There is a lot more to owning jewelry than being flashy and spending extravagant amounts of money. It can become your legacy and is a very good investment. You need to absorb all of the advice that you can, which will show you how to select quality jewelry and properly care for it.
Make sure you check into insurance policies when you make a jewelry purchase from a jeweler. In the unfortunate, but possible event that your jewelry gets damaged, the jeweler will be able to replace or fix it for you. In certain instances, there may even be jewelry insurance available to cover loss or theft.
You want to ensure that your jewelry always looks its best so do everything you can to stop it from tarnishing. Never wear your jewelry when you are going to be near water. Lots of jewelry materials are dulled or tarnished by water exposure. If you want to give your jewelry a measure of protection from this element, coat it thinly with clear nail polish.
To open a jump link when making chain jewelry, hold the jump link steady with pliers your left hand, and grip the opposite side of the opening with pliers in your right. Gently twist your hands towards each other. This twisting action helps the jump ring maintain its circular shape without distortion, which will occur if you try to push the sides together without twisting.
One key thing to remember is to only put your jewelry on after you’ve applied your makeup. Putting jewelry on prior to applying makeup or hairspray allows gunk and grime from your beauty products to settle on the jewelry, leaving it dull and potentially harming the finish. This is extra important when you are cleaning necklaces or earrings.
Never use solutions or chemicals on emeralds. Chemicals, especially ammonia, will degrade emeralds to the point that they are unrecognizable. Emeralds are especially porous gemstones, so make sure to take great care when cleaning and storing these precious stones. If you are not careful with these, they will quickly lose their worth.
Keep your silver jewelry untarnished and clean. Your pieces do not look good when they are dirty. You can clean them at home using toothpaste or baking soda. Lightly scrub with the toothpaste or soak in baking soda overnight. You will wake up in the morning to clean shiny silver.
Remove your jewelry when you are going to be using beauty products. Lotions, perfumes, hair sprays, and shaving creams will hurt your jewelry. It may just make your jewelry dirty, but it could also damage your jewels. If you forget once in a while, that should be okay. Don’t make a habit of it.
If you are looking for jewelry as a gift, consider a set rather than an individual piece. It is not uncommon for jewelers to offer special discounts on matched sets. You can make it fun and split the set up to give them parts of the set on each holiday as they come. This way, you can ensure that you don’t have to worry about getting a gift at the last minute, and you know that it will match what they already own.
The jewelry looks great on you, but the allergic reaction it causes, does not. If this is a problem that you have faced, you may want to try using clear nail polish. This gives a protective barrier from the metals that could irritate your skin. You just put a coat of polish, on the area of the jewelry that is most likely to come in direct contact with your skin.
While having jewelry is very nice, you should be very careful about the process of getting it. There are people all over the world that spend all of their time preying on the naive. Following these tips will help you to spot a problem when there is one.