You are here: Home / Beauty / OLENS: Korea’s #1 Global Colored Contacts Brand + Scandi Collection Review
Hi, friends! I’m so excited for this blog post because OLENS is a brand that’s been on my wishlist for years now. I remember seeing so many OLENS stores in Seoul when I studied abroad in South Korea, and it had always piqued my interest. I’ve been meaning to place an order from OLENS Global, but I couldn’t decide which style and colors to get. Plus, having never worn contacts before, I was a little scared to try them out. However, the people at OLENS Global were so nice in sending me every color in the Scandi line to review that I didn’t have to choose!
Just as a disclaimer before we start, I saw an Instagram ad saying OLENS is looking for bloggers to review its Scandi line and so I applied since OLENS is a brand I am genuinely interested in. I was sent these contacts to review, but I am in no way obligated to leave a positive review. All opinions and thoughts in this review are 100% my own, honest opinions and thoughts. I have not been monetarily compensated to write this review. With that said, let’s jump into the brand and product overview plus review (scroll down if you’d like to skip the brand overview and just read the product review)!
OLENS aims to be the trend leader in eyestyling, “adding beauty and edge to everyday eye color.” One of the mottos the brand goes by is “the smallest details are what completes the look.” OLENS believes contact lenses are not just prescription correctors but have advanced to become a vital fashion accessory. OLENS contacts are the epitome of chic meets modern and can dramatically transform any look.
“OLENS is the first contact lens specialty brand in the world and has been growing as the leading brand in the field. We provide special customer service from past 10 years of experience. We are different from pre-existing optical stores, pioneering a new path for contact lens business. OLENS was the foremost brand to introduce specialized colored contacts.”
— OLENS
OLENS has long been the #1 Korean contact lens specialty store with long history dating back 20 years. It first started off as an eyewear franchise store in Hanam in May of 2000 and was under development until the launch of its online shopping mall under the OLENS brand. In June of 2013, the 100th OLENS store opened, and EXID’s Hani was selected as the brand ambassador in October of 2015. OLENS quickly grew as a company, opening it’s 200th store in September of 2016 and winning numerous #1 awards in customer satisfaction, quality satisfaction, and preferred customer brand. In 2018, OLENS opened its global online store and selected Blackpink to be its brand ambassadors. OLENS further branched out globally with the opening of its China T-mall flagship and Hong Kong stores. OLENS opened up its 291st store in January of 2019 as well its first Taiwan store in February of 2020.
As a person who grew up with eye problems, I’ve always been scared to try out contacts even though I’ve always wanted to at the same time. I’ve always been worried that wearing low quality contacts would cause long-term damage to my eyes down the road. What I love about OLENS is that it has years and years of experience and adheres to strict KFDA approval. The company also invests a lot into research and development, not just on design but also on eye health and body-friendly ingredients such as Puscon (phosphorylcholine), which OLENS states is the safest contact lens material to wear and is good for sensitive and dry eyes. Puscon also prevents protein and foreign substance deposition, making contacts more comfortable to wear. The brand also offers lenses in various materials such as HEMA and silicon hydrogel, so customers can select the material that best suits their eye needs. OLENS claims that its lenses are much more comfortable than other brands such as TTDEYE and Solotica. While I haven’t tried those other brands to compare, I can say that after having tried OLENS contacts, these are definitely very comfortable to wear, even as a first time contacts wearer. I did have trouble trying to get the contacts in the first time until I watched a YouTube video and realized I was doing it wrong. By the third pair I tried on, I was able to apply the contacts within the first or second try! Removal was a breeze too!
The Scandi line is the upgraded version of the brand’s Spanish line and features a gorgeous, multi-color iris pattern. Scandi is available in five beautiful colors: olive, hazel, aqua, gray, and light gray. All five colors come in the HEMA material, which is good for reuse up to 30 days, but only the olive, hazel, and gray shades are available in the Puscon material, which is only good for a single day’s use. The graphic diameter (diameter of the design) of all the Scandi line lenses are 11.9mm, and the lenses have a base curve of 8.6. There is a wide range of prescriptions to choose from or you can choose no prescription, which is what I did!
Clockwise from the bottom: aqua, hazel, olive, light gray, gray
With all the eye comparison photos, you can slide the bar to view the before and after on my dark brown eyes! Don’t mind some of the teary, red eyes! They were due to beginner’s mistake in not knowing how to put on lenses. Once I watched a YouTube video and learned how to do it properly, I didn’t have that issue as you can see in the other photos.
I was most excited about the olive shade as I imagined this color would look best on my yellow/olive skintone. OLENS says this shade is the most natural color in the Scandi line. It’s great for an everyday, natural look. This is Blackpink Rose’s pick! I thought this shade gave my eyes a lot of definition without looking too stark against my warm complexion.
The next shade I was most excited to try is hazel. OLENS says this color naturally blends in with your original eye color to provide a natural, cozy effect. This one is Blackpink Jisoo’s pick and was worn in the “Ice Cream” music video. I was very surprised at how much I liked this shade. I figured the warm tone would like nice, but I didn’t imagine it would look this good. The yellow gold color makes the eyes look quite striking without going overboard.
Next, we have aqua! To be honest, I was a little concerned (but also curious!) on how the aqua, gray, and light gray shades would look on me since they are more cool-toned. I was pleasantly surprised that the aqua shade actually looked pretty good on me! This one definitely pops more due to the contrast against my complexion and provides a totally different effect compared to the other shades. This color gives off a chic and stylish vibe and was used by Lisa and Jisoo in the “Ice Cream” MV.
The gray shade is Blackpink Jennie and Lisa’s pick. This one is also said to naturally blend in with your original eye color to provide a natural, chic look. I was a bit skeptical about the gray shade looking natural on me, but I was shocked at how they really did look natural on me. Since it is a darker gray shade, it just adds a bit of definition to the eye without a stark contrast.
Last but not least, we have the shade light gray! This is the latest color in the Scandi line and is very similar to Russian Silver. This shade was used by Lisa in the “Ice Cream” MV and provides a chic and stylish vibe. Similar to the aqua shade, this one gives off a less natural, more striking appearance due to the light, cool color. I think this one would be fun for a night out with the girls!
As mentioned above, the first couple tries caused my eyes to water a lot due beginner mistakes in putting on the lenses. Because of this, however, I can testify that these lenses really do stay on without any uncomfortableness even when you try. Feel free to watch all the sad movies you want with these on!
The main reason I was always interested in OLENS contacts versus other colored contact lens brands such as TTDEYE and Solotica is because I felt that this brand is reputable and eye safe. As someone who grew up having to visit medical specialists for exams every year due to retina concerns, eye safety is extremely important to me. I feel that OLENS is a brand I can trust to adhere to strict eye safety regulations and quality control. Plus, it certainly helps that the designs are totally my style! I like how there are multiple lens styles that offer a natural, realistic look with small differences in the details, giving some styles more of a doll-like effect.
Some perks of shopping at OLENS Global are its discount benefits and free shipping offers. It offers buy one get one sales on monthly use lenses, new member sign up coupons of up to 15% off, welcome kits including three free pairs of one day samples, as well as free standard shipping on orders over $100 and free express 3-5 business day shipping on orders over $150 by DHL to almost every country. The OLENS Global online store also frequently offers discounted lenses for a really great deal.
I feel like I accomplished a big fear and goal of mine by trying on these lenses, and I’m so happy with the results! As expected, my personal favorites for everyday were the hazel and olive colors, but I was very surprised at how good the aqua, gray, and light gray looked on my warm complexion. The contrast made my eyes pop more, and the yellow shade mixed in helped make the colors appear more blended with my real eye color. I think these would be so fun to incorporate into my daily and going out looks. Plus, these lenses don’t break the bank! If you get the monthly lenses for $29, with the buy one get one free deal, these only cost around 50 cents a day (1 day lenses 10-piece pack costs $21 and the 20-piece pack costs $34). I’m so excited to wear these more often when the pandemic is over and I can go out. I definitely want to try the Russian and Spanish lines next!
If you feel comfortable, please click the following link to learn more about OLENS (takes you to the homepage): https://bit.ly/358a4ic. This won’t give you any additional discount and I won’t make any profit off it, but it helps OLENS track how many of my readers visited the OLENS website through my blog. This would greatly help my blog’s visibility and possible future endeavors. Thank you so much for your support! I truly appreciate every single one of you!
Thank you for taking the time to read this post as well! You all are wonderful, and I hope you all have a blessed day!
Follow Tsukibori on WordPress.com