Sunglasses are the perfect accessory for sunny summery days. With them on, you look cooler, your eye makeup doesn't have to be perfect or it can be totally absent, you get less wrinkles around your eyes since you don't have to squint and if your glasses have proper UV-filters on them (as they should!), you are doing the good deed of protecting your eyes. I listed the first reasons with a wink on, more or less, but the last point is the reason I don't like to take chances with my glasses and I'm happy to spend the extra money on them to guarantee the UV-potection aspect (a little side note on the issue: it's actually healthier for your eyes to not wear sunglasses at all if they don't have proper filters). So I myself prefer to buy my sunglasses from proper sunglass shops.

This spring, for the first time, I noticed that great sunglasses could also be bought from online shops. The shops can offer a far wider selection of sunglasses than local shops and cheaper prices can also be found. But based on my latest own experience, which I will share with you in a bit, you should really know what you're buying before ordering the product online. Clothes can be altered if necessary with belts and other accessories or even with a sewing machine but there isn't really anything you can do to badly fitting sunglasses. So I suggest you really know what your buying or prepare yourself to the returning/exchanging hassle if needed.

At the end of February, I decided to order the Ray Ban Aviator sunglasses which I've been craving for since last spring. As usual, I spent some time on the Internet to find out all the details of different sizes and colors available. Since this information was a bit difficult for me to find out, I thought I would share it with you and maybe help some other Aviator craving person out there.

So basically there are three different models of Ray Ban Aviator sunglasses:
- Aviator Large Metal (RB 3025)
- Aviator Small Metal (RB 3044)
- Aviator Large Metal II (RB 3026)

The RB 3025 is the original classic tear drop model and also has the widest selection of different colored lenses and frames. There are three different sizes of the model. RB 3044 has the same classic shape as the RB 3025 but the glasses are smaller than the smallest size of RB 3025. The color selection is remarkably smaller. And lastly, the RB 3026 model has a slightly different shape than RB 3025 so that the tear drop shape is softer and rounder, there is only one size and only two different lens & frame color selections. The available sizes on different models are following (from smallest to biggest with lens-bridge-arm widths in mm):

- RB 3044
* 52-14-135 mm
- RB 3025
* 55-14-135 mm
* 58-14-135 mm
* 62-14-135 mm
- RB 3026
* 62-14-140 mm

I looked into couple of web shops and decided to go with the cheapest one - Giarre (Shobble profile). The shop is based on Italy and since many sunglasses, including Ray Bans, are manufactured there, it is viable in my mind that the shop might receive their glasses directly from the factories and therefore be able the sell them with good prices. And since I have a quite wide face and no sunglasses have ever been too big for me, I decided to go with the RB 3026 model with golden frames and army green lenses. The shop stated in their web page that the glasses weren't available at the moment but they also stated that then it would take them three weeks to send them to me. That was an ok deal for me for the moment, so I placed my order (this was in February). Unfortunately I still hadn't received my glasses at the end of April and at that point I couldn't wait anymore and decided to order the glasses somewhere else. In Giarre's defence, the communication was great with the shop and there was no problem with canceling my order. In the future I will consider ordering from them but I will try to choose glasses that are in stock or be prepared for a very long wait...

So the second shop I turned to was Sunglassesshop.com (Shobble profile). The price of my glasses wasn't as good as Giarre's but because of their new first time order offer of -10% the difference wasn't so big anymore. The processing of my order was much faster: on 30th of April I placed my order, on 2nd of May they had sent my glasses and I finally received them on 10th of May. But unfortunately I realized that the glasses were too big for me which really was a first. Luckily the shop accepts returns and exchanges and I also received great service from them with very fast email responses and even in Finnish! So at the moment the glasses are on their way back to Sunglassesshop.com and once they arrive, they will send me RB 3025 with lens size of 58 mm back. Of course this means more waiting for me and also I had to pay the postage fees of the return.

Now with the insight of my experience, I would tell myself at the end of February to go to a local shop to properly try out the Aviator glasses and just buy them from there since it really didn't pay up this time to order them from the Internet. But the situation would have be different if I had really known what I was buying or hadn't trusted the three weeks promise of Giarre. So to sum it up, I will still consider buying my sunglasses from web shops but with more caution. For example the RB 3025 model with gold frame AND gold mirroring lenses looks really cool... wonder if I could buy myself already a second pair?? ;)

Ray Ban 3025 Aviator Gold (Image by iOffer)

Have you bought sunglasses from a web shop, how did it go? Any good sunglass web shop tips? Please share on the comments.

Images: White Raybans by miss-libertine (Flickr)

A balanced individual with a creative mind – I wouldn’t mind if that’s how people would describe me. While I acknowledge that having someone choose the word balanced to describe me might require more frequent yoga than what I get around to at the moment, at least I can always dress the part. “A balanced individual with a creative mind” happens to be how the girls behind the Finnish brand R/H, Emilia Hernesniemi and Hanna Riiheläinen, describe the R/H woman.

Hanna and Emilia, both graduates of the University of Art & Design Helsinki, started their own line while still at school, and have since shot straight to stardom. They are only at their 2^nd commercial season, but the brand is already sold in shops around the world, so I would guess these girls are in for a very bright future. R/H has also gotten around to attending the fashion weeks in Copenhagen and New York, where they received a very warm welcome.

The girls behind the brand, both wearing R/H. Photo courtesy of the NY magazine (yes, they're that cool)

The current SS/11 collection was inspired by carnations and dahlias, meat eating plants, the Nordic summer sky as well as Mickey Mouse, Dolly Parton and the famous Dada artist Picabia. The list might feel a tad skitzophrenic to some, but the pieces in the collection combine all these elements in a seamless, beautiful and wearable way.

Mickey Mouse and Dahlias, see what they mean?

And what better way for a young, ambitious brand with inbuilt international flare to conquer the world than an online shop! The R/H online shop has recently opened to the public, and with shipping available to all countries it should only be a matter of time until you’ll bump into these pieces in the streets of Tokyo. That, for me, is the beauty of online shopping – the way it can help spread up-and-coming design around the world, in an instant. No need for heavy investments in store space, no need for young designers to waste their time sucking up to big retailers (they’ll be able to concentrate on designing, which means we’ll get more cool stuff sooner) no need for us customers to fit a shopping spree into our lunch hour (and believe me, should you try that in London it’s very likely you won’t be the only one doing it…). All in all it’s smooth, sweet, and available to everyone.

The R/H shop is pretty nicely laid out, with good imagery and easy navigation.I love the way they use the same model throughout, since it makes comparing different pieces much more simple – they also state the hight and size of the model, which help in deciding what’s the right size for you.

Anna is tall and slim, but they do other sizes, too

I would appreciate some added information on sizeing and a zoom to look at details though, but you go have a spin at their site, and share your thoughts at R/H’s Shobble profile!
Images: R/H, NY Magazine

Juha loves riding the mountains and spends too much money on skis. He also runs the coolest new online community for active skiers and snowboarders Powderlove.com.

Winter is pretty much over all around the Northern Hemisphere but this is a perfect time to get new gear for the next season with great prices. Almost every online store is selling their storage before summer with good discounts. Off course you should check out also the offers at your local shop, but often the selection is much better when going online. Let me share to you a few good shops for skiing and snowboarding goods.

Sport Conrad (Shobble profile) is my personal favourite. They have a great selection of skis and also very nice prices. They have also lots of other outdoor activity products if you’re into trecking for example. If you buy skiis, bindings and boots you will get a nice package deal. Binding mounting is also included. You just tell them your bootsize and you are ready to hit the mountain as soon as the package is delivered to your door.

Check out also Conrad’s test gear sale with very good discounts.

Telemark Pyrenees (Shobble profile) is specialized in telemark, alpine touring and Nordic skiing and mountaineering. Nice prices and a good selection in touring boots. Check out also their climbing gear selection.

Ekosport (Shobble profile) has a nice selection of alpine skis and snowboards. They have sometimes grazy offers for bindings and other gear. I just ordered a skibag from there. Very fast delivery. The shop is only in French, but placing an order was easy even for a Finnish man.

Blue Tomato (Shobble profile) is a shop for snowboarders. Great variety of boards and clothes. During summer they have also lots of skate and surfing goods on sale.

Images: Sport Conrad, Telemark Pyrenees, Ekosport, Blue Tomato

Dreaming of a Balmain chainmail and jersey dress?

Who doesn’t. The hefty GBP 17,190 price tag is, however, enough for most of us to not only not buy one, but also to stop dreaming of one. Which is good, because it would be stupid to dream of a dress that costs many people’s year’s salary now wouldn’t it. Better to not dream of those things at all really, save yourself from the disappointment.

So damn, damn, damn you Outnet for offering it at a 80% discount.

That still adds up to a weighty GBP 3,438, which is not cheap by any standards, but suddenly it’s become… achievable. And you go (ok I go) “well if I only eat porrige for…”

The Outnet is an online outlet  offering designer pieces at unbelievable discounts. Not a novel concept in the world of fashion, outlets, but having them online is godsent for anyone who’s ever travelled to an outlet (always outside the big cities), fought over that last -80% white Jil Sander t-shirt (there’s crazy people out there, sometimes they rip things from your hands) just to take it home and notice it’s been stampeded on by heards of the above-mentioned crazy people. As a fashion enthusiast you might spot some similarities with the Net-a-porter look and feel - The Outnet is actually NAP's sister shop.

This is how your wear it. Without footprints.

So when it comes to outlets, doing it online is definitely more pleasurable than the real thing – you can browse through the nicely displayed items in peace and quiet, you don’t have to fight with anyone, and you get home delivery. For those (crazy people) who enjoy the thrill of aggreshopping the Outnet offers flash sales and competitions where you have a limited amount of time to take advantage of offers or a limited number of a certain item available. You’ll have to fight over the stuff, but it doesn’t get physical – which is good, since a black eye doesn’t go too well with that beaded Marchesa gown now does it?

Check out The Outnet's Shobble profile!