Essilor redefines aesthetic standards with Crizal’s most discreet coating yet

Essilor redefines aesthetic standards with Crizal’s most discreet coating yet

Essilor® introduces Crizal® Natural Look™, its best¹ anti-reflective coating ever*¹, designed to deliver exceptional transparency with reflections that remain barely noticeable.

Today even premium lens coatings have visible colour reflections, which is a common source of dissatisfaction among wearers, particularly during social interaction and self-expression.

Breakthrough in Aesthetic AR Performance

Crizal® Natural Look™ sets a new aesthetic benchmark using Advanced Aesthetics Technology™ to deliver an exceptionally discreet AR effect. The coating maintains its colour neutrality and minimal reflection intensity across all viewing angles, resulting in lenses that appear virtually invisible – indoors and outdoors.

Hélène Maury, Light Management Technical Leader at EssilorLuxottica, said: “In a world where every moment can be seen and shared, visual performance has evolved from a purely functional feature to an aesthetic expectation, and studies have shown that lens reflections are among the top four² most frustrating issues for wearers.

“This breakthrough doesn’t just refine AR technology, it redefines it. By making reflections barely perceptible, Essilor® establishes a new aesthetic standard where transparency and durability converge. It’s a decisive response to consumer demand for lenses that enhance vision without compromising style.”

How Advanced Aesthetics Technology™ Works

For more than two years, Essilor’s research and development team has pushed the boundaries to better understand residual reflection colour of anti-reflective coatings.  Its work led to the development of Advanced Aesthetics Technology™ an innovation crafted to achieve the most natural visual appearance in an AR coating.

This technology combines three essential criteria for transparency including a low light intensity, low colour intensity and a high angular colour stability, which ensures almost unnoticeable residual colours in all situations.

Hélène Maury, adds: “With this breakthrough, we’ve achieved what once seemed impossible: a coating so advanced that reflections virtually disappear. By mastering the balance of light and colour, we deliver lenses that are not only technically superior but also aesthetically almost invisible. The result is effortless eye contact and authentic connection – empowering wearers to be seen exactly as they are.”

Wearer and Expert Validation

In controlled wearer trials, Crizal® Natural Look™ was consistently rated as the least visible coating across the evaluated real-life scenarios*³. The findings showed that three times more wearers*⁴ selected it for improved eye visibility through the lens, and twice as many^*4 indicated a preference for its overall aesthetic appearance compared with selected Crizal® coatings and leading premium competitor coatings.

A panel of optical experts also identified the coating’s notably discreet appearance*⁵ including clear eye visibility, low mirror effects, minimal skin-tone change and a consistently subtle and colour-neutral look across all angles.

Experts also noted a more natural colour rendering*⁶ and reported a visibly more natural colour balance*⁶, including reduced yellow colour cast and less perceived colour shift. They also noted significantly fewer light-related visual distractions*⁷ compared to selected competitor coatings.

Beyond its refined aesthetics, Crizal® Natural Look^TM provides a premium shield of protection with three times*⁸ higher scratch resistance than the Crizal® entry range.  The coating preserves the full durability, resistance and easy-clean performance expected from every Crizal® lens – offering resistance to scratches, smudges, dust, water, and UV.

EXPERT Q&A

Hélène Maury, Light Management Technical Leader at EssilorLuxottica, answers questions on the new coating and how it can benefit wearers.

Why are lens reflections such an aesthetic problem for glasses wearers?

“Lens reflections are considered an aesthetic problem because they obscure the wearer’s eyes and this draws attention away from the person’s features and toward the bright streaks on the lenses.

“Reflections obscure the wearer’s eyes and draw attention to bright surface streaks instead of their facial features. They’re especially visible in photos or strong light, where unwanted colour tints can be distracting.

“By recommending Crizal® Natural Look^TM you invite your wearers to experience a new level of visual elegance and benefit from the very best aesthetics for lens.”

What’s the difference between Crizal® Natural Look^TM and Crizal® Sapphire^TM HR?

“Crizal® Natural Look^TM and Crizal® Sapphire^TM HR deliver the same advanced performance in terms of durability and cleanability – the distinction lies purely in aesthetics.

“The aesthetic performance of AR coatings has traditionally been evaluated through the visual reflection level – a measure of how much light is reflected from the lens surface. While technology has made it possible to control the intensity of reflected light, a true breakthrough lies beyond that. We can now manage not only reflections, but also the residual colour of the reflection by harnessing new Advanced Aesthetics Technology^TM.”

How does Advanced Aesthetics Technology^TM work?

“This breakthrough innovation has redefined reflection control by identifying the key drivers of perceived transparency – low light intensity, low colour intensity and a high angular colour stability – and then linking these to how people perceived the look of lenses in terms of mirror effect, eye visibility, colour saturation, and skin tone modification.

“These key drivers were then incorporated into AI based software to produce the best optimised anti-reflective coating with the launch of Crizal® Natural Look^TM.”