Jewellery & Fashion

Author: Drew

  • What is the craze with Pandora Jewellery?

    Pandora is a well-known brand for jewellery. Over the past few years, it has grown in popularity with many stores popping up all over the country. Pandora specialises in jewellery such as charm bracelets that you can then build on over the years. They even do a child’s bracelet, which can be a great gift for a christening or a birthday.

    With the bracelets, you often have a choice of bracelets and clasps to choose from. Often they will do an offer that includes the bracelet, clash and one or two charms. The charms can then be bought separately and are often available in a range of designs to signify certain events such as a birth of a child, birthstone colours, special birthdays, weddings and even in ranges such as Disney. This allows the bracelet to be built upon year after year with the end result of a bracelet with many different memories attached to it. A Pandora bracelet can be the perfect gift for a mum, sister, partner, daughter or friend and prices start from around £100 for a set.

    With Christmas fast approaching, you may find some great deals on the Pandora range as well as sales that you may want to take advantage of.

  • Diamond Quality – A Guide

    Everyone knows diamonds are valuable but do you realise that there is a structured system by which they’re classified in terms of quality and value?

    This grading system was developed by a company called GIA in the 1950’s, and assesses diamonds based on four key characteristics, as set out below.

    Clarity – This can be thought of like the purity of a diamond – a perfect diamond should have no as close to no blemishes or inclusions as possible.

    Colour – Diamonds are, of course, naturally occurring stones and as such, there is a great variability in colour as different environmental factors are at play. Colourless diamonds are the rarest, and therefore the most valuable. Colour is rated on a scale from D to Z, with D being colourless and Z being noticeably yellowy.

    Cut – This reflects how well a diamond’s facets react to light, thus meaning the higher the cut grade, the brighter the diamond will appear. However, it’s also used to refer to the way in which the diamond has been shaped, or ‘cut’.

    Carat Weight – perhaps the most familiar assessment. The carat weight reflects the weight of the diamond, so whilst it’s not technically a measure of size, it is indicative. A single carat equates to 0.2 grams.

     

  • Jewellery Cleaning Tips

    Whilst there are a number of products specifically designed for the purpose of cleaning jewellery, these are often expensive. Thankfully there are a number of handy alternative options using simple household items that you already possess. Here, we run through just a couple of them.

    Silver – Toothpaste: This one is particularly effective, and will remove all tarnish and restore a healthy shine without scratching or damaging your item. Tubes of toothpaste with bicarbonate of soda are the best as any abrasion is so mild it won’t leave scratches or marks, just a perfect polish. Simply rub toothpaste over the area you want to clean, wait a few moments, and then buff off with a clean cloth. For difficult-to-reach areas (such as hallmarks) you can even use a toothbrush!

    Gold – Washing up liquid: Being much softer than silver, you’ll need a different solution for gold – but you’ll be pleased to know that a toothbrush is still a valuable tool. Go for the softest type of brush, as this will give the best finish without marks. Then simply soak your gold items in warm water with a few drops of washing up liquid for about 15 minutes, and buff away.

  • Taking care when washing your clothes

    Not many of us like doing laundry and it often seems like a never-ending task, especially if you have a large family. It can be tempting to just put everything in together and stick it on a hot wash to give it a good clean but this not only can ruin your clothes over time but can cause colour run meaning you will most likely have to chuck the item away.

    Many of us use the tumble drier on a regular basis as often it is a lot quicker and easier than having to peg clothes out on the line. This may be ok for bed sheets and towels, but constantly tumble drying other fabrics can quickly cause them to shrink, bubble or fade. Always check very carefully on the labels of clothing to see how they need to be washed. Often you do not need to wash clothing above 40 degrees as long as you use a good detergent to remove the stains from the item.

    Washing on a low heat, low spin and drying on the line will often preserve colours and make the item look newer for longer.

  • Discolouring of white gold

    Many people now prefer the look of silver jewellery rather than gold so white gold is often a very popular choice. To change the colour of gold, yellow gold is mixed with one or more metals, resulting in an alloy that is white. Most white gold jewellery offered today has been plated with rhodium. Over time this coating can become discoloured and removed leaving the jewellery looking tarnished or back to a more original gold colour. This process is sped up by wearing your jewellery often especially if it is getting wet, exposed to chemicals or worn on a finger for example that often gets more damaged than a necklace or earrings.

    The best way to preserve the colour of your white gold jewellery, apart from not wearing it, is to have it re-plated.

    If your white gold jewellery has a lot of scratches, you may want to get rid of them by having it polished, however it is important to understand that when polishing white gold jewellery you are removing all or part of its rhodium plating, and it won’t be long before you will have to pay again to have it recoated.