How to Choose the Best Eyeglasses
These are some of the frames that did not make the cut this year. Pay no attention to the murderous looks on my face. This is not my favorite thing to do:)
Start with the lenses
- Buy the best quality you can afford. Lenses have come a long way in recent years. Their clarity and ability to give you crisp vision is not just about your prescription strength anymore.
- High-index lenses are made from a lightweight material and thinner than other lenses. This makes them a great choice if you have a strong prescription or a sensitive nose like me.
- Aspheric lenses are flatter, which reduces the amount of bulge on the lens. They also magnify your eyes less, so they are more cosmetically flattering.
- Do pay extra for anti-reflective coating. It decreases unwanted glare and nighttime halos. You want people to see through your glasses, to your beautiful eyes!
- If you wear multifocal lenses, a deeper lens will give you a larger reading area.
- If you spend time on a computer or cell phone, consider adding the blue-light filter coating to protect your eyes from damage and strain.
Rimless glasses are popular, with good reason. They’re lightweight and offer a “barely there” look. I have a pair, but I feel they make me look older, so I usually just wear them around the house. They’re less likely to leave indentations on the bridge of your nose, which tend to become permanent over time.
A few more frames that didn’t make the cut.
Choosing the best frame
- If you have a large face and heavy bone structure, you’ll look better in a larger frame. Delicate features are flattered by fine frames. Keep the scale of your glasses similar to the scale of your face.
- Choose frames in the same tone as your skin, eye, or hair color. These are your inherent colors and the most flattering for you to wear.
- Look for frames that mirror your eyebrow shape. It helps your glasses look like they belong on your face.
- If you have an angular face, curved or roundish frames are more flattering.
There’s no question a new pair of prescription eyewear is costly, but wearing outdated or ill-fitting frames makes you look older and out of touch.
These are the frames I chose. The color matches my eye color, are very lightweight, and have adjustable nose pads, so they’re more likely to be comfortable.
Do you wear glasses? When is the last time you updated your frame?
I love buying my glasses online! My eyes are so bad that when I take my glasses off to try new frames on, I can’t even see myself!
Many websites allow you to upload a photo of yourself – without glasses, natch – and their site software puts the new frames on your face! It’s a lot of fun trying on new frames that way, and I always get compliments on my glasses!
Hi Jennifer I have been reading your comments no glasses suit my round small forehead frame. I have thought about contacts as one eye is short sighted the other long sighted not sure if this can be done. And i am extremely squeamish about putting them in. Thank you for some great tips trying to get out of a rut 55 and frumpy. Thank you be safe x
I did try the monovision, one near and one distant contact but my ocular rosacea makes it very uncomfortable. There are frames for you. Please feel free to email me a photo and I will help direct you.
This is very helpful, Jennifer, as I’ll be ordering new glasses as soon as the pandemic passes and I can be out and about again.
I love the frames you chose! I recently was looking For new glasses but didn’t find any I liked. Since we are similar in coloring, what kind are they? Also, do you have any tips for chapped lips? My lips get so chapped in the winter that I find I skip the lipstick and just use my chapstick. I really need the color right on my lips this time of year. Thanks!
These frames are from “Aspire”. I’m not sure where you can get them but google may help.
That is such a great tip to pick glasses that match or complement your eye, skin, or hair color. I am wanting to buy some stylish reading glasses and would love for them to look good on me. I will try to find some that suit my face well.
My wife wears progressives full time, she generally buys online, Zenni Optical and G4U. They have always been high quality and at around $50 per complete pair inc postage she has a pair for each outfit or mood, truly face jewellery. She now has blue light protection whenever she buys.
That blue light protection is so very important!
Thank you for mentioning the blue-light filter! My son is in need of glasses, and he is the first in our family so it’s all new to me. There have been so many different options presented to us, that I want to know what to look for and why before I select a proper pair that works for him. He plays a lot of video games, so a blue-light filter will definitely be useful in protecting his eyes!
Kids do play a lot of video games so protecting they eyes is very smart!!
Thanks for the tips for buying good glasses. I think I need them, since my vision has been getting worse recently. I like how you said to choose frames that match my skin or hair color.
They are most flattering if they match!
I swear I have those exact glasses! Happy New Year!
Happy New Year gorgeous!
Jennifer, I have been following your posts for awhile. Just have to say how much I like them. The new glasses look great on you. I need readers but I have had a problem with my left cornea for 2 yrs and my eye Dr says until we get this problem under control, new glasses would be a waste of my money.Oh well. Have a blessed weekend.
Thank you, Mindy!I hope you get that problem fixed soon.Happy Weekend to you too.
SO glad to find this blog post. I need new glasses and pronto. Thank you. (Saw your post over at Une Femme this morning and followed you here.)
Welcome! I’m so glad you’re here, Ann.
WELL DONE!
I was worried over YONDER on instagram!!!!!!!!!!
Let’s get together after we both get back from our trips!
There is so much to consider, isn’t there? I’m up for new glasses next month, so your review & reminders are very timely.
Good luck!
Those red marks drive me batty, even with not epads I have indents, but I have been wearing specs since I was 15.
Me too! They’re becoming permanent!
Make sure you have your dermatologist check out any of those red spots!
This is such a useful guide. I love the ones you finally chose. I didn’t know that the shape of the frame should follow the eyebrow. My eyebrows are really dark, almost black, but my hair is a golden brown – I guess I should go with the lighter colour. And Happy New Year to you.
Following the brow or jawline has the same benefit. Some people love a strong contrast in frame so let your own aesthetic be your guide. If you love your frame you might like it to be more impactful.
After cataract surgery, in theory, I can get by without glasses for distance. Still not perfect. The close up is needed so often, I still wear progressives all day. You don’t realize how much work is done close up.
My vision changed steadily and I waited until I found “the” pair. They’re the most important part of my wardrobe, IMO. I’ve had lime green, funky shaped, dark brown, designer brands. Only black is too much for me. I consider it money well spent. $ per wear theory. All your advice was correct. I have a narrow bridge and a good advisor will know how to help. I make a point having my nose pads replaced whenever I notice they are getting dark or losing their grip.
My next pair will have the lens that transitions in sunlight.
Thank goodness for the new lightweight lenses.
Great advice about switching the nose pads, Julie. There are so many frames I like that don’t have adjustable nose pads, it’s a shame.
Please will you do an article on how you organize your clothes. How much is too much?
Do you hang stuff by color, functions or what? Thank you. It would be great to start off the year with a functional, organized closet!
Hi Jill,
That’s a great idea for a post. I’ll start working on it.
I have a very small closet so organizations is critical.
I need to get a new pair of glasses so I am glad I read this before I go looking. Thanks for the great advice. – Amy
Happy hunting, Amy!
Perfect choice! Absolutely the right ones.
Thanks, Anita!
I love your glasses! As I was reading, I was going to suggest a pair with nose pads, and then you said it. You covered all the bases. I need to change mine–they’re five years old, and I have a new prescription, but I kind of hate to do it because the frames are now very on-trend. I was ahead. The frames are Anne et Valentin Fairy U110 in purple. Don’t worry, only the branches are purple; the front is tortoise shell. Now everybody has rounded frames. But I think that rectangular would be better on my round face. And five years is long enough with one look.
Clean your glasses by running them under tepid water to get off the loose dust, then washing with a drop of hand or dish soap and rinsing. Dry with a clean towel. Hot water can make the filter coatings come off. Rubbing with one of those microfiber rags can scratch your lenses if the fabric isn’t clean.
Great tip about the hot water, I had no idea. I have tried nose pads too. It drives me crazy. My face is quite square, so oval and roundish frames are better on me. Go with what flatters, not what’s on trend. That said, rounded, cat-eye and rectangular frames are all popular now. Wear what you love, it’ll be the best choice. I just googled your glasses and they are awesome!!!!
I absolutely love my glasses, and I think it’s because of what you said—they are face jewelry! Living in Colorado where it’s so dry, makes it so hard to wear my contacts anymore. Thus I really depend on my glasses every day!
I have been opting for colorful ones lately. My last pair were red, and the pair I just ordered is a reddish purple!
I may be wrong, but I hope they also detract from the bags under my eyes!!
This is the first year I’ll be wearing progressives, so it’ll be interesting how I adapt. But I also love the online options nowadays. I get all of the options that you described above in my pair from my eye doctor, but I like to have a cheaper pair as back up!!
I love the pair you chose, Jennifer!
I also liked the LL pair in the first set of photos—I know you thought they were too dark, but I like the contrast!
jodie
http://www.jtouchofstyle.com
Your glasses are real statement makers! I love them on you. I hope glasses detract from my bags too 🙂 I went from wearing drug store cheaters right to progressives and it was quite an adjustment. I tripped over my own feet for weeks. Dry eyes are a real struggle for me too, but some days I just have to give my nose a rest!
Hi Jennifer – I love this post. After years of wearing (and losing!) reading glasses, I became a full-time glasses wearer last year with progressive lenses. I have now invested (truly an investment at these prices!) in two different pairs because I strongly believe, as you do, that glasses are an accessory and that they can and do express so much. People comment on my glasses all the time (making my hair jealous of all the compliments!) and they often are a great conversation-starter!
Thanks, Lisa:) Your hair is amazing so your new glasses must be awesome! I can’t wait to see them. Maybe lunch next time you’re in town?
I sent you an email about lunch!
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Jennifer — now this is a subject I can relate to. I recently went through the same excruciating dilemma of choosing new frames; changing to a larger frame style.
Burgundy is my color and I’m still getting used to the new look! Like the term “face jewelry” since I wear glasses all the time they become a part of me and
my persona. Love the frames you chose, style & color — what brand are they and what material are they made of? That is a color I could/should wear since I’m
also blonde w/blue eyes. Thanks for sharing all this important eyeglasses info and the pics (you don’t want to see my trial pics LOL)!!!
These are Aspire brand, Kay. The model is called Outstanding and the color is Aqua Mist. I didn’t share my really bad ones here 🙂 There were so doozies.
I’ve been wearing glasses since I was two; progressive bifocals for more than a decade. They are as much a part of my face as my nose is! I’ve had my present frames for just over a year. I prefer the finer look of wire frames and used to choose a lighter gold tone as I didn’t want them to stand out. I’ve gradually moved to darker frames over the last few years. I would call my present pair, which I’m quite happy with, a dark bronze.
I’m a progressive wearer myself. Wire frames are so lightweight, I really like them too.
Great post! I like your new glasses. I have three (!) pair of prescription glasses…sunglasses, ‘regular’ glasses, and computer glasses. I found after purchasing them at different times, I ended up with all three from the same manufacturer (OGI). It was unplanned, but obviously I like their style. The sunglasses and regulars are progressive bifocals, and the computer glasses were a compromise to getting tri-focals (!).
All that said, I’m fortunate enough to have each eye provide different vision naturally (one near, one far), so the computer glasses have been the ones I wear most until recently. I hadn’t hear of the blue filter, so will ask about it on my next update. Computer and iPhone use is definitely affecting my eyesight, but of course, it’s hard to know how much is aging.
I don’t think I’ve ever tried OGI frames on, but perhaps I have didn’t know it. Are you doing monovision with eyeglasses? That’s what I’m struggling to use with contacts. Aging is changing everything so fast, it is hard to keep up 🙂
My eyes have always been monovision without glasses (naturally). I didn’t realize it until a doctor told me people try to achieve this via glasses/contacts. I once tried one contact lens, but I couldn’t stand it. And I’ve been able to see without glasses for many years, since my eyes compensate. I realized I needed reading glasses to read maps (pre-GPS) while navigating in my 40’s (about 20 years ago). Now both my eyes are changing a bit as I age.
Wow. You have been lucky, Laurel. Monovision for me means far and near are not crisp. It drives me nuts.
The glasses you chose Jennifer look so good on you!
Thanks, Pat. They will look even better when I get my pair that don’t have the labels all over them 🙂
Thanks for the timely post. I have an eye appointment on Friday and will be choosing new frames. So stressful!
Take your time choosing, Barb. I take selfies with my phone to see how they look.
Do you have a mascarathat you would recommend? I have trouble with mascara clunking on my eyelashes. I have tried cover girl, lancome, as well as loreal..
Any suggestions would ne so helpful.
Thank you. I enjoy a well styled life. Please keep it up.
Annette
I swear by Jane Iredale mascara. The one that comes with a comb brush. If it ever clumps, which I haven’t had yet, I use a separate eyelash comb to unclump. They’re available at every drug store.
If you haven’t already, I would have the red spot checked. I had mine checked and it was a keratosis.
Thanks, Rosemary! I have had it checked and unfortunately it’s just compression marks.
Years ago when I worked for an eye doctor, he advised his patients to apply moisturizer/lotion frequently throughout the day to this area. He told them to rub it in for several minutes each time. It seemed to help.
Thank you, Judy! I will try it. My nose is really boney where my glasses rest so it takes quite a beating.