Sunnies are a summer essential so dress up your eyes by buying the right shades for your face shape.

Square face

Best style: Rimless frames or those that sweep upwards in the corners will emphasise your cheekbones. Oval frames will create balance.

Avoid: Narrow frames

Oval

Best styles: You’re the lucky ones – most shapes will work for you but try square, rectangular or geometric shapes or frames that are wider than the broadest part of your face.

Avoid: Oversized frames.

Round

Best styles: Angular and geometric frames will sharpen your facial features or try rectangular and horizontal styles to make your face look thinner.

Avoid: Small frames that are out of proportion or short frames

Oblong

Best styles: Tall frames that shorten the face; accented top rims or decorative edges to create width.

Avoid: anything small will look out of proportion and short frames will accentuate face length.

Heart shape

Best styles: bottom heavy frames that add width to the lower part of your face and oversize frames as long as they don’t draw attention to the forehead.

Avoid: Anything too top-heavy styles will draw attention upward and fussy temples will emphasise the broader part of your face.

Victoria Beckham is known for wearing huge sunnies - she’s almost never pictured without them!  Posh is making a fashion statement - but also a vote for commonsense as protecting your eyes is a good idea this summer.

Don’t let shopping for this year’s new pair of sunnies be a bad experience. Get prepared before you go on the hunt … the first thing to do is take a shot of yourself!

Use your smartphone to take a pic Study the outline of your face. Round, oval, square or heart-shaped? General rules apply - you’ll look better in sunnies that are the opposite of your face shape e.g. a round face looks better in more angular glasses, square faces look better in softer frames. If you have an oval face, then lucky you - almost any shape will suit.

Always buy UV protection sunnies Your eyes can be damaged by long-term exposure to UVR (so can small children - you see more wearing their sunnies now!). It’s generally accepted by eye experts that severe sunlight exposure will contribute to cataracts in later life. So …

Designer frames will cost you much more Manufacturers license brands like Prada, Versace or Dolce & Gabbana, and these licensing fees mean you pay much higher prices for the sunnies. Paying this premium is no guarantee of superior quality. Luxottica (Italian manufacturer, largest in the world) makes many designer frames and applies the same quality tests to its no-name products, which means you can get a great-looking pair at  less cost. Check out online prices - they are more often than not, cheaper.

Some frames last longer than others Plastic frames are less durable than metal and will fade. However, metal frames can cause allergic reactions and are heavier than plastic. Stainless steel (widely used) is hypoallergenic and comparatively cheap. Most expensive is titanium - lightweight, durable and hypoallergenic. 

Find sunglasses on Lasoo.

Some exciting news this morning - you can now shop online for gear from Surf Dive N Ski (also known as Jetty Surf in some states) through Lasoo.

In case you can’t tell, I don’t go surfing much (at all, ever), but you don’t have to be a surfie to find something to buy here. As well as swimwear and bikinis, you’ll also find clothing and swimwear for men and women, including sunglasses.

In fact, some of the dresses are quite cute and are really affordable too. The dress pictured here is a great casual option and is only $79.95.

Shop online for Surf Dive N Ski

By Caroline Warnes

Brightly coloured sunnies may not be widely considered to be the best investment piece in the world, but I beg to differ.

General fashion wisdom says that colourful sunnies date very quickly and if you are going to spend big dollars on designer sunglasses, you should invest in a classic colour and style, such as black.

However when I spied these sunnies from the new Emilio Pucci collection, I fell in love instantly. Mainly because of the colours, not in spite of them. That blue is my exact favourite shade, not to mention the splashes of the signature Pucci print around the arms?

Will they date quickly? Well, who knows. But look at it this way - these sunnies look like they’ve come straight from the Studio 54 era, and 30-plus years on, they still look great. But then again, with a recommended retail price of $550, you better be pretty sure you’re going to get some wear out of them before purchasing (I definitely would).

For stockist enquiries call 1800 251 025.

By Caroline Warnes

If you’re a wearer of designer sunglasses, I highly recommended checking out the website Otticanet.

I know many people consider designer sunglasses a royal waste of money, and I am on the fence about this one, however I do have to admit that designer sunglasses generally feel sturdier and slicker than your average petrol station pair.

Anyway that being said I do occasionally get an urge to buy a pair of ridiculously priced sunglasses and when I do, Otticanet is my number one stop.

The prices here are way less than what you’ll generally find in-store in Australia (unfortunately, designer goods in Australia do tend to be more expensive thanks to import taxes). Current season glasses are generally 20% off and you can also pick up previous season models for a very reasonable price.

I’m a big fan of Roberto Cavalli sunglasses and got my current pair from Otticanet last year for around $200.

Other designers featured on the site include Dior, Versace, Chloe, Gucci, Marc Jacobs - and just about every other big designer name.

By Caroline Warnes

July 2, 2008

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Oakley sunglasses and accessories were originally designed for world-class athletes, however recent collections have been veering more and more towards the fashion end of the spectrum as well.

While the majority of Oakley’s designs are still geared towards athletes - with prescription eyewear, googles and other accessories featuring heavily - the current women’s collection of sunglasses in particular are actually very wearable for non-athletes, too.

Called Uniquely Oakley, the current collection features styles inspired by the manufacturer’s female sport pros, who include snowboarders, mountain bikers and surfers.

Styles include Eternal, Belong, Ravishing and Betray, as well as my personal favourite, Breathless (pictured here).

Breathless is styled in lightweight C-5 alloy and acetate and looks great as well as being incredibly comfortable to wear.

Prices in the range start at $199.95.

By Caroline Warnes

It’s hard to believe it’s almost the end of the year again. The end of the year means several things, most of them good, including holidays, lots of sun and, of course, Christmas parties.

In all honesty, I don’t get invited to that many parties. Perhaps that makes me lucky because then I don’t have to struggle through the next day as often. When I attend functions with an open bar, I usually make the mistake of deciding it would be uneconomical of me not to overindulge. This makes it hard to do an honest day’s work the following day.

However over the fast few years I’ve found a few tricks that make the next day that much easier.

1. Berocca is a great way to replenish those essential B-vitamins that alcohol seems to suck out of you. I have one before I go to bed and when I get up, washed down with lots and lots of water. Vegemite is also fantastic for this purpose.

2. If you wake up late and don’t have time to give your hair a full wash, your best option is a dry shampoo for a quick freshen up. The best on the market is Klorane - simply spray it in your hair, comb through and you’re ready to go.

3. If you’re like me and you suffer from dark circles under your eyes when you are tired or dehydrated, a good concealer is a must. I love the Yves Saint Laurent Anti-Cerne concealer stick. You could also try the YSL Touche Eclat (Radiant Touch), which is actually a highlighter but does a fantastic job of freshening up your face.

4. To avoid that wan pallor of death look you can get when you’re tired and dehydrated, make sure you always have a facial bronzer on hand. I like the Natio Bronze Shimmer Palette. Best of all, it’s priced at under $20.

5. Sunglasses are a good idea for the day after a big night. The ones from the Cancer Council have all been designed to offer the required level of UV protection. This is important - fashion sunglasses don’t always offer the maximum protection.

Happy party season!

By Caroline Warnes

I try to remain open-minded about most fashion and beauty trends. However there are certain trends that have made a reappearance in recent times that I want absolutely no part of. Mainly because I saw them up close and personal the first time around.

1. Ray-Ban Wayfarers

I know a lot of people loved their Ray-Ban Wayfarers the first time around back in the 1980s. In fact, some people loved them so much that they didn’t realise they went out of fashion for a good 20 years. However I am going to go out on a limb here and say that Wayfarers don’t suit approximately 90 percent of the population.

Lately we’ve seen them on everyone from the Olsen twins to Sienna Miller as well as your average fashion plate on the street. However no matter which celebrities try to tell me that Wayfarers are cool again, you will not catch me wearing them.

You see, everytime I think of Wayfarers, I think of Tom Cruise prancing around the house in his underwear in Risky Business and I cringe. I just can’t get that association out of my head. Add that to the fact that the shape of the glasses is unflattering on most faces and to me you have a no-go zone for most of us.

2. Head-to-toe fluoro

I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who was slightly confused to hear that fluoro clothing (yet another 80s throwback) is making a comeback. Weren’t we making fun of that sort of thing fairly recently? Well at least I know I was.

The trend started in the summer 2007 collections with the likes of Christopher Kane and now has trickled down to most chain stores to the point where it’s impossible to hit your local Westfield sans sunglasses. Well, that might be a slight exaggeration, but there’s still an awful lot of fluoro clothing going around.

For me, even a little bit of fluoro is too much.

3. High-waisted jeans

Moving onto making fun of clothes from another era: let’s talk high-waisted jeans. I don’t have much to say on this trend except that if even Kate Moss can’t make something look good, chances are nobody can.

I prefer mid-rise jeans for most body shapes: they’re high enough to cover everything that should be covered when you sit down and low enough to give your armpits some breathing room.

4. Grunge

Ah yes, anyone who came of age in the 80s or 90s is sure to remember the era of grunge dressing. In my world of mid-1990s Sydney it came watered down as flannel shirts, scuffed sneakers and corduroy pants, preferably unwashed. After all, who had time to do a load of washing with all that angst and pain to suffer. If you went to see a band play you might even get lucky and see some hipster wearing a tu-tu and knee-high stripey socks.

While this trend hasn’t come back overwhelmingly we have seen whispers of it in some recent collections, particularly at New York Spring Fashion Week earlier this year (Marc Jacobs is a repeat offender). Personally, I’m hoping the whole thing stays back in the 90s, where it belongs.

5. Doc Martens

Well, really Doc Martens are an extension of the grunge factor. Back in the day every grunge fanatic and their dog had a pair of these heavy boots, modelled on army all-terrain boots.

I was a bit scared to hear from friends in the UK that Doc Martens are becoming popular again. This gives me bad memories of clunking around in my first pair of Docs back at highschool on a summer day and nearly dying of heatstroke. It wasn’t until a few years later that I realised how ridiculous I probably looked.

In fact I would be quite happy if I never saw a pair of Doc Martens again!

By Caroline Warnes