What’s the sweet spot when it comes to sunglasses? It’s wearing a pair (or owning multiple pairs) that fit your face like a glove. They’re as complementary as your favorite LBD and make you feel like you could be mistaken for a celeb any minute. The sweet spot isn’t easy to come by, and there is some trial and error involved, but we’re here to cut through the overwhelming amount of information about matching the right pair of glasses to the right face shape. We’re giving it to you straight and easy with the perfect guide to sunglass styles and face shapes.
Your Sunglasses Sweet Spot: The Perfect Shades for your Gorgeous Face
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Aviators
These work especially well with oblong faces, ovals and squares. The reason being the width of the lenses and the round shape helps to balance out faces that lack petite or highly defined bone structure. Something to consider: If you have healthy, high cheeks, regardless of face shape, these will be uncomfortable to wear unless they're adjusted to sit as high on your nose as possible. These are best tested by trying on. There are many sizes and colors to pick from. Bigger sizes work with larger faces such as Angelina Jolie's. Smaller sizes will work better with smaller faces such as Jennifer Aniston's.
Stella McCartney Sunglasses, $250 at Net-a-Porter.
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Cat Eyes
Cat eye sunglasses are chic classics that are underutilized by today's street style fashionistas. They can be worn by a variety of face shapes: oval, heart, square and round. The upward angle at the top of the frame helps to create balance for soft features and draws the eye upward and away from a prominent chin; often a telltale sign of a pretty heart-shaped visage.
Elizabeth and James Sunglasses, $185 at Amazon.com.
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Wayfarers
Hopeless hipster trend or new classic? We think of these as the latter. And Ray-Ban by no means is the only brand that carries this useful shape for oval and round faces. The mixture of top-angles and bottom-roundness helps to balance out soft lines, just like the cat eye, but does so in a way that's less dramatic, more casual, and has an air of androgynous cool.
Ray-Ban Sunglasses, $129 at Piperlime.
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Oversized Round
There are two types of oversized glasses: round and square. Why oversized? Well, they're impossibly glamorous for one. And, they have a history of being the glasses of choice for the chicest movie stars in Hollywood history. If you've been paying attention thus far, you've probably gleaned that angular frames should be used with round faces, round frames should be used with angular faces, and overall, pairing opposites together is the name of the shape game. So, for an oversized round pair, you're looking at an ideal mate with square faces and long (oblong) faces.
Cole Haan Sunglasses, $78 at Endless.
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Oversized Square
This type of glasses looks divine with oblong and round faces. The big size will break up a long face and will balance out a less than perfectly defined jawline.
MICHAEL Michael Kors Sunglasses, $99 at Zappos.com.
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A Note About Color
Never before have wacky colors for sunglasses been more on trend. It simply has to be a consideration when shopping for the perfect pair(s). If you feel drawn to a color that goes beyond the basic black, brown, and tortoise shell, think about the undertone coloring of your skin. If you're cool-toned you need to wear cool-colored shades like those in the blue, gray, and silver families. Black is definitely your color too. If you're warm-toned, check out glasses in warm sunny yellows, golds, browns, and earthy greens.
Steve Madden Suglasses, $29.99 at Victoria's Secret.
