Welcome back to the Gentleman's Gazette!
Today's video is our second part of our series on eyeglasses in which we'll discuss how to
determine your face shape and skin tone, how to find the right glasses based on these factors,
and some considerations for buying.
One reminder before we jump in today, you can find the first part of our guide on eyeglasses
here in which we discussed a brief history of how glasses came to be and some different
types of eyeglasses that are considered classics in menswear.
So today let's talk about how to find the right glasses for you.
As we touched on briefly in the last video, there are some different considerations to
take into account when choosing eye glasses over sunglasses which we've talked about previously.
Unlike sunglasses which are typically only worn for short stretches of time, eye glasses
can be worn all day every day.
As you might imagine given this, finding the right pair of eyeglasses that suits your face
shape, your skin tone, and your own personal sense of style can take a little bit of trial
and error but it is possible.
Luckily, most of the same processes that go into choosing a pair of sunglasses also apply
to eyeglasses.
If you haven't done so already, you can check out our previous guides on sunglasses here.
In general, make sure to adjust your expectations to the fact that you'll be wearing eyeglasses
for longer stretches of time.
For example, aviator styles might look good as sunglasses but they might not work as all
day eyeglasses.
So how do we determine what style of eyeglasses is right for you?
Well, the first thing we should do is determine your face shape.
The shape of your frames must play well with the shape of your face and as you might imagine,
a pair of frames that looks good on one man might look completely out of place on another.
There are six basic face shapes that every man fits into, you're either square, round,
oblong, diamond, heart-shaped, or oval.
To find out what shape you are, you will need more than just a mirror.
Ideally, you'll also have handy a pencil and paper and someone to help you.
To begin the measuring process, we'll start at the
forehead measuring across from the widest point.
Remember, don't wrap the tape measure around the curvature of your head.
We're going to be measuring its dimensions as if it were a flat two-dimensional object
since that's essentially how it's going to be seen when people are looking at you.
The tape measure should only be touching one point on your head like a line tangent to
a circle.
Write down the number you measured for your forehead, it goes without saying that we'll
be writing down all of these numbers so you can compare them at the end of the measuring
process to determine your face shape.
Next, move downward to measure your cheekbones and then move downwards still to measure your
jaw line at its widest point.
Finally, measure the length of your face by taking the tape measure and placing it vertically,
first at the top of your forehead by your hairline and then down to the bottom of your
chin.
To determine which face shape you have, look at the numbers you've got and compare them
to the advice we're about to give for how to spot different face shapes.
First, we'll talk about oblong faces which in general are longer than they are wide.
For the most part, the measurements of your jawline, cheeks, and forehead will all be
fairly similar for an oblong face shape.
Smaller frames probably aren't going to do you justice instead you should be going for
a larger frame with some thickness to it.
Sharp angles and concise lines are going to add some definition to your soft facial features
and give you a more masculine look.
So in general, rectangular frames could be a particularly good choice for an oblong face.
Next, we'll talk about heart-shaped faces.
These are basically inverted triangles meaning that you have a smaller more pointed chin
in comparison to your cheek and forehead measurements which are wider and roughly about the same.
The best frames for you are going to be ones that even out your faces proportions so opt
for rimless or semi-rimless frames that are thinner in nature.
If you do want a little bit more thickness in your frame, focus on finding a frame that
points the attention downward toward the narrower part of your face at the chin.
Next, we'll talk about square face.
As you might well imagine, these are pretty much as long as they are wide and the edges
of your face are probably going to be mostly straight up and down or straight across.
In particular, at the jawline, you're probably going to notice concise sharp corners rather
than a more rounded gradual edge.
Since you have a distinctive and chiseled face with bold features, you're going to want
round frames that softened the appearance overall.
You should opt for a circular or generally rounded shape possibly with some frames that
have some variation in thickness at different points around the rim.
Next are oval faces which you can also think of as being roughly similar to the shape of
an egg.
Oval faces are typically longer than they are wide with a wider forehead a shorter jawline
and a chin that's typically more rounded.
In general, be happy!
Having an oval face means that you can wear almost any style of frame with ease.
If you are finding a frame that you don't think looks particularly good, it is possible
that you have a different face shape than an oval and you might want to measure again.
Next up are rounded faces which are also about as wide as they are long.
The difference between a rounded face and a square face is that a rounded face typically
has a narrower forehead and a narrower softer jawline.
To provide contrasting balance here, opt for something that's more geometrically shaped.
In particular, a rectangular frame will lengthen your face a little bit and make it appear
more like an oval shape.
Finally, we'll talk about diamond shaped faces.
If your face is widest at the cheekbones with a narrow forehead and a narrow jawline there's
a good chance that you have a diamond face shape.
With this shape, you want to focus on frames that complement your cheekbones but also provide
some balance overall.
Look for circular or rounded frames to offset the angles of your face and make sure that
they're on the narrower side so they don't elongate your face further at the cheekbones.
Now that you know what frames will complement your face shape, let's talk about finding
your skin tone to give you some ideas about color.
The easiest way to determine your skin tone is to look at the underside of your arm in
natural daylight, don't use artificial light because it might give you a false reading.
You're looking for two important factors here.
First is the overall lightness or darkness of your skin and second and perhaps more important
is the undertone.
There are three skin undertones; the first of these is warm which typically has a green,
yellow, or peachy golden undertone to it, conversely, a cool undertone appears slightly
bluish and the neutral undertone is what you have if you can't really see a particular
color or if you can't determine whether you're one or the other.
If you have light skin with cool undertones, that's another way of saying that your skin
will be light pink with a bluish undertone from your veins.
In this case, you should probably consider lighter colored frames perhaps in shades of
blue.
Darker frames will make a bolder statement but they might have the potential to be more
overpowering on your face.
If you have light skin with warm undertones, your skin will be golden or peachy and your
veins will give a greenish undertone.
In this case, you'll still want to consider lighter frames but they should be in tortoiseshell,
brown, amber, or green, for example, we can use me.
I have light skin with warm undertones and my glasses are amber with slight suggestions
of tortoiseshell patterning here and there.
Again, dark frames are going to make a bold statement in this case, so you can wear them
but exercise caution if you do.
If you have medium colored skin with cool undertones, your skin will generally be pink
and the undertones will be blue from your veins.
In this case, frames in medium to darker shades of red, green, blue, or brown, will probably
look good on you.
If you have darker skin with cool undertones, dark frames are going to work well for you,
black, dark Browns, gunmetal, or deep blues, would be good options.
For a more fashion-forward approach, you can experiment with lighter frames which are going
to give you a more high contrast look.
Finally, if you have darker skin with warm undertones, metal frames, dark Browns, cognacs,
and amber shades, are the ones that are going to work best for you.
Okay so we've established the shapes and colors that will look best for you but the question
still remains, what's the best way to buy a pair of glasses?
These days there's an active conversation going on about whether or not it's best to
buy prescription eyeglasses from an online retailer.
With the rise of game-changing brands like Warby Parker that are selling hip modern frames
with a user-friendly interface, the industry overall has evolved.
So here are a few pros and cons on whether or not you should buy in-store or online.
The biggest advantage to buying a pair of glasses in store is that the professional
staff there has been well trained.
They'll be able to assist you in all of the different elements of finding the right pair
including frames, lenses, coatings, and so on.
If you've bought a pair of glasses in-store, repairing or refitting broken or damaged glasses
is easier too.
You can just take them back to the same place you bought them and you can sometimes even
accomplish this same day which is pretty convenient.
There are a few cons to buying glasses in-store too, however.
The first of these is that the overall selection might be a little bit more limited.
You don't have a whole internet warehouse in front of you.
Optical stores are still businesses after all and therefore, they still have the same
profit motives as any other business.
They might try to sell you an overly expensive pair of glasses.
On a similar note, the pricing can lack transparency.
You might have to make a lot of decisions and choices before being told a price which
can make comparison shopping longer and more tedious.
Conversely, one of the biggest pluses to online shopping is that prices are more readily transparent.
Also, competition between these online retailers has resulted in prices being a lot more economical
for the consumer.
Generally, it's much easier to comparison shop between online retailers as you just
have to click through a couple of web pages rather than going store to store.
One of the biggest drawbacks to shopping online is that you won't have any direct interaction
with an optician or trained eyeglass fitter.
So if your glasses happen to get broken or imaged it may take longer to send them back
and get them refitted.
In conclusion, once you find a pair of glasses that are right for both your face shape and
your skin tone, they're going to suit your own individual personality and they will be
a great fashion statement.
As we said in the last video, glasses are something to experiment with and we hope you'll
have fun with them.
So now that you have all of our information on glasses what type do you plan to buy or
if you wear glasses already what kind are they?
Share with us in the comments below.
One more reminder, don't forget to subscribe to the channel so new videos will come right
to you and you can also check out our previous guides on sunglasses here.