Choose glasses that balance your face shape and compliment your skin tone

Choosing glasses is as important as choosing your make-up in that you need to take account of your dominant colour characteristics and your style personality as well as considering the shape and proportions of your face. Style consultants can offer advice on all aspects of this issue.

The ideal frame size is one that balances your face and is proportionate to your features. Get your style consultant to advise if in doubt, but ideally, the top of your frame should be even with your eyebrows whilst the base of your glasses should not go too far down your cheeks, which can have the very undesirable effect of making your face look ‘droopy’.

Nowadays there is a wonderful array of fashionable frame colours. However, if you are only choosing one pair of glasses then they should be in a good neutral colour. Glasses and frames can be very expensive so for everyday use try to choose a mid-tone neutral colour such as grey, tortoiseshell or olive which will suit most skin colours.

Frames need to either contrast or complement the shape of your face. For example, if you have a round face then opting for round glasses would be very uninteresting and give the wrong image but by choosing square or rectangular styles with frames that are slightly wider than your face will give definition and help to balance your rounder face. If you have a square or rectangular shaped face, rounded or oval styles that are lightweight with softened edges are best for you. You should be careful to avoid large shapes that emphasize the angles of your face. To widen a narrow face, rectangular or round frames are ideal since they will add width.

Consideration should also be given to whether your eyes are wide or close set. If wide, then choose strong, dark bridges which will help to give the illusion of bringing your eyes together, if you have close-set eyes then opt for clear or narrow bridges which will lighten your face and make your eyes appear wider.

If you have a longish nose choose a low or dark bridge to shorten the nose but if you have a short nose then a high or clear bridge is the better option since it will make a small nose look longer.

The choices for sunglasses is endless and it can be great fun choosing a pair in an unusual metal design or a fun colour as long as it suits your style and colouring. However, if you need to invest in a prescription pair of sunglasses then a neutral frame colour is probably better so that they blend well with all your summertime outfits.

Caroline Husbands is a Senior Style Consultant with Colour Me Beautiful, Europe's leading Image Consultancy. Services available include a full image makeover, style advice and make-up lessons.