Circle lenses, or cosmetic contact lenses which are designed to give the illusion of larger eyes, have been around in Asia since 2004 and started gaining popularity within the U.S. in the past few years. While some are designed to look natural by enlarging the irises just slightly, others can be quite snazzy with intricate colors and patterns, in sizes that are clearly meant to be noticed.

I first wrote about circle lenses back in 2010, and I stand by my original assertion that circle lenses are just as safe as regular soft contact lenses as long as you take the same precautions as you would with regular lenses. I have continued to wear my Geo Fresh Brown lenses since then, taking care to clean and store them properly, not wear them for extended periods of time, replacing them before they hit the 1-year mark, and getting regular eye exams.

The thing I loved about the Geo Fresh Browns was that they look really natural. They made my eyes look bigger, but only ever so slightly. While I did not wear them every day, I would wear them almost whenever I went out and not ONE person ever noticed I had circle lenses, or even colored contacts, on. And whenever I pointed them out to anyone, they always did a double-take and said something along the lines of, “Oh yeah…I can notice them now that you told me. Even then, I can only see them if I look really close.”

(In fact, I’m wearing them in the profile picture at the top right of this page — could you tell? To see more pictures from that day, click here.)

What I didn’t like about the Geo Fresh Browns was that they were slightly less comfortable than my regular, everyday contacts. This isn’t to say that they were uncomfortable, but they would start to feel a bit dry after about the 5-6 hour mark and I would have to apply rewetting drops.

After I had my annual eye exam last month and obtained a new prescription for my somewhat worsened nearsightedness, I decided to try another brand of circle lenses. You see, I had found an online circle lens store called EyeCandy’s (formerly EyeCandyLens) and had read their “Tips & Trends” page which stated that while Geo is the world’s most popular brand of circle lenses, the Neo Vision brand is generally found to be more comfortable.

And wouldn’t you know it? Neo Vision had just released a new natural-looking lens called Natural Touch Brown:

I had been thinking about purchasing one of the Neo Dali brown lenses, but was torn as to which to get. (See this EyeCandy’s blog post for a fantastic comparison between the three.) But when I read about the Neo Natural Touch Brown, the natural starburst design really drew me in and I knew that I had a winner.

I had ordered from EyeCandy’s before so I knew that they are a reputable dealer. Plus, you can’t beat their FREE standard shipping!

I tore into the package as soon as I received it. The verdict?

THE. MOST. COMFORTABLE. LENSES. EVER.

Seriously. I have been wearing soft contact lenses since my early teens, and have tried numerous brands and types in those two decades. The ones I have been wearing for the past couple of years — the Proclear 1 Day disposables — have been the best yet in terms of comfort, but the Neo Natural Touch Brown lenses feel even better!

And I LOVE the way they look. They’re more natural-looking than the Geo Fresh Browns (the Geo lenses were slightly lighter than my dark brown irises), and while my eyes have never been my best feature, they provide a certain “pop” that makes them stand out without being obviously so. Additionally, I look so much more fresh and awake when wearing these contacts!

Here’s a close-up of what my eyes look like with them on:

The lighting in our condo sucks (sigh…the benefits of city living!) so you can’t really see the color too well in this picture. I would say that the color in real life is a natural brown in a shade that is between that of my picture and what is shown in the close-up of the model’s picture above.

Here’s a shot of me wearing the lens in just one eye so you can see the difference it provides. The diameter of these lenses is 14.2mm (14mm and 14.2mm are what is recommended for the most natural-looking enlarging effect) and while I have read that some people don’t even notice much of a size difference at this range, I have small Asian eyes.

And here’s a photo that isn’t so close-up. Looks pretty natural, right?

Once again, these lenses feel soooo comfortable on that I would wholeheartedly recommend the Neo Vision brand to anyone. I’m so tempted to try their other lenses now!

Now, for the moment you’ve all been waiting for…

EyeCandy’s has very generously offered a FREE pair of circle lenses to one of my readers!

The winner of this giveaway will be able to choose ANY pair of lenses from the circle lens category of their extensive inventory!

What’s more, since EyeCandy’s ships internationally, this giveaway is open WORLDWIDE.

To enter this giveaway, simply use the Rafflecopter widget below. Not sure how to use Rafflecopter? Watch this 52 second video for a tutorial on how to enter a giveaway using Rafflecopter. There are 6 methods of entry, with the first method (commenting on this blog post) being mandatory while the fourth method (Tweeting about the giveaway) can be used once per day:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This giveaway will end on Saturday, February 2nd, 2013, at 12:01am EST, at which point a winner will be randomly chosen and announced here.

Please use a valid email address and/or Twitter handle so that I can contact you if you win!

Good luck, and thank you for entering!