Jewellery Care

Oxidised and plated finishes are surface finishes. Treat them like surfaces and a pair will look new for years; ignore that and they will dull in a season. None of this is difficult.

The two rules that matter most

Perfume and hairspray go on first, earrings second. Alcohol-based sprays are the single fastest way to dull a plated finish. Get dressed, do your hair, spray, wait a moment, then put the earrings in.

Keep them out of water. That includes washing your face, the shower, swimming, and getting caught in the rain. Water sits in the hollow of a jhumka dome and behind bezel-set stones where you cannot dry it, and that is where dullness starts.

After each wear

Wipe the pair with a dry, soft cloth - an eyeglass cloth is ideal. You are removing skin oils and sweat, not polishing. Pay attention to the earring post and the back of the stud, which touch skin the longest.

Do not use silver polish, toothpaste, baking soda, or a commercial jewellery dip on any of these pieces. Those are formulated for solid precious metal. On an oxidised finish they strip the deliberate darkening straight out of the recesses, and on plating they take the plating with them.

Storage

Store each pair separately, in its own pouch or a lined box compartment. Two pairs sharing a pocket will rub each other's high points bright, and a pearl fringe will abrade against a hard edge.

Keep the box somewhere dry. A bathroom shelf is the worst place in the house for jewellery; a bedroom drawer is the best.

The pearl and bead fringes

The fringes are strung on wire loops, and they are meant to move. Do not tug a fringe to straighten it - if a strand sits crooked, hold the body of the earring and nudge the individual bead. If a fringe catches in knitwear or a dupatta, stop and unhook it rather than pulling.

What normal wear looks like

An oxidised pair will not stay uniform, and it was never uniform to begin with. Oxidising is a deliberate darkening, so raised edges rub lighter with wear while the recessed filigree stays deep. That contrast increasing over time is the finish working, not failing.

Gold plating is a thin layer. It wears fastest where there is friction: the post, the clasp of the push-back, and any outer edge that catches on fabric. Slower friction means slower wear, which brings you back to the dry cloth.

Sensitive ears

We do not describe these as hypoallergenic, because base-metal alloys can contain nickel and we do not publish a nickel declaration for the range. If you react to costume jewellery, wear a new pair for a short stretch first, or fit your own surgical-steel posts.

Questions we get asked often are answered on the FAQ page.