We’ll start this off by being upfront: We’ve always been slightly afraid of coloured contact lenses. Of course, they’re great for adding a dramatic tone to one’s look – especially with colours like grey, blue and green – but it’s exactly because they make such a bold statement that we’ve shied away from them so far, because we’re really not ready to have other people constantly staring and aware that those aren’t the natural colours of our eyes.
Then along came the chance to to try the 1-DAY ACUVUE® DEFINE™ lenses, and we somehow weren’t that afraid of these. Firstly, because these daily disposables are all about making your eyes look sophisticated in a natural way, instead of a complete look alteration, so we get to keep our au naturel brown-eyed girl look. Secondly, because everyone knows ACUVUE® is a world leader in contact lenses that’s been making them for decades and investing continually into research and development, with the 1-DAY ACUVUE® DEFINE™ designed by ACUVUE® , we’re assured that our eye health is protected and the lenses elegantly enhance the natural beauty of our Asian eyes (their extensive research involved 40,000 Asian women, and that’s how we know these lenses will be flattering).
So, off to give each of the three ACUVUE® DEFINE™ designs a try as our first foray into beauty contact lenses – and here’s what we thought of each one.
Vivid Style
The main colour theme of this lens style is brown, with the limbal ring (that’s the ring around your iris) and the intricate line designs on the inside of the ring made to match the natural colour of Asian irises. Firstly, with the brown limbal ring, this immediately made my irises bigger and slightly lighter in colour, and helped my eyes look more alert, which is fantastic – with small eyes, I’m often asked why I look so sleepy all the time. So with the enhanced irises thanks to the Vivid Style, I can now look awake even when I’m actually feeling like I really need a nap.
Once the lenses go into my eyes, the brown line details on the inside are no longer apparent, since they blend into my iris. But if anyone looks into my eyes, they’ll see that they have an added dimension thanks to the extra details, but most people won’t chalk it up to my lenses if they didn’t know I had them on – because they just look that natural, but with an added elegance. Overall, I find the Vivid Style closest to my natural eyes – just the better, more expressive version.
Accent Style
This is the design with the simplest details, featuring just a black limbal ring that helps make the edges of your irises extra crisp, without any additional details inside the ring, unlike the other two styles. I’d recommend this style if you just want your eyes to look more focused, ideal if you want to wear them in a professional setting, such as in the office, or for important presentations.
It’s an easy way to get clearer and brighter eyes, thanks to how the lens allows my irises to have cleaner edges.
Natural Shine™
This style is the most dramatic, but oh boy, it sure is my favourite. The dark grey limbal ring has glittering gold details on the inside, but on the eyes, they don’t turn your irises gold, but rather add a reflective effect in the middle of the irises which translates into a natural sparkle. In natural light, my eyes looked bigger, something that was really accentuated when I added my regular eyeliner and eyeshadow; but it was when I looked into a vanity mirror, the kind that is framed with lightbulbs, that I realised, whoa – there’s a circle of light reflected in my eyes! Almost like I had one of those ring lights right in front of me.
And once again, thanks to the added limbal rings, I looked more awake and alert overall. Don’t worry about the grey colour of the ring, as it will still blend in naturally with your brown irises.
In the entire week that I was wearing the ACUVUE® DEFINE™ lenses, not once did anyone ask me if I was wearing coloured contacts. That’s the beauty of these lenses – they’re meant to look like your real eyes, just with added depth and highlights.
And of course, you’ll want to know how comfortable they felt, because as pretty as any contact lens can be, there’s no point if they cause your eyes to be dry and twitchy. The answer is they felt comfortable all through the 12-hour days I usually have, and even when I stayed out later and stretched it to 15 hours and beyond, the moistness lasted as well. This is thanks to ACUVUE®’s LACREON® Technology, which locks in the wetting agent into the lenses all day, to ensure they remain comfortable, moist cushions all day long. The technology is also what gives the lens UV protection abilities, blocking out at least 82% of UVA rays and 97% of UVB rays. This is a brand that offers the highest UV protection for your eyes and the only one with an internationally-recognised standard of UV protection; not something you can tangibly feel, obviously, but we often slather on sunblock onto the rest of our face, forgetting that our delicate eyes need protection as well. So it’s nice to know that they’re shielded from those damning UV rays.
As for safety, the Beauty-Wrapped-In-Comfort™ technology that keeps the colour pigments secure inside the two transparent layers of the lens, so you can be safe in the knowledge that they’ll never, ever come into contact with your eyes.
But best of all, after more than a decade of wearing yearly and monthly contact lenses and having to painstakingly clean them with multiple solutions every day and night, as well as worrying about always having a contact lens case with me, it was extremely liberating to be able to put on a fresh pair of lenses at the start of each day, and simply discard them when I get home. Talk about getting to enjoy both convenience and optimal health.
Here’s your chance to get a month-long supply (1 box of 30 lenses per eye) of ACUVUE® DEFINE™ to try for yourself! Just fill in your details in the form below by Friday 17 June, 6pm. Remember to indicate the degrees of both eyes (your prescription should be given by an optometrist within the last 6 months, and you should be fit to wear contact lenses), as well as your preferred ACUVUE® DEFINE™ lens style!
1 • DAY ACUVUE® DEFINE™ with LACREON® contact lenses, from $64 for 1 box. Available at authorised optical practitioners. acuvue.com.sg
