In view of the busiest shopping season of the year, we’ve compiled a care section for all types of jewelry. So whether you’re shopping for new pieces or already own a few (or a bunch), here’s some useful information regarding care and maintenance if you ever had questions about the best practices for your beloved pieces.  

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Gold-Plated Jewelry (With Or Without Stones)

Vermeil Jewelry (With Or Without Stones)

Sterling Silver/925 Silver Jewelry

Solid Fine Metal Jewelry

Gold Ready-Made Jewelry (With or Without Stones)

Silver Ready-Made Jewelry (With or Without Stones)

Rose Gold Ready-Made Jewelry (With or Without Stones)

What is it? Any jewelry with a base metal of brass, bronze, copper, pot metal, mixed metal, silver mixes (not sterling 925), or steel that is plated (other common terms are “gilded,” “electroplated,” “wet plated”, and “flash plated”) with a thin layer (microns) of gold.
Special Note #1: Some gold-plated pieces now come covered in a clear coat to better prevent fast wear and tarnishing. However, treat such pieces the same as any gold-plated jewelry when it comes to care and maintenance.
Special Note #2: Some jewelry may be “triple plated” or “extra plated” but this doesn’t truly matter when it comes to wear and longevity. Treat it the same as any gold-plated piece.

GENERAL BEST PRACTICES:

• Avoid contact with moisture or water.
• Avoid lotions, perfumes, sunscreens; if you must – let lotion and perfume dry completely before putting on any gold-plated jewelry and do not do this often. Wipe down at the end of the day.
• Do not wear during exercising.
• Remove before going to bed.

CARE + MAINTENANCE

• To Clean:wipe gently with a clean, soft microfiber cloth. Do not use anything rough and never use cleaning agents.
• Store in an airtight container or plastic bag. If the base metal is brass or copper or any kind of mixed metal, the piece will very likely tarnish if left out in the open since the base metal will react with the air as the gold plating is so thin to form any sort of barrier.

Vermeil Jewelry (With Or Without Stones)

What is it? Any jewelry with a base metal of 925 sterling silver (an alloy of 92.5% pure silver and 7.5% copper) that is plated with a thin layer of gold. Usually the piece will be marked “925”. Basically, vermeil jewelry is gold plated jewelry but with sterling silver as the base metal.
Special Note #1: Some vermeil pieces may also be plated with a thicker layer of gold or multiple layers. As these layers are at the micron level, continue to treat your jewelry piece as you would any vermeil piece.

GENERAL BEST PRACTICES:

• Avoid contact with moisture and water. The sterling silver base can withstand water, but  water and the minerals in it will cause the gold plating to wear off faster.
• Avoid lotions and perfumes and sunscreen for the same reason as above. If you must wear, let everything dry completely before putting on your vermeil jewelry.
• Do not wear during exercising.
• Remove before going to bed since sterling is a soft metal and chains may break or stone settings may become loose if caught on bedsheets. Gold plating will also more easily rub off.

CARE + MAINTENACE

• To Clean:wipe gently with a clean, soft microfiber cloth. Do not use anything rough and never use cleaning agents.
• Store in an airtight container or plastic bag; the piece will very likely tarnish if left out in the open since the base metal will react with the air as the gold plating is so thin to form any sort of barrier.

Sterling Silver/925 Silver Jewelry
What is it? Jewelry that is made of an alloy containing 92.5% pure silver and 7.5% copper and not plated with any other materials.

GENERAL BEST PRACTICES:

• If there are no stones, it’s generally okay to shower in your sterling silver jewelry everyday but be careful of damage and scratches as sterling is a soft metal.
• Handwashing and Shower Guidelines for sterling silver jewelry set with stones:
  • Do not come into contact with water with these stones: rubies, emeralds, opals, sapphires, malachite, lapis, pearls.
  • Okay to wash hands (short water exposure) with these stones: Turquoise
  • Okay to shower in (longer water exposure) with these stones but be careful of settings becoming loose: the quartz family (rose quartz, clear quartz, etc.), amethyst, diamonds, zircons, and higher-grade cubic zirconia.
• Avoid contact with hard surfaces to avoid breaks, dents, and scratches.

CARE + MAINTENACE

• To Clean:For removal of residues, oils, and dust, wipe with a dry clean cloth or gently scrub with a soft toothbrush using dish soap. For a deeper clean or to remove patina, use a silver cleaning cloth.
• The more you wear your sterling jewelry, the less it will patina (the forming of brown film over the surface), so do wear everyday if you love your piece because that is one of the easiest ways to maintain it.
• Store in an airtight container or plastic bag when not wearing since sterling silver oxidizes (turns black) when left out in the open. However, you can polish away the black with a silver cleaning cloth.

Gold-Filled Jewelry
What is it? Jewelry made with a base metal of brass or copper and mechanically bonded with a thick layer (a sheet) of gold.

Note: There are legal requirements in the US for a piece of jewelry to be marked as gold-filled. The gold must be 5% of the overall weight of the piece, and gold-filled sometimes is marked with GF or 1/20.

GENERAL BEST PRACTICES:

• If there are no stones, it’s generally okay to shower in gold-filled jewelry every day but be careful of contact damage and chains breaking.
• Handwashing and Shower Guidelines for gold-filled jewelry set with stones:
  • Do not come into contact with water with these stones: rubies, emeralds, opals, sapphires, malachite, lapis, pearls.
  • Okay to wash hands (short water exposure) with these stones: Turquoise
  • Okay to shower in (longer water exposure) with these stones but be careful of settings becoming loose: the quartz family (rose quartz, clear quartz, etc.), amethyst, diamonds, zircons, and higher-grade cubic zirconia.
• Remove before going to bed
• Remove before going into salt or chlorinated water and avoid contact with harsh chemicals that will wear the down the gold over time.

CARE + MAINTENANCE:

• For gold-filled jewelry with sensitive stones, wipe with a soft, clean cloth. For hardware pieces or pieces with water resistant stones, use a soft bristled toothbrush dipped in a mix of water and dish soap for an easy home remedy that is good at tackling oils.
• Always wipe down after coming in contact with lotions, perfumes, sunscreen.

Solid Fine Metal Jewelry
What is it? Any jewelry made entirely (solid) of fine gold (9k, 10k, 14k, 18k), platinum, or niobium that is not coated to achieve a different surface color or tone. 
Note: Solid gold in jewelry is not actually pure gold (24k) because pure gold is too soft and malleable to withstand any kind of wear. Instead, solid gold used in jewelry is always an alloy (gold mixed with other stronger metals). Karat is a measurement of the ratio of pure gold to other metals/alloys. To determine the ratio, divide the karat measurement with 24 (pure gold is 24k). If we use 14k as an example (the most popular in the US), divide 14 with 24 and you get .583, which means the pure gold content for your 14k piece is 58.3%.

GENERAL BEST PRACTICES:

• If there are no stones, it’s generally okay to shower in your fine jewelry everyday but be careful of damage since fine jewelry is exactly that – fine.
• Handwashing and Shower Guidelines for fine jewelry set with stones:
  • Do not come into contact with water with these stones: rubies, emeralds, opals, sapphires, malachite, lapis, pearls.
  • Okay to wash hands (short water exposure) with these stones: Turquoise
  • Okay to shower in (longer water exposure) if with these stones, but be careful of settings becoming loose: the quartz family (rose quartz, clear quartz, etc.), amethyst, diamonds, zircons, and higher grade cubic zirconia.
• Avoid contact with hard surfaces to avoid breaks, dents, and scratches.
• Remove before going to bed (fine jewelry is delicate)
• Remove before going into salt or chlorinated water and avoid contact with harsh chemicals.
• Generally, don’t wear during strenuous activity (potential breakage and damage).

CARE + MAINTENANCE:

• For gold jewelry with sensitive stones, wipe with a soft, clean cloth. For hardware pieces or pieces with water resistant stones, use a soft bristled toothbrush dipped in a mix of water and dish soap for an easy home remedy that is good at tackling oils.
• For a deeper clean, use metal-specific cleaning agents and cloths or an ultrasonic cleaner, but make sure to check that settings don’t become loose after using these cleaners (especially the ultrasonic).
• It’s good practice to rinse and wipe down fine jewelry pieces after they come in contact with sweat, lotions, perfumes, sunscreen.
• Store anywhere – if your alloy is high quality, there will be no issue with turning or oxidation.

Gold Ready-Made Jewelry (With or Without Stones)
What is it? A base metal of surgical stainless steel coated (not plated) via. a vacuum process with a titanium derived ceramic that gets its gold color through a high-pressure process utilizing nitrogen.

GENERAL BEST PRACTICES:

• Avoid hard contact with rough, abrasive surfaces.
• Can be worn with lotions, perfumes, and sunscreens.
• Okay to shower in but in order to prolong the piece for as long as possible, avoid daily showering as there will be an accumulation of micro-scratches. This is especially true for rings.  
• Avoid exfoliating agents in the shower such as glycolic and salicylic acid or any physical exfoliating beads.
• Okay to wear to bed.

CARE + MAINTENANCE

• To Clean: For removal of residues, oils, and dust, rinse with clean water and dry with a clean cloth. For a deeper clean, dip in alcohol and air dry or softly polish with a clean microfiber cloth.
• Store anywhere – no need to seal in an airtight container.

GENERAL BEST PRACTICES:

• Avoid hard contact with rough, abrasive surfaces.
• Can be worn with lotions, perfumes, and sunscreens.
• Okay to shower in but in order to prolong the piece for as long as possible, be mindful of micro scratches from loofahs. This is especially true for rings.  
• Avoid exfoliating agents in the shower such as glycolic and salicylic acid or any physical exfoliating beads.
• Okay to wear to bed.

CARE + MAINTENANCE

• To Clean: For removal of residues, oils, and dust, rinse with clean water and dry with a clean cloth. For a deeper clean, dip in alcohol and air dry or softly polish with a clean microfiber cloth.
• Store anywhere – no need to seal in an airtight container.

Rose Gold Ready-Made Jewelry (With or Without Stones)
What is it? A base metal of surgical stainless steel coated (not plated) via. a vacuum process with a zirconium derived ceramic that achieves its rose color through a high-pressure process involving copper.
Note: Not as hardy as our gold and silver pieces, but still more long lasting than gold plated and vermeil.

GENERAL BEST PRACTICES:

• Avoid hard contact with rough, abrasive surfaces.
• Can be worn with lotions, perfumes, and sunscreens, but rinse with clean water afterwards.
• Not recommended to wear daily in the shower due to accumulation of scratches over time.
• Avoid exfoliating agents in the shower such as glycolic and salicylic acid or any physical exfoliating beads.
• Okay to wear to bed.

CARE + MAINTENANCE

• To Clean: For removal of residues, oils, and dust, rinse with clean water and dry with a clean cloth. For a deeper clean, dip in alcohol and air dry or softly polish with a clean microfiber cloth.
• Store in closed containers due to the copper content used in our coating process. Sometimes, a white film may develop due to the copper content if left in the open over time. Simply rub off with a clean cloth or a cloth dipped in alcohol.