Review: GUNNAR tokidoki Fall Collection glasses – Sweet Fruits Unicorno, California Dreamin’, and Flower Power

As someone who wears GUNNAR glasses for the sake of protecting my eyes and not because I need a prescription, I constantly look at various styles that look good and feel good. Normally, when GUNNAR does licensed stuff, I always take a look because they often are unique and really cool looking. The tokidoki Fall Collection glasses got my attention in terms of style. But, after the rough previous collection, do the Sweet Fruits Unicorno, California Dreamin’, and Flower Power hold up?

What’s in the box?

As always, higher-priced GUNNAR glasses come with three things: a microfiber pouch, a microfiber cloth, and a glasses case of some sort. The tokidoki Fall Collection options all have these items. Each one is a little different but sticks to the same trend.

You’ll be able to find unique tokidoki art in the cloth and pouch specifically made and catered to each frame’s theme for the tokidoki Fall Collection. For instance, Sweet Fruits Unicorno comes with a yellow and banana theming, and so on. It’s a redeeming factor for this collection as a whole since the art is so cute and vivid.

Unlike the previous tokidoki Collection, the tokidoki Fall Collection all have nice faux leather cases, similar to the Plaid glasses we reviewed earlier this year, that they fit into easily and have no problems, each with interior coloring that matches the frames. Sweet Fruits Unicorno and California Dreamin’ both come with a premium triangular magnetic hard case, colored in dark yellow and light blue, respectively. Flower Power’s case is more rounded with a pink interior, and it fits the frame very well.

All in all, the accessories work really well for the collection. They’re subtle for professional use but have plenty of pizazz and color. And the magnets actually work in this particular collection.

Tech in the Specs (or, Holding a Lens Up to These Glasses)

If you’re new to GUNNAR, you’re in for a treat. All of their lenses come with some fantastic coatings that are, bar none, among the best. You’re always going to get anti-glare, water resistance, smudge resistance, and great eye protection to keep them from drying out. This is still true for the tokidoki Fall Collection.

For this tokidoki Fall Collection review, I decided to go for the Clear lens instead of the more yellowed Amber. The problem I’ve noticed with other colorful, licensed GUNNAR glasses is that sometimes the 65 Amber tint distracts from the cuteness of the frames as a whole. If you’re looking for style (and why wouldn’t you be at this price range?), you should consider that thought process.

Honestly, the Clear lens looks and acts great in all three frames from the tokidoki Fall Collection. Plus, you can also get all three frames in prescription options, which opens up even more lens coatings, which apparently also includes their phenomenal Clear Pro lens. 

Wearing the tokidoki California Dreamin’ glasses

With physical products, the cozy score is entirely qualified and quantified into the final review score, which will affect it.

When you first put on the California Dreamin’ glasses, they feel very comfortable. They’re such a great shape, initially, on my face and have a lot of promise. However, after putting them on at the beginning of writing this one paragraph, they’re already trying to fall off of my face. Seriously. 

I’d be able to give these a fairer score, due to the ridiculously cute coloring and design. The accessories are fantastic and it had everything going for it. But, that nose bridge is too big and the nose pads are too slippery to even keep on my face and it sours the score, wholeheartedly. 

Moving on.

Wearing the tokidoki Sweet Fruits Unicorno glasses

The tokidoki Sweet Fruits Unicorno frame is, honestly, really comfortable and nice. They stay on my face (a step up from California Dreamin’), are well-shaped, and have some of the cutest colors out of all of GUNNAR’s tokidoki options.

The problem comes down to where the colors are placed. If you’re looking at them off of someone’s face, you see some amazing silhouette and vibrancy. However, when you wear them, every ounce of color is covered up, leaving a bland, black exterior.

If they had swapped the pastel peach and yellow tones with the black exterior, this would have been a knockout. But, as they stand, they kinda flop for me.

Though the frames are nice, they remind me of giveaway cheap sunglasses that I probably have half a dozen of strewn about this house right now. Considering these are the only pair that come in a sunglasses option, they make me think of going to old trade and vendor shows and being handed similar pairs of glasses from a pile on the table.

One nice touch is that they have a bronze-like tip for each arm that has the word “Banana” in Japanese. Aside from the tokidoki logo on the temples, it’s the only exterior indication that you’re wearing nicer glasses.

Wearing the tokidoki Flower Power glasses

Flower Power is the clear winner out of the three options. Not only do they look unique and cute, but they fit comfortably on my face. They look like something right out of the 1970s and that’s entirely my bag, baby. 

While the Flower Power isn’t anywhere close to my favorite GUNNAR frames to come out in 2024, I think that’s more of a personal preference situation than anything wrong with them. 

Something about the glasses fits onto the shape of my face super well and they don’t feel like a bother. Even though they use the same nose pads as the California Dreamin’ pair. However, the nose bridge is shorter, giving more grip to your nose. So, nothing slides or moves.

In addition to the comfort, the colors are cute as heck. The pink and dark pink pattern feels very tie-dye and I’m all about that.

The bits of metal frame material are in a rose gold coloring that matches the rest of the acetate that makes up the glasses, including the rose gold tokidoki logos on each temple and the metal nose pads. There are easily the best of the GUNNAR tokidoki Fall Collection.

However, they do have one flaw. Where they fit in the glasses case perfectly fine with no problems, if you put them in their pouch first to protect them, they suffer from a problem that the previous collection had. The magnet won’t clasp. You either have to choose to protect them in the pouch or the case, not both. Ironically, the other two glasses from The GUNNAR tokidoki Fall Collection don’t have this problem due to using the triangular case design. It’s worth mentioning if nothing else.

Final Verdict: GUNNAR tokidoki Fall Collection

I’m starting to think that GUNNAR got a lot of praise for the tokidoki Year of the Dragon glasses that came out earlier this year, which we reviewed and also praised, and just got complacent with the license after that.

The Flower Power glasses are what saved this score. Without them, the entire review would boil down to the word “meh”, and even they aren’t perfect.

I say this often, but GUNNAR does its best when they aren’t focusing on licensed properties. While not all licensed glasses are bad (and in fact, some can be amazing, like the original tokidoki Year of the Dragon glasses) the tokidoki Fall Collection just hit a “mid” mark for me as a collection.

But, if you insist on getting a pair from the GUNNAR tokidoki Fall Collection, get the Flower Power. They’re actually pretty good, overall. But, the $125 price point may be a bit much for “not bad”, when there are so many options at the same price or cheaper through GUNNAR.

You can find all three pairs of the tokidoki Fall Collection, the Flower Power, California Dreamin’, and Sweet Fruits Unicorno, all on their respective pages through GUNNAR’s website. The Flower Power sits at $125, with the other two being $89 each.

If you want to check out what is possibly some of my favorite glasses of all time, check out my review on the Strata Collection, which is GUNNAR doing what they do best.