Just because you have to wear glasses, doesn’t mean your only options are thick, black frames that are as boring as they are ugly. Frames are a lot like clothes: They come in all shapes, sizes and colors. It’s easy to choose frames that flatter your face shape, compliment your style and reflect your personality. And you’re not limited to just one pair either: You can have a pair of frames for any occasion.
However, before you start accessorizes your glasses to your wardrobe, you need to pick the right pair of frames for your face. Certain types of frames look better on certain kinds of face shapes. Let’s find out which look goes best with which face so that your fashion exemplifies the perfect eye wear frames.
What’s Your Face Shape?
There are different ways to determine your face shape. You can eyeball it, or stand in front of a mirror and trace your face’s outline on the glass with lipstick or other easy-to-clean marker to get a general idea of its shape. You can also take precise measurements, or ask your hairstylist or a beauty expert to tell you.
Here’s a brief overview of each:
Oval Shape: An oval face is sometimes described as an upside-down egg, but don’t let that mental image throw you off. Oval shapes are some of the most versatile faces out there. Its highlights include:
- A gently rounded/narrow chin
- Narrow forehead that’s slighter wider than the jaw
- High, angled cheekbones
- Face is longer than it is wider
Recommend Frames for Oval-Shaped Faces: As the most versatile face, you have your pick of frames. Any type of frame will compliment your face, but avoid oversized frames. They’ll throw off your face’s natural features.
Diamond Shape: Not many people have diamond-shaped faces — it’s considered the rarest of the various face shapes. Highlights include:
- Wide cheekbones
- Narrow forehead
- Angular jaw
- Skinny pointed chin
- Face is slightly longer than it is wider
Recommend Frames for Diamond-Shaped Faces: Rimless glasses, frames with thick brow lines, or oval or cat-eye shaped glasses. These will balance out your face by highlighting your eyes and softening your cheekbones. Avoid thin and narrow frames so they don’t draw more attention to your narrow eye line.
Round Shape: Round faces are — you guessed it — round. The width of your face is the same as the length of your face, with no real angles to speak of. It’s not all bad though: Round faces tend to make you younger than you are. Highlights include:
- Wide forehead
- Full cheeks
- Wide chin
Recommend Frames for Round Faces: Since your face is already round, you want to avoid round glasses and oversize frames. Stick with square frames, rectangles or cat-eye frames. Try frames that are thick all around, like the wayfarer frames. The goal is to contrast your face’s natural shape.
Heart Shape: Heart-shaped faces are known as “inverted triangle” faces. They have similar features to the diamond shape, but with more narrow jaw lines and chins. Highlights include:
- Wide cheekbones
- Narrow forehead
- Narrow chin
Recommend Frames for Heart-Shaped Faces: With this face shape, your frames need to balance out the width of your face and broaden your chin. You don’t want to draw too much attention to your narrow forehead, so avoid frames with decorative designs or thick brow lines, as well as dark frames. Instead, go for oval, round, square, rectangular or rimless frames.
Square Shape: Square-shaped faces are a lot like round faces, in that the length of your face is equal to its width. However, your proportions are more square-like. Highlights include:
- Wide forehead
- Broad cheeks
- Broad/horizontal jawline
- Distinct angles to face
Recommend Frames for Square Faces: Your frames should work to make your face appear slimmer than it is, and contrast the angles of your face. You’ll want to avoid square-shaped frames, and go for oval, round or cat-eye glasses. You’ll want frames that are wider than they are deeper, too. Draw attention away from the angles of your face with brightly colored frames; light-colored glasses might not stand out as much.
What’s Your Style?
So now that you know your face shape, and what glasses are best for you, it’s time to determine what color would work best for you. That’s based on your skin tone.
Skin tones come in three ranges: cool, warm and neutral. A general overview however is that with cool tones, you have a pink, red or bluish undertones to your skin. With warm tones, you have yellow, peach, or golden undertones to your skin. Neutral tones are a mix of both warm and cool. If you’re not sure what your skin tone is, check in with a beauty expert again to determine it, or take a test online.
Now that you know your skin tone, what color glasses are good for you?
For cool skin tones, try frames in these colors:
- Blue
- Pink
- Purple
- Grey
- Silver
- Green
- Black
For warm skin tones, try frames in these colors:
- Gold
- Orange
- Brown
- Tan
- Olive
- Red
- Yellow
- Ivory
Rock Your Style!
Of course, these are all general tips. You can get whatever frames you like, in whatever colors you like too. No matter what you decide, if you ever need your glasses fixed, head over to fixmyglasses.com
