Do you find yourself drooling over the new line of sunglasses from Dior? Or does your taste run more to the funky brands you see at your local discount store? Regardless of where you shop for your shades, you’re probably looking not only for eyewear to protect your eyes, but eyewear that will enhance your facial features and let the world know about your fashion sense. Finding sunglasses with a face-flattering frame is a true joy!
The Vision Council of America has come up with the following three suggestions to help you choose the most appealing frames
*The shape of your frames should contrast with the shape of your face
*The size of your frames should be proportionate to the size of your face
*Your sunglasses should draw attention to your best facial feature (if you have blue eyes, think about getting blue framed glasses)
Everyone’s face, of course, is made up of many different angles and shapes so finding a pair of sunglasses which contrasts with all of them is simply not possible. You will have to determine which of the eight basic shapes is closest to your face before choosing yourself a pair. One way to do this is to pull back your hair, look into a mirror, and use lipstick, washable eye pencil, or so to drawn outline of your face which of the eight basic shapes (oval, circle, rectangle, heart, diamond, triangle, oblong, or square) matches it most closely? If you’re still not sure, ask one of your friends.
Oval-shaped Face
Because of its extremely balanced proportions, the oval face is considered “ideal.” Its almost perfect alignment means that any style of frame will be flattering. Proportion, however, still matters so small framed pairs work best on small oval faces and larger frames on larger basis. You should still make a choice according to your personal style, and if you want to add a bit of contrast go with angular frames instead of round ones.
Round Face
Their circular shapes with similar lengths and widths mean that round faces have few angles. Choosing sunglasses with rectangular frames will therefore add a pleasant egg of a contrast to the spaces. You want frames that are wider than they are deep, while being no wider than your face is at its widest point. Dark frames will minimize your face’s roundness, while frames with embellished corners will call attention to it, making it appear even wider!
Oblong-Shaped Face
Longer than they are wide, oblong faces have long above-the-cheek lines. Choose sunglasses with frames which shorten the face. Square frames are better than rectangular ones. If you choose a rectangular frame, make sure it has an exaggerated length instead of an exaggerated web. If you’re trying to compensate for a long nose, choose frames with a lower bridge.
Diamond-Shaped Face
The most unusual of all places, the diamond-shaped face can be the most stunning with its narrow chin and forehead anti-sculpted cheekbones. Diamond faces have narrow foreheads and chins with high, dramatic cheekbones. Luckily for you, having a diamond-shaped face means you’ll look great in square, oval, or even rimless frames. You can also get away with glasses that have distinctive brow-lines.
Square-Shaped Face
You have a strongly angled sharp jawline and wide forehead with a face that has similar length and width. In order to narrow and lengthen your face, you should look for narrow-framed sunglasses which are wider than they are deep. You can also soften those angles by contrasting them with narrow oval frames. Choosing delicate frames can give you a softer look.
Rectangle-Shaped Face
Like the square face, the rectangular face is very angular, but unlike the square face, its length exceeds its width. Using a curved frame will soften the angles of the rectangular face, and frames like those of aviator sunglasses, with top to bottom depth will shorten it. You can also experiment with a wider, rounder frame.
Triangle-Shaped Face
The wide cheekbones and narrow forehead of the triangular face mean that you should choose sunglasses that draw eyes of others to its upper portion. These would be wider frames, or those which have adorned top pieces. Cat-eye frames are especially attractive on the triangular face, as are those with rimless lower edges.
Heart-Shaped Face
The heart-shaped face has a narrow chin and a wide forehead, so sunglasses with heavy dark-colored frames will only exaggerate the width of the forehead. A much better choice is either light or rimless frames in a narrow rectangular or oval-shaped. You can also try slightly curved wraparound sunglasses to lessen the appearance of your facial curves.
Regardless of its shape, the size of your face also determines which sort of frame you should be choosing. A large face will look smaller with large sunglasses as a small face will look larger with large sunglasses. You should also choose a frame which is narrower.
Finally, think carefully when choosing the color of your sunglasses. Cool skin tones are flattered by cool colored sunglasses like paying, blue, lavender, and black. If you have warm skin tones, you’ll be stunning in warmer shades like gold, orange, red, warm white, and copper. You can even, if you dare, go with bright red!
Luckily for you, there are literally thousands of different sunglasses with frames and colors to suit every face shape in skin tone. They’re sold everywhere from huge discount rate at retail stores to local drugstores to design your sunglass boutiques. They cover designers including; Dior, Lacoste, Gucci, Fendi, Armani, Chanel, and Hugo Boss, among many others.
Whether you’re choosing sunglasses to set off that knockout new outfit, or just looking for a pair to protect your eyes when you’re relaxing in the sunshine or playing a game of ball with your kids out of doors, by following our suggestions you can be sure that the sunglasses you choose will be both fun and flattering!