Is colored contact irritation normal?

Yesterday I went to a convention and bought a set of colored contacts, that could be worn right away. When I got to my hotel, I put the contacts in after trying for about half an hour. Once they were in, I went back to the convention for another two hours, despite the slight irritation and burning, which I was warned of before hand because of the solution. Really, after a couple of minutes, the irritation had subsided, and the only problem was the redness in my eye. After I got to my hotel, I took the contacts out and noticed that my eyes were still red. When I woke up this morning, I still had slight irritation and my eyes were red, so I put in eye drops, which only helped the redness. My eyes have felt dry and have had very light irritation all day.

This is my first time wearing contacts, and I don't wear glasses. Also, the lenses I bought could be worn without soaking them in solution first, although I have my soaking right now. And I should shamefully add that I didn't go to my optometrist and check to see if I could wear contacts.

So the question is, Should I stop wearing the contacts, or is this normal for wearing colored contacts for the first time? Should I check with my eye optometrist before I wear them again?

Thank you in advance!

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