Spectacle wearers unite

[julesjam]

Help me feel better about having to be a glasses-wearer again! Up until recently I would wear contacts about 80% of the time but now I've got a recurring dry eye thing and have been 'downgraded' to occasional lens wear only.

I've got terrible eyesight and have worn glasses for years but I'm still feeling a bit about giving up regular lens wear.

So I need to remember what's great about glasses! And also figure out the best way to put on make up without actually pressing my face against the mirror to see what I'm doing. And also HOW MUCH make up to put on?? More? Less?? I would usually wear less/hardly any on a glasses day, but 'borderline zombie' is not a great look for work

[OneLittleLady]

eye make up is the real question, are you long or short sighted? that makes a difference you see

I am a spectacle wearer too, I love my glasses, I don't feel like I look right without them.

[MurderOfGoths]

You can get some beautiful glasses nowadays, if you treat them as a fashion accessory it helps a lot. I actually get more compliments when I wear my glasses than when I don't now.

[Shlurpbop]

Get good Lenses! I'm an optician and I hate it when patients pick a really expensive frame and then go for the cheapest lens option - high index, coated lenses really make huge difference cosmetically, as well as making them lighter, better vision etc.

[julesjam]

I'm really rather short-sighted (-6 and -7) with astigmatism. Which means I usually order quite thin lenses Shlurpbop which are also £££! So although I'd love to chop and change frames, that's an expensive habit! But good advice, I usually only pay attention to the thickness of the lens, and not really the index/coating. Is there any way for someone of my prescription to get a cheap-ish new pair of specs?

I do quite like the nerd/hipster-type frames but I worry I'd buy a pair, then they'd fall out of fashion and it would be too expensive to change them again!

Thankfully I have a nice pair of frames just now - but I know I'll get bored if I'm now having to wear them all the time...

[OneLittleLady]

if you're short sighted, you want more eye make up not less. lenses for short sightedness don't exaggerate the eye like those for long sightedness. That's my findings anyway (I'm short sighted -2 in one eye and -3 in the other with astigmatism in both eyes plus I have reading glasses at +2.50 both eyes with a prism on one lens) there are plenty of cheaper online glasses websites, you just have to search around and do a few measurements for them. To be honest though, with your prescription, I'd stick to a store you can actually go into and be measured at.

[CMOTDibbler]

I'm much the same prescription as OP, but with astigmatism and mega prisms. Life long glasses only wearer.

I think you need a good bit of eye makeup as otherwise your eyes get lost. I use shadow as eyeliner on top and bottom lids.

Can't afford more than distance and near glasses (for I am that age) every 2 or 3 years as the lenses are so ££££. Too scared to try online buying with my manky eyes

[AmberNectarine]

I'm very short sighted (double figures in both eyes) and like you I suffer from dry eyes so only wear contacts for nights out etc. I wear my glasses every day to work. I go for the thinnest lenses but they are still the best part of a cm at the edge (I know)

As a result I tend to emphasise my lips, not my eyes!

[OneLittleLady]

CMOT I am NOT that age yet, I got my near glasses at age 23 because my eyes are just ballsed. I have no peripheral vision either

[lifesgreatquestions]

Glasses are great! I love mine. At the moment they are dark grey, boxy nerdy things. I've worn glasses since I was a kid minus a short lived stint with contacts. My tip with frame colour is to think of it like buying foundation, if you have red undertones then you balance it out with yellow-based colours and if you have yellow undertones you perk it up with rosier tints. My skin is rosier so choosing a cooler grey sits well and isn't too matchy-matchy - IMO the last thing you want with glasses is for them to blend in to your face.

And as for getting bored. I do have a few pairs but I find that I stick to one for most days, another for sport and a third for very random moments as they're a little too bold for my comfort!

[fossil971]

I'm shortsighted -4.5 and for make-up I have one of those bathroom magnifiying mirrors on a stand on the dressing table so I can peer at very close quarters to do my eyes. I think you need more make up with shortsighted glasses. I've recently changed to some dark/big "geek" glasses and definitely needed to beef up the eye liner.

[carrielou2007]

I have worn contact lenses from age 15 my glasses alreadt gave ultra light abd think zeis (so??) lenses which are still blooming thick! I was -9.5 and -14.5 until a detached retina in my good eye has meant solid glasses wesribg for a year only makeup I can see to put on is lipstick can't see to pluck my eyebrows. So I'm in the club too

[gaggiagirl]

May I share this site with you //glasses2you.co.uk upload your photo and try the virtual mirror. I've used the site to buy my glasses for the past 3 years. My current faves were only £18. Im -4.5 and -4.

[capsium]

Glasses are great. They hide all the wrinkles!

I would second the Glasses2you site, gaggia. You can go crazy at those prices and order a few pairs. These (internet opticians) are what has allowed me to have far more pairs of glasses and be a bit more adventurous fashion wise.

[Gutted123]

I hated glasses (teased mercilessly about NHS frames in school), abandoned them the day I left school, walked around in a blurry haze for a year, got contacts for learning to drive, eventually got lasered and now wear a very low prescription pair of supermarket glasses for reading and...... I love them. Weird. I think they look cool on the top of my head and enjoy sweeping them off to read stuff when I'm out and about.

I like to imagine they make me look intelligent.

[CMOTDibbler]

OneLittleLady - sorry if I upset you there. The near glasses thing upset me as somehow, in my head, I'd always thought I'd get less shortsighted at 40 rather than age changes making my sight worse overall.
At 18 I had a stylish stick on prism for a couple of years which really added to the geek look

[OneLittleLady]

Oh, I'm not upset, please don't worry I just have the worst vision and it's a PITA! I currently have a stick on prism so am really rocking geek chic! They can't seem to decide whether to give me a prism full time or perform surgery

[CMOTDibbler]

Those stick on prisms are a pita. Do they make them big enough for adult lenses now? Mine were always too small

[OneLittleLady]

CMOT when they did mine, the stick on prism thing was massive and they cut it to the size of my lens.

[Floisme]

[runs to join thread] I love, love love my glasses. I wore contact lenses until I was in my 40s, at which point I had a baby, was too knackered to put them in every day and drifted back to specs. Now I get giddy with excitement when it's time to choose a new pair. The older I get, the more I appreciate them as they deflect attention from wrinkles, jowls and all the other horrors that are befalling my face.

I would look for a really helpful optician who doesn't mind ordering frames in for you, if you have seen something you like online. At the moment I'm really into Face a Face: //www.faceaface-paris.com/#home_page?prt=0&chd=0&id=1&lang=ENG&lang=ENG
They're expensive but I think it's worth spending as much as you can possibly afford because you will wear them every waking moment. Think about colour too and don't get black 'because it goes with everything' - unless of course black really suits you. I like cats eye shaped frames because they kind of lift my cheekbones.

My eyes look smaller in glasses so I wear more eye make up than I used to. I look better with lipstick on too.

[Floisme]

Just doing that Face a Face link again. This should take you straight to the frames which are lush:
//www.faceaface-paris.com/#opticals?prt=0&chd=1&id=4&lang=ENG

[Bunbaker]

I have been short sighted since the age of nine and hate not being able to see properly. Swimming is a nightmare because I don't wear glasses in the pool, and I can't see very far.

The only advantage of being very short sighted is that I now take my glasses off to read small print.

CMOTDibbler have you tried varifocals? They are brilliant.

[Floisme]

Bunbaker there is another advantage of being short sighted - when I take off my glasses, I can't see myself properly in the mirror any more and I look just great

[Bunbaker]

Yes Floisme I have no wrinkles

[capsium]

I advise doing the house works sans lunettes.

What cobwebs?