Caring for your jewellery

To maintain your jewellery and extend the life of your pieces I advise that you remove it before;

  • swimming in a pool, spa/hot tub, or the beach
  • playing sports, going to the gym or lifting heavy objects
  • gardening or cleaning the house
  • moisturising while your jewellery is on
  • Coming into contact with chemicals (household and industrial)

Chemicals like bleach can react with the metal and sometimes it can also affect stones. This can result in tarnish or damage to the stone. 

 

About Tarnish

It is natural for precious and noble metals to tarnish, blacken or discolour over time. Tarnish can be caused by several things;

  • Acidity (ph balance) of a person's skin - which is the most common cause
  • Exposure to moisture, oxygen, heat - silver and gold will naturally tarnish just being exposed to the atmosphere
  • Contact with cleaning chemicals and some beauty products 

In short tarnish can be difficult to avoid.



Cleaning

Using a silver polishing cloth you can rub down your jewellery and remove most of the tarnish and make your metal nice and bright again!

If your stones aren't bright and sparkly anymore then they probably need a little clean. I suggest soaking your piece in warm water with a dash of dish washing liquid and cloudy ammonia. Do not do this if your piece has pearls, emeralds or opals. After the jewellery has soaked for a little you can use a soft tooth brush and scrub around the stone paying attention to underneath the stone. Rinse off in clean water and dry with a tissue before rubbing your piece down with a polishing cloth. Now your jewellery should be bright and sparkling like new!