Monday, August 26, 2024
Elizabeth Taylor's Legendary Jewelry
Monday, April 8, 2024
A Cheatsheet: How To Clean Fine Jewelry
If jewelry is your luxury of choice, a Savvy Shopper selects classic pieces she'll wear time and again. Keeping fine jewelry in a box is a complete waste of money! Wear it daily and enjoy it.
For silver: Silver is softer than gold. Clean silver with soap and warm water or a silver polishing cloth. You can also safely use a professional silver cleaner like Tarn-x. Don't use paper towels or tissues to clean silver. They are too abrasive and might scratch the silver.
Gemstones
For amethyst, aquamarine, citrine, diamond, garnet, morganite, quartz, certified ruby, sapphire, tanzanite, and topaz: Clean with warm soapy water and a soft toothbrush.
For emeralds, jade, onyx, opals, peridot, and turquoise: Clean with a damp cloth and a soft toothbrush. Avoid soaking in water and sudden temperature changes. Heat can damage emeralds, opals, and peridots. (Heat will also lighten sapphires.) Emeralds commonly have jardins (which are inclusions such as cracks or air bubbles). Opals can have from 6% - 10% of water content.
For pearls: Drop a soft cloth in warm water and mild dishwashing soap to wipe the pearls. Follow with a wipe of clean water. Do not soak the pearls in a soapy solution. Pearls are soft (a 4 on the Moh's Scale of Hardness) and are sometimes strung on a silk thread, so soaking can damage them.
For all of your gemstones, here are some final tips: Avoid rapid temperature changes, steaming machines, and ultrasonic devices. Trust only a trained jeweler to deep clean your gemstones. Avoid direct sunlight, chlorine, perfume, hairspray, and harsh chemicals.
Thursday, January 4, 2024
Diamond Accent Flower Studs
Wednesday, August 3, 2022
5 Reasons Not To Buy Cartier Love Bracelets
The Cartier Love Bracelet was designed in 1969 by Aldo Cipullo and recently popularized by television personality and makeup entrepreneur, Kylie Jenner, who is known to stack her multiple love bracelets up and down both arms while filming her family's scripted Kardashian reality show.
Soon after promoting the bracelets, Cartier dropped sterling silver and made the bracelets out of 18-carat gold. In 1979 the retailer added diamonds to the design. Today the Cartier Love Bracelet Collection has grown to about 50 variations selling from $4,450 to $62,000 depending on the width, gold, and gemstones you buy. For unknown reasons, white gold costs more than yellow or rose gold at Cartier. The bracelets weigh between 30 grams and 38 grams. On the resale market, yellow gold retains more of its value due to its greater demand.
5) A slew of Cartier Love Bracelets always end up on the resale market. What does it tell you?
Photo: Pinterest |
Frankly, I wouldn't pay the still-inflated prices for a pre-loved Cartier Love Bracelet. But I'm a value shopper, and it's a hard habit to break.
Roberto Coin Love In Verona |
Tuesday, October 19, 2021
Yellow vs White vs Rose Gold
Photo: eragems |
Nowadays jewelers and customers have access to a wide range of medals. Gold is always an excellent choice when buying earrings, rings, bracelets, and necklaces.
The metal is classic and less expensive than platinum. As it turns out platinum scratches more and isn't as easy to resize as gold if, in years to come, the size of your ring finger changes. For this reason and others, gold is widely used to make engagement rings.
Photo: BlueNile.com |
Pure 24K gold (meaning 100% gold) is soft, malleable, and not durable enough to wear as everyday jewelry. The gold we usually wear as a ring is a gold alloy (meaning it is mixed with a harder metal) to make it stronger so your jewelry won't bend or scratch with daily wear.
22K is 91.67% gold and 8.33% of a secondary metal.Photo: Novemgold - 18K gold is 75% gold and 25% of other metals.
- 14K gold is 58.3% gold and 41.7% of other metals.
- In the USA 10K gold is sometimes sold, which is 41.7% gold and 58.3% other metals.
Nowadays gold comes in 3 popular colors: Yellow, white, and rose. There are differences between them, but when considering which hue to get, it's more a matter of personal preference.
Yellow gold is the color of pure 24K gold. When making jewelry, yellow gold is an alloy made by mixing it with yellow metals like zinc and copper. It looks fabulous on most skin tones, which is why yellow gold is so popular for engagement rings.
White gold is an alloy of gold and a white metal such as palladium, manganese, or nickel. Not significantly enough to make you select it over yellow gold -- which also wears well, but if comparing the 2, white gold is stronger, meaning it scratches and dents less than yellow gold. Yellow gold is just a tad softer due to the other metals mixed with it. On the other hand, unlike yellow gold, white gold must be dipped in rhodium to shine and after years of wear and tear, you'll have to have white gold re-dipped in rhodium to maintain its luster. Thankfully the cost of this process is inexpensive.I became familiar with rose gold only a few years ago, and it has become a favorite. (This watch introduced me to it -- not even real gold ... but looks like it!) Rose gold is a gold and copper alloy that is strong; doesn't scratch; doesn't fade; and also is universally attractive on all skin tones. Rose gold has a warm, romantic glow and is an excellent choice when paired with red stones like rubies.
If deciding between yellow, white, or rose gold, it comes down to which one you love the best and sometimes the particular gems you're pairing it with ... I think you can always tell which one to get with just one look after trying on a piece. You know it when you see it. Trust your eyes and heart, and you won't go wrong.
Photo: Hamilton |
Thursday, July 15, 2021
Fashion Jewelry I Like
Photo: Maevery |
Photo: Spiritual Gloss |