Gear Talk: The Eyes Have It - SUCCESS!

After more than a few false starts, I've finally found another source for dark contact lenses for light eyes!

As a reminder, my requirements for success are:

- outstanding coverage for a light iris
- "functional" vs. "pretty"
- small pupil hole

 

And the winner is ... ttdeye.com

The vendor is based in Hong Kong and time from order to delivery was 15 days.

In addition to the lenses themselves, you get a nice "care package" along with them - lens case, tongs (to remove the lenses from the case) and an applicator (which I don't use). I also got a little hand mirror as well. They do have many brown lenses, so you need to closely look at them to make sure the pupil holes appear to be small. Below are my top picks.

On to the lenses!

The first one is called "New York Brown" - this is a yearly lens (nice bonus!) and definitely provides the coverage, functionality and small pupil hole. I would say that these are a lighter and a more "soft" brown color vs. the "intense" brown of my older lenses. They veer a little towards "pretty" but they definitely work.

 

The next one is called "New York Black." Again, this is a yearly lens and meets all my requirements. This also provides a more "intense" experience and is much darker than the "New York Brown" - this looks great on all my darker-skinned masks and is actually much darker than any of my older brown lenses.

The final one is called "Bohme Hazel." This is also a yearly lens and meets (nearly) all the requirements. The pupil hole on this lens is slightly larger than the "New York" ones. Color-wise, this  falls between the the two "New York" lenses as it is more intense then the "Brown" and a less intense than the "Black." This is still a dark lens and looks good with my  black-guy masks and great with my Latino masks. There is also a little more of a caramel tone to these lenses in the center area.  

A caveat: I have gray-green-blue eyes with a gold-brown "sunburst" around my pupil - in ancient times, this was known as being one of the "Children of Helios", today it's known as (inherited) central heterochromia -- I can get away with a slightly larger pupil hole, but I don't take advantage of it because I generally want to have a single, solid iris color. When I make a recommendation, I'm thinking of the population at large.

Someone with "solid" light eyes (without a darker central halo) is definitely going to show some of their iris color around the inner edge of this lens. So, YMMV.

 

So there you have it! A fast shipping company, good selection of options and nice extras to go with your purchase!