Posts Tagged ‘spec wearers’

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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It’s A Wrap – Prescription Sunglasses

Sunday, September 5th, 2010

For us spec wearers, summer gives us the opportunity to blend in with every other cool dude, disguising our myopia with prescription sunglasses. This can be blessing or a curse, as we try to get the red-carpet film star or beach babe look in our sunnies while making sure we can see and look good! Prescription sunglasses have become an economical option for all in recent years, thanks to special offer prices and more and more styles becoming available. The only thing you need to take care with is frames that are unsuitable for prescription lenses.

The sunglass trend is always slightly funkier than for clear ophthalmic lenses, going bigger, bolder, and sometimes, more curved. This wrap around style is excellent for sunglasses, as it stops light getting in, and if you’re a keen cyclist then it stops the wind whistling around your eyes too. For non-prescription lenses a large wrap around shield type sunnie can therefore be ideal.

When it comes to adding lens power to a wrap frame however, you can run into problems. Prescription lenses have a curve which is governed by your lens strength. The wonderful laws of Physics do allow us to play around with this to some extent, so you can have curved lenses made to your prescription if the strength is low and the curve can coincide with that of your super cool sunnies. The key here is to talk to the optician before raising your expectations and falling in love with a curvaceous but unobtainable ideal – story of my life!! Make sure the frame you choose has traditional mounts, not some kind of fancy rimless which cannot be glazed with new lenses. Keep the size down as much as possible, and post to us or take into your optician to be assessed. We can get specially made wrap lenses if necessary but these are more expensive, full quotes are always given.

When the Postie delivers your new sunnies into your excited hands, note that your vision might feel a little odd to start with. This is due to the wrap altering your peripheral vision slightly. It usually settles down quite quickly and you’ll stop noticing it. Try wandering around the garden in them before diving behind the wheel or handle bars. Then await the sunshine and get posing!

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Making Hay!

Sunday, June 13th, 2010

While some of us can’t wait for Summer, swapping our Uggs for flip flops the minute we hit Easter, others dread the sunny season due to the misery, stuffy heads and streaming noses of hay fever season. This causes lots of problems to spec and contact lens wearers, and we see a high incidence of hay fever related issues from around May onwards, when the tree pollen bursts forth.

Hay fever is nothing to do with actual fever as of course it’s an allergy, affecting about 25% of the UK Population. It can begin in childhood but in most sufferers it starts from the teens onwards. Some people are affected more badly than others, and the degree of reaction can vary from year to year. Symptoms affect the upper respiratory tract, ranging through itchy eyes, runny noses, sneezing, coughing, sore throats, and wheezing, but unlike the common cold it will change with the pollen count and will affect the sufferer through several weeks while their particular pollen problem is air born.

Our biggest group of unhappy patients are contact lens wearers, who can’t bear to wear their lenses in sore, itchy eyes. The first thing to do is check that it’s an allergic reaction, not bacterial, so don’t confuse hay fever with Conjunctivitis! The latter can be cleared with drops from your chemist or GP. If your lenses are of a type that covers the Iris and fits closely you may even be better off wearing your lenses, as the irritation won’t reach the Cornea. Many patients do have to abandon their contacts through the summer and wear specs until their allergy has cleared. If you need eye drops make sure they are compatible with contact lens wear, your pharmacist will advise you if you’re not sure.

Sunglasses often help, with a large lens shielding the eye and keeping some pollen out. They are also soothing for sore eyes in cutting glare and making sensitive eyes more comfortable. Go for 100% UV protection, in a wrap around style with the darkest possible lenses.

Spec wearers will suffer if their noses are blocked and sinuses become inflamed. As the bridge of the nose bears the weight of glasses this can be very sensitive and uncomfortable. A lightweight frame will help you, and a plastic frame has a bridge that spreads the weight, fitting closer to the face to keep the pollen out.

A few simple measures will help to ease your discomfort while you wait for the anti-histamines to kick in, and at least you have an excuse to treat yourself to a new pair of specs!

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Styles for Styles

Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010

As we often say, wearing glasses should be a joy, a shopping opportunity with a legitimate reason to spend money on something delicious. Making your specs a part of your accessory wardrobe is the main step towards this, in terms of colour, shape, and style. If you’re thinking of a new look for Summer, let’s think about hair styles against frame styles.

If you have long hair, take a careful look at your proportions. Deep frames may drag your face down, especially if you’re not in the first flush of youth! Go shallow and not wider than your temples, with a slight uplift at the top rim.

If you have a fringe, your face will be shortened as your forehead is covered, so again, shallow is best. The top rim of the frame needs to sit just below the brow line, and keep your fringe at a length that won’t smudge your specs!

If your hair is curly, then obviously you’ve got a lot going on around your eyes and face! Simple specs might be best for you, to keep the attention on your features, you don’t want to be seen as a riot of curls and crazy specs!  If you have short hair, in an elfin style like Carey Mulligan, then you can go to town on your frames. You can wear lots of feminine detail, framed by your minimalist hair do.

The chin length bob is never out of style, and if cut sharply and with drama then you can echo this with strong, bold plastic specs in a bright colour that accentuates your colouring. If your bob is more wispy and soft, then a slender metal frame might be better so you’re not overpowered.

Make the glasses work with you and you’ll be the envy even of non-spec wearers!

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