DIY: Embellished Straight Edge Sunglasses

Lately, I've been noticing the new trend in sunglasses- Ray- Ban shaped lenses, but with a straight top edge. It's quite futuristic, and is favoured by the likes of Lady Gaga-

I actually think these vintage Versaces are quite cool- they're extreme, but not so much that you couldn't get away with it! I've had a pair of old sunnies lying around for ages- a massive Nicole Ritchie- type cut from the 90s, printed in yellow and green- yum! I wore them as part of a costume a few times, but I was convinced I could turn them into something wearable. Finally, I've figured it out- why not turn them into something Gaga- worthy?

So without further ado, here's how I did it:

- Firstly, I needed to fish out some black nail polish, some polish remover and cotton- ear buds, some super glue, some ridiculously sparkly decorative ribbon and of course, my sunglasses!


As you can see, my sunnies have already been half- painted. To do this, all you need is nail polish- it's essentially enamel, which means it's really sturdy and won't chip or flake without putting up a fight. Another good thing about nail polish is that the brush is so small, it's easy to get into all the nooks and crannies of your glasses.

 I found a handy way to combat the streaky effect you sometimes get when you go over an area several times is to breathe onto it- the carbon dioxide and moisture in my breath smoothed out the polish really well!

After doing this, I noticed I'd got a few flecks of polish onto my lenses. This was easily fixed- I simply dipped a cotton ear bud into some polish remover and cleaned up my mistakes.

Next, I measured the distance along the top of my glasses and cut a piece of decorative ribbon to fit this length. Using another cotton ear bud, I dabbed a small amount of glue along the edge of the glasses, then quickly adhered my ribbon. When I got to the ends, I folded the edges underneath, as shown below:

Because my glasses came down over my nose in the middle, one strip of ribbon didn't entirely cover the top edge, so I added a second small piece to fill the gap:-

And voila- all finished! Now all I need is a place to wear my crazy new specs...