Archive for June, 2010

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Dare to be Difficult!

Wednesday, June 30th, 2010

As with clothes, shoes and possibly even cars, colour choice can be the make or break decision in picking something you can live with and love. It’s fine to play it safe and go for the classic options of neutral shades, and indeed these are much loved and cherished by a huge segment of the population. But before you go for the easy option, why don’t you walk on the wild side and dare to go for a difficult colour that will make you stand out in the crowd…..

All the tricky colours can work on the right skin tone if you find the right shade. Then you’ll have eyewear that’s brave, bold, and flattering; in a way that truly suits you as an individual. Green is the perfect example. Fair skinned, green eyed, dark haired types look fab in strong and warm emerald or dark apple green. Blondes look fab in acid greens, and olive skins look warm and sultry in sludgy Khaki tones.

White is amazing against dark skin, especially with a tinted lens. Don’t go near it if you’re pale! It’s also great on tanned skin, and gives a stunning contrast if you mix in some black detail.

Orange is only for the brave, but it’s amazing on blazing autumn people, so go for it if you’ve got warm skin and copper toned hair. In a strong and hot shade it’s zingy with black skin. Again it suits a tint in a cooler tone, the perfect combination being hot orange and a cool grey lens.

Yellow is perhaps the hardest colour of all, and over our years in Optics the one we see the least. It’s a lovely accent colour against brown or khaki or even black, but entirely yellow frames are thankfully few and far between. It can bring out the golden highlights in blonde hair, but just choose your shade very carefully!

When trying a bold new colour, take some time getting used to the look. Does the frame light your face up? Bring out the sparkle in your eyes and hair? Or do you look like you need a holiday? Experiment with shade and tone and when you’re picked the perfect colour for you, step out and be daring and difficult!

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The Word on the Street

Saturday, June 26th, 2010

When we ordered our frame collection for the new season we spent some time surveying clients to get opinions on the latest looks. Our sometimes wild taste may not be that of the paying public! An interesting side effect of this was the words and phrases that people came up with to describe our frames, and the kind of people they thought would plump for them. Ever wondered how you come across to others? Read on if you dare…..

Women’s Metal, Episode 106 – Words to describe it – Funky, Elegant, Fab Colour, Curvy.

Who would wear this? ‘A woman who knows what suits her, it’s really strong.’

‘Someone confident and sexy.’

‘A grown up – it’s really sophisticated.’

Women’s Metal & Plastic, Episode 101 – Words to describe it – Pretty, really girly, feminine, soft.

Who would wear this? ‘A nature lover, it’s got actual flowers on it!’

‘Only women surely?!’ (Nervous man backs away from us!)

‘Someone very feminine, in a floaty dress! It’s so pretty.’

‘A warm and cuddly person!’

Women’s Metal & Plastic Episode 113 – Groovy, stylish, unusual, chic, classy.

Who would wear this? ‘Someone fun! It’s kind of smart but with a twist, with that

Austin Powers pattern on the side!’

‘It’s quite clever isn’t it? The glasses front bit is pretty plain,

but then it’s really unusual on the side arms.’

‘Me! I Love it! Can I buy one?’

Women’s Metal & Plastic Episode 117 – Unusual, bold, pretty, fab colours! Confident.

Who would wear this? ‘A lady who knows what she likes. It’s kind of grown up.’

‘It’s very strong, but unusual with that open bit at the front.’

‘A business woman who wants to be feminine. It’s all plain

until you see the flowers at the sides. You could wear that

anywhere. Does it suit me?!’

We had a really great day chatting to the paying public and hearing their opinions, and we made some new friends into the bargain! It was interesting to hear some unbiased opinions, and we were really pleased that everyone liked our new collection, up to the point where they couldn’t resist trying them on themselves! Take a look sometime and see what you think……

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Healthy Eyes Check List

Friday, June 25th, 2010

We all know that we need to take regular exercise and eat healthily to look after our bodies. There are screening programmes run by the NHS and lots of advice in the media about illness and wellness that help us to maintain good general health. More specifically, what can you do make sure our eyes are healthy? In your every day life, is there anything you can do? Here are our top five tips to ensure you have done all you can to safeguard your sight:

1.    Protect your eyes – wear safety shields or safety specs for dangerous jobs and follow health and safety guidelines at work. Speak to your HR department if you don’t think you have proper protective equipment. Wear UV protection outdoors, which can be a sunspec tint or clear UV coat, especially if you have light coloured eyes or a family history of Macular degeneration. Sunglasses should have the British Standards mark BS EN 1836 to prove they give full UV protection.

2.    Maintain Healthy Eyes – stop smoking! It’s a proven cause of cataract and Macular Degeneration. Eat a varied diet rich in green leafy vegetables and a mixture of different coloured fruits, salads, and veg. Ask your optician about retinal imagining, which will show up the earliest signs of disease. Nutritional supplements may help to prevent or halt symptoms.

3.    Be Aware – Ask around about your relative’s eye health history to make sure there are no hereditary diseases you should know about. If there is Glaucoma in your immediate family your eye tests will be free of charge when you’re over forty. If you suddenly develop any symptoms – flashing lights, blurred vision, floaters or eye pain you must be checked immediately. Although these often have simple explanations they can, in rare cases, be indicators of more serious problems.

4.    Visit Your Optician – Get into the routine of regular check ups, they’re equally important if you have glasses, contact lenses or no prescription at all. Your optician can keep a check on your sight and the health of your eye, as well as picking up some general health problems. They can refer you to the Hospital Eye Service or your GP for further treatment, and monitor results.

5.    Look After Your Eye Wear – Always wear your up to date prescription and follow instructions to the letter about contact lens care. Never over wear lenses or use solutions other than those suggested by your practitioner. Look after your specs to keep coatings, lenses and frames in tip-top condition. Scratches and blemishes on lenses may interfere with your sight and cause problems in conditions such as low light.

Prevention is always better than cure, and these simple steps will ensure you are doing all you can to maintain your precious gift of sight.

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Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010

Nowadays plastic is our material of choice for lenses, for strength, durability, and of course excellent vision! More than 80% of lenses sold across the US and European market are plastic, as glass is heavier and doesn’t have the impact resistance of plastic. The market for plastic is still growing, and the most popular form used today actually came about by accident during the Second World War.

During the war raw materials became scarce, and research began to focus on alternatives. Polystyrene resins and nylon had already been used since the 1930s, and industry began to explore the possibilities of other forms man-made materials. A company called PPG industries created a new compound in 1940, which they called 39 – the 39th attempt at this particular clear resin! During the War it was used in the Aviation industry for fuel tanks and clear fuel lines, but when peace arrived the company were left with about 38,000 pounds of excess product in liquid resin form. They began to experiment with uses for the material, and various companies took an interest due to its useful properties of high impact resistance and clarity. Lens manufacturers Essilor, Armorlite and Sola started making CR39 plastic lenses, and from the 1960s onwards  popularity has grown.

CR39 plastic is cast in a mould and then cured. The entire range of lens powers can be worked on CR39, and to make it completely user-friendly it’s mostly treated with a scratch resistant coating. Treat your plastic lenses with care and they’ll give you many years of service. Don’t lay them curve side down on any flat surfaces, wash them with warm soapy water before you polish them. Don’t put anything abrasive in the case with them! Next time you put your specs on and they give you crystal clear vision, take a moment to appreciate the history of a remarkable product that makes our lives so much better and safer today.

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The Perfect System

Sunday, June 20th, 2010

The eye is one of the most amazing organs in our bodies. Our sight is the most precious of our senses, and these small and perfect globes make sight happen by refracting light through it’s systems to help us make sense of our world. The eye is an incredibly complex and sensitive structure, all finely tuned, so it’s not surprising that tiny abnormalities result in visual defects and lead us to need help to correct our sight.

For perfect sight, light has to enter the eye and focus on the back surface. If your eyeball is too long, you’ll be short sighted. If it’s too short, you’ll be long sighted. Specs or contact lenses position the light in the right place so you can see clearly. If the curve of your cornea, the clear window at the front of the eye, is imperfect, then this will also create a problem with focussing.

Light enters the eye through the pupil, the black hole at the centre of the eye. It travels through the crystalline lens, a transparent structure that changes shape to let us see both close up and far away. Muscles hold the lens in place and stretch and relax to alter its shape and therefore its focus. If the lens is not the perfect size and shape then this will add to the visual defect of the eye. So you can see that there are several reasons why you may need glasses or contact lenses.

Once your optical system has been corrected and is working as it should, light reaches the light sensitive layer, the Retina, which lines the back of the eye. Here the image we see is upside down and in reverse! It travels to the brain through the optic nerve, where thankfully it’s put the right way round.

Ophthalmologists and opticians are lucky in that they’re the only clinicians who can examine their specialist organ without cutting their patient open! Thanks to ever advancing screening equipment and retinal imaging systems we can see inside your eyes and spot the very first signs of problems. This fantastic and beautiful system works on our behalf for every minute of our waking day, so look after it by attending your check ups and taking a few minutes to appreciate and maintain it.


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Road Test – Titanium Frames

Saturday, June 19th, 2010

I’ve suffered with my sinuses for years, and wearing my glasses always made this worse. When my sinuses are painful the weight of specs is terrible, making my eyes swell and my nose really tender. This year my hay fever has made it uncomfortable to use my contact lenses, so I decided I had to find some alternative glasses that I can wear.

I mailed off some queries and the InternetGlassesCompany gave me some ideas that might help. I’m only a bit short sighted, so I usually just pick any glasses I like and plastic lenses. I decided that I needed to do everything possible to reduce the weight of my specs, so I was sent some try-before-you-buy frames. There were some with a cord holding the lens in, and some made of different materials. I opted for Titanium, which apparently is tough, light, and doesn’t irritate the skin. I also ordered thin material lenses, and went for a small frame, so there would be less of it!

I was really excited when the spex arrived. They were incredibly light compared to my old ones, especially my chunky plastic frames. They had also fitted big bridge pads to spread the weight over my poor little nose. They felt blissful when I put them on. As they’re small they don’t rest on my cheeks, so within a couple of days my puffy eyes had gone back to normal. No more propping my specs away from my face by the evening, when it was either blurry TV or arm ache as I sat and held my glasses up!

The Titanium is very shiny and slim, and my thin lenses look very sleek in the frames. I thought these would be a necessity frame, (like having Orthopaedic shoes!) but I quite like the minimalist look of them, they’re a nice change from my plastics. They have certainly solved the problem, and the little changes have all added up to really comfy specs.

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Need to Know

Friday, June 18th, 2010

When we first tell people that they need to wear a visual correction – glasses or contact lenses – their first reaction, and their first question, is about when they need to wear their glasses. There are a few myths surrounding this issue, so here are the facts.

Wearing glasses, or not wearing your glasses, won’t alter your sight in the long term. There are some studies to suggest that’s children’s sight can be improved with specialist lens types, but at present there’s no evidence to suggest that your correction will actually make your sight better or worse. If you don’t wear them, in the short term you’ll suffer from eye strain as you try to focus. Squinting to thread a needle or read a book will be at best uncomfortable, at worst will leave you with a nasty headache. So don’t be afraid to wear your glasses! Listen to your Optician’s advice and wear them when you need them, especially if you’re illegal to drive without them!

If you’re under the age of forty, your eyes will do the work for you in focussing close too and far away. You only need one prescription for both. For most prescriptions you’ll be perfectly fine wearing your spex all the time. If you’re short sighted, as you get near to age forty, you’ll be more comfortable taking your specs off for close work. In this case not wearing your glasses will save eye strain. If you’re long sighted you’ll start to find that you need extra magnification for close work at this point.

After age forty-ish, you need help to focus close-up, regardless of what your sight was like before this point. So if you had no prescription before this, you’ll find yourself putting specs on and off when you need to read and then look up. You could have a varifocal with no power at the top of the lens, just your close and middle distance magnification. It’s fine to wear the varifocals all through the working day if it suits your lifestyle not to have to keep taking reading specs on and off.

Trust your optician and your own common sense when it comes to the best times to wear your glasses, and the important thing is don’t suffer in trying to cope without them.

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Think Skin

Thursday, June 17th, 2010

Clients often ask us for direction when it comes to what’s hot in frame fashion. Most people don’t want to wear something that’s dull and boring, if they’re going to have to wear glasses they want something they feel good in. Colour is everywhere in specs at the moment, with plastics and metals in a stunning array of rainbow hues. The key to choosing the right colour is to pay attention to your skin tone, because a frame that goes with you will flatter your natural good looks and make people notice you, not your specs.

If you’re an English Rose, with pale skin that has cool blue undertones, then you can take a dramatic frame in strong, clear, bright colours. Blue-red, black, silver, cold purple will all make your eyes glitter and will draw attention away from fine wrinkles on your delicate skin.

If your skin is fair but warm, with a Californian sun-kissed gleam, you need honey, gold and butterscotch brown tones to add a golden glow and set your skin ablaze with Autumn colouring. Reds for you should veer more towards the orange end of the spectrum. If you want something neutral then look for a tan brown or a khaki green. These colours won’t wear you – people will focus on your eyes, not the frame.

If you have a dark or tanned complexion you can take strong colours that will stand out against your sultry skin. Black and white will be a knockout, warm orange and lime will zing and make the whites of your eyes shine out. Hot orange-toned-red and fuchsia pink will pop and look incredible on delicious dark skin.

Olive skin, which is warm in tone, can take all those subtle tones that pale skins can’t. Your red should be yellow based, but you look stunning in all tone of khaki, rich brown and darker shades of the Autumn palette. You’ve probably got dark eyes, and you’ll know you’ve found the perfect colour because gold tones in your eyes will be enhanced.

When you’re trying new frames, look at yourself in natural daylight, and girls, try them with and without make up so you can examine your skin tone. If you have a cool complexion try them when you’re wearing black or white, warm complexions should try them with cream or brown. These basic background colours will allow you to focus on the effect on your face. Are your eyes alight? Do your teeth look white? Is it highlighting shimmers in your eyes or hair? When you find the one, your whole face will come into sharp focus, and not just through your shining new lenses!

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Kick the Habit

Wednesday, June 16th, 2010

Everyone would probably agree that sight is the most precious of our senses. Most of us could not imagine how we would conduct our lives if we couldn’t see. Yet millions of are risking our sight every day without being aware of it.

Nowadays we all know that smoking causes heart disease, lung disease and hundreds of other adverse effects in our bodies. Relatively few people however seem to attach their smoking habit to the risk of serious eye disease. There are approximately 13 million smokers in the UK, and they are twice as likely to lose their sight in later life as non-smokers. They are putting themselves in danger of developing Macular Degeneration, which affects sight by destroying the Macula, responsible for the centre of the field of vision. We use this delicate area of the eye for fine detail and damage there makes it difficult to carry on with everyday life as normal.

Macular Degeneration is the commonest cause of sight loss in the Western world, with an estimated half a million sufferers in the UK. 55,000 of these patients may have the disease due to a history of smoking. There are two forms of the disease, wet and dry. Wet can be treated by Laser if caught immediately, dry has no cure at present but taking dietary supplements may protect the eye and halt symptoms. Researchers are pinning their hopes on stem cell research at present, and developing techniques of transplanting cells from healthy areas of the eye to the diseased Macula.

Giving up smoking at any stage of life can help to reduce your chances of getting Macular Degeneration. At present it’s the only proven cause of the disease, so anything patients can do to protect their sight in later life is surely worth it – so if you’re still lighting up, kick that habit today!

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Celeb Watch Hello June 2010

Tuesday, June 15th, 2010

It’s jumping June Celeb Watchers! Time to gear up for festivals, Pimms, suntans and maxi-dresses for all occasions. (What a wonderful invention – we may never wax our legs again!) While we wallow in SATC 2 fever and dribble into our popcorn over Aiden and Mr Big – that SJP is one lucky lucky girl, we somehow have to find time to keep an eye on those Celebs for you……

Victoria Beckham – Ok, we’ll never get over our crush on VB, the ultimate icon for die-hard shoppers, so we may be biased, but we’re loving her huge shades with a cool graduated tint.

Victoria Beckham in her huge graduated tint sunglasses

Victoria Beckham in her huge graduated tint sunglasses

Kate Winslet – We do admire her spunky British style, but in the way of British style it’s sometimes a little off kilter – take a leaf from VB’s book, Kate, and graduate with honours! The one colour tint is so last year – but nice big square sunnies, top marks for a shape that suits you.

Lady GaGa – Lady G, if we’ve got a crush on Mrs Beckham then it’s true love for you, you never disappoint! It’s hard to concentrate on the eye wear what with the fishnets, crazy hats and big pants, but she’s been rocking a huge Aviator shield. Very feminine on her petite face.

Khloe Kardashian – Taking a leaf our of VB’s book, in a cool and vastly oversized plastic with a graduated tint. Nice brown to honey shading, beautiful against her skin.

So thanks for the inspiration girls, we’re off to shop – check list for festival – Prada silk pumps, tiny shorts, baby wipes, at least six pairs of sunnies, fishnets and telephone hat – high maintenance? Moi?

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