Turquoise has a bit of a dated stigma to it. Which is a shame because its a beautiful and adaptable stone, accenting a wide variety of clothes. Ready to rethink turquoise?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBHheUckKQ0
We’re so happy to be working with Pure Grown Diamonds. We believe in their eco-friendly product and we love their team. Over the weekend, a customer asked how exactly a diamond is grown from a seed.
Here’s what Pure Diamond has to say:
Pure Grown Diamond technology replicates the conditions necessary to grow a diamond crystal above the Earth’s surface. Grown diamonds are produced by utilizing two gem-quality diamond creation processes: High Pressure-High Temperature (HPHT) and Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD).
In both instances a small diamond seed is placed in a tightly-controlled environment where the rough diamond grows, atom-by-atom, layer-by-layer, recreating the natural process.
The CVD process replicates the crystallization of carbon over a diamond seed inside a vacuum chamber.
Just as in nature, carbon crystallizes on the diamond crystal seed forming a tetrahedral structure identical to one formed below the surface of the Earth.
The carbon atoms change from a gaseous state to a solid state becoming a single crystal that results in diamond formation. A rocky substance develops, waiting to reveal its gem.
Like mined diamonds, grown diamonds emerge as rough. They are polished using the same equipment and techniques; producing the same brilliance, sparkle, fire and scintillation. The only difference is origin.
If you’re a thrift store shopper or an estate sale shopper, undoubtedly you’ve probably come across boxes or bags of jewelry, usually at a reasonable price. But what makes a vintage piece of jewelry worthy of taking home? What pieces might really be worth something? This woman is an expert on vintage jewelry and offers up a few tips:
Brooches…not just your mother’s jewelry anymore. Check out some of these whimsical and eye-catching brooches we found at Vogue:
Chanel Jewelry Contrasting Cammelia Brooch Contraste de Camélia white gold brooch, set with 95 brilliant cut diamonds with a combined 2.1 carats, 108 brilliant cut grey sapphires with a combined 4 carats, coral and onyx.
Cartier panther brooch Platinum panther brooch, set with 535 diamonds, emerald eyes and 82 cabochon sapphires.
Tiffany & Co. dragonfly brooch Gold Dragonfly brooch, set with diamonds and pink sapphires.
Cindy Chao brooch Florale The Art Jewel 2015 Blacklabel Masterpiece n°5 white gold brooch, with two pearls, white diamonds (pear cut, oval cut, rose cut and brillant cut), yellow diamonds, brown diamonds, rhodolites and a 17.25 carat heart cut yellow diamond.
We often hear the term “personalized jewelry” in place of custom design. And while they fall loosely in the same category, there remains a difference. Custom design encompasses the whole process of creating a unique piece of jewelry, based on the customer’s needs. Personalized jewelry (at least in our eyes) is a design aspect of a piece of jewelry, like inscribing a ring with a message.
Here’s more on personalized jewelry:
Personalized jewelry can be a gift, but it also can be a statement that is timeless. Pieces can be customized with names, anniversary messages, dates, and phrases; all able to immortalize a moment or a lifetime bond between the receiver and the giver.
Here’s an example of personalized jewelry:
In an ongoing efforts to educate (and inspire) our customers, we wanted to share this on-point description of the differences between a princess cut diamond versus a round brilliant cut. Read on, young whipper snapper!
Round diamonds have fewer facets and have circular symmetry. This makes round brilliants easier to design, cut and buy. Because of this, it has been possible to identify a range of angles for all the facets that optimise the light performance in a round.
Princess cuts have more facets, complicated angles, and less symmetry so what you’ll find is that even in the best princess cut, the light return at its edges and corners will be from the periphery and indicated as green on an ASET image.
What this means is that those areas will not be as bright as in a round where we have come to expect excellent edge-to-edge light performance. To compare a round to a princess is therefore comparing apples to oranges. Most official cut grading systems recognise this so princess cut diamonds are not graded on the same light performance scale as round diamonds.
Source: Prosumer Diamonds
Style 10001-5.5mm
Princess Cut Engagement Ring With Channel Set Side Stones
Engagement ring with 1/2ct t.w. channel set princess cut side stones. Fits a 5.5mm (1.05ct) princess cut center stone. (setting only, does not include center stone).
Nicole Richie is a well-known and polished celebrity fashionista. So when she doled out fashion advice to fan Cara Hillie in this month’s Glamour magazine, we couldn’t help but spread her words of wisdom.
Her take on business attire?
Think business attire has to be boring? Not so, says Richie. “We’re in a different time now. You can’t be so serious about fashion,” she told Hille. “People really appreciate personal style. For work I throw on a lot of jewelry.” That’s a liberating perspective for Hille: “The people who surround me have always encouraged me to be a little bit more conservative on a job interview,” she admits. “Hearing Nicole say that makes me think about adding some color or an element that shows my personality.” Jewelry is an easy go-to; try a simple sheath dress with a statement necklace.
We’ve stressed here many times how easy it is to clean your own jewelry using a variety of household products…but we have overlooked denture tablets apparently.
If your diamonds are starting to lose a little luster, you can toss them in a denture tablet bath to get them sparkling again.
Denture tablets have a lot of great uses when it comes to cleaning things, and diamond jewelry is no exception. Ashley Poskin at Apartment Therapy explains how to get your rings and bracelets looking like new, and all you need is a glass, a denture tablet, and some warm water. After your bling sits in there for about a half an hour, you can rinse and get to trouble spots with a toothbrush. Be sure to only do this with diamonds, though, and not emeralds, turquoise, lapis, or pearls. Check out the full tutorial at the link below.
Source: Lifehacker
The best part about jewelry is that it livens up just about any outfit. So the next time you’re in a pinch for time, watch this short video and revisit that jewelry box of yours. A simple and easy transformation awaits!
Happy birthday, Scorpios! And congratulations on an amazing and mysterious gemstone: topaz.
Pure topaz is colorless and transparent but is usually tinted by impurities; typical topaz is wine, yellow, pale gray, reddish-orange, or blue brown. It can also be made white, pale green, blue, gold, pink (rare), reddish-yellow or opaque to transparent/translucent.
Orange topaz, also known as precious topaz, is the traditional November birthstone, the symbol of friendship, and the state gemstone of the US state of Utah.[5]
The name topaz comes from the Sanskrit and means fire.
Red and pink topaz gems were used in the jewelry of the 18th and 19th Century Russian Czarinas and is why topaz is sometimes called “Imperial Topaz”.
The most famous topaz is actually a colorless topaz that was originally thought to be a diamond. It is a 1680 carat stone known as the “Braganza Diamond” set in the Portuguese Crown Jewels. Another beautiful topaz is in the Green Vault in Dresden which has one of the world’s most important gem collections.
Folklore, Legend, and Healing Properties:
During the Middle Ages topaz was thought to heal both physical and mental disorders and prevent death.
The Greeks believed it had power to increase strength and to make its wearer invisible while the Romans believed it had power to improve eyesight. The Egyptians wore it as an amulet to protect them from injury.
Source: Bernadine.com
