me for a loop! @_@

Exciting news!!! My newest Ciel Phantomhive figure came in the mail!!! It's the SEGA Ciel from 2009. He looks AMAZING in real life. The pictures don't do him justice!! I never understood that saying until now... I wasn't expecting much, it being a SEGA figure, but I just had to have him. I must own all the Ciel items in the world!!!! Lots of pictures ahead, so get ready~

He arrived in a tiny box!! I was pretty surprised. It was a little damaged, but he came such a long way, so I was expecting it and it's not a big problem. Ciel himself arrived in perfect condition!! 

 He's got a nice and simple circle base. That cane of his is so darn fragile! I was freaking out that I would break it or its attachment. 

 

Hello, gorgeous.

 

Nendoroid Ciel has to get used to this newcomer....

My Ciels thus far!!! They all have neckties. hehe~

 We are a big happy family.

 Ciel gets the same pose often....

The Hideyoshi nendoroid petite is new as well. :> My sister bought him for me at Sakura Con! It was my first year missing out in 6 years.... :'(

Man, I wish I was good at camera-stuffs.... YoY

Ciel is a character that, like I said, I simply must have ALL OF HIM!! Are there any characters that quite so are special to you? Tell me all about it. :>
xo

Fashion Show: Backstage

The end of my first year at SAIC is drawing near, so of course I've been mega busy! (all my free time is filled by watching Supernatural, but that's not the point...)

This obviously means that all the seniors are finishing up their final semesters as well. The fashion show is filled with the impressive work made by SAIC Fashion department students; sophomores, juniors, and seniors. Freshmen like myself are allowed to volunteer, and I was fortunate enough to be working backstage dressing models!! Freshies aren't usually allowed to do this, so I was particularly excited and took my job pretty seriously.

I didn't want to haul my camera around, but I snapped a few photos with my new ~iPHONE~ on my down time. Generally trying to keep everyone anonymous... it wasn't hard with the horrible lighting backstage... :p
Lots of pictures ahead!! Enjoy. :>

I dubbed this collection "The Stepford Wives"

Sneaking around the male models' section... -u-

 That's my assigned model in the white, high-collared two-piece look. :>

Crazy wigs galore.

 This collection was kind of a big deal. Very cool accessories.

wigs wigs wigs

...our dressing station. Four looks total. :>

Anyhow, it was a long but all around fun day. :) I've got a figure review/character corner on the way~ Get pumped!!!

x