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Deciding how to frame your natural features with eyeglasses can require a little research. And if you don’t believe that, just think how many times you’ve seen someone wearing eyeglasses that look a little less ‘personal style’ and a little more ‘should’ve taken a friend along and listened to their honest opinion’. Yeah. Some people get their choice of eyeglasses all wrong. Before you think about investing in a new style (get it right with trendy orange glasses, for example), you need to understand face shape.
How many face shapes do you think exist in the world? Three? Five? More? The thing with face shape is that there has to be a cut off point somewhere – we’re all unique, and no two faces are exactly alike (even twins), but if we absolutely had to filter the global population of over 7.5 billion faces into a few general face shapes, we could conceivably come up with seven different groups:
- Oval
- Heart
- Round
- Oblong
- Square
- Triangle
- Diamond
Now, let’s look at the ideal eyeglasses for each face shape, so that the next time you are standing in front of the wall of options at the optician, you can make a faster and more informed decision.
- Oval
People with a balanced face, with a softly rounded oval outline, may benefit from an added degree of definition – try oversized solid frames to help frame your face.
- Heart
This face shape is wider at the top, with prominent cheekbones tapering to a narrow or pointed jaw/chin – try oval, rimless, or wider-at-the-top frames for a balanced shape.
- Round
Round faces do not necessarily lack features, but usually work well with some added definition – try sharper edged bold rims for a contoured effect (e.g. square glasses).
- Oblong
Oblong faces are noticeably longer than they are wide, with comparatively straighter cheek lines – try masculine bold square shapes or feminine upswept corners.
- Square
A broad forehead and a deep jawline create square face shapes that might benefit from shape-softening frames – try solid round, oval, or cat eye frames.
- Triangle
Triangle face shapes have a broad forehead that tapers to a pointed chin – try rimless rounded square styles that are wider at the top to add balance.
- Diamond
A narrowed bone structure at the eyeline and jawline with defined cheekbones creates a diamond face shape – give semi rimless oval frames a go to add definition at the brow.
If you are unsure as to your face shape, either because you think your bone structure straddles more than one face shape or simply because to your untrained eye you are unsure as to how to judge your face shape, you could try asking a friend, or you could try looking in the mirror and drawing the exaggerated outline of your face shape on paper – you may be surprised what comes out!