Native Eyewear Women’s Sunglasses Review

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The Clara and Lulu frames are new Native Eyewear Women’s Sunglasses for Spring/Summer. Native Eyewear has kept up with the changing times and styles and now offers some fun options for active gals that want to combine function and fashion into their shades. The Lulu and Clara sunglasses are not simply male styled glasses that come in feminine colors. On the contrary, the Clara and Lulu are sized and shaped for a woman’s face, while offering some of the great technologies as their sportier and/or male counter parts.

For starters, the Lulu’s (photo above and below) have over-sized frames that are designed for a medium sized face shapes. These shades wrap around my s-medium, in between small and medium, sized face quite well and leave little room for refracting rays to enter at the temples or at the cheekbones. In addition, the lenses offer 100% UV protection and are polarized to cut out glare. I have to admit, it took awhile to get used to the over-sized frame style because I am quite often found stealing my husbands shades to hit the town. After numerous friends insisting that this is the style and that they are super cute, I was soon in love. For some, the ability to use shades as a headband or pushed up is almost as important as how the sunglasses perform (odd I know). Well, no need to fret; these shades sit comfortably on my head when not in use.

The Clara’s (photo below) are quite similar in construction to the Lulu’s. One of the major differences is their size, as the Clara’s are designed for smaller framed faces. These glasses have the stylish round lenses, yet they are not nearly as large as the Lulu’s. As a result, they do not offer quite as much coverage or protection from the sun as I can slide a finger width underneath the front and sides of these lenses.

The Clara’s and the Lulu’s feature Natives’ Single Snap-Back interchangeable lens system. Despite having only one set of lenses for these shades, I did find it quite easy to remove and reinsert the lenses. I personally don’t usually fuss with multiple lenses and rely on having a few different sunglasses options, but that is just my personal preference. You can buy different lenses via Native’s website for easy mixing and matching if you prefer to swap things out.

Both shades offer up a super comfy temple and nose pads that keep your glasses from slipping despite lots of sweat, even when mixed with sunscreen. I sometimes get a headache after wearing sunglasses for long periods of time (mostly from my Oakley’s) and this was not the case with either of these shades. Both feature eyebrow venting; because of the size of the Lulu’s frames, I found that the ventilation system did not work quite as well as on the smaller framed Clara’s. With that said, either one of sunglasses will probably not take the place of or become your go to performance sunglasses for race day or while wearing a hat, as they do tend to fog up. If you are looking for a race day sunglasses, check out Natives’ Endura, which are more suited for high sweat and heat production.

For those of you really into technology, these glasses also feature Natives’ proprietary Anti-Ocular Intrusion System which prevents the removable lenses from impaling your eye if you make impact with your lenses. The frames themselves are made of Rhyno-Tuff Air frame which resists damage; I recently look the Clara’s on a 3 week trip that involved them being throw about in my pack, rental car, in a kayak, boat, bus, purse, etc. and they are still intact and don’t look any worse for the wear. The lenses are polarized crystal carbonate (PCC) and are hard-coated to prevent scratching. After 3 months of wear n tear, my Lulu’s do have a pretty gnarly scratch; try as they may, I think I am pretty hard on my gear, as are my dogs paws. The scratch is most likely user error.

Best of all, these glasses are a great deal when it comes to snagging a pair of polarized shades. Each pair runs with a MSRP of $89 for polarized lenses, and $109 for Native’s Reflex Polarized lenses that are said to out perform their traditional polarized lenses with glare reduction. In addition, you can mix and match various frame and lens colors to customize your look! For more information on these and other Native Eyewear products, please visit www.backcountry.com or www.amazon.com/nativeeyewear.