Face Shape Guide for Sunglasses

Designer sunglasses are made specifically to suit an individual face shape, hair colour and skin tone. The designers' world is all about subtle colour and shape changes that elevate a basic shape into something quite stunning and desirable. A great example is the ever-popular aviator shaped sunglasses. This deep based lens looks heavy and dominating on most faces until you replace the solid lens tint with a gradient tint. Instantly the lens looks softer and less imposing. Such a subtle change is one of many features will are going to cover below to ensure you bag that perfect pair!

1. What is a face shape?

First, let's talk about what a face shape is. So, your face shape is as obvious as it sounds. The shape of your face.

The proportions of your face change what shape your face is. Your forehead might be wider than your jawline, or they could be the same width. This is going to change the imaginary shape you can draw within your face.

It is really important to not feel self-conscious about your face shape. It isn't something to worry about. What is important, is to understand what face shape you have, so you can choose your sunglasses better. Why? Well, let's talk about that now.

2. Why is knowing your face shape important?

Have you ever looked at someone wearing sunglasses and thought, "they don't look quite right"? We sure have.

Well, this is normally where the person has gone for a style they love, but one that doesn't match their face shape. Therefore, this accentuates parts of the face they'd benefit from softening.

For example, you might have a square face. Therefore, you want rounder shapes and softer angles in your sunglasses. This balances out your face shape. If you go for something like an aviator, this will pull your face shape down and those sunglasses might not look as if they suit you.

3. How do you know the shape of your face?

So, how do you figure out what face shape you have?

The answer is, with a little bit of deliberation. A lot of the time, it isn't obvious. It might take a little time.

First, you want to see your face front on. So either stand in front of a mirror or just take a selfie (we find this one so much easier).

Then, look at your face in that photo, or mirror. Look at the top of your forehead, the side of your forehead, your cheekbones, your jawline and your chin. How do these seem to connect?

You face will fit into a round, oval, square, heart or triangle shape. Sometimes you may have a mixture of two. But, mostly, you'll have one distinct face shape.

Face Shape Cheat Sheet

Wide cheekbones: If your cheekbones are the widest part of your face, you probably have a round face.

Wide Forehead: If your forehead the widest part of your face, you probably have an oval face.

Strong Jawline: If you have a really strong jawline, your face shape is probably square.

Jawline comes to a point: If your jawline comes to a point then you probably have a heart shape.

Use this as a starting point. We will delve deeper into this in our next section!

After looking, and thinking you have finally got your answer, it is probably best to ask friends and/or family for their opinions too. It might take drawing on the photo you take (or the mirror) to get a better idea of what shape your face is.

4. What Face Shape do I have? And, what sunglasses suit my face shape?

Ok, so now we are probably at the part that you really want to read. The part we put everything together and work out what shape sunglasses you should choose.

We will go into each face shape and state the characteristics and expand on our cheat sheet. This should help you really nail down your initial thoughts. We will also let you know what shape sunglasses will really compliment your face.

Choosing sunglasses for round faces should be fun and not a chore. Most styles should suit your face. As your face is on the shorter side, try and avoid sunglasses too oversized as these may just appear too large.

A good tip is to choose styles with sharp and angular lines. This is great for a round face as typically a round face has very soft features. Coupling with harsh lines in a dark pair of rectangular sunglasses will help compliment your face and enhance your features.

Shop: Oval, Rectangular, Sports and Square shapes.

Triangle

Triangle faces pose a struggle for many when choosing sunglasses. But, not to fear we have you covered!

Features:

Widest at the jaw
Narrower forehead than jaw

With a heart-shaped face, you want to do the complete opposite than a triangular face above. You want to aim to enhance the lower part of your face where it gets narrower. Look bottom heavy.

An Aviator is perfect for this as they're bottom heavy. Persol Sunglasses are really good at this with their aviator styles as these are less teardrop shaped like Ray-Ban aviators. Instead, they're rounded, giving a bottom-heavy look.

Shop: Aviator, Oval, Rectangular, Sheild, Sport, Square and Wrap shapes.

Square

A square face shape is really easy to see from the jawline. Luckily too, your have a lot of sunglasses styles to be able to choose from that will look amazing with your square face shape.

Features:

Sharp Jawline
Wide Jawline
Minimal Curves
Like and angular round face shape
Forehead, Cheekbones and Jaw are the same widths.

Square faces match a lot of sunglasses shapes. It can be tough if you're guessing. But armed with our tips, you should find it easy to grab yourself that perfect pair.

Square faces are angular with a strong jawline (you lucky devil). But, that means you need to choose your sunglasses wisely. Look for styles that balance out your naturally angular features.

Look for softer shapes, like a round style for example. Or, if you are looking at an angular style, like an aviator or a rectangular shape, look for thin frames. This should balance out your face and compliment your face shape perfectly.

Shop: Aviator, Cat Eye, Oval, Rectangular, Round and Sport shapes.

Overview

We sure hope that our Face Shape guide has given you the confidence to make some strong choices that get you sunglasses that suit you faster than trying on every pair in the shop.

Figuring out your face shape is the hardest part. Shopping afterwards is the easy and fun bit. Try keep that in mind when you're debating if you have a round face or a heart shape for half an hour with yourself/friend/family.

Always remember that at Discounted Sunglasses you can shop by shape under the gender you're buying for. This will ensure your shopping for the right sunglasses for your face shape.

In addition, we offer free returns to UK customers on all orders. So, feel free to pick up a few styles. See what you like and which sunglasses suit your face shape the best. Then, send us back the unlucky pairs for a full refund, free of charge. That simple.