Which Frame Colour to Choose: Skin Tone, Hair and Eyes

We often choose a frame for its shape. Its colour matters just as much: it decides whether your glasses melt into your face or bring it to life. Here is how to choose, without going wrong.

Two people can love exactly the same frame, and one will wear it beautifully while the other seems to have borrowed it. Shape plays a part, but colour does half the work. The good news: the choice follows a few simple principles, once you know where to look.

Colour is a matter of contrast

A frame that flatters you does not draw attention to itself first, it balances the whole face. It all comes down to contrast. A face with soft features and light colouring is best kept in nearby tones that accompany without hardening. A more contrasted face can, on the contrary, carry a bold frame without being overwhelmed. The idea is not to disappear, but to find the right dose.

Reading your undertone, warm or cool

Your undertone is the sub-tone of your skin, independent of how tanned you are. It is called warm when it leans golden, peach or olive, and cool when it leans pink or blue. A quick test: look at the veins on the inside of your wrist in daylight. Green, your undertone is rather warm. Blue or purple, it is rather cool. Warm skin tones love honey brown, tortoise, beige, gold, khaki green and terracotta. Cool skin tones answer to black, grey, blue, burgundy, powder pink and silver. It is not a law, it is a reliable starting point.

Matching the frame to your hair

Hair frames the face as much as the glasses do, so the two inevitably talk to each other. Dark hair carries strong frames, black or coloured, without imbalance. Light or blond hair often prefers softer shades, light tortoise, warm brown, pastel, which avoid the harshness of true black. Grey or white hair, finally, is lifted by blue, burgundy or a charcoal grey, all more flattering than a black that ages the features.

Playing with your eye colour

Your eyes are a detail you can spotlight. The principle is that of complementary colour: a frame that echoes or underlines the iris intensifies the gaze. A warm tone, amber, gold, terracotta, warms brown eyes and makes blue eyes stand out. A deep green or a burgundy wakes up green or hazel eyes. For a light gaze, simply avoid a frame so pale that it erases it.

Tortoise, translucent, bold colour: three families

Three broad families cover almost every need. Tortoise, that speckled brown born of acetate, is the most versatile: warm, discreet, it suits almost everyone and crosses the seasons. Translucent, clear or lightly tinted, lightens the face and disappears, perfect for a first bolder frame without the risk. Bold colour, blue, green, burgundy, terracotta, owns the choice: this is the frame that becomes a signature.

The right reflex: try them on in daylight

No theory replaces the mirror. Colours shift with the light, and a shade that looks perfect under a neon can fall flat in the sun. Always try near a window, in natural light, and compare two or three tones side by side rather than one alone. In a Maison Mata store, our advisers refine that choice with you, undertone, hair, eyes and way of life included.

The right colour is not the first thing you see, it quietly makes you look your best.