What it is: Kate Spade Glenda and Cecilia Readers

Retail price: $68 and $72

Designer’s site: Kate Spade

Where I got them: Rue La La

Rue La La is an online private flash sale designer boutique, and participation in their fabulous sales is by invitation only. Click the link above to gain free access to the site or visit our Flash Sale Access Codes Cover Story to find free invitation codes to several flash sale boutiques, courtesy of Style & Angst.

The list of “oddities” about me physically is a long one (I often end up being a “science experiment” at the local medical center after my physician mumbles something to the effect of, “Hmm, never seen THAT before”), and my eyesight, or lack thereof, is no exception.  I am extremely nearsighted.  By “extremely” I mean practically blind, my vision is 20/500 or something around there, it’s terrible.  That being said however, even at the age of 51 I can see up close extremely well, and to read (or work, for that matter) I simply remove the glasses I usually wear around the house and studio.  The problem comes when I *do* leave the house because I never do that in glasses, my vanity requires that I only make public appearances wearing contacts.  So where does the “oddity” come in?  I am so incredibly nearsighted that when I am wearing my contacts they correct my nearsighted vision so much that they make me farsighted, and I can’t read a damn thing when I’m wearing them (especially a menu in a fine dining establishment, which is pretty much the only reason you’d get me to leave my sanctuary in the first place).  Soooo…. when I am trying to avoid wearing glasses, I have to wear reading glasses.  Story of my life.

So what does a gurl do when she wants to fashionably peruse a menu with her dramatically “corrected” eyes?  She finds a gorgeous pair of readers designed by Kate Spade of course!  I have lots of readers in all sorts of colors, shapes and sizes but these two are without a doubt my absolute favs.  I keep the divine snake-printed Glenda design in the dressing room for those last minute post-contact insertion makeup touches and carry the sturdier floral Cecilia with me in their adorable “Kate Spade Green” glass case. Both designs are just fab and they do the job they are meant to do very well.

While I couldn’t find the exact two designs anywhere for a significant discount, I actually found *better* versions of them at Endless (in fact, I think I’ll be adding to my collection)!  Go to Endless and search for “Kate Spade snake frame” and click the link for “Kate Spade Spade 02 Reader” to find a Kate Spade design very similar to my Glendas in PURPLE SNAKE (among other designs, but who needs other designs when PURPLE SNAKE is available?)  Then search for “Kate Spade Katerina” to find my Cecilia design in sun readers in both brown and black! I didn’t even know there was such a thing as sun readers!  How cool is that? Simply must have a pair of those.  Or two.

What it is: Rock & Republic ‘Mirage’ Sunglasses

Retail price: $275

Designer’s site: Rock & Republic

Where I got them: Rue La La

Rue La La is an online private sale designer boutique, and participation in their fabulous sales is by invitation only. Click the link above to gain free access to the site courtesy of Style & Angst, or visit our You are Cordially Invited Cover Story to read our boutique review.

What I think:  From the color, to the style to the fit, I absolutely LOVE these shades!  They are an unusual color (a very elegant design of deep olive green stripes in transparent dark sage) that I happen to look great in (I know… why couldn’t more interesting colors like lavender or fuchsia or even electric blue be “my” colors?  Noooo… I get chocolate brown, black and olive green).  They fit my head great and stay put.  They sort of wrap a bit, so they are great at blocking out the sun, which is especially important for we nocturnal-types (BRIGHT LIGHT, BRIGHT LIGHT)!  They also pass two very important tests.  The first is the “Cheek Test.”   I have very high cheek-boned pudgy cheeks, and I HATE it when my sunglasses rest on them if I’m not smiling.  These don’t (they ALL rest on them when I am smiling). The other test is the “Hair Test.”  For some reason I usually look much better in sunglasses with my hair down but these I like even with my hair in an updo.  They came in a great embossed silver case with a black, flocked interior.  A lens cleaning cloth was also included.  Definitely a great find and not my only pair of R&Rs, so I am thus far happy with the consistency of their quality  (watch for a review of my other pair coming soon).  Because I was slow at writing this review it may be hard to find this particular style anywhere, but Amazon generally has a lot of great Rock & Republic sunglasses available at prices reasonable  enough to start a collection!

What it is: Valentino Sunglasses 5561/Smoke and Red

Retail price: $315

Designer’s site: Valentino

Where I got them:  Somewhere online, it was more than a day ago so I obviously can’t possibly remember.

What I think: Not my absolute favorite pair of sunglasses but I do really, really like them. They are the currently trendy huge size and the cutouts on the side are pretty kewl. I don’t think the crystal and Siam red rhinestones at the temples are Swarovski (and if you know LongLocks, you know how I feel about Swarovski), but that may be because they are all pavé set, which may be affecting the sparkle factor a bit (and if you know LongLocks, you know I feel about sparkle factor). I think this is the only thing that keeps me from giving these a four-star rating. I do love the gradient smoke to red frame. They came with a red (of course) to-die-for Valentino hard case and their own cleaning cloth. Very well made in Italy. If you’d like your own pair of Valentino shades, check out FORZIERI.com. They often have several pairs of Valentinos in stock, and their prices are better than most. It’s a beautiful site to peruse even if you aren’t shopping!

What it is: Marc by Marc Jacobs Sunglasses

Retail price: $108.00

Designer’s site: Marc Jacobs

Where I got them: Rue La La

Rue La La is an online private sale designer boutique, and participation in their fabulous sales is by invitation only. Click the link above to gain free access to the site courtesy of Style & Angst, or visit our You are Cordially Invited Cover Story to read our boutique review

What I think: These currently are my favorite pair of sunglasses. Simple elegant lines, not too flashy, and I love the way they are made to fit your noggin’. And they’re black. You can never go wrong with black shades. They came with a black velvet hard case with “Marc by Marc Jacobs” burned into it. I don’t think they came with a dust cloth, if they did, I’ve put it somewhere other than in the case.

Amazon often has Marc Jacobs sunglasses for fabulous prices.