Posts Tagged ‘frames’

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The Dark Side

Friday, August 5th, 2011

Colour is flooding our shelves this summer, with every combination – however bonkers – flaunting itself on frame linings, sides, fronts and even in the cases. Pink with green anyone? Lilac with orange? Within this explosion of all things bright and beautiful there’s a micro trend that anyone with a fondness for the dark side might be tempted by……….

Gothic good looks have been a fashion favourite since Twilight and True Blood set our pulses racing, and like all other accessories, frames have been no exception. A touch of the darkly dramatic is a delicious compliment to satanic dark good looks, or a stunning contrast if you’re pale and interesting.

Think bold black, passionate purple, or deepest blood red, all with lashings of baroque detail to make any passing stranger stop dead in their tracks and look deep into your eyes….

This is not a look for the faint hearted, but if you have a penchant for all shades of black in your wardrobe, and a slash of red for your lipstick, then airy summer blue, yellows and lime colour blocking will never get you excited. Something more sultry and belonging to hot summer nights will be more your style……..so if your skin is pale with a hint of blue, go for cold reds, dark purple or black. If you do venture into the summer sun and have a touch of a tan, go for tortoiseshell brown, olive green or tomato red. Dress this up or down as much as you want with chunky engraved detailing, tattoo type embellishments, and inset chunky stones. Stay cool and mysterious through those tiresome summer months and let your inner punk-vampire- princess shine though…..

Varifocal Glasses

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Eyes in Focus

Wednesday, February 16th, 2011


Choosing new frames can have a dramatic effect on your appearance, and it’s also a useful time to consider the condition of your skin and your make up. With this harsh winter taking it’s toll on post-party skin, this is a good time of year for some pick me ups that can brighten your complexion and your whole look to take you forward into spring.

Spec wearers who keep their glasses on all day have to take a little more care with make up, to make sure that your eyes are visible and don’t fade away behind your funky frames. Frames can create a shadow under the lower lid, so use highlighter to counteract this problem. Choose a shade that’s a tone lighter than your skin and blend well.

Mascara and eyelash curlers are a must, so even on days when eyeliner and shadow are too much effort, a slick of mascara will open up the eyes and bring attention back to them. Just remember that false lashes or lash extensions don’t usually fit behind frames, and can result in a lot of eyelash fluttering as they catch on your lenses! So mascara will do the trick without interfering with your spec wear. A couple of light coats combined with lash curlers is perfect for day time.

If you’ve got more time, a dash of eye liner across the upper and lower lash lines will define the eyes. Use neutral eye shadow from the lashes up to the brow bone, then blend brown eye shadow over the lids up to the eye socket. Shimmery colour in a brighter shade will open the eyes up if you just add a touch to the inner corner of the lids. (Giorgio Armani Eyes to Kill eyeshadows are amazing if you fancy a little indulgence!)

Keep lip colour subtle if you’re going for it with the eye make up, especially if you wear glasses. Full eye make, frames and lip colour can be overkill, and you want the attention to be on you, not a mask of make up! If you are keeping it simple just with mascara however, bold lip colour can be stunning with bright frames. Chanel do a beautiful bold colour that’s still got a touch of transparency – look for Rouge Coco.

Consider your glasses and how they work with your look, and you’ll feel happy to be a stylish specs wearer!

Varifocal Glasses

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Casing the Joint

Saturday, November 27th, 2010

The side joints of frames are tiny little parts of our lives that we ignore until something goes wrong with them! They work hard for us every day, so take a little time to take care of them, and they’ll carry on doing their job for you!

Frames that we sell have one of two types of joint, with springs in or not! The non-sprung side is lighter weight, neat and unobtrusive, and usually absolutely do the job for most people. They usually consist of three interlocking teeth, which hold a screw in place. We’re often asked, why screws? They can be irritating as they can work loose, causing untold annoyance and much experimenting with sellotape and bent paper clips. Actually you need screws so that if you damage a joint, side or frame front, we can easily fit a replacement. If the frame is discontinued, and we can’t replace parts, we may have to actually solder a new joint in place, which is the commonest repair in our workshop.

Spring loaded sides flex backwards, so they’re ideal if you’re a little rough on your glasses! They hold their shape really well, and are very useful on children’s frames. They are however a little bulky, and are sometimes too heavy for very slim frame sides.

If the screws in your frame constantly work loose, you can tighten them yourself, with a small screwdriver, but make sure you hold a cloth across the lens, or a nasty scratch can appear! Of course you may need specs to see to repair your specs! So if it’s too tricky, ask an able bodied friend or seek the help of your nearest optician. Most do not charge for simple repairs. Never over-tighten screws, and if they turn but do not tighten, get them replaced before the frame side drops off! Maintaining the joints is easier than looking for replacement parts. If joints stiffen however – and don’t they all over time! – a tiny drop of oil eased into the hinge will work wonders.

Take a look at the joints every so often, and get screws looked at if you think they’re not holding their position or are very tight. Prevention is better than cure, and it’s easier than trying to make the perfect repair with duct tape, plasters, or whatever else you have to hand!

Glasses Online

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Animal Instincts

Saturday, October 2nd, 2010

Designers often use print to add interest on the inner face of frames, using them as a lining. This gives a glimpse of colour to the onlooker, with the wearer happy in the knowledge that they have a splash of secret sassy style! Animal prints are useful because the common colour palette of browns, creams and black tones in beautifully with ever popular tortoiseshell, brown and black frames. We often see it as a flash of trim, or as a feature to embellish side arms.

Sunglasses by designers like Cavalli, Gucci and Dolce & Gabanna usually add a hint of the wild animal to their collections. Their dramatic, oversized frames and broad sides give plenty of scope for wild and wacky colour schemes and design features. Sunnies often allow the designers to show their wild side, where an ophthalmic frame needs to be a little more sedate for everyday wear and to appeal to most tastes.

So would you suit the style? You probably need dark hair and brown or hazel eyes for a start, unless you love a clashing contrast! The main colour needs to match your hair or eyes or things look a bit chaotic, so look for tones that blend with you. A cool chunky plastic is chic with a dash of animal, while using it as print on metal is subtle and very wearable. It’s a great winter colour scheme as it adds matching interest to heavy fabrics and dark colours. So browse the collections and dare to be bold – unleash your inner animal and bag the big game look!

Prescription varifocal glasses online

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Facing Your Fears

Monday, September 20th, 2010

As opticians we are comfortable and happy in our little world, dispensing glasses, advice and prescriptions with a cheery word and a smile. We are aware though that not all of you love us as much as we love you, due to worries and fears about all sorts of things. Can we help you to see us with enthusiasm and without fear?

Some people are worried that they will be told they need to wear glasses. We love specs of course, and find it hard to believe that you may not feel the same! Still, it’s not the end of the world, and frames and lenses today are marvels of technology and style. Specs are light, comfortable and effective, and thanks to the likes of the InternetGlassesCompany, you don’t have to pay the earth for them. If you fancy treating yourself and you do want to splash out, it may be comforting to know that a Gucci frame is an awful lot cheaper than a Gucci handbag, and you’ll get more wear out of it!

Patients also worry about the health of their eyes, and what we might find. Thankfully for the nerves of ourselves and our patients, it’s pretty rare to discover anything nasty, and at least if the worst comes to it we can refer you quickly for treatment. In twenty five years of practice, testing all day every day, we’ve only come across one brain tumour, so you’ll probably be ok! We do warn patients about early signs of high blood pressure and diabetes, but again, it’s rare and relatively unusual that the patient had no inkling of a problem. We might just give you the nudge you need to seek help before matters escalate.

Another fear is that you’ll give us the wrong answers to our tests, and be given glasses that you don’t need or are wrong. We do several tests to verify prescriptions, double and triple checking your responses. You won’t be given glasses you don’t need – you would know very quickly that you couldn’t see! You won’t offend us if you take your prescription and order glasses online – there’s room for everyone and even in our online role we adhere to our professional guidelines when checking prescriptions and making up glasses.

So even if you feel the fear, go for it anyway, come to see us and be as pleased as we are about it!

Prescription Glasses Online

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The Perfect Fit

Wednesday, June 9th, 2010

People are often confused when it comes to choosing spex, bewildered by the vast choice of frames, lenses, and coatings on offer. When we choose clothes or shoes we’ve often seen something we like in a magazine or an a friend, but with specs the subtleties of colour and design are often not that noticeable, until that is you come to choose yours, and such tiny details can make it hard for you to come to a decision. To help in your choice, let’s take a look at the most important factors in choosing a frame that will look perfect on you and do its job.

One of the biggest issues is in how the frame looks on your face, where it should sit and how the frame should fit you. There are three aspects to this question – the current trend for frame size, your proportions, and the lens power that you need. In the Seventies, all frames were huge, and it was very difficult to find anything that wasn’t big. Today the situation is less cut and dried, and there are frames in every size available.

For a frame to look in proportion to you, your eyes should sit in the centre of the lens. If the frame is too narrow your eyes will be at the outside edges of the lens, too wide and there’ll be lots of spare lens either side of your eyes! This adds thickness to your prescription lenses, increases edge distortion, and will make you look a bit shifty as your eyes will appear very close together! The frame should not sit on your cheeks, it will drive you mad as it moves up and down when you eat or laugh. The top edge should sit below your eye brows, and follow the shape of the brows – for example curved brows need a curved top frame.

If you are very short sighted it will benefit you to choose a small frame, as the lenses will then be thinner. So within the boundaries of fashion and looks, go as small as you can. Long sighted patients benefit from smaller frames too; we can have the lens manufactured from scratch to suit your frame, which again reduces thickness.

The frame sides must not dig into the side of your temples. This will give you a headache and strain the frame! There should be a gap between your head and the frame until the sides curve behind the ears, where they should sit closely to your head. The nose pads are only a resting area for the frame; don’t pinch them in until you can’t breathe!

Finding a frame that suits your face and your proportions will help you to feel happy wearing your glasses, as they become a part of you. Ask a friend, try before you buy – there’s a frame for every face, you just have to find your perfect fit!

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Graduation Time

Saturday, June 5th, 2010

Now the sun is out and we’re getting set for the BBQ summer, thoughts and our order books turn to the matter of tints. We start to get lots of queries and orders for prescription sunglasses to help people with driving, sport, and sunshine holidays.  So to help you make your mind up, here are some thoughts and notes on tinted lenses…

A tint is a colour which is added to your lens to cut the effects of glare. Glare on bright days can cause headaches and even crow’s feet as you screw up your eyes to help you to feel more comfortable! On its own a tint does not fully cut out UV, but if you’re in very bright conditions for long periods of time you can add a UV layer with it. Traditional methods of tinting lenses include a dye which the lens absorbs, or coloured crystals within the lens material. Tints should not wash off, but they can fade or change colour slightly over very long periods of time.

A tint can be made in any colour you want, and can be all over the lens or graduate from dark to light. You can choose any shade from dark grey to pink, and mix and match them on a lens. If a lens is dark at the top and clear at the bottom this can be useful to allow you to see down into the car, or a flattering pink tone along the bottom of a lens can warm the skin and be prettier than an all over colour. Mixed colour tints and graduated tints give a cool Seventies vibe to a frame! They have always been popular on deep shaped Aviator styles.

Tint colours are often matched to frames, but as a general rule some shades do a different job to others. Browns and pinks warm things up, grey, blue and green are more neutral for driving, or if you’re a budding landscape artist! Yellow and orange give high contrast, so they’re good for reading the green on the golf course, or shooting. If you enjoy a specific hobby, mail us for help if you think a tint will help you. We can also offer advice on what will look good with your frame.

You can vary the intensity of the tint too, but remember it is illegal to drive at night in anything but the palest tint, so always keep a clear pair of glasses with you.

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The Boys from the Girls

Thursday, June 3rd, 2010

While checking our brand new frame stock this week, an interesting point for discussion came up in our team. In the case of frames, what makes a fashion or a style particularly suitable for men or for women? Where do you draw the line?

Now obviously there are many frames that men would not be seen dead in – anything coloured, twiddly, splattered with bling, bedecked with roses or butterflies etc etc. These are the easy ones. For girls however the possibilities are endless. How cute did Lilly Allen look in her massive boys geek frame? How chic is Anne Robinson in her cool rectangular metal? Yet both of these are styles that are traditionally worn by men.  For girls, the only boundary is how chunky they want to go, as it makes the face even more feminine to wear a big boys’ frame.

Of course some men have a penchant for the flamboyant, and we applaud you, brave boys who want bright red or green, or who love diamonds and want some glitter on their glasses. David Beckham is welcome to call us any time!! Most however insist that specs are totally functional and they don’t want to get involved in this girly fashion nonsense. They want simple, discreet specs, and if you have a small face, something plain from the women’s section might be the answer.

Unisex styles were all the rage a few years ago, but then as frames got bolder this very plain shape and style fell out of favour. Thicker sides cried out for decoration, and brightly coloured plastics overtook spindly metals in the fashion stakes. Rimless too tapped into the unisex look, but these are less popular over the past couple of years.

So the rule is not be ruled by convention, and if you like a frame don’t worry about the category it’s been fitted into. Embrace your masculine or feminine side and let your heart rule your head!

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Life in the Lab

Monday, April 26th, 2010

When we leap upon our new delivery of glasses in the post, and admire ourselves in our new look, do we ever give a thought to the processes and work that goes into producing those boring bits of plastic that give us the miracle of sight? Step forward the unsung heroes of the Optical Lab….

The Lab or spectacle workshop is an interesting mix of science and industry. We use devices that look like microscopes to examine your lenses, and scary looking grinding and cutting apparatus to create your prescription and fit the lenses into your frames. We also have an array of screwdrivers, files and vices that hold your frames for repair and assembly. Plus row upon row of lenses, frames, and spare parts, all waiting for the day when they grace your face!

Each job we do is unique – with the huge variety of lens powers and frame options, every pair of glasses is different. It’s rare to even make the same power twice in one day! All of our client’s measurements, lens types and tints and coats are different too.

The first step is to put your prescription on your lenses, constantly checking that the powers and angles are correct, as well as making sure that the lenses are as thin as possible. The Lab is kept as dust free as possible, as our men in white coats try to prevent scratches and surface flaws from spoiling your lenses. When your lenses have been completed, which may mean many separate stages of adding power, applying tints or coatings, and verification, they are then cut into your frame.

Our equipment traces your frame, inputs your measurements, and then places the lenses at the correct orientation. It grinds away the excess plastic and the edges are polished. We check the lenses again before popping them into your frames, when they are examined for errors or defects. Everything has to be 100% perfect before it gets to you!

The frames are then tweaked to make sure they are not twisted or out of alignment, and this is our chance to admire our finished work! Life in the lab is never boring – it’s very satisfying to produce a bespoke job that not only looks good but will help someone in their daily lives.

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The Skin You’re In

Friday, April 16th, 2010

We’ve all heard the statistic that the skin is the largest organ in our bodies. It keeps our stuff in and keeps the outside world out, as well a notifying us of danger, pleasure, heat and cold. The skin of the Mr or Mrs Average weighs around 3.6kg, and if stretched out- a gruesome thought! It would be about 2m squared. If you are a spectacle wearer, your skin might just cause a few problems during the everyday wear and tear of specs perched on your nose, so take note of some hints and tips to keep your wonderful skin, and your specs in tip-top condition.

We see a couple of very common problems with the skin regularly in practice. Mostly we deal with sores and broken skin due to badly fitting glasses, usually where the specs have suffered an accident and the frame is way out of line. This causes holes in noses and behind the ears. Unfortunately these areas have very little padding, they are mostly skin over bone, and it only takes a day or two of constant wear to cause damage. If your specs are uncomfortable, don’t keep wearing them! Pop an old pair on until you can get your specs adjusted, by posting them to the online optician or going to a High Street store. If you don’t have a spare, use a pinch of cotton wool under the affected area to relieve the pressure. Creams etc may make the skin worse, so keep it clean and dry. Take your glasses off whenever it’s safe to do so, to allow the area to heal.

The other common problem is a rash due to allergies. Many frames have a base of Nickel Silver, and this is a common allergy danger point. Or frames come in that have chipped or scratched, exposing the metal base. When new, frames have several layers of protective lacquer, but this can be eaten away by skin acids and pollutants over time. There are two things you can do to help with this – choose a hypoallergenic frame, such as Titanium, and look after your glasses really well! Wash them with warm soapy water every night after wear, and this will stop the build up of harmful substances that can damage your frames.

So remember, prevention is better than cure and a little maintenance will serve you well. Look after your glasses and they’ll look after your skin!

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