The Italians are rather frond of the colour blue for some reason.

The very latest addition to their celebrity status sunglasses collection is the Persol ‘Capri’. These sunglasses are every bit what you would expect from the Italian brand and maintain the same high quality workmanship and design detail that they have become synonymous for.

The ‘Capri’ collection of sunglasses pay homage to the Isle of Capri, based in the Italian province of Naples. The Capri sunglasses collection captures everything that is beautiful and majestic about the Italian Isle, particularly the modern and contemporary architecture of the Casa Malaparte, a famous Villa on the Isle which is home to one of the most iconic rooftop patios in the world (see where I’m going here?..thought so). Persol have managed to encapsulate the sleek and cool look of the iconic rooftop patio into the design of the frame by implementing some clever detail onto the end of the frames arms. Even the famous Persol arrow on the hinge of the arms has been styled on the Casa Malapartes perimeter shape.

The good people over at eyewearbrands.com are currently selling these happening sunshades for a bargain £170. That’s just under half the price you would expect to pay in a high street store!

These frame are also made using high grade materials to ensure quality workmanship and build, typical of Jai Kudo.Some of our favourite pieces from the podium glasses eye-wear collection include the ‘Alice’ and ‘Marlowe’  models which so look to me like a Women’s and Men’s version of the classic Ray Ban ‘Clubmaster’, only with more style and orginalty.

With the fashion trend pointing towards a retro styled era, we should expect to see more vintage styled frames being released by most of the big fashion eyewear deigners, over the next few months.

You can currently buy theses Podium glasses, retro styled frames online from the prescription lens experts Online Glasses Direct. They are currently offerin all frames in the collection at a very special introductory price including free delivery and free premium single vision lenses.

One of the main reasons why many people prefer to shop for cheap spectacles is that they need a second pair of glasses, just in case their main pair should break. If you only require your glasses for either reading or distance then buying a cheap back-up pair is always a good idea as they will get you by until your main pair are either fixed or replaced. There are many retailers who sell budget prescription glasses but some of the best deals can be found on the internet. This is largely due to the fact that most online retailers can afford to be very competitive with their prices compared to that of most high street retailers. Most ‘online only’ retailers operate with very little cost as they have no Opticians salary to pay, due to the fact that are not in the business of conducting eye tests, and their building rent is generally much lower than that of a high street retailer. But just because they operate online does not mean that they have a lower standard of practice when it comes to making your cheap spectacles.

Every online prescription glasses retailer in the UK has to adhere to the regulations as set out by the UK’s General Optical Council (GOC). So even if you buy some cheap spectacles online, they will have to be made to exactly the same standards as pair of glasses that have been purchased from a high street optician. Also, every prescription lens optical lab in the UK must have a qualified dispensing optician on the premises so that they can check and sign out every pair of prescription glasses before they are shipped to the customer. So you see, just because you might have taken the decision to buy a cheap pair of glasses online, doesn’t mean to say that you are more likely to suffer problems with them compared with buying them from your local optician. The only thing you might want to consider, if you are buying cheap spectacles, is making sure that you go with a reputable online retailer. You should already have all the necessary tools available in order to source the right company to do this; Google and consumer forums. Or you might want to take a look at some of the online prescription glasses websites that our forum members recommend.

So exactly how does one go about getting their own frame fitted with new spectacle lenses online The reglaze process is fairly straight forward and is almost certain to end up saving you a vast amount of money. You simply send your frame into the the online retailer and they do all the work at their prescription glazing lab. Once the lenses have been fitted, they simply send the updated spectacles back to you with your new prescription lenses fitted. But just how much can you save? Well, that ll depends on what type of lenses you require. For instance, someone with a fairly straight forward prescription, who only needs them for reading, could save around a third of what they would pay on the high street. Where as someone who needs varifocal spectacle lenses can actually save up to half of what a high street opticians would charge. Below are some price comparisons:-

UVA and UVB – How dangerous are they?

For the eyes, it’s the UVA and UVB rays that are the most damaging, when left exposed without the protection of prescription sunglasses. These two dangerous forms of UV can also cause a condition known as ‘photokeratitis’ which can happen when your eyes have been exposed to UV radiation combined with cold wind and snowy conditions. Photokeratitis causes an inflammation of the cornea but it rarely causes any permanent to the eyes. The symptoms are redness and irritation of the eyes and some people complain of experiencing temporary light sensitivity. Just remember, the next time you venture outdoors in the snow, on a bright day, without a pair of prescription sunglasses, you are probably doing your eyes more damage than you realise.

Buying prescription sunglasses online?

People, who require prescription sunglasses but choose not to wear them, over a long period of time, can also suffer from early cataract or, even worse, permanent damage to the retina. Any damage to your retina is normally irreversible so this is something you want to avoid at all costs. Buying a pair of prescription sunglasses to protect your eyes need not cost the earth. These days there are numerous online glasses retailers who offer these for less than £50. As always, just make sure that before you purchase anything, you do your homework on the company you are going to use. Try to avoid retailers based outside of the EU as they may have different regulations on the amount of  UV protection your lenses should have, in accordance with EU regulations. Don’t forget, even if you find an online glasses supplier that has a frame style to suite your requirements, but the price is a couple of pounds over your budget, it will be one of the wisest investments you are ever likely to make. After all, you simply cannot put a price on your vision can you?

3D glasses by Colours of Birch

Pekka Salokannel, a Finnish designer, came up with the idea when shooting off ideas for  his latest eyewear collection, ‘Titanic’. All his products are designed in Finland and printed in the Netherlands. Could this be the future of eye wear manufacturing? I think not, but what an exciting and innovative collection of frames these truly are. So come on, take of those moody 3D cinema glasses and grab yourself a pair of genuine 3D specks!

Frame Choice

If you have recently been advised by your Optician that your prescription requirements and lifestyle would suit Varifocal glasses then the ‘Varilux’ range of lenses are something you should consider especially of you are watching the pennies. Don’t be put off by other people telling you that you need a large, hideous frame to be able to accommodate these lenses as that has all changed since Essilor updated the design of their varifocal range. In fact recently Essilor have re-designed their complete range, in terms of the physics of the lenses, enabling them to be fitted into much smaller frames then ever before but still keeping the performance of the lenses to a maximum.  You can know have designer varifocal glasses, without the worry of adaption, in a fairly shallow frame if that is what you require. If you are already a wearer of varifocal lenses then the best place to buy these lenses is on the Internet as you can save up to around half price on these lenses if you ‘Google’ around. Over the next few Weeks we will be reviewing some of the best varifocal glasses lenses available on the market so watch this space..