|
What
shape is your face?
No, we're not asking
if your skin is oily or dry, blemished or smooth.
We're asking what shape your whole face creates.
Who cares? You should, if you want to look your
best.
The
face of your shape determines what kinds of
eyeglass frames will suit you best, and even
what kinds of hats or other accessories will
help you look fantastic (but
that's a subject for another day.) Above
you can see the most common face shapes.
Each has its distinct characteristics, and you
can do a lot to optimize it. Check
out the shapes below to see how the guidelines
change the face shape through good eyewear selection.
Oval
-- The most pleasing shape, since it's evenly
balanced. Cheeks are slightly
wider than forehead or chin areas, and cheekbones
are generally high. Optimizing:
Since this is a well-balanced shape, you
don't want to do anything to unbalance it.
Look for eyeglass frames that are not wider
than cheeks, and that don't over-emphasize your
eye area with heavy coloring or styling.
Round
-- If you have a round face, you know it!
Your cheek area
is rounded, your chin forms a broad "U" shape,
and your forehead is also rounded.
Optimizing: You
want to trick the person looking at you into
thinking you have a more oval face, so
you want to make your face appear longer and
narrower, using dramatic glass frames -- especially
those with high temples or detailing in that
area. Having the bows
of your glasses attach at mid-height or high
on the sides of the lenses will make your profile
look longer. Stay away from rounded shapes since
they just repeat what you have. Contrasting
shapes will break up the roundness.
Square --
Generally a short face, angular and evenly wide
from top to bottom. Chin and brow are
equally wide. Optimizing: You
need to break up the box formed by a square
face by inserting some different shapes.
Look for frames
that have emphasis at the top, and perhaps
some cut-away styling at the bottom, to
form a visual break in the angularity of your
face.
Triangular
-- This face has a narrow brow, but a wide jawline.
Optimizing: You want
to balance the width of your jaw with glasses
that extend out a bit from the width of the
top of your face. Look
for something that is not square across the
bottom, but angular. Keep
the focal point of the frame styling up above
your eyes.
Heart-shaped
(also known as Inverted Triangle) -- You
have the most difficult shape of face to dress
properly. Your brow and cheek regions
are wide, but your chin is narrow. Optimizing:
The hard part about this kind of face is that
the very area where your glasses go is the area
you want to emphasize less from a width standpoint.
Get
frames that do not extend beyond the sides of
your face, and with the decorative or color
weight at the bottom area of the frame.
This will bring the apparent weight of the frame
down, and help to balance your face.
Diamond
-- This is the rarest facial shape, with narrow
brow and chin areas, but wide cheeks.
Optimizing: You want to widen
your eye area gently with rounded
lens shapes and even invisible frames (or frames
with slight weight above eye level.)
Rectangular
-- This is a long, angular face, often with
a long nose as well. Optimizing:
The goal here is to break up the
harsh angularity of this shape by adding other
shapes and "breaks" for the person looking at
you, fooling them into not seeing the rectangle
but smaller shapes instead. Look
for rounded lenses, and lower bridge (to shorten
the nose). Contrasting details on the
temples or more visual weight at the top, lightening
toward the bottom, will help
break the rectangle into more pleasing sections.
Learn More: Check
out further style tips, as well as the latest
in active eyewear, jazzy styles and lens options
by
visiting this site. |
