Now for Something Completely Different: New Transitions Colors, Mirrors, and Contact Lenses

Picture this: a sunny summer evening at a rooftop party in New York City atop the design studio of CFDA award winning designer, Christian Siriano.  Everything is decked out in white marble, gold, and a variety of pinks. Models hustle up and down the stairs for quick changes, showcasing Siriano's resort wear looks to a posh young crowd of fashion insiders and social media influencers.

Shockingly enough, this is the eyecare industry.  If drab and dark doctor's offices at a strip mall, or elderly people wearing rimless frames come to mind when you think Transtions, prepare for your mind to be blown.  This year Transitions has been extremely busy, with the launch of not one but two new lens products, and the announcement of a first ever contact lens option with partners Johnson and Johnson Vision.

On the rooftop of Siriano's store and design space, The Curated NYC

Models in Siriano's 2019 Resort Collection

The influence for Siriano's collection? Very Barbie.

Eyewear's biggest names were in attendance, including Coco of Coco and Breezy Eyewear (center). 

Just hanging out in Christian Siriano's flagship store at The Curated NYC, pretending to be posh. 

What's new?  Transitions lenses have added COLOR to their light adaptive options, allowing you to personalize your look to a degree never before possible.  Transitions Style Colors come in 4 new options: Amber, Amethyst, Sapphire, and Emerald.  These lenses are completely clear indoors, and transitions to a vibrant hue when activated by UV light.

In sunwear, flash mirror coatings have been hugely popular for decades.  With the introduction of Transitions XTRActive Style Mirrors, you can now have clear eyewear indoors that transitions to a flash mirror sunglasses coating when activated by UV light outside.  The mirrors are extremely fashion forward, with 6 color options that become more saturated as the intensity of light increases. They are available in pink, red, blue, green, gold, and silver shadow.

Me wearing the Transitions XTRActive Style Mirrors in Blue

Student OD Kristin Lantz wearing the Transitions XTRActive Style Mirrors in Gold indoors at Optometry's Meeting

Student OD Emilie Seitz wearing the Transitions XTRActive Style Mirrors in Blue at June's Optometry's Meeting

Check out the lenses in action below as the Essilor team showcases their personal eyewear style! To help out on this video, I got a chance to fly down to Essilor's headquarters in Dallas, Texas to prescribe lenses in action. As an aside, how awesome is it that Essilor chose a young female OD to be the "doctor" in their videos.  I applaud the company for bucking stereotypes and putting forward a young woman as the image of a doctor and bucking the traditional older male figure that other eyecare industry companies abide by in their casting. Thank you for being so inclusive and reflecting the changing face of healthcare in America!

These mirrored lenses garnered the biggest buzz at the Transitions Launch Party event.  Among the attendees were a number of social media influencers in their early to late 20's, and they were amazed by the technology that allowed lenses to change. That's right, a whole generation of eyewear aficionados will be experiencing Transitions lens technology for the very first time. The new colorful and vibrant products gives Millennials and Generation Z the chance to personalize their eyewear to a degree never before possible, with plenty of fashion to experiment with.  In your offices, I encourage you to have hands on demonstrations available to let these younger generations of glasses wearers experience the technology interactively.

Backside anti-reflective coating comes standard on the lenses to help reduce glare, and just like mirrored sunglasses, Transitions XTRActive Style Mirrors offer excellent protection against uncomfortable glare without the annoying disruption to vision on digital devices caused by polarized sunglasses. 

Are you excited to try the new lenses out for yourself? Nothing beats getting to try out new technology FOR FREE. Essilor is including the new Transitions Style Colors for single vision (non-progressive) wearers as part of Essilor Ultimate Lens Package at participating eyecare offices. With this promotional discount, when you buy 1 complete pair of prescription glasses, you can get a second pair of lenses free with the purchase of a frame.  The free lens package has all the bells and whistles -- the EyeZen anti-fatigue lens to help reduce end of day eye strain, Crizal anti-reflective coating, and of course Transitions in whatever color your heart desires.

And if that's not enough to get you really excited about eyecare....
Launching sometime in 2019, the recently announced Acuvue Oasys with Transitions will be the first ever contact lens to darken with exposure to UV light. These contact lenses were designed with the demands of our digital world in mind; millions of Americans suffer from light sensitivity, eye strain, and discomfort due to prolonged device use.  These new contact lenses are designed to combat both UV and high energy blue light entering the eye, and darken in bright light to reduce discomforting glare.  Look for more info about the lens technology as we get closer to a launch date!

Disclosure: I serve as a Transitions and Essilor Brand Ambassador, but all opinions are my own. This post was not sponsored, but I did participate in the Transitions Launch Party Event on behalf of Transitions Lenses.