Giveaway: London Retro Glasses
You may not be aware, but I am blessed with genetic short-sightedness - meaning that anything more than a foot in front of me is a blur, and without a visual aid I am preeetty much blind. Having been wearing glasses since sometime around my seventh birthday (it was during the Beanie Baby hype - I vividly remember clutching Rufus the dog throughout my first opticians appointment), I've worn a lot, and I mean a lot, of glasses. I'm sure it's no longer the case for the kids of 2014 but back in the day the dear old NHS didn't have much to offer by way of a children's glasses selection, and the choice was rather dire (I was a bit of a tomboy and hugely resented having to wear Barbie glasses and sport a Barbie carry-case). As a kid, it has to be said, I hated having to wear glasses. Not even the fact that Harry Potter wore them made them cool in my eyes (which is saying something). As soon as I hit my teens I ditched my glasses for contact lenses and felt like a new woman. However, during university I developed an eye condition which has made my eyes super sensitive. After weeks of waking up multiple mornings in a row with swollen, teary, red eyes (and being unable to wear my contacts/SEE) I made a reluctant visit to the opticians and was told that I needed to wear glasses every evening and for two full days a week. Basically wearing contacts everyday from 7am-11pm for five years is pretty bad for your eyes... Once again the high street presented me with little choice and no option for creativity and I ended up with a bog standard pair of frames which have rarely journeyed outside of my house.
I was recently contacted by Glasses Direct - an online eyewear retailer - and given the chance to try a pair of glasses from their London Retro range. As you can imagine I truly jumped for joy. Over the past few years I've gradually come to terms with the fact that glasses can be stylish and can actually look good (thanks to numerous fashion magazine subscriptions and bespectacled style bloggers). It still baffles me as to why people with perfect vision would want to wear non-corrective frames, but I'm getting there. I've been on the lookout for a new pair of glasses for a few months - this time with the objective of finding something that I actually like style-wise, and until now my search was proving fruitless.
Enter London Retro, whose vintage style frames positively ooze chic (who knew that glasses could be capable of such a thing??). I have to say I was spoilt for choice, but eventually narrowed my choice down to the Fitzrovia frames in Tortoiseshell - I've got a real thing for tortoiseshell right now and these are the perfect colour and pattern. The ordering process on Glasses Direct is super simple - all I had to do was enter my prescription details and pick my frames, and less than a week later my beautiful new glasses landed (safe and sound) upon my doorstep. I've always been a little sceptical of ordering such a thing as glasses online (I actually still struggle with buying shoes when I haven't tried them on), but my Glasses Direct experience was flawless. The prescription is perfect and the glasses fit beautifully - they are truly gorgeous as well. The warm tortoiseshell colouring gives a lovely vintage feel to the glasses, and the rounded frames have a slight cat-eye flick which is super pretty. I never though I would utter such adjectives in regards to a pair of glasses but hey, there's a first time for everything. And for the first time in my life I'm actually enjoying wearing glasses. I take my contacts out as soon as I get home, and if I'm not leaving the house I'll wear them all day - I've even been shopping in them...
I've teamed up with the lovely people over at Glasses Direct to offer one lucky reader a pair of London Retro glasses or sunglasses of their choice. Entry is via the Rafflecopter giveaway below and all you need to do to enter is 'Like' Glasses Direct Facebook page, follow me on Twitter, and comment below telling me which pair of glasses you would like to win (remember to leave your email). For extra entries you can follow my blog on Bloglovin, like That Grace Girl's Facebook page, follow me on Instagram, and tweet about the giveaway. The competition will run for exactly one month (ending at midnight on July 4th 2014), and is open to international entrants. The winner will be notified via email. If you're under the age of 18 please ask your parent/guardian for permission to enter.