Your Tinted Lenses Are More Than Just A Fashion Statement

What’s your flavor? One of the best parts of getting a new pair of sunglasses is choosing tinted lenses that reflect your awesome style.

There’s something exciting about picking out a new pair of sunglasses. They seem to shout, “Summer!” or “Vacation!” They feel like less of a functional purchase and more like a fashion statement, a way to treat yourself. But there’s one large mistake a lot of people make when choosing a new pair of shades.

Those tinted lenses on your new sunglasses do a lot more than just make you look cooler.

Your lense tint alters the way you see the world around you. Many people feel that their sunglasses make things look too dull or lifeless – alternatively they may find the vibrant color they picked makes everything brighter or cartoonish.

You spend a lot of time thinking about the shape and style of your glasses, how they feel when you wear them and how they make you look. But don’t forget about how comfortable they are on your eyes, or whether or not the lenses you’re about to choose are actually designed to be used in the way you intend.

In this post, we’re doing to take a deep dive into different lense tints, what they’re designed for, and what you can do to rock your best style while still enjoying the full function of your lenses.

Getting A Few Key Terms Out Of The Way

While this is a post on tinted lenses, it’s worth knocking out a few key terms you might come across when purchasing a new pair of sunglasses.

Polarized Tinted Lenses

Polarized Lenses are what we’re focussing on in this article. Polarized Lenses are Permanently Tinted Lenses. Unlike standard tinting, Polarized Lenses help reduce reflected glare as well

Photochromic Lenses

Most commonly referred to as Transition Lenses, these lenses start clear and darken under direct UV sunlight

Gradient Tints

Combines a dark and light tint in a single lense – Dark tint on top helps to protect from harsh light while a lighter tint on the bottom allows for clearer visibility in lower lighting as well

Mirrored Lenses

This is a purely cosmetic upgrade. Mirrored Lenses prevent others from seeing your eyes behind your lenses

Anti UVA/UVB Lense Coating

Sunglasses are about more than just making you look cool on the beach, they should also be used to help protect your eyes from harmful UV light. Long-term exposure to our eyes of UV light can cause serious damage. Coating your lenses with UV protection is a great proactive measure

The Difference Between Lense Categories

Before we dive into Lense Color, we should touch briefly on “Lense Categories”. This determines how much light is absorbed by the lense – in other words, how dark or light objects will appear when wearing your sunglasses.

The Difference Between Lense Color

There are two primary considerations when choosing a lense color: Weather Conditions and Activity

Don’t worry, you can still add the cool factor back into the equation after you’ve narrowed down your choices a little. The last thing you want to do is spend your hard-earned money on some sweet designer frames you bought for your vacation and they end up hurting your eyes!

Gray Lenses

This is the most common lense tint, and for a good reason. Gray lenses are the most versatile of all lense tints. They don’t alter your color perception and tend to show things in the most true to life way. Gray Lenses are great in all weather except for snowy conditions, useful for most activities, and help reduce eye fatigue.

Green Lenses

Staying on point with great all around glasses, Green Lenses allow the same great visibility without any significant color distortion as Gray Lenses. These are excellent for any weather condition and any outdoor activity. Want a universally useful lense with a little bit of flare? Green is the way to go!

Yellow Lenses

These lenses are actually pretty neat. Yellow Lenses block out blue light which gives them some very interesting features. By filtering out blue light, Yellow Lenses help bring objects into sharp focus, making them particularly useful for active sports like biking, hiking, tennis, shooting, and driving. They’re even useful for helping to reduce fatigue caused by blue light from computer screens.

That said, these lenses are best for low-light conditions.

Brown Lenses

Brown Lenses are usually the second most popular choice. And not just because Brad Pitt seems to love them. These are also a fairly diverse lense tint.

Because Brown Lenses also filter out blue light, they can cause a little color distortion, but enhance contrast making them useful for a variety of purposes and weather conditions including bright and low light situations.

Blue Lenses

Ah, yes – Blue Lenses. Most people buy these tinted lenses because they look cool. Blue Lenses are very good for what they’re intended for, but are not your best choice for that day at the beach.

Blue Lenses are great for enhancing colors and contours and are best suited for snowy or foggy conditions. That said, it’s no surprise that when it comes to practical use, these are best suited for spectator sports, golf and skiing.

Interesting Fact:

Because they’re soothing to the eye, they’ve also been proven to help a percentage of patients with epilepsy reduce their episodes.

Pink/Red Lenses

While Pink and Red Lenses are most typically associated with women’s sunglasses, they’re actually quite versatile and go far beyond their aesthetic appeal. Pink and Red Lenses are great for enhancing contrast and visual depth, and are well suited for most bright weather conditions, including snowy weather – making them ideal for cyclists, drivers and skiers. They do look awesome and are perfect for a sunny day at the beach.

Your Takeaway:

All things said, you’re welcome to choose whichever tinted lense that speaks out to you. However, in our experience, many people make their choices purely based on how cool they look or how well they coordinate with certain fashion choices, and are often left to “just deal” with the discomfort tinted lenses place on their eyes.

With so many choices available, it makes sense to invest in a pair of sunglasses that look great and will also function in the way that you intend to use them.

We hope you found this article helpful! Leave us your thoughts in the comment section below 🙂