The perfect face shape that most of us find attractive is the oval for ladies, with forehead and chin perfect proportion, eyes half way down the face and nose balanced. For men it’s sculpted cheekbones and a strong jaw, and for both sexes the more symmetrical the face, the more attractive we find it. So if you don’t presently look like Liz Hurley or Johnny Depp, how can we help? See the IGC website for full face shape guidelines, but here are a few pointers!

The first step is to pull your hair back and examine your face in strong daylight. Remember the old trick of drawing round your face with lipstick on the mirror? If you’re not sure of your face shape classification this may help, or take a quick pic and draw on that!  Now you know your shape, think about what you need to achieve for George Clooney or Kate Moss type good looks!

The golden rule is that in creating the illusions, you need to play down your flaws by enhancing the opposite effect. Round face? Create angles with squarer or more rectangular frames. Clunky chunky jawline? Soften it with oval or rounder frames. Long face? Wide frames with less depth will draw attention across the face, and create a more balanced proportion. Men with chubby cheeks can bring on a chiselled jaw line with sharply angular specs. The possibilities for perfection are endless!

You can even make eyes look larger and further apart by choosing a frame with no detail at the bridge, and something to grab attention at the outside edge, such as decorated sides or temples. Too distract from crow’s feet choose a chunky plastic that brings the onlookers eye forward from the face beneath and has no detail around the crinkly bits you want to ignore!

Wearing specs will improve your sight, so why not use them to improve your looks too? And an easier way to get into shape than a visit to the gym!!

Varifocal Glasses

I hated my specs with a passion all through my childhood, artfully managing to lose them, break them, and hide them for quite a few years until my Mum caved in and let me have some contact lenses. These were much treasured and I wore them until my twenties, when an eye infection led me back to glasses. By then I could afford a rather fab Giorgio Armani frame, and after that all disposable income was directed towards a designer eye wear wardrobe. I became known as the girl with the groovy glasses, and even thought financial constraints have led me to be a little more careful in recent years, I’ll still economise on some areas of my budget to be able to afford good specs. I find I don’t need much jewellery, or scarves etc, as my brightly coloured frames do all the work for me. Friends always comment on new pairs, and it’s always the starting point of wedding outfits, or new suits for work, as I plan new clothes around favourite specs, and actually now, I’d hate to be without them!

So how did Phoebe get on? Well, I managed to put a brave face on it, helping her to pick some sparkly pink frames, and I thought how adorable she looked. She absolutely loved them of course, and can’t wait to go back to collect them. I’ll encourage her to wear them, probably spend as much on her specs as I do on mine, and hope that she continues her excitement over them. If she wants to abandon them for contact lenses in years to come I bet I really will be devastated!

Varifocal Glasses

Magnification is a marvel that can be adjusted, depending on the working distance and the size of object you are trying to see. We use magnification every day – if you’re trying to read something on the TV screen, but it’s too far away or too small to see, you move nearer. This increases the size of the image on your retina, and it becomes clearer. Lenses do this job for you, focussing the image on the retina at the distance that you need it.

Sometimes, you only need maximum magnification for a specific job, such as a jeweller examining a gemstone or watch mechanism. You can buy magnifying devices such as the watchmaker’s eyeglass for these jobs. You only use them for the occasional problem and they bring the minute object into focus at the distance you need. If you have problems reading all day every day however, reading glasses which you can keep on for long periods do the job the best.

If your specific job or hobby is at a set working distance then we may need to calculate magnification for you. For instance – a librarian reading book spines on a high shelf will need different power at work, or for hand sewing at home. If you tell us what you do, and the working distance, we can sort the right strength for your individual needs.

Varifocal Glasses

1.Keep them in the supplied case – it’s all very well to thank Great Aunt Ivy for knitting you a new glasses case, or even whip up your own out of old socks or hankies, but flat, soft fabric cases are bad news for frames. When you really look at your specs you’ll see there’s quite a space between the lenses and the folded sides, so you need a rigid case with plenty of room. A flat case will compress the specs and eventually they will snap across the bridge.

2.Check the screws regularly – the screws hold on sides, nose pads, trims and secure the lenses. It’s easier to get a screw tightened than spend the day searching for a lost lens or wearing a plaster on your nose if you lose a pad! Specs need maintenance like anything mechanical, so pop an old pair of specs on and periodically check you don’t have a screw loose!

3.Clean them properly – wash frames daily with warm soapy water, not too hot, and dry on a soft, lint free cloth. This stops pollutants from building up on the frames which will eventually eat into the frame material. If you have anti-reflection coated lenses, you can use a specialist spray to prevent smears, but wash the specs first to protect the frame too.

4.Avoid scratches – never lay them face down, keep your case clean and never store anything in it, wash specs before polishing lenses. Keep old specs for decorating or gardening – many a lens has been scarred by an errant twig!

5.Never use glue near your glasses – Super type glue has ruined more pairs of specs than anything else. At the first sign of a breakage it’s what many panicking wearers reach for, but please don’t do it! It fills up joints, frosts the lenses, and doesn’t actually stick them! When you do get to your optician the specs will be beyond help. Use a touch of sticky tape if you must, and then seek the help of an Optician.

A little TLC and your glasses will give you many years of fuss free, clear vision, and who could ask for more? So make that honey moon last for ever – or at least until you move onto the next pair!

Varifocal Glasses

People are often not confident about selecting a frame as they’re not sure what’s in and what’s out every season. While you may not be bombarded with eye wear images as you are with clothes, there are still adverts in fashion magazines, friends with glasses you may covet, and media stars all flaunting their frames. The colour palette will be the same as whichever clothes are in vogue, so seek inspiration from High Street collections.

Some people think that just like hats, there isn’t a style of specs to suit them, and they just look wrong in glasses. Of course actually, you just look different, and believe us, there is a frame out there for you! The golden rule is to take your time, try plenty of styles on, and don’t be afraid to experiment. Ask your friend’s opinions, take advantage of our ‘try before you buy’ option, and have some fun with your frames!

Don’t be afraid of change – old specs are as ageing as keeping the same haircut from your teens to your fifties! Even if you feel some clothes are too young for you, the good thing about specs is that they have no age barriers, it comes down to what you feel happy in. Take note of what teenagers are wearing and try something fresh and funky yourself – it will give your whole appearance a lift.

If you can’t see when trying glasses on, take a friend with you, or if trying at home, get plenty of votes from your nearest and dearest. Take a snap with your digital camera – a large picture can then be examined on the computer screen while you’re wearing your prescription specs. Opticians often have a video system that works like a mirror, so you can store the pictures and watch them back with different frames on.

If you still can’t decide because you can’t find the one frame that goes with everything, then go mad and have a style for day and work wear, and a style for socialising, or one for sport, or one to match that wedding outfit…..the more you enjoy your glasses the easier your choice will be. And at our prices you can certainly afford to indulge your new passion for spec fashion!

Varifocal Glasses

Generally the eye is long or short sighted because the eyeball is the wrong length, so light doesn’t focus correctly on the retina, and your sight is blurred. Astigmatism arises because the curve of the eye is not even. You need help for reading because of unavoidable ageing changes within the eye. So don’t worry that you can accelerate your sight defect or indeed make your eyes better if you don’t wear your glasses.  Computers are also blamed for causing eye strain and making the eyes worse. In reality, you just notice a sight defect more if your eyes are tired, and constantly staring at the screen means your eyes feel slightly blurry when you look away. So is there any way that you can improve your own eye health?

Having an eye test every two years, or more often if your optician recommends it, will ensure that your eyes stay as healthy as possible and that any eye health problems are picked up from the earliest signs. Keeping your specs prescription up to date and wearing glasses as prescribed will save eye strain and keep the dreaded headaches at bay. Make an effort to blink regularly if you’re in front of a screen all day and glance across the room whenever you think about it to allow the eye to change focus. Gentle daily exercise increases oxygen levels in the eye, essential for healthy tissues.

If you wear contact lenses be strict with sticking to check ups and using the solutions your Optician suggests. Don’t exceed wearing time and if you buy them from the internet take care to buy exactly what your Optician recommends and make sure you order from an up to date prescription.

Varifocal Glasses

Parents are often mortified to find out that their children have a sight defect, and that they didn’t realise. For the child however, how would they know that their soft and fuzzy world isn’t what we see? This is why it’s important to have your child’s sight tested as early as possible, and then carry on with regular check ups. If they sit close to the TV or screen, have poor concentration, or screw their eyes up, then a check up will give you peace of mind. They don’t know any different, and at a young age their eyes accommodate to help them to see, which in the long term may cause eye strain.

Adults can have sight problems creep up on them without them realising that their sight has deteriorated. Fitting someone who has slowly become short sighted can be a miracle cure – suddenly the world is 3D again, there are leaves on the trees, bricks in walls! If the eyes change slowly it’s easy for the patient not to notice the gradual change in their sight. Again, regular eye exams mean you’re always up to the driving standard and you’re making the most of your sight.

Presbyopia gradually occurs over the age of forty, with close work becoming increasingly difficult. You find yourself moving small print to arm’s length to see it, struggling to thread a needle, or swearing over the poor quality of newsprint nowadays! The problem gradually worsens until you can’t get things into focus however far away you put them! Simple reading specs will restore your sight, so don’t pull a muscle stretching your arms indefinitely!

Varifocal Glasses

Eye disease can also be an ongoing problem that the patient is unaware of. Glaucoma causes the visual field to diminish, Macular degeneration causes loss of central vision. For elderly patient who don’t go out very much, they may not notice the loss of their peripheral vision. Glaucoma is easily treated in the early stages, so missing an eye test can be disastrous if early signs are missed. There are therapies for macular degeneration too, so again, early detection is vital. With all the issues mentioned above, there’s an easy solution which will correct your sight in the short term, and protect it in the long term. Book an eye exam and make sure that how you see things is how the rest of us see them too!

The obvious first point is to avoid any specs that tell the world you are presbyopic, a change to vision that occurs when you are over forty. This is when the arms get too short and you need help for reading, so don’t delay! As soon as you find yourself pushing menus further away and squinting to thread a needle, get an eye exam and get some varifocals. No visible line, nothing to show you have a reading prescription in the lens, and you pretend you’re not a day over 39!! You can wear them all day every day, and no squinting means fewer crow’s feet into the bargain!

If you have a sprinkling of silver in your hair, avoid all frames with shiny metal, which will twinkle like tinsel and enhance your own, unwanted, natural highlights. Go for matt metal or preferably plastic, which will enhance your original hair colour. Bold plastics are seen as more youthful, and to detract years bling is seen as a bit more ageing than cool, geometric trims and detailing.

Frame shapes should be uplifting; as anything with a droop will enhance anything you’re got that’s drooping! Shapes that lift at the temple will lift your temples too, and detract from softening jaw lines. The retro cat’s eye look is perfect for sexy pizzazz – (and a tip – men love that strict secretary look, you have been warned!) If you have to wear varifocals, don’t assume that you need deep frames, as we did in the past. They’ll now fit into even the shallowest frame, so don’t let your lenses restrict you. Your mature years should mean you’re comfortable with your own style nowadays, so don’t let anything stop you – including your age – from looking stylish, sexy, and far less than sixty in your spex!

Prescription Glasses

Wearing specs throws up several issues that you need to address. You’ll fall into one of two categories – the I-want-you-to-see-me-not-my-specs brigade, or the specs-are- hot-and-I-want-you-to-notice-them camp. Whichever describes you and your attitude to eye wear, you still want to co-ordinate, look good on photos, and make sure your efforts with make up and outfits are not wasted.

You should always add an anti-reflection coating to your glasses, which will give you safe vision after dark, and ensure that people see you and not their reflection in your lenses. This means your eye make is not wasted and that on photos your sparkling peepers look fantastic. Then the drive home will be safer too as the coating is the only thing that helps with the dazzle of oncoming headlights.

Experiment with your make up to help you decide if emphasising your lips or eyes will enhance your face and your specs the best. As a general rule, light rimless or metal specs need bolder eye make up, to make sure your eyes are a strong feature, bright chunky plastic frames need luscious lips to bring balance to the face. Depending on your colouring and that of your frames you need to choose the look to suit.

If you rely on your LBD to get you through the party season, then an update on your specs and some fresh accessories may be enough to update your entire party wardrobe. If you’re investing in a new dress, then lace is a hot look this year. A shiny black plastic frame will be the perfect antidote and stop you looking like the bad fairy that fell off the Christmas tree!

Prescription Glasses

They all congratulated me on the new look, and two insisted on trying the specs on. A couple of the others however went a bit quiet, and I’ve since come to realise that for some, choosing and buying glasses can be at best a bit of a chore, at worst a trauma that reminds them of terrible past experiences with opticians and playground bullies. What a nightmare – you’ve got to wear them, so why not enjoy them? So we had a serious discussion about what can help to these poor souls enjoy an eye opening shopping experience.

The first issue was to get over childhood problems with glasses, which today are cool, fashionable, and desirable. Taking time to pick something you really love, investing in lenses that will look good too, and seeing specs as a fashion item were all deemed to be positive moves. Asking a friend to help you make your mind up, looking at spec adverts in fashion magazines, and speccy role models like Lily Allen all help too. If the worst comes to it there are always contact lenses, but a friend who we’ve now converted back to specs says she found it a huge relief to find something she likes and now she wears them all the time.

The Internet Glasses Company have a try before you buy option, which really helped my optician phobic friend. Age fifty she loathed the pink plastic NHS frames she had as a child, and the bullying she suffered at school as a result. She ordered her frames over the net, took the time to gather opinions at home and work, and finally took the plunge feeling relieved that she didn’t have to be in an opticians to make her decision!

If you’re spec phobic, take heart that changing times and the World Wide Web can help you to overcome the horrendous Deirdre Barlow look of the past and embrace something cool that you’ll love. Me – I’m off to order another couple of pairs, got to do my bit to show that four eyes are much funkier than two!

Glasses Online