Friday 12 June 2015

In which I finally get over my issues with spectacles.


You know what trend I hate? Wearing glasses when you don't actually need them. I LOATHE it. Those hipsters with their lens-less spectacles and great hair don't know they're born. They haven't EARNED it. They've never had to endure knocking their specs off their bedside table in the middle of the night and waking up in a (literal) blind panic. Or having to incorporate major guess work as a teenager on whether or not the boys in the swimming pool with them were remotely cute. Or sacrificing their £5 a week pocket money at age 14 to show their parents they were serious about wanting contact lenses.

I resent it for all those reasons, but mostly I resent it because I have the worst vision of anyone else I know and have never found a pair of glasses that suit me in the 25 years I've needed them. IT ISN'T FAIR.



When you're as blind as me, glasses get expensive. My last pair were around £500, and have lasted me around 7 years. They're horrible. And I've been thinking lately that maybe I should try and get some better ones, some ones that are vaguely stylish and that I wouldn't refuse to go outside in. I basically just want to look like Jessica Day, which is a pretty impossible request, but the girl can rock a pair of glasses (even if she clearly doesn't need them).

When Glasses Direct got in touch, I thought this was my chance to finally find a pair of glasses that I LIKED. I took advantage of their home trial and ordered a few pairs to try on. Originally, I was hoping that going for a big, nerdy pair might be the way forward - you know, embracing the fact that glasses don't suit me by going for a novelty size. Turns out that they REALLY don't suit me. Here are my awkward photos (it's been nearly a year since my last outfit post - I'm very out of practise):


The home trial is a really good idea. It gives you a chance to order 4 pairs of frames at a time, for free, and keep them for 7 days to decide which you like best. You can do as many home trials as you like (I did two, but only photographed the first - basically I'd tried the entire London Retro range by the end!).

I chose the Jubilee frames in black, got my prescription from my optician and was slightly horrified at how much higher it was than my contact lens prescription (because glasses are further away from your eyes - makes sense, actually). But we're talking double figures here.


Sadly, it was then that I found out that Glasses Direct have a limit of -8 or +8 for their lenses and I was way over that. So they were unable to fulfil my prescription, although sent me the lovely frames for me to fill at a later date.

Most people will be within that limit though - I'm pretty rare. I'm yet to meet someone who can beat my prescription! I was also really surprised by the cost. If I'd bought the glasses myself at the maximum prescription, paying extra for thinning my lenses the maximum amount, it would have cost £136 (or £248 if I'd added a second pair). A far cry from the £500 I'd paid before - really good value.

And what's more, I genuinely love the frames. I actually feel like a normal human in them, rather than someone who people stare and point at when I wear them outside (I have issues about glasses, we've covered this). I even posted a selfie in them, which shows I'm serious.

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6 comments

  1. I'm with you! I hated wearing glasses and still even now having made peace with them I still only wear them when I create 'a look' with them.

    Victoria
    FlorenceandMary.com

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  2. I adore wearing my glasses nowadays and spend forever hunting down pretty new frames. These look so perfect on you! And I so hear you on the knocking-glasses-off-the-bedside-table thing. Ultimate panic, but not so much as being a klutz and knowing them off your own face on public transport and hopelessly feeling around grim floors for them. Yup.

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  3. These really suit you - the Piccadilly frames look great too. I still feel really self conscious wearing glasses but need to get used to it around new people so that they just think its normal and don't notice and then maybe I'll be ok! x
    LilyLipstick

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  4. They really suit you! Completely relate with the whole glasses thing too, I hated wearing mine as a teen, still not overly fond of wearing them but I do think that picking frames you really love makes such a difference. I used to always pick frames which I thought were quite 'subtle' and not noticable (if that makes sense) but last time I picked a thick rimmed bold frame and I like them so much more! I even got a compliment of 'you look like you are proud to wear glasses now' which was nice seeing as I never liked the way I looked wearing glasses before.
    Lovely post, really enjoyed reading it :D
    Zoe xx

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  5. I'm with you - I'm -10.75 in one eye and -9.something in the other. So blind that even the government has gone "wow, we'd better help you out a bit. Here's £12 off your glasses on us". Thanks lads.

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  6. These glasses look ace on you and they really do suit you! I have a pretty weak prescription so have never tried contacts but picking out the frames is definitely the best bit of wearing glasses!!

    Maria xxx

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