SpecFitWhat colour glasses suit me?
Frame colour is not about the colours you like wearing. It is about the colour of your skin. The right frame blends with your undertone and lets people look at your face. The wrong one is the first thing they notice.
Undertone is not skin colour
Two people with the same skin colour can have different undertones. Undertone is the colour underneath: the yellow-to-pink balance that stays the same whether you are pale or tanned. There are three.
| Undertone | What it looks like |
|---|---|
| Warm | A yellow, golden, or peach base |
| Cool | A pink, red, or blue base |
| Neutral | Neither one dominates |
Two ways to check
The wrist test. In daylight, look at the veins inside your wrist. Green suggests warm. Blue or purple suggests cool. If you cannot decide, you are probably neutral.
The jewellery test. Hold gold against your face, then silver. One of them makes your skin look healthy. The other makes it look tired or washed out. The flattering one matches your undertone.
Warm undertone: gold, tortoise, brown, olive
These finishes carry the same yellow base your skin does, so the frame reads as part of you. Tortoiseshell is the most reliable of them, because it contains several warm tones at once.
Cool undertone: silver, black, grey, navy
Cool skin takes cool metals and true blacks without a fight. Compare the silver aviator above with the gold one at the top of this page. Same shape, same size, completely different effect on a face.
Neutral undertone: most things work
If neither test gave you a clear answer, you are neutral, and this is the easy case. Almost every finish sits acceptably on neutral skin. Choose on shape and on style instead, and let contrast be your tie-breaker.
Contrast is the second dial
Undertone tells you which family of colours to shop. Contrast tells you how bold to go. Contrast is the gap between your skin and your hair and brows.
- High contrast (dark hair, fair skin, or strong brows) carries a bold frame. Black and dark tortoise look deliberate rather than heavy.
- Low contrast (fair hair and fair skin, or an even overall tone) is easier to overwhelm. Clear, gold, silver, and light tortoise keep the balance.
This is why "black suits everyone" is not quite true. Black suits cool undertones and high contrast. On low-contrast colouring it can take over the face.
Every classic colour has both versions
This is the part most people miss. You do not have to give up tortoiseshell because you are cool-toned. You have to pick the cool version of it.
| Family | Warm version | Cool version |
|---|---|---|
| Gold | Yellow gold | Rose gold, white gold |
| Silver | Brushed pewter | Bright silver |
| Tortoise | Honey or golden base | Grey or ash base |
The two-frame test
Take two frames of similar shape and size, one warm and one cool. Hold each to your face and ask three questions, in this order.
- Which one is quieter?
- Which one matches your skin better?
- Which one do you notice before you notice your face?
You want the quiet one. A frame that wins the third question is the wrong frame. Good frame colour supports a face. It does not compete with one.
SpecFit reads your undertone from the scan
SpecFit works both of these out for you. It samples the skin at your cheeks and reads the yellow-to-pink balance for undertone, then measures the gap between your skin and your brow line for contrast. Both run on your phone, and both are deterministic, so the same photo always gives the same answer.
Two things worth knowing about how we treat it. Under bad lighting the app returns nothing instead of guessing, because a blown-out or very dark photo cannot carry colour truth. And colour is the lowest-weighted part of a fit score, so the app phrases it as a read, never a rule. Width and shape decide whether a frame fits. Colour decides how it looks once it does.
SpecFit reads your undertone and renders both warm and cool versions on your photo. SpecFit reads your undertone free from one scan, then renders any frame photorealistically on your real photo, so you can compare the warm and the cool version side by side.
Questions
Can I wear black glasses with any skin tone?
Black suits cool undertones most easily, and it suits anyone with high contrast. On low-contrast colouring a heavy black acetate can overpower the face. A softer black, tortoise, or clear is usually kinder.
Does hair colour change which frames suit me?
It changes your contrast, not your undertone. Going much lighter or darker moves you along the contrast scale, so the same undertone may suit a bolder or a softer frame than before.
What if the shape I want only comes in the wrong colour?
Fit first. A frame that fits your face in a slightly off colour beats a perfect colour in the wrong size. Read the fit checklist for what "fits" actually means.