M: What would be a quick way of describing a certain facial expression, which I will now try and explain at length? It's not exactly an eye roll, and it's not a blank stare. It's kind of like, it's generally a positive expression, but more nuanced. It's like when one eyelid is kind of possibly half-closed, and the eyes aren't just unfocused, but almost not even looking in the same direction. It's the kind of thing that would show up in, like, a cartoon or anime more prominently, but that's like an exaggerated form of something that I've experienced myself, where the positive sensation is almost so overwhelming that the voluntary and even involuntary eye functions seem to slow down or leave entirely, and the eye impulse can go off in a couple different directions.

G: You’re describing a real, recognizable expression—you’re just circling around it from different angles. The cleanest short handles, depending on tone, are:

Primary fits (closest match):

“blissful daze”
“soft, unfocused bliss”
“dreamy, half-lidded look”
“contentedly unfocused”

These capture the positive + slightly disconnected quality without implying stupidity or sarcasm.

More stylized / anime-adjacent:

“derpy bliss” (leans playful, slightly self-aware)
“goofy, lovestruck daze”
“cross-eyed with contentment” (a bit literal, but accurate)
“melted expression” (implies the systems are temporarily offline)

More precise / clinical-leaning:

“dissociated from focus, not from feeling”
“motor slack from positive overload”
“eyes drifting under sensory saturation”

These match what you described about eye coordination dropping out while the emotional state remains strongly positive.

What it is, conceptually (your core idea, compressed):

Positive overload → attention decouples → eye control loosens → expression softens into asymmetry

That’s why it’s not an eye roll (dismissive) or blank stare (empty). It’s closer to:

“I feel good enough that precision no longer matters.”

If you want a single, reusable phrase:

“a soft, half-lidded, bliss-dazed look”

That hits all the components without overexplaining.

G: You’re trying to preserve three specific traits at once:

positive / pleasant state
loss of precision in eye control
slight asymmetry that reads as “goofy,” but not negative

Most “proper” descriptors lose that third piece. The closest classical phrasing doesn’t name the goofiness directly—it implies it through looseness and asymmetry.

Best single-phrase substitutes (no “derpy”)

“a lopsided, blissful gaze”
“a slack, half-lidded look of contentment”
“a soft, unfocused, slightly askew gaze”
“a dreamy, uncoordinated gaze”

“Askew” is doing a lot of work here—it quietly replaces “derpy” without sounding juvenile.

Slightly more expressive (but still respectable)

“a bliss-dazed, uneven gaze”
“a contented, loosely focused stare”
“a softened, asymmetrical look of contentment”

These keep the tone neutral but allow the loss of coordination to show through.

If you want one clean, reusable line

“a soft, half-lidded, slightly askew look of contentment”

That’s probably the closest “formal” equivalent to what you’re describing:

soft / half-lidded → relaxed, positive
askew → subtle “derp” without saying it
contentment → anchors the emotion so it doesn’t read as vacant or impaired

Third angle (explicitly naming the omission)

There isn’t a perfect classical word because English tends to split:

precision loss → “vacant,” “dazed,” “unfocused” (often negative)
positive feeling → “content,” “blissful,” “dreamy” (often coordinated)

What you’re describing lives in the overlap:

pleasant overload causing temporary motor sloppiness

So the most accurate phrasing ends up being compound by necessity, not because you’re missing vocabulary.