Criteria For Choosing Suitable Eyeglass Frames: Part II

Photo credit: Allaboutvision.com

Face shape

Round face: Here we are looking for

eyeglass frames that will make the round face appear longer and thinner. A good choice is angular narrow frames and frames that are more wide than deep with a clear bridge. Such frames lengthen the face and widen the eye and a good example is a rectangular shaped eyeglass frames.

Oval face: Our aim here should be to keep

the oval shaped face naturally balanced and frames that are as wide as the broad part of the face (walnut shape) are good choice because they are not too deep or too narrow.

Oblong face: In this type of face, we are

trying to make the face appear more balanced and shorter hence frames with more depth than width are chosen. Such frames comes with contrasting or decorative temples (to add width to the face) and low bridge (to shorten the nose).

Base-up triangle face: our aim here

should be to reduce the width of face top and add width below the eye line. The choices of frames here are; frames with wider bottom, light colored and rimless styles and frames with distinctive or detailing brow lines (oval or cat-eye shaped frames).

Based-down triangle face: The main

goal here is to add width to the forehead and make the jaw line appear softer and narrower. Try frames accented with color that angle up and outward at the top corners. Avoid low-temple frames.

Diamond face: our goal here is to narrow

the cheekbones, highlight the eyes, widen the forehead and jaw and reduce the temples. Rimless and oval shaped frames are good choice here. Another good choice is to choose frames that have heavy top without lowered temples.

Square face: our aim is to lengthen the

square face and soften it's angles. Choice of frames include; frames with narrow styles having more width than depth with narrow ovals.

Color Tone

Color tone consideration in eyeglass frame selection have to do with the skin, eyes and hair colors of the wearer which is categorized into warm tone and cool tone. Warm tone has yellow or peach undertones while cool tone has blue or pink undertones. Olive skin being a mixture of yellow and blue is considered a cool tone. Brown eyes can be a cool tone or a warm tone because it varies from being a light amber (warm tone) to medium brown-black (cool tone). Examples of frame colors that suit these tones include the following:

Warm tone- Fire red, orange, camel, warm blue, off-white, peach, coral, khaki, copper, blood tortoise and gold.
Cool tone- Magenta, darker tortoise, black, plum, blue-grey, pink, blue, rose-brown and jade.

Fashion preferences

This is were the wearer's interest fully comes in. Here the wearer will decide on the choice of frame that is suitable for him depending on his style and what is currently in fashion. Although there is always the old standby styles but if the wearer is interested in the latest trends, the optician has no choice but to provide the patient the latest style that he/she seek. If the wearer is looking for a top designers frame, the cost may be a little bit higher depending on the name.

Back to Part I