Picking the right sunglasses.

The sun is finally here, so it is time to get the sunnies out. But picking the right pair for you can take a bit of thought.

There are two main things to consider when picking sunglasses, the shape of the frame and the lens. What frame shape is best for you is influenced by the shape of your face; are you Round, Square, Oval, Rectangular, Diamond or Heart? There are many websites to help work this out.

Round – If you have a round face, you want to avoid curved or rounded glasses but you do want sharp lines that will help define your face. Rectangle, square, wrap glasses are good ones to look for.

Square – It is all about contrast, so while round faced people want angles, square faced want curves. People in this category should choose a frame with round or oval shaped lenses. Styles that would work well for this face are aviators, butterflies, or any frame style that favours oval or circular curves.

Oval – Well aren’t you lucky! Basically anything is going to work for you, just try and not go too big.

Rectangular – Bigger is better this this type of face. This group is going to took best in wrap, square, wayfarer and rectangle styles.

Diamond – Oval and rimless frames will help compliment wide or high cheekbones that come with Diamond shaped faces.

Heart – Sunglasses that feature wide lower edges with no straight lines along the top work especially well these people. Cat-eye styles or glasses that feature rounded edges are ideal for giving the wearer a more balanced look. This face shape will be best served with shield, butterfly, rimless, or aviator styled frames.

While you want to match your face shape, you want to also consider what you are going to use then for and thing about the level of coverage would be best.

Ideally you always want to choose a lenses that provides 100% protection from UVA,UVB and UVC not matter the colour. The lighter colour lenses allow more visible light through, while still blocking the harmful rays and darker lenses filter out more of the visible light along with the UV.

Gray/Green – Being colour neutral these tints reduce the light intensity without changing the appearance of colours. So if colour recognition  is important then these a good choice (good for driving).

Blue/Purple – Good for high light intensity conditions.

Brown -Good for increasing contrast while cutting down on light intensity, but not ideal in a brown environment as they cut out the brown tones.

Yellow/Gold/Amber – Traditionally seen as more of a winter lens as they don’t block a lot of brightness, but do provide brilliant contact to help pick out the changes in the show.

Rose/Vermilion – Again sometime viewed as a winter lens colour as being great in lower light intensities, but a bit more versatile then the yellows and block a slightly higher amount of light.

As well as different colours, they are a number of extras you can add to you lens.

Polarized Lenses – These help protect again reflected light off things like roads and water as well as direct light. These are very popular with water sports enthusiastic and cyclists.

Photochromic – Not sure if will need glasses for bright conditions or dull one? Then these will work in both, they get darker in brighter conditions and lighter in lower light conditions.

We have a wide range of glasses from Oakley, CEBE and Bloc in-store, so come down and try a few pairs on.