Bravado Living

Ever wonder why girls wear those giant bug-eye sunglasses? It’s because sunglasses make you look like a rockstar. They instantly upgrade your image, hide squinty eyes, and give you an effortless cool that just can’t be replicated shadeless. Unfortunately for men, we can’t just buy the biggest sunglasses we can afford, attempt to hide half our faces, and expect to graduate on the 1-10 scale (we’re on to you ladies).

So what’s the secret? Well, first you should be buying sunglasses that frame your face. Here are the most common facial structures. See which category you fall into.

Square

You have a broad forehead, strong jawline, and square chin.

Oval

You have high cheekbones, narrow chin, and a rounded forehead.

You have a long face- more narrow than it is wide, tall forehead, longer nose, high cheekbones.

Round

The width and length are roughly the same. You have round features, a soft jawline, and full cheeks.

Triangle

You have a wide forehead and narrow chin.

Diamond

You have high cheekbones, slightly narrower forehead, and a narrow chin and jawline.

You may already have an idea of which category you fall into but we want you to go look at yourself in the mirror anyway and notice your features, facial structure, and general shape of your face. This isn’t something you can just imagine and guess, you really have to go look in the mirror and make an honest assessment. Just like hearing your voice recorded for the first time, you will realize you look (or sound) a lot different then you think you do in your head.

Ok now that you know the shape of your face, we will help you pick which sunglasses look best for your face.

Square

Most “professionals” will tell you that need to pick a pair of round sunglasses like cat eyes to counterbalance the hard angles of your face. Personally, we think this is a big mistake. Women love angles, why would you want to minimize or hide them? If you have a square face, pick up a pair of aviators.

We personally like the kinds that have the rounded bottoms because they are more masculine then the square, usually plastic, versions ubiquitous in women’s magazines.

Oval

This style of face is very versatile because it has elements of several different facial structures. Regardless, we love the classic RayBan Wayfarer on this face. It’s a throwback to the 80′s that let’s people know that you mean business, but you probably play guitar for an indy band at a dive bar on the weekends. You eclectic son of a gun.

Oblong

Tear drop aviators. These type of aviators droop down your cheek and, well, resemble a tear drop. This helps add width to the face and eliminate the proportional disparity. Feel free to get some aviators with contrasting or plastic temples because those also width to your face. Don’t be tempted by square frames as these will elongate your forehead. Stick with some classic pilot aviators, and you’ll never look back.

Round

Now while the oblong face needs sunglasses to add width, you need your sunglasses to make your face longer. The best way to do this is with sunglasses with very prominent temples and brow bars. Double brow bars, top-rimmed sunglasses, and mirror finish lenses all accomplish the same effect. Rectangle lenses also work best on you, but make sure the rectangles are not too narrow as this will have the opposite effect desired.

Triangle

If you have a triangle face, you need to strengthen your jawline. Sunglasses with a very prominent lens will accomplish this for you. Strong rimmed sunglasses, or large rectangular lenses will help angle your jawline and take the point out of your chin. Look for large rectangular aviators, metal frames with rimless bottoms, and frames with a straight top line.

Diamond

This facial style is very similar to the triangle in terms of needs, but needs to be careful not to accentuate the already prominent cheekbones. Fortunately, like square faces, rectangular aviators with rounded frames will help to accomplish this objective.

A few final words of advice:

• Stick to black, silver, or brown frames
• Stick to black, brown, or mirror tinted lenses
• No white frames. Douchebag.
• No wearing them inside. Period.
• Don’t buy sunglasses without trying them on first

If you follow this advice you should be looking like a rockstar in no time.

Good Luck and Happy Hunting.

-The Haute Spot