Ever since I can remember, I've always wanted to wear prescription eyeglasses. But then again, I was also the kid who wanted to wear a retainer. Yeah, I don't know why either (I used to bend paperclips into shape as to pretend that I had a retainer. I thought it was cool! did I mention I'm weird?)

I was also the last in my family to ever need to wear glasses and every time in school when we had those eye tests, I would fudge it a little so that I could get a prescription for glasses. It turns out it doesn't work that way. Finally, in my junior or senior year in High school, I passed, I mean failed that test and got a prescription! I know, I am totally a nerd because I was excited, I can still feel the grin on my face. Now, I was only to wear my glasses only when I needed to - but I felt I NEEDED to wear them ALL OF THE TIME.

Fast forward to now and well, now I really have to wear my glasses. all of the time. And if you are a scatter brained person like me, I lose my glasses, misplace them or, um unintentionally and accidentally break them. And let's face it prescription glasses are expensive. But nowadays, you can find affordable AND stylish glasses online! This is where GlassesUSA.com comes in. I was super duper excited when they contacted me to do a review of their site/product/company! They offered me a gift certificate towards a new pair of glasses, for me to try out.

The hardest part of this was, which glasses should I get? They have a large selection and so, I of course ended up liking a good handful! Even if you don't wear prescription glasses, you can order designer sunglasses or non prescription frames for at least half the retail price.

I know that the best part about getting a new pair of glasses, is seeing how you'll look with them. Which is why they have this nifty tool on their site called the virtual mirror tool where you can "try on" a pair of glasses by uploading a photo of yourself and the tool will place it so you can check your hot self out with a potential frames contender:

They also have a way to narrow your search, if you know what you like or what you are looking for by creating filters. Like choosing only plastic frames, women's frames, and a shape, like cat eye frames, as well as color, that way it isn't so overwhelming.

So what did I pick? Ever since stumbling onto Keiko Lynn's site (a fashion/makeup blogger) a while back, I had been coveting her pair of cat eye glasses, which were a fancy name brand pair,, which meant I could never afford them. And so began my search to find something close and a fraction of the cost. I did find some on other online glasses "shops" and they were pretty cheap, but unfortunately, they also happened to look pretty cheap. So after awhile I just gave up and forgot about them. but when this opportunity with GlassesUSA came up - I was on the hunt again!- With their site it was easy because like I said, you can filter your search, and bam - there they were. The cat eye glasses that were pretty close to the ones I have been coveting:



So here is my review (a score of 10 being the highest and 1 being the lowest):

Ordering - 8/10:

I did have a couple of issues when I finally made my selection and completed everything, which was easy enough. But then I got to paying, which wasn't the problem but by choosing the paypal option, it wasn't letting me choose the shipping method which was required to complete the process - and when I would try and edit, it would revert back to paypal but there was no shipping method - but I also could have been totally an idiot and too excited to carefully look at the page to see if and where there was anywhere else to choose the shipping method option. Not to worry, I just used the Amazon Payment method and that worked out great. They have a chat feature so, if I really had a problem, they were only one click away to resolve it. I love it when companies have the live chat feature - makes dealing with issues, if one comes up, a breeze. After the purchase,  I received a few emails right away letting me know of my order and it's progress.

Delivery - 10/10:

I ordered my glasses on Feb. 4th. and I received my glasses on Feb. 7th! That is a 3 day turnaround people! I didn't order any special or expedited shipping. Did I mention it's free shipping?? I am in CA and the ship tag states it came from NY. I have ordered from other online retailers and this is the fastest turnaround I've ever experienced. From the other two retailers, it was 10 days and over 2 weeks respectively.

Frames (build quality) - 10/10:

Sturdy and look/feel expensive  and I have another set of "cheap" frames to compare this to and these Muse frames I selected are not cheap looking. They look great.

Lens - N/A: I can't thoroughly measure this quite yet as this is the first day of me wearing them. So far so good though. No glare. I didn't get any extra coatings (I think you do get some sort of standard though) though and I kind of wish I got the UV coat - tsk tsk on my part.

Rx - 8/10: So far, it's good - I know I was the one to actually fill in the Rx (I had had my eyes tested less than a year ago, so had my RX from that - always ask for your Rx! They can't keep that from you!). It usually takes me a few days to get used to the new glasses/Rx

Case - 10/10:

Matte Black which is nice and sturdy! And it comes with a more soft/texturized cloth then I am used to but works perfectly.

Other - I did wish that they had a couple of things. 1) on their site, I wish they had measurements on the picture of glasses somewhere - instead of just the numbers and then the info link that will pop up in another window. I think detailing it on the page helps. Of course, the virtual mirror tool helps to alleviate the worry of not having it fit or what not, but I would still like the measurements addressed with the image of the frames. 2) I would of appreciated an invoice/order info/small note to be included in my delivery of my glasses that said a little something of, not only here are your glasses but hey here are your glasses (with the info you used to order the rx with), please inspect them carefully and if you have any problems or questions, please contact us here...or something of that sort. But perhaps, that's just too costly of a thing..but I think it would help - or even a little notecard that was business card sized would give the same effect. Anyway, just my two cents.

UPDATE: Looking at other bloggers who have reviewed GlassesUSA, apparently they DO provide you with this sort of info on a card that is included with your order - inside the clear pocket that has your cleaning cloth - except - I never got one. I mean I received the cloth and the glasses case but no card with my rx, like this blogger did. Maybe in my excitement I simply misplaced it?? I have no idea.

 Oh, so you want to see what the frames look like on lil ol me? Right, right and viola-my very own cat eye frames! What do you think?

Ok, this is probably how I really look! ;)

I really like them but I thought they may be too small for my face, which saddened me a bit because I really wanted to like these! Good thing, my social networking peeps told me otherwise. So, it's a keeper! But even if I had to return it, it would have been fine too. GlassesUSA has an easy enough money back guarantee.

With GlassesUSA, not only will you get some good looking frames, you'll get:

• 110% lowest price guarantee and a 100% satisfaction guarantee (they offer a 30 day money back guarantee plus a one year warranty!)
• A generous refer-a-friend program (You can get $30 for each first purchase a referred friend makes - and use the $30 towards your next pair of glasses)
• A Facebook page and Twitter feed with exclusive discounts for fans