Make up and glasses don’t mix right? No way! Doing your make up in a creative style goes hand in hand with the individuality and flare that glasses can bring. In our opinion, if your make up is a work of art, if you choose the right glasses, they can act as a fabulous frame to accentuate it!
However, that isn’t to say that matching your make up with your glasses is always an easy task – especially if you haven’t worn glasses all of your life. Getting used to the adjustments you may need to make to counteract the effect of your lenses can be a real learning curve.
One of our customers, the stunning Stacie Anne Dilkes, picture here wearing her Retropeepers Betty cateyes in graduated black often wows us with her flawless make up on her selfie shots and as a recent wearer of glasses, she has also had to learn how to adapt her make up to compliment her new specs. She said, “I'm very new to wearing glasses and I was so worried that all the colour work I put into my make up would be lost.
I was totally wrong. Because I like using bold colours and regularly wear a big old wing for my eyeliner, I found my Betty frames actually accentuated the wing and didn't hinder the view of the colours I used. I chose graduated frames because these also helped accentuate my more vintage styled make up. My eyes are my favourite feature and thankfully, I didn't lose any of the love I have for them after I've created a colourful scape in my eyelids.”
It is certainly great to see that wearing glasses doesn’t mean that you have to keep your make up plain and simple. But to help you on your way, here are some other tips to ensure that you are giving your finest face and your look is specs-tacular.
Foundation frustration
If, like me, lockdown has been playing havoc with your skin, you may be tempted to layer on the foundation a bit thicker to cover up those troublesome breakouts or give yourself a bit of a glow. Three words: don’t do it. Seasoned glasses wearers will feel the frustration of the dents and scuffs that glasses leave on places like the bridge of the nose, when there is too much foundation. The simple fact is that the more foundation there is, the more noticeable the red marks will be. Instead, think less is more. Once you have applied your foundation to the rest of your face, just use the leftovers to apply to the nose, giving a lighter look. Remember, you can always touch up with some concealer afterwards if you are worried about the coverage. What is more, too much foundation will make your glasses slide about and the constant pushing them back up will make the finish patchy anyway.
Annoyingly, if you suffer from dark shadows under your eye area, glasses can sometimes exacerbate this as they can highlight extra shadows and magnify creasing under the eye. Never fear! Light reflecting concealer can help with this, so blend it in with your normal concealer to brighten up these areas.
Getting down to brow business
I am sure you will agree, brows can make or break a look. But making sure your brows and your frames aren’t fighting for attention can be a tricky business. If your frames are thin and more delicate, then your brows will stand out, so making sure that they are well groomed is a must. However, if you are into thicker frames or cat eye shapes, these will take the focus away from your eyes anyway so don’t waste too much time on them. One of the toughest things about wearing glasses is getting used to how much lenses can magnify the eye area, so sometimes, the odd stray hair can look a lot worse when you have your glasses on. Having a pair of tweezers handy will certainly help with keeping your brows looking beautiful.
Enchanting eyeshadow
For glasses wearers, eyeshadow can be a bit of a scary prospect. There is the worry that colours will clash with the hue of your frames or that a favourite look will seem too over the top when it is fighting for attention with a pair of glasses. Perhaps the biggest struggle is when lenses are magnifying things to much; to avoid looking bug-eyed go for a smoky eye with a dark liner. But if your glasses make your eyes look smaller as they zoom out, a nude colour shadow can help to widen them, like a pale brown or champagne.
Liners can also help balance a lens problem. A cat eye flick will help widen the eyes, as will a pale colour in the waterline, whereas for a magnified lens, keep the liner dark to accentuate the shape of the eyes. The thickness of your liner can also be matched to a frame with a chunkier liner looking great with a wide statement frame.
Many of us enjoy the look that false lashes or semi-permanent eyelash extensions can give us. However, long lashes hitting a glasses frame can be uncomfortable and downright annoying. Why not just the curl the lashes instead? Like extensions, it will really open up the eye and will hopefully avoid your waterproof mascara smearing all over the lenses.
Of course, make up is all about experimentation and having fun so if you fancy pairing your statement frames with bold make up, go for it! Fashion has no rules, and we know you will look fabulous! Be sure to tag us in your pics!
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