I love thrift stores. Its a fun and fairly inexpensive gamble. Will I find a treasure? Will it be a great price? Or will I just “donate” it back to the thrift store in less than a year?
Luckily, a little knowledge goes a long way. You have to know what to look for in order to really “score.” And no one knows better about silver scores than this guy. He details the best ways to identify good sterling silver using easy techniques (keep an eye out for platters).
As jewelry experts, we’re all about the sparkle. But the real sparkle lies within; jewelry only enhances what our spirits naturally radiate.
Destress. Natural sparkle from the inside happens when we’re feeling relaxed. Stress has the opposite effect; it keeps us locked up and unable to shine from within. When we take time out of every day to manually remove stress from our lives (via meditation, breathing exercises, yoga, etc), our natural state is allowed to naturally move through us and radiate (aka sparkle).
Express. Stifled emotions (like stress) can jam us up and keep our sparkle under wraps. Take some time out every day to check in with yourself. How are you feeling? Do you need a good cry or laugh? Maybe you need to talk to a friend or to a “higher power.” Keep your feelings flowing and show them the respect they deserve; don’t try to shove them down. That’s a sparkle killer.
Dress to impress. Why not try an outside in approach to increase your sparkle? Wear clothes/make-up/accessories that impress you, not others. When you feel good on the outside, your inner sparkle naturally comes to the surface to match. No, not superficial; dressing well is just a way of matching your exterior with your interior.
We all deserve to shine but it does require some personal work and self-care. Let’s regain our naturally big, bright and buoyant spirits.
Most of us don’t think of accessories when it comes to the “slimming effect.” But accessories are “worn” just like clothing, right? Take a look at this video for some tips on wearing vertical jewelry to “keep the eye going down.”
Also, some great pointers on jewelry repurposing.
Cubic Zirconia has a bit of a bad rap. It’s often considered a cheap and obviously fake diamond alternative. But it has an interesting history and deserves props for being one of the many steps to smarter diamond alternatives today.
So where did cubic zirconia come from? According to LovetoKnow.com:
In 1937, two German mineralogists made an important discovery in Cubic zirconia’s history. The scientists found that melted zirconium oxide contained cube-shaped crystals. While this was a unique characteristic to any mineral, the men didn’t understand it as being anything useful since the same properties also existed in the mineral’s natural state. That redundancy seemed inconsequential to both men, and so they simply ignored their find. As with all scientific discoveries, the honor of naming the object or process is given to the one(s) making the discovery. In this case, neither man even considered naming their find, so cubic zirconia retained its scientific name. The world continued to overlook the mineral and its potential for several more decades.
It wasn’t until decades later that scientists”rediscovered” this simulated diamond, while searching for a less expensive material to be used with lasers and industrial applications–not for jewelry yet.
Finally, in 1977, Russian scientists discovered how to grow these crystals using a synthetic process. They named this synthetic crystal “Djevalite.” Under this name, they began to market them as simulated diamonds which took the jewelry world by storm at first.
CZ possesses two traits that prevent it from having an identical appearance to diamonds: CZ has more sparkles in rainbow colors than diamonds and also has more fire. CZ is more brittle and softer than a diamond. Regardless, it gave consumers the opportunity to wear a lot more bling for their buck.
Over the years, CZ has underwent some “bad press” because of its earlier cheap and often yellowish or greenish tints but, like other simulated diamonds, these synthetic gems have come a long way and seen substantial improvements in look and quality.
Synthetic cubic zirconia.
