Jewellery Care Tips & Tricks
We all want our jewellery to look its absolute best for many years to come. Whether you have an investment piece or a sentimental attachment to your jewellery, it is important that you take the best care possible to keep it looking as it did the day you bought it. There are many precautions you can take that you may not even have thought of to help protect, nurture and keep your jewellery in its best condition. If your favourite bracelet, pendant, ring or earrings are starting to look little worse for wear, take a look at some of our favourite tips and tricks for jewellery care:
Wear your jewellery appropriately
There are times and places to wear your jewellery. If you are activity mad, play sports, or even if you are just heavy handed when it comes to the housework, we would recommend that you remove your jewellery. Scratches, dents and loss of stones become more likely when your jewellery is worn at inappropriate times, so do your best to remember to remove any of your favourite pieces before any activity that you may think your jewellery could be damaged.
Take it off before bed
Remembering to take your jewellery off before bed is very important. Wearing pieces such as chains and bracelets to bed can dramatically weaken them. As we toss and turn in our sleep, so does our jewellery and this opens the possibility of our pieces being pulled, snapped, or even smashed off of surfaces such as your bedside table or headboard. Because of this, your safest option is to remove all jewellery before settling down for the evening.
Store your chains properly
When removing and putting away a necklace, be sure to fasten the catch before you store it away. We understand its easy (especially when you are busy) to take your necklace off and throw it back in your jewellery box, however just simply fastening the catch before this can prevent your chain from getting knotted and tangled.
Cleaning Silver
Unfortunately, silver is subject to tarnishing. This happens when silver is exposed to Oxygen and Sulphur in the air, so it is unavoidable that any silver jewellery you own will eventually start to tarnish. This doesn’t damage your jewellery, however it does leave your pieces looking dull and discoloured and can sometimes cause your silver to turn black. There are a few things you can do to reduce the speed of your silver tarnishing, the first thing would be to make sure you get plenty of wear out of it. Leaving your silver in a box can increase the tarnishing process. Try to also remove silver bracelets or rings when you are washing your hands as residue from hand gels and soap can dull your jewellery. You can also keep your silver jewellery in separate airtight bags to slow the tarnishing.
When your silver jewellery does inevitably start to tarnish and look a bit worse for wear, this is when you will need to clean your jewellery with a cleaning solution or polishing cloth. When purchasing your cleaning solutions, be sure that you are using one specifically designed to clean silver. Using a cleaning solution and then buffing your piece with a silver cleaning cloth will give you a beautiful, new, shiny finish. We recommend using the Connoisseurs Silver Jewellery Cleaner and the Connoisseurs Silver Jewellery Polishing Cloth
Cleaning Gold
Simple things like fingerprints and every day dirt build up can cause your gold jewellery to dull and lose its shine. It is important to be gentle when cleaning your gold, as it is a soft metal and susceptible to being scratched or damaged. To clean your gold jewellery and return it to its former glory, we recommend specialist cleaning solutions with anti-tarnish shields to help your jewellery retain its luster. A great option for giving your gold a quick spruce up would be the Connoisseurs Jewellery Beauty Wipes. If you want to give your jewellery a more in-depth clean, we would recommend the Connoisseurs Dazzle Drops Advanced Jewellery Cleaner. You can use a soft bristle brush, such as an unused toothbrush to get into hard to reach places in your jewellery. Once again make sure that you are using a solution specifically designed for the kind of metal or stones you are trying to clean. Some precious and semi-precious stones can be damaged by using the wrong cleaning solutions, so make sure you double check that your solution is suitable for your jewellery.
Looking after your diamonds and gemstones
Although diamonds are the hardest material known to man, they also require your care and attention. It is best to store any of your jewellery items containing diamonds away from each other, as they can knock and scratch each other and cause damage. Dirt and oil from your hands or just general everyday wear can affect the brilliance of your diamonds and sometimes if you have more of an open setting, dirt can creep underneath your diamond and appear to dull the colour or increase the appearance of inclusions. You can use a soft bristle brush and some luke warm soapy water to try and get rid of any dirt your diamonds or gemstones have accumulated. Some gemstones are rather soft and take a lot of care and attention, so it is important to be extra gentle when wearing your gemstone jewellery and also when cleaning to avoid any chips or scratches. Gemstones can also be very fragile to heat, and their chemical compositions mean that some jewellery cleaning products react negatively. If you are unsure of the best way to bring your gemstones back to life, pop in to your local jeweler and ask for advice. Many gemstones also contain inclusions, and aggressive cleaning can weaken the structure of the stone, so make sure you are always extra gentle when attempting to clean your gems. Organic gemstones such as opal, pearl and amber are very soft and should not be submerged in water or most cleaning solutions. If you attempt to clean one of these gems, use a luke warm cloth and very gently rub over to remove dirt. After this make sure you dry the gems with a lint-free cloth, as you don’t want excess moisture affecting the integrity of your stones.
Two items we would recommend for cleaning your diamond and gemstone jewellery would be the Connoisseurs Diamond Dazzle Stik, suitable for both diamonds and gemstones and also the Connoisseurs Jewellery Cleansing Foam, an all purpose jewellery cleaner suitable for diamonds, gemstones and pearls!