Tips to help you choose the right glasses for your face shape – Part 1
Part One
We all like to follow the latest trends, but unfortunately, not everything suits everyone. We have to adapt the current season’s styles to suit our own individual shapes and sizes. Colours also have to be honed to compliment our colouring and personalities. The advice applies, whether we’re adding to our wardrobe, choosing a new pair of shoes, or accessorising our new outfit. And yes, when choosing spectacles too.
Many people find choosing new eyewear incredibly difficult. It is the first thing people notice about us, and for most of us, we only invest in one pair. We tend to have a whole wardrobe of different outfits with matching shoes, and yet we purchase one pair of spectacles, hoping they will service us well for every occasion. Not only that, we expect our glasses to last for at least a couple of years, accidents aside.
Following on from our blog about 2021 eyewear trends, there are other aspects of our eyewear choices that we also need to consider. Over the next few weeks, we will be bringing you a series of blogs about choosing the right eyewear for your face shape, colouring, prescription and lifestyle needs. In this first instalment in the series, we are going to discuss how you go about choosing the right glasses for the shape of your face.
The 5 different face shapes
In general, face shapes fall into five different categories: square, round, heart, triangular and oval. To be honest, most of us are a combination of several different shapes, so this is merely a guide and not a hard and fast rule.
To find the shape of your face, take some time to study your reflection in a mirror. It might help to use lipstick or an eye pencil to trace the outline of your face on the mirror. Just so long as you use something that will wipe off easily. This will give you a good indication of your face shape.
So let’s take a look at the five different shapes in a bit more detail:
Square face
A square face tends to have quite angular lines with forehead, cheekbones, and jaw all of equal width. To soften these features, glasses with soft rounded edges are a good option. It is important to ensure that the width of the glasses is wider than your cheekbones otherwise the frame will look too small. Round and oval shapes also work well with square faces as they will detract attention away from the angular jawline.
Rounded glasses work well with square faces
Round face
A round face has softer lines than a square face, with the jaw and forehead equal width, with slightly wider cheekbones. To detract from the roundness of this face shape it’s a good idea to look at sharp, angular frames. Bold rectangles will break up the roundness of the face and make the face appear longer. Upswept cat-eye-shaped frames also work well. Round-faced people have lovely full cheeks which the cat-eye frame will draw attention to, but also puts focus on the eyes. You must also ensure that the bottom of the frame doesn’t rest on the cheekbones.
Cat eye frames work well with round faces
Heart face
A heart-shaped face is widest across the forehead which then softly tapers down to the jawline. The heart-shaped face tends to have high cheekbones. This is probably the most versatile shape to work with and many frames tend to suit someone with a heart face. The width of the frame needs to be slightly wider than the forehead to ensure balance and the bottom rim needs to be slightly more rounded rather than angular to compliment the features of a heart-shaped face. Upswept frames with oval bottom rims also balance this face shape well.
Winged out frames with rounded bases work well with heart shaped faces
Triangular face
You tend to find the widest part of a triangular face is across the jawline and it narrows through to the forehead. Choose frames with detail across the top part of the frame and brow bar. Cat-eye frames with some detail on them usually compliment people with a triangular face. Again make sure that width is slightly wider than the widest part of the face (jawline} The classic aviator, wayfarer, or combination frames work well with this face shape.
Aviator style frames work well with triangular faces
Oval face
Oval faces have wider cheekbones than the forehead and jaw. It’s probably the most versatile shape to fit glasses to and many different spectacles will suit this face. This doesn’t mean that all oval-faced spectacle wearers can wear any frame, as you need to take note of any strong facial features and work with them. The shape you choose should emphasise and balance the face by adding angles to the soft contours. It’s important to highlight the area around the eyes and cheekbones, which tend to be the widest part of an oval face. Angular, geometric shapes tend to be a good fit if you have an oval face.
Geometric shapes work well with oval faces
It’s worth noting, these are only guidelines or a starting point. Here at Respectacle Company, we think it’s vitally important to own your look. You can make your own style bible and choose a frame that reflects your personality and style.
One of the areas of service we pride ourselves in most is the personal care and expertise we offer our customers. Guiding customers through the fitting process of owning a fabulous pair of glasses is the best part of our job.
To help you find the perfect pair of spectacles, we don’t only look at the shape and colour, we consider your prescription and lifestyle needs too. This is something that we feel sets us apart from many other high street opticians.
In our next blog, we’ll take a look at how your prescription can also affect your choice of glasses. And how looking at the complete picture is key to finding spectacles you’ll actually enjoy wearing.
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