In contrast to anti-reflective coatings, which are very clear, mirror coatings are bold statements of color. Just as the name implies, a mirror coating is highly reflective (opposite to anti-reflective).

Mirror coatings are purely cosmetic and are available in an assortment of colors and the wearer perceives no difference in vision regardless of what color the coating is. Only those looking at the person wearing the glasses can see the color of the mirror coating. Mirror coatings are generally applied to sunglass tinted lenses. Obviously, a highly reflective coating prevents others from seeing the eyes of the wearer.

A common problem with sunglasses is called back-glare. This is light that hits the back of the lenses and bounces into the eyes. A backside AR coating is usually recommended with sunglasses to reduce any backside reflection (the surface of the lens nearest to the eye). Because sunglass lenses are so dark, the AR coating can wind up looking smeary on the front surface. But coating the backside of the lens with AR coating helps reduce the reflections of light that enter from behind you and bounce off the surface into your eyes. A back-side coated sunglass lens is much more comfortable than an uncoated sunglass lens.

• On prescription eyewear
  In addition to regular sunglasses, mirror coatings can also be applied to the prescription eyewear.
• On Sunglasses
  Sunglasses are usually polarized lenses that protect your eyes from harmful sun rays and reduce reflected light or glare. By applying a mirror coating on sunglasses more harmful sunlight can be stopped from entering the eyes.

Mirror coatings come in different densities - Flash and Solid. Solid mirrors usually reflect back more light than flash mirrors. So for solid mirrors the laboratory applies more layers of the coating solution than for flash mirrors.