If you already wear glasses look carefully at your present pair, hopefully you chose them because they suited you. Therefore I would recommend choosing something of a similar shape, maybe slightly different, unless your face has changed radically this will suit you again.

My face needs a square frame, if I try to wear a round frame I look piggy, so I avoid round frames. Your face shape will dictate what looks right on you.

The fashion at the present time is for fairly squarish, wide, shallow frames. This may naturally suit you. If however you know this style does not look good on you, then you will need to pick a frame that is softer and rounder.

The best way of deciding is to try some roundish glasses, then some fairly square ones and then the classic frame that is rounded at the bottom and with a slightly curved top. This is a style that suits many people

The classic face shape guide is as follows, however it is easy to read but very difficult to pin down in real life. Is my face really round or is it more oblong?

Oval Faces
More frames look good with this face shape than any other, as long as the size of the frames is in proportion to the face.

Oblong Faces
Long narrow faces are similar to square faces in that the chin and cheek are of nearly the same width. Facial length, however, is far greater than the width. Frames should cover as much of the centre of the face as possible in order to minimize the length.

Round Faces
To play down the roundness, select frames with straight or angular lines. Deep colours such as black or tortoise also minimizes fullness.

Square Faces
Compliment a square face with frames that are slightly curved. The top of the frames should sit high enough on the face to downplay the jaw line.

Triangular Faces
This shape is defined by a broad forehead and narrow mouth and chin. Frames with a thin rim and vertical lines will help balance the bottom part of the face. Frames should not sit too high on the face. Avoid large frames, heavy nose bridges, bold colours and square shapes.

Colour is one of the most fun choices when picking your glasses. It is probably the single most critical factor in choosing your glasses as far as appearance matters.

There are two schools of thought when choosing glasses; either I really don’t want my glasses to notice very much, I am far more important than my glasses.

Or here are my glasses and I am behind them, if I am spending money on glasses, I want people to know I am wearing them.

A strategy for making the most of your glasses is to alternate your style of colour choice, one pair quiet, the next pair bold. That way people will notice your glasses and complement you on your new glasses. If you always stick with the same style people will be unsure if you have changed them and won’t risk mentioning them.

It is nice to be complimented on and you can make someone else’s day by complementing them.

If you want your glasses to be nearly invisible, then thin rimmed frames are best. The colours to go for are gentle pastel colours in plastic materials, or frames with a lot of clear plastic. Metal glasses, bronze or silver can be very effective with this strategy. Colouring that is mottled and broken like camouflage will let the frame seem more subtle.

If you want the frames to be noticed, then heavier thick frames are best. The colours to go for are solid colours in bright hard tones that really stand out, a strong pattern or jewelled inlays will also make them a feature.

Particular colours can look stunning with a favourite outfit, but you have to be careful if you only have a couple of pairs of glasses they will have togo with your whole wardrobe. If they only look great with one outfit and awful with everything else you will go off them very quickly.

Neutral colours for glasses that will go with most outfits are light brown or dark, (tortoiseshell), gold, silver, and surprisingly red. A lot of people shy away from red but on the face it is amazingly versatile. Be careful of pink it can be wonderful but it can look terrible.

The colours to be careful with are green and blue, with the right outfits you can look stunning, with the wrong outfit you will just look ill.

The younger you are the stronger colours you can generally get away with, for ladies over 65, you are likely to need a stronger colour. If you have preferred quieter tones you very often need a little more colour in the cheeks!

I would recommend colour me beautiful as a guide to selecting what is best for you, to help coordinate your whole wardrobe.

When choosing your new glasses. We have given sizes of frames as the total width of the frame across the front of the glasses from the widest point of the spectacle rim in millimetres.

Also we have given the total depth of the frame from the top outer edge of the frame to the bottom outer edge of the frame.

If you are an existing spectacle wearer you can measure your present glasses to give you an idea of how big the glasses are in comparison to your own ones.

It can be difficult judging sizes from photographs so we recommend you check the size, against an existing pair of your glasses.

We can provide lens tints in a range of depths.

A light tint is a 15% tint this is just enough to cut down light glare, out doors or could be used indoors when using a computer. You could drive at night with this level of tint. It is known a a cosmetic tint and just gives a hint of mystery to the eyes behind the glasses.

A medium tint is 50% This is a good general tint for a British summer you can wander the beach comfortable in these or drive during the day. They are too dark for night driving.

A dark tint is 65% tint this is good if you are going somewhere very bright where you know there is going to a lot of glare, or possibly the casino where you don’t want anyone to read your eyes at poker. You definitely can’t drive at night in these lenses.

Any of these tints can be done in either Brown or Grey.

Transitions (Photochromic)
If you want lenses that go dark in the sunshine or light indoors then these are the lenses for you. You won’t need sunglasses with these lenses. You can choose either Brown or Grey tinted lenses.

Standard Lenses
All our frames are supplied as standard with plastic lenses coated with a scratch resistant coating. These are excellent for a lot of prescriptions.

Polycarbonate lenses
For virtually indestructible lenses these are your first choice, you can hit these full force with a hammer and they wont break, ( they can still scratch though). They are also thinner and lighter than standard plastic lenses.

High Refractive Index
For very thin and light weight lenses, we can supply High Refractive Index material. These are higher technology and are very suitable for people with stronger prescriptions, if your lenses have been thick and heavy in the past then we would recommend these for a really comfortable pair of lenses. For people with a prescription that is greater than +3.00.

Aspheric lenses
For light weight lenses thin lens, these have been scientifically designed to create a wonderful lens that is a joy to wear. Modern computer technology is responsible for these lens design If you have a high power prescription (the sphere power is above +3.00 we would recommend them.

We will only supply prescriptions up to +6 Dioptres on the website, however if you email us we can discuss your requirements as we may be able to help you, but with higher power glasses the chances of not providing 100% satisfaction increase significantly, and we want you to be delighted by your new glasses.