When people choose reading glasses, they spend most of the time focusing on the frame. Would the angular frames suit the shape of their face? Would aviator glasses make the face look wider or longer?

Most people rarely agonize over the color of their reading glasses. After all, what is there to agonize about? Choosing colors is instinctive. And the reason for this is simple. Color reveals your personality. The color you choose for a particular moment subtly exposes the current state of your emotions.

However, with reading glasses, colors cannot be changed at will. Unless you have several reading glasses with different styles, designs, and colors, the color of the reading glasses’ frames will be at odds with that facet of your personality that is dominant for the day. Therefore, one of the things you should carefully consider in choosing reading glasses, reader glasses, and sun readers, is the color of the frames and the lenses.

The importance of your hair, eye, and skin colors

Similar to the clothing colors that compliment you, the colors of your eye glasses make a tremendous difference in accenting the attractiveness of your face. Take a look at your eye color, hair color, and skin color, and these elements should play a role in establishing which base of colors are right for your eye glasses’ frames.

Skin Color

Every individual typically falls into two categories of skin color: cool or warm. If you have a cool complexion, the undertones of your skin color are pink or blue, while a warm complexion has undertones of yellow and peach. If you have olive-toned skin, this is considered a cool tone, as this coloration is a mixture of blues and yellows. 60% of the American population typically falls into the cool tones category.

Eye Color

The color of your eyes is also an important consideration in choosing the right reading glasses, but it is a secondary element to your skin. Again, you want to determine if your eyes fall within the cool or warm palate.

Hair Color

The third and final element to consider is your hair color. Again, similar to your eyes and skin, you must determine if your hair color falls within the cool or warm categories. Typically, platinum, strawberry blond, white, salt-and-pepper, and light brown hair are considered cool. Black, dark brown, red, and golden blond hair categorized as warm colors.

Complimentary colors for warm and cool tones

Once you have ascertained if you are predominantly a cool or warm tone, then it is time to choose between the colors that would compliment you best. If you have warm undertones, then some of the colors that would look best for your reading glasses’ frames would be ivory, apple red, warm blue, light tortoise, khaki, tan, gold, coral, and peach. For cool tones, the ideal colors include black, rose, blue-gray, hot pink, light pink, jade green, violet, blue, and dark tortoise.

Consider your professional appearance

When you are choosing the colors of your reading glasses’ frames, you should also give consideration to your professional endeavors. As color can play a large role in exuding your presence, you want to ensure that your eye glasses are giving off the appropriate image.

If you are in a competitive, professional field, where capturing people’s attention and respect is very important, then you may want to choose stronger colors, as these can give you a greater sense of authority. Good color choices would be red, black, or navy blue, as well as dark brown.

On the other hand, if you are in a “helping” industry,or a profession that requires significant one-on-one communication, then consider choosing softer colors, which can foster a level of trust. In addition, softer colors do not create a psychological barrier between your clients and yourself. Good color options would be light gray, pink, brown, taupe, or green.

Adding style that suits you

Keep in mind that color is not the only way to express your personality! Reading glasses can be jazzed-up with adornments such as rhinestones, laser etchings, and patterns. But nothing bespeaks good taste and sophistication stronger than a well-chosen base color of reading glasses that complements your eye, hair, and skin colors, as well as your professional endeavors.