Selecting frames for my next pair of glasses

I'm due to have my eyes tested at Specsavers by the end of the year. At the moment my general vision with the current glasses remains good, but I'm having growing problems with reading and laptop work, so a fresh eye test and a lens upgrade will be needed. I like varifocal lenses. With varifocals, I can wear the same glasses all the time I'm awake. That's highly convenient - I don't want to be switching between glasses for different purposes. 

The frames I wear are made of metal with a raspberry tint and I bought them from Specsavers in 2018. They have been re-lensed twice already. It's a style they called 'Raina'. They are comfortable and have served me well. But they are not deep enough (by which I mean wide enough from top to bottom) to allow a decent section in the lower half for seeing anything close up. It's getting hard to tilt my head so that I can get fine print into proper focus. This is the Raina frames' only fault: I still love them otherwise. 

They are of course part of my look, and a change of frames will mean that I look different. It's something to be approached with care. It's essential that the frames are not only perfect for my usage, they must also suit my face. I have an oval face, and oval frames suit me best, not square or angular frames. And if I must have larger lenses for better close-up vision, then round frames will be the next best thing for me. 

I had a bit of fun with my local friends at my 74th birthday lunch recently. We tried on each others' glasses. It was a lesson in which frames not to wear!

So this is me in my own glasses with the oval 'Raina' frames from 2018:

This is me in Sue's rather striking dark tortoiseshell glasses:

Next up, me in Valerie's glasses:

And now in Avril's, which had such a super-strong prescription that it was an effort to look through the lenses - hence my pop-eyed appearance! 

Nevertheless, I thought that round glasses like this, but with lighter-coloured or thinner frames, would be the way to go. The others agreed. 

I'm completely satisfied with my nearby Specsavers branch in Burgess Hill. When the time comes, perhaps in December, possibly late November, I will book an appointment with them, have my eye test plus OCT scan and whatever else they include, and see what they have in this kind of style. My target cost for new frames with new varifocal lenses will be around £350. I never bother with having a second pair. Nor prescription sunglasses. Nor light-reactive lenses (which would interfere with my photography). But I will need to look into polarising lenses that fit over the new, larger frames, for when I'm driving. 

Meanwhile I've been looking at what Specsavers currently offer by way of round frames, and these have caught my eye:

Those two styles above would be the front runners, were I getting new frames right now.

There are also 'cat's eye' styles. Back in 2018, before I settled on the oval 'Raina' frames, I tried out (but rejected, which Specsavers allowed without fuss) these frames by Comfit called 'Silvia':

I thought they were too large, and affected my look too radically, but now I'm not sure. This is what my contemporary notes on them said: 

I was...taken with the Comfit range of glasses, finding one pair of frames, very slender and in a reddish purple, that looked good and felt very comfortable; Silvia, product code 30689909. I hadn’t even considered them online. With the same lens options as last time, and a welcome 25% age discount, they cost me £216.00. We made a forward appointment for 9.30am on 2018 1017, a week ahead, to collect them.

2018 1017 9.30am

Collected my new specs. They were a perfect fit, and needed no adjustment. They were also very comfortable. But within hours I was having second thoughts about them. They looked good - Jackie and Jo saw them, and thought them fab - but they were too definite and assertive for my liking. They were the specs of someone who wanted to be boss. They robbed my face of softness and approachability. I decided to go back to Specsavers next morning, and ask for alternative frames (Raina), which were the same as my old frames but in silver/pink instead of gold.

Looking at the photos now, I don't think I would dismiss the 'Silvia' frames so quickly. Of course you can't really decide just from a photograph. You need to try them on. 

Well, at least some preliminary research has been done. I'll leave a final decision to later in the year.