Beauty Tips Guides

Girls love jewelry. Guys love to look at girls with jewelry. Guys also love to see their girl ecstatic because he gave her jewelry. So why is it so difficult for a guy to purchase jewelry? What is it about jewelry that is so mysterious and so intimidating? The best way to lose the intimidation is to tackle the subject head on. How about a little crash course in jewelry selection - just for the guys.

Metals - What the Jewelry is Made Of
You can get jewelry in a variety of metals. Gold and silver are probably the best known metals. As for gold, you can get yellow gold, white gold, rose gold, there are several varieties and some are pretty cool. Silver is, well, silver. No big surprises there. Platinum and titanium is a silver color usually. There are other metals, including some really cool metals of the ethnic variety.

Gemstones - What the Metal is Holding
A gemstone is a stone that is found in nature or can be grown in a laboratory. Gemstones include amethyst, which is a purple color and happens to be the birthstone for February, Peridot is green in color usually and is the birthstone for August. Oh, and it is pronounced Peri - dough (rhymes with Merlot). Aquamarine is the gemstone for the month of March and garnet is for January. There are many, many gemstones and some even have specific meanings in certain cultures. Rose stone, for example, is for love. Garnet is for success (if several stones are placed in the office) and for self esteem and popularity (if used as jewelry).

Pearls - In a Class by Themselves
Ah! Pearls exude class and refinement. But, wait, there are several kinds of pearls. There are natural pearls, cultured pearls, glass pearls, black pearls and they can come in any color of the rainbow. If your girl likes pearls, try to find out if she is particular about a certain type.

Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend?
We can’t talk about jewelry without mentioning diamonds. A Diamond’s value is based upon its clarity, color, cut and carat. This can get very involved but many fine jewelry stores publish little pamphlets on diamonds and give them to prospective customers. These little jewels (pardon the pun) will prove to be a terrific help when choosing a diamond.

Cameo - A Natural Beauty
You can really impress your girl by bringing her a cameo and giving her the history on it. Real cameos are carved from a shell. The skill is passed down from father to son for generations. The boy begins carving cameos at a very young age but it takes many, many years for him to become a master. As a master he can then sign the cameos that he creates. When you purchase a cameo that is said to be real, look on it, sometimes on the back to see if it is signed. If so, you have a true, unique treasure.

A Jewelry Shopper’s Mini Guide - A Quick List:

Ask about the refund and return policies BEFORE you buy. After you buy it’s too late.

Ask if pearls are natural, cultured, imitation. There can be great differences in value between the three types. What could be a great bargain for a natural pearl would be a rip-off for an imitation pearl, and vice versa.

Ask if gemstones are natural, laboratory created or imitation. Agai, value can vary greatly based on this factor.

Ask if gemstones have been treated.

Ask about care of the jewelry. You do have to take care of jewelry, so it’s good to find out a little about this.

When you get your receipt, make certain that the jeweler writes down any information that you used as criteria when selecting the item. This will help you ensure you’re getting what you wanted.

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White diamonds are produced by mines all over the world in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. With the rise in popularity of the colored diamonds the term White is misleading. A white diamond is considered to be totally colorless.

Color grading scales used by the internationally recognized laboratories (GIA & IGI for example), ranges from D which is totally colorless to Z which is a pale yellow or brown color. Brown diamonds darker than K color are usually described using their letter grade, and a descriptive phrase, for example M Faint Brown. Diamonds with more depth of color than Z color fall into the fancy color diamond range.

One thing that will remain a constant and that is that white diamonds are classic. The simple beauty of a white diamond is magnificent. There are so many jewelry possibilities that include the use of white diamonds. There are necklaces, bracelets, anklets, earrings, rings, and even toe rings and belly button rings. Nothing is off limits when displaying the sheer beauty of white diamonds.

Choosing a piece of jewelry is not always as simple as visiting the jeweler and choosing something that looks pretty under the glass. Diamonds are expensive and knowledge is needed to make a wise purchase that will retain or even increase in value over time. This means understanding how diamonds are classified.

There are the “4 C’s” of diamond classification and they stand for cut, color, clarity, and carat. Each has its own set of very precise rules when grading a diamond. The first is the cut of the diamond.

The act of polishing a diamond and creating flat facets in symmetrical arrangement brings out the diamond’s hidden beauty in dramatic fashion. There are mathematically proven algorithms involved in creating the perfect cut. When diamonds are cut properly they will enhance any piece of jewelry. They are stunning to look at, and when the sun catches them, they flash like miniature suns.

The next consideration in white diamonds is color. The color has its own scale ranging from D to Z. Diamonds appear white but often have tones of yellow or brown. The more these colors are apparent, the lower the quality and the lower the price of the diamond. It is most desirable to find a diamond that is close to the D rating.

Every diamond is going to have some imperfections. Nature rarely produces anything that is pure and that is why one of the reason man made diamonds are becoming so popular. Many of the man made diamonds are of a better quality than what can be found in nature. There are some cloudy spots in some diamonds and these can often be hidden by a high quality cut.

Finally, diamonds are classified by carat. This is the weight of the diamond. The larger the diamond, the more it costs if the other 3 C’s also fall in line. Jewelers must take into account the other 3 C’s of classification because two diamonds of equal carat can have drastically different prices based on the cut, clarity, and color.

David Cowley has created numerous articles on Diamonds. He has also created a Web Site dedicated to Diamonds. Visit Diamonds

Titanium has been on the market for ring bands for only a few years now. Yes, some of the bands combine gold with titanium. Titanium is an extremely light weight but quite durable and hard metal. Still, titanium will eventually scratch a little. Gold as an inlay or added “band” to the ring will wear much more quickly but may be more easily restored than can the titanium.

First, make sure you have white gold and not yellow. Both colors of gold are used as additions on titanium rings. To check, you need to clean any possible tarnish from the gold to see what the color truly is. White gold can turn a yellowish color but generally not so yellow as yellow gold. Use a paste of baking soda or a good jewelry polishing cloth of the type to remove tarnish and rub the ring. If white gold, the yellowish tarnish should come off and show the true color.

If not, likely the gold is yellow to start. Yes, the gold will look differently against titanium than with metals of other colors. I cannot say that white gold would look yellow since the rings I have seen look either yellow or white, depending on the original color of gold. White should look whiter, in my opinion.

Still, the white may be tarnished to a yellow tinge especially if of low karat such as 375. Generally, the gold applied to titanium in the usa is at least 14k, 585 and not the lower 9kt you mention. I assume you are in a British part of our world. If made for sale in the UK, 9kt is a possibility but generally the gold is of higher karat on titanium rings.

Refinshing the ring. Unfortunately, with the innate hardness of titanium even in jewelry alloys, home polishing will not restore the ring. You will need to visit a jeweler and ask that the ring be refinished. This is possible using aggressive buffing compounds on a motorized buffing machine. The compound must be aggressive to remove scratches from the hard metal. The jeweler must be quite careful to avoid too much polishing of the gold since that metal is much softer and could be buffed to a thin condition.

The jeweler will likely use a hard felt buffing wheel which will allow proper cutting of the titanium and is sharp edged enough to control the contact of the wheel with the gold section. The aggressive polishing is followed with finer compounds and lastly perhaps with a “green rouge” which will polish both the titanium and gold at the same time.

If the gold is white but tarnished to a yellow tinge, you may ask the gold area be plated with rhodium, a very hard and durable white metal often used to preserve white color in white golds. The jeweler may plate the gold only and avoid the titanium since you certainly do not want it to be plated with a white color!

This is done by masking or covering the titanium with a lacquer, red fingernail polish preferred since it is easy to see the start and end of the protective mask of lacquer. Then, using a simple electroplating bath, the rhodium is applied and will help keep the white gold white for a longer period of time. If after the first buffing to restore the luster, you may decide not to have the rhodium plate done. That is also a fine choice.

I am sorry there is not an “at home” remedy to repolish the titanium. The metal is simply too hard to polish without motorized buffing with the proper buffing wheel and polishing compounds. I do hope you enjoy the ring. Resizing is a problem and the titanium may be stretched or perhaps compressed about 1/2 finger size at the maximum. Cutting and adding or cutting to size down is not possible for the jeweler.

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Diamonds are composed of carbon atoms that have been subject to extreme pressure and heat. If the diamond contains no impurities then the color will be crystal clear. Nature rarely creates anything that does not have any impurities in it. Most diamonds will contain some amounts of nitrogen atoms. If a few of the millions of carbon atoms have been replaced by nitrogen atoms, then structure of the diamond will not be significantly altered but the clarity will be changed.

When sunlight, which contains all colors, passes thought a diamond some of the light waves will be reflected by the nitrogen. The amount of color displayed is dependent on the amount of nitrogen involved. When we see color it is because the object we are looking at reflected a specific wavelength of the light spectrum. A good example of this is a pair of blue jeans. The jeans absorb all of the light except the blue light, which is reflected by the jeans.

In the case of a blue colored diamond some of the nitrogen has been replaced by Boron. Boron will reflect the blue wavelength of the light spectrum. The higher the concentration of boron the more color will be showed. At a level of one or a few boron atoms for every million-carbon atom, an attractive blue color results. Natural diamonds of this color are rare and highly priced, such as the Hope diamond. The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) has developed a color chart for grading diamonds.

GIA Color Chart.

D, E, F = Colorless
K, L, M = Faint Color
N, O, P, Q, R = Very Faint Color
S through Z = Light Color

Colored diamonds are very rare and very expensive. The Blue diamond is one of the rarest, and in my option the most desirable of the colored diamonds. The Hope diamond, which can be viewed in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C., is the most famous blue diamond in the world, and at 45.52 carats the largest.

The Hope Diamond is more than a billion years old and it is the worlds’ largest deep blue diamond. It was first found in Golconda, India in the early 1600s and has had a very checkered pasted ever since. It has crossed oceans and continents many times, has been owned by Kings and Commoners, has been stolen and recovered, sold and resold, cut and re-cut.

Famous Blue Diamonds are valuable investments and include such stones as The Queen of Holland, The Blue Empress, and The Regent Diamond. There are very few blue diamonds and the owners rarely sell these because of their value. The blue stones that are famous come in a wide range of hues. There are at least six different shades of blue in the diamonds that have become famous. The shade of the diamond is usually a matter of preference for those looking for special colors in the diamonds that they buy.

The famous blue diamonds come in different shapes including pear shaped and octagon shaped. The cut of these valuable gems is especially important for large, colored stones and the cut must enhance the natural beauty of these wonderful gems. Sometimes the largest stones that are found with a blue color are studied extensively before any cutting is begun.

David Cowley has created numerous articles on Diamonds. He has also created a Web Site dedicated to Diamonds. Visit Diamonds

There is nothing nicer to a woman than to be dressed in the latest fashion. Ofcourse fashion differs in taste and there are many trends. For the more conservative dresser though there is nothing nicer than to have a beautiful dress, matching shoes, appropriate jewelry, makeup and hairstyle.

To get the most out of fashion it is important for a woman to know her fashion accessories. Fashion accessories can give a woman’s out fit that special touch and can make the difference of being either run of the mill or somewhat unique in appearance. Fashion accessories can take an outfit from the mundane to the appreciated.

The primary fashion accessory is that of jewelry. There is a wide range of jewelry. There is much out on the market that can appeal to individual taste. Perhaps the two most appealing accessory items in the jewelry range is that of pearls and diamonds.

Pearls are a classic jewelry items, which have been worn throughout the centuries. They can add that extra touch to your outfit. Pearls can even make the wearing of tee shirt and jeans somewhat glamorous. Pearls are worn around the neck as a necklace or around a person’s wrist as a bracelet. They are also nice as earrings or as a brooch. Pearls come in a variety of colors not only white. They can be found colored pink, blue, yellow and even black.

Diamonds often referred to as a girl’s best friend. Diamonds add glitter to a fashionable wardrobe. They tend to give the wearer a glowing feeling making the wearer feel special and even rich. Diamonds though can be very expensive and therefore it is not uncommon to see a woman sporting what appears to be a diamond when in fact it is cubic zirconia or moissanite or some other diamond substitute. Other gemstones can be just as impressive and some are preferred over diamonds especially if they are a birthstone. Emerald, ruby and sapphire are prominent gemstones.

Fashion or costume jewelry can also appear impressive. For those who might like a bohemian look jewelry items such as bead necklaces, bracelets and belts made from wood can make quite an impact Beads can also be made from other material including bone, shells, plastic and other materials can uplift a woman’s appearance. Just because these items are cheap does not mean that the wearer will appear cheap, however special care needs to be taken in the way they might blend in with the rest of the clothes being worn.

There are many places you could use to buy your fashion accessories. Thrift shops or charities often carry an interesting range of fashion accessories. Going upmarket department stores and specialist shops are plentiful. Increasingly the best place to buy jewelry is online. The internet abounds with online jewelry shops. Selection is a lot easier by letting your fingers or your keyboard do the walking for you. Typically you will find that the internet is less expensive although the disadvantage is that it does not provide for that hands on experience some people prefer from offline store. Nevertheless for quality and price the online website provides a better deal.

You may even be interested in starting up your own online business. If so it is advisable to browse around the net and see what other fashion accessory sites are doing and what resources might be available to you.

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De Beers was founded in South Africa in 1888 and today is the largest producer and seller of diamonds. Almost from the beginning the De Beers company has had a strangle hold on the diamond industry and a huge advertising budget. Diamonds are not as rare as the advertiser would have you to believe. De Beers keeps a huge stockpile of diamonds and tightly controls supply.

De Beers started the very successful advertising campaign A Diamond Is Forever in 1947. The Advertising Age magazine has voted this to be the most recognizable advertising line of the twentieth century. This advertising campaign was designed to discourage diamonds owners from putting their old diamonds back into the market. The success of this campaign turned diamond into the symbol of eternal love and dramatically increased demand for the gems.

The ability to create cubic zirconium happened in the 1950 but it was not until 1979 that it became economically feasible to mass-produce and use them as a diamond substitute. Only a gemologist can tell the difference between a diamond created by nature and a diamond created in a laboratory.

There are several companies that are investing a lot of time and money in developing a laboratory-grown diamond process and are doing quite well. Because of the diamonds optical, thermal, chemical, and electronic properties, laboratory-grown diamonds have a lot of potential to affect many industries and not just the Jewelry industry.

Gemesis is a company founded in 1996 and based in Sarasota, Fla., that is growing diamonds in high-pressure, high-temperature crystal growing chambers. Each chamber starts with a tiny diamond crystal or diamond seed that is bathed in a molten solution of graphite and a metal-based catalyst at about 2,600 degrees Fahrenheit and 58,000 atmospheres of pressure. The diamond begins to grow, molecule by molecule and in about three and a half days a gem-quality 2.8 carat rough diamond has been created.

A rough diamond of this size can create a diamond of about 1.5 carats that has been cut, polished, and is ready for mounting in a setting. Naturally occurring colored diamonds will show color because of the trace amounts of impurities in them. Replacing fewer than five atoms per 100,000 of carbon atoms in a diamond crystal lattice with nitrogen atoms gives a diamond with a yellow coloration or tint. These diamonds sell for about $4,000 per carat, which is about one third of the cost of a mined diamond.

The company adopted the term Gemesis Cultured Diamond to distinguish its laboratory-grown diamonds from the mined diamond to assure that consumers were not being misled as to the nature of the product. The first commercial production of gem quality diamonds, were made in 2002.

The company business strategy changed in 2005 from producing from offering individual loose, cut and polished diamonds to retailers to producing and selling only rough stones in lots to jewelry manufactures and designers similarly to the way in which diamond mines sell natural diamonds.

The man-made diamonds made today are of a better quality than the natural ones. A trained jeweler will be unable to determine a real one from a made-one unless he had some very expensive equipment. Insist on a certification before purchasing a diamond for investment purposes. It will tell you the stone’s carat weight, its color and clarity, and its flaws. If the seller is unwilling to supply a certification with the diamond then he may not be telling the truth and you should find someone who will. After all when you want to sell the diamond the new owner will want a certification from you.

David Cowley has created numerous articles on Diamonds. He has also created a Web Site dedicated to Diamonds. Visit Diamonds