You’ve found them—the perfect glasses. You love the shape of the frame, the size of the lenses, and the overall fit feels just right. But there’s one more decision to make: what frame color should you choose?
Though often a matter of preference, what if there was a practical way to narrow down the colors that complement your features? In this guide, we’ll break down how to choose an eyeglass frame color based on your undertone, skin tone, hair color, and eye color.
How to Identify Your Undertone
A good place to start when choosing a frame color is identifying your skin’s undertone—the subtle hue beneath the surface of your skin. Undertones generally fall into one of three categories: warm, cool, or neutral. Here’s a quick guide to help you identify yours:
Warm: Warm undertones may appear peachy, golden, yellow, or bronze. The veins beneath your skin may appear greener, and gold-toned jewelry may complement your features.
Cool: Cool undertones may appear pink, red, or bluish. Your veins will look more blue or purple, and silver-toned jewelry may complement your features.
Neutral: Neutral undertones display a true balance of warm and cool hues. Your veins may appear blue-green, and both gold and silver jewelry tend to complement your features.
Pro tip: neutral undertones can take on a multitude of frame colors, often resulting in a wider selection to choose from.
Choosing Frame Colors Based on Your Undertone
Knowing your skin’s undertone is the foundational step to being able to narrow down the best frame colors to consider against your features. This starting point will give you a baseline of frame colors to consider.
Warm Undertones
Warm undertones tend to pair naturally with gold metals and earthy hues. Consider brown, tortoise, deep orange, vibrant red, autumn yellow, or olive green frames.
Cool Undertones
Cool undertones tend to pair well with silver metals and hues that lean toward blue or gray. Try navy blue, matte gray, mauve, or purple to complement your cool undertone.
Neutral Undertones
Neutral undertones are complemented by both cool and warm hues. Black, tortoise, and clear frames are timeless and wearable for most any undertone. If you want to branch out from the basics, try burgundy, teal, or our signature Jean Blue.
How to Incorporate Skin Tone and Hair Color
Your skin’s undertone gives you a starting point, but your actual skin tone and hair color can help you fine-tune your choice. This is where contrast comes into play.
Simply put, contrast is how much a frame color stands out from your natural complexion. You can choose a frame that blends more closely with your features for a subtle look or go with a color that creates more contrast for a frame that stands out.
For example, if you have dark brown or black hair and fair skin with a cool undertone, black or blue frames will create more contrast against your features. A lighter shade, such as champagne or light blue, will create less contrast.
Similarly, if you have a medium complexion with warm undertones and brown hair, bright red frames can create a higher-contrast look, while a warm-toned tortoise can create a more subtle transition between your coloring and your frames.
If you have dark skin with a neutral undertone, you can achieve a high contrast look with white, gold, or emerald frames or achieve a more subtle look with tortoise or violet frames.
Your undertone can help narrow down the color families to explore, while your skin tone and hair color can help you decide how much contrast you want your frames to create.
Let Your Eye Color Be the Finishing Touch
If you’re teetering between two or more frame colors, your eye color can be the deciding factor.
Blue Eyes → navy, blue, gray, brown, tortoise, burgundy, copper, clear
Green Eyes → brown, tortoise, emerald, camo
Hazel Eyes → tortoise, green, bronze, violet, honey, amber
Brown Eyes → brown, tortoise, black, green, navy, burgundy
Gray Eyes → gray, black, blue, navy, green, clear
Express Yourself: Putting it All Together
Choosing a frame color doesn’t have to be complicated. Start by narrowing down the color families that may complement your natural undertone. Then, consider your skin tone and hair color to decide how much contrast you’re aiming for. If you’re still deciding between a few options, let your eye color be the tie breaker.
And remember, these are guidelines—not rules. If you like a color, wear it. The goal is simply to make the process of choosing a frame easier, so you can feel confident in the color you choose.
Pro tip: when shopping at cliceyewear.com, you can filter your results by color on the left side menu to shop your favorite hues!
