Put on a pair of sunnies, whether you’re inside or outside, and bam – you become the coolest cat in the room.

However, what isn’t all that cool are the effects the cheap, fake sunglasses have on your eyes if you happen to take a step into the sunshine.

Sure, the R20 pair you got from the guy at the robots do the job, cutting down the glare on a sunny day, but that’s about it.

Focusing on the style and the lens, a pair of sunnies from well-known brands can cost a pretty penny, but it’s worth it.

Take the famous Ray-Bans, available at Sunglass Hut, for example.

Luxottica, the Italian holding company behind the iconic brand, has a “very particular recipe for the sandwiched stack of materials that make up its Sun RX lenses,” explains Popular Science.

From slicing that glare through to preventing UV Rays from slow-cooking your eyeballs, here’s what makes up every lens:

Layer 1: Scratch-Resistant Shell

Ray-Ban encases the entire lens in a layer of silicone resin to protect the surface from scratches and nicks. Applied via wet-bath for uniform coverage, the coating hardens under heat and UV light.

Layer 2: Coloured Tint

Rather than tinting the lens itself—which could lead to uneven coloration as a result of the prescription-cutting process—Ray- Ban applies color [sic] as a separate polycarbonate layer. Dyes mix with the molten raw material prior to molding.

Layer 3: Polarising Film

Light reflecting off flat surfaces such as lakes and roads oscillates horizontally, creating glare in situations where sunglasses matter most. A thin layer of polyvinyl alcohol with a series of microscopic vertical slits stretches across the lens, canceling out (or polarizing) the harsh light.

Layer 4: Prescription Lens

A computer-guided diamond cutter contours polycarbonate lenses to ‘script-perfect magnification. The impact-resistant material filters vision-impairing UV light and is roughly half the weight of hardened glass common in other shades.

Layer 5: Anti-Reflective Coating

A dark, shiny surface tends to act like a mirror, especially in bright sun. To combat this effect, invisible layers of silica oxide, titanium oxide, and zirconium oxide bounce light in a different directions, keeping reflections of your face out of sight.

Let the guilt commence! Those lenses are as complicated and layered as onions.

Pop over here to see which pair of Ray-Bans tickles your fancy.

Thankfully summer is still a few months away, which means you can start looking and saving for your next pair now.

[source:popularscience]