First, you have to know the kind of pearl that is available in the market. They are categorized in two:

1. Saltwater pearls – these are formed inside oysters that are living in the heart of the ocean. It has three types – Tahitian, Akoya, and South Sea Pearls – depending on the kind of oyster that produced it.
2. Freshwater pearls – these are formed inside mussels that are living in lakes, rivers, ponds, or any other body of fresh water.

Either saltwater pearls or fresh water pearls can be natural or cultured. Natural means that there is no human intervention and the pearl is formed naturally by the oyster or mussel. The pearl oyster secretes nacre an iridescent material made of calcium carbonate. The nacre will coat a microscopic irritant entering its shell until a pearl is formed. On the other hand, cultured means that a pearl grower will carefully open the shell and introduce a small object as an irritant (commonly a bead or metal), then get them back into the water and wait for the pearl to form. This usually takes 2-5 years.

There are a lot of fake pearls out there, but it is more pleasant to own a genuine pearl jewelry at least once in your lifetime. A genuine pearl does not only mean natural. Even cultured pearls are genuine pearls too, having an advantage of being more affordable than natural pearls.

When you hear of fake pearls, it means that they are man-made pearls made of glass, ceramics, plastics or any other similar materials. They are also called faux pearls and are sold as costume jewelry. In the face of modern technology, man can create pearls that look like the original one. Mind you, fakes can have the exact original look, but they do not have the same weight or texture. And their luster is dimmer, which is enough to show that they are imitations of the original. They do not contain any gem value.

To help you with identifying genuine fresh water pearls, here is a three way test:

1. Tooth test – get the pearl and run it against your front teeth, just right below the biting edge. If you sense a gritty feeling, it is most probably real. Fake pearls are smooth, like plastic or glass. However, be very careful of the pearls that are made from ground shells as they can also be gritty.
2. Luster test – test the pearls against all kinds of light. Fake pearls will have a shine only on the surface, while genuine pearls always shine from within.
3. Rub test – get two pearls and rub it together. It should be gritty and do not slide off each other.

When choosing a pearl necklace for your big day, there are four main issues to evaluate. These issues will ensure your necklace and any other accessories complement your dress and add to instead of diminish your beauty.

1.) Color: The color of the pearl is usually the most noticeable aspect of any pearl jewelry. Pearls come in colors ranging from traditional white and off-white to pink, black, grey, and even silver. When choosing the color of your pearl necklace, be sure to think of your skin tone and dress. The color should accentuate your outfit and make the ensemble complete, so choose wisely for a color that you can wear on your wedding day and for many days to come.

2.) Size: Pearls come in several different sizes and are either strung for a necklace in a similar range or in a graduated range. Choose a size of pearl that matches your proportions, as well as that of your dress. Size of the pearl directly affects another issue to keep in mind, the length of the strand.

3.) Length: Pearl necklaces are available in several lengths:

• Collar (12 – 13 inches)
• Choker (14 – 16 inches)
• Princess (17 – 19 inches)
• Matinee (20 – 25 inches)
• Opera (26 – 36 inches)
• Rope (over 37 inches)

The difference in length directly depends on the style of your dress. The most popular lengths of pearl necklaces are the princess length and the opera length. Avoid wearing the longer lengths of pearls over heavily beaded or decorated dresses, as the impact of the pearls may be lost. You may need to try on several lengths to see how each individual strand fits your body.

4.) Additions: Many brides are choosing to forego the traditional strand of pearls and add diamonds or other gemstones to a necklace setting. This is a great idea if you have a preexisting pendant mount of heirloom gemstone you wish to include in your jewelry. Also, many brides are using an illusion or floating setting for a single or several pearls. This setting gives the pearl the appearance of floating weightlessly around the wearer’s neck, giving a more modern feel to this traditional element.

When buying a diamond it is very easy to get carried away. Before you begin shopping determine a budget. Only you can decide what amount is comfortable for you. But remember – Diamonds are expensive

Know the 4Cs

Over the years, diamond professionals have developed standards for comparing and evaluating diamonds. These standards are better known as the 4 Cs – Carat weight, Color, Clarity, and Cut – which, together, affect the appearance and value of the diamond. A diamonds value is influenced by its rarity. Even the slightest differences can make a huge difference in value. Before purchasing your diamond you should take the time to learn what characteristics influence a diamonds value. Only then can you decide which of the 4Cs – Carat weight, Color, Clarity, and Cut – are most important to you. Strive for a stone that offers the best combination of the 4Cs.

Choose the shape that pleases you
Todays most popular shape is round but diamonds come in many appealing shapes.

Choose your diamonds color
Remember, the difference in color is minute but the price is not.

Choose the Clarity

Most diamonds have blemishes and inclusions. These inclusions are what makes your diamond unique. Diamonds are graded under 10 power magnification, so you might think twice before paying for better clarity that cant be seen with the naked eye.

Carat weight

Obviously everyone strives to purchase as large a diamond as possible. Remember, a large diamond is not always a beautiful diamond. Make sure you havent compromised too much on the other 3Cs before selecting your diamond. Be especially careful on the diamonds cut. A poorly cut diamond loses its fire and brilliance, therefore looking more like a piece of glass.

Search for your perfect diamond

Just enter your search criteria into our easy-to-use diamond search engine and youll be on your way to purchasing a beautiful diamond.

Should you still have any hesitations about ordering your diamond, visit our web site: http://www.diamondsafe.com, and our on-staff GIA Graduate Gemologist and Diamond Graduate will do their best to provide you with all your diamond needs.

There are many quality manufactures of high-end or fine fashion jewelry that produce lines of costume jewelry that are much more affordable but look expensive. When you are shopping for cheap fashion jewelry, look at the materials, colored glass beads will stand the test of time better than beads that are painted. You can find lots of natural, semi-precious stones, such as agate, shell and turquoise made into wonderful cheap fashion jewelry accessories. Design styles that use metal wire for connecting beads instead of plastic or string will also make your cheap fashion jewelry look like it cost a lot more than you paid for it.

Cheap fashion jewelry can be an expression of a fun-loving free spirit; using plastic jewelry for a girls night out can be a wonderful way of focusing more on having a great time than how you look. When you want to impress, choose cheap fashion jewelry that has sparkle and glitter. And nothing works better than cubic zirconia – it has that expensive look of diamonds that can make you feel like a million dollars – without the cost.

With so much of our fashion style being shaped by celebrities we see on television, in music videos or films, you can find cheap fashion jewelry in every category from lower-priced replicas of celebrity bling bling, those oversized, extravagant accessories from the hip-hop culture scene to body jewelry made famous by punk and heavy metal followers in both pierced and non-pierced types. You can use cheap fashion jewelry to keep in step with the latest fashion trends. Pile on the bangles and necklaces in the hot color combos of the season: brown with pink, navy with orange or chocolate brown with baby blue.

In your quest to find the best cheap fashion jewelry, dont limit yourself to retail stores in the real world. You will find that there are many online shopping sites that offer the latest styles in cheap jewelry fashions plated in gold and silver with faux pearls beads, crystals and semi precious jewels.

Women all over the world want to look beautiful and wealthy without spending fortune. While the United States has hundreds of manufacturers, your cheap fashion jewelry collection will benefit if you look to the jewelry manufacturers of Asia and Europe as well. Many of the companies in Europe have been exporting their cheap fashion jewelry for years, but some like Russia, Slovenia and Bulgaria are fairly new in the marketplace. Taiwan, Japan and China are all producing cheap fashion jewelry in unique designs and in every type of accessory you can imagine at prices that are hard to believe.

I am aware that many people have had bad previous gemstone purchasing experiences, and some, in my opinion, were downright awful. The common themes in their communications include:

*Didnt really know the seller as good as I should have before purchasing my gemstone…

*Color in hand was significantly different than the gemstone image shown online…

*Didnt read the fine print regarding my gemstone purchase…

*Wanted to return the gemstone and the seller charged a hefty re- stocking fee…

*Didnt understand the importance of clarity,tone, hue and saturation before making my gemstone purchase…

And the list goes on and on… If you have notbeen through an experience like this, either youre a really web-savvy consumer or you have just been plain lucky. Many gemstone consumers have thrown a lot of their hard-earned dollars into gemstones that are of significantly less value than the money they have spent. This is unfortunate for them and quite disappointing to the good guys within the gemstone industry.

How many times have you wanted to know that you are making the correct assessment of a potential acquisition? I have been asked this question frequently and I am amazed that a large percentage of consumers simply do not do the necessary homework before making a buying decision. Certainly not due to the lack of credible resources that are available to the consumer, many people simply let the want of an immediate purchase get ahead of their good judgment. Proceed with caution is always the best place to begin.

Lets start with a generic list of things to consider in the process of making a gemstone purchase. The generic list includes such items as the 5 Ws, namely, Who, What, Where, Why, When. If your inquiry covers several or even all of these questions, you have made a good start in obtaining the necessary information you need in making a wise purchasing decision on your next gemstone.

The Gemstone Who and Where

Who you are considering doing business with and where they are located can tell you much about a gemstone retailer. Is the gemstone retailer headquartered domestically or are they a foreign company with an online presence? This fact is generally known/disclosed at the time you make payment, but not always. The whole foreign vs. domestic issue is worthy of another discussion altogether, but you need to decide in your own mind what youre most comfortable with. Some foreign companies use a domestic mail drop to ship their gemstones. On the surface, they appear to be a domestic company, which would willingly submit to FTC rules and regulations, many of which protect you as the consumer, but some foreign companies couldnt care less about these guidelines. So, it never hurts to ask the question. This will help you to avoid the smoke-and-mirrors game that many foreign sellers implement in their marketing strategy. I know of one company, in particular, marketing gemstones that has many concurrent reincarnations, as I like to call them, on the internet at the same time. They have many websites, all with different looks, and sell essentially from the same inventory. While this type of masked marketing is not in and of itself bad nor dishonest, it sure makes it difficult to get the answer to these first couple of questions and creates confusion for many gemstone buyers. Who am I considering doing business with and where are they located? You might want to cat around on google a bit to find available information and maybe even get some references. Testimonials and referrals represent a major portion of our business and we willingly share our customer references/experiences on our site to make our reputation real for would-be clients. Good stuff! So, understanding who you are about to do business with and where they are located provides you with a foundation of knowledge from which to proceed in the process of obtaining your first/next gemstone.

The Gemstone What

The What question may be answered by simply taking a look at the overall quality range of gemstones the retailer is offering on their site. Does the gemstone retailer carry low-grade gemstones, high-grade, or a broad range of quality? This should speak volumes to you. There are many retailers that simply carry the lower grades of gemstones for a cheap price and show out the best of these grades as top-quality stones. When you view the pictures of these stones, you may think you are looking at top color, relative to other gemstones listed, when in fact you may still looking at run-of-the-mill, poorly colored stones that may be slotted a bit higher in the color range than the others. And yes, there are a LOT of these types of stones available for around $300/ct by a growing number of vendors. The statements regarding the quality of this material are often exaggerated and the pictures on these stones may not even be close to representing the actual item. Caveat Emptor, which is a Latin phrase meaning: Buyer Beware! Good advice for us all. Other considerations related to What include a thorough understanding of the retailers fine print.

The Gemstone Why

The Why question is really self- explanatory…. because you want to own a quality gemstone. Right? In addition, you probably want to try to understand why the company, whose gemstone you are viewing, is in the gemstone business. What I mean by this is…other than the obvious reason, to sell their product for a profit, do they appear to have a good business interest in the type of gemstone you are considering or does the seller just offer it as another line of gemstones on their site. Your interests would be best served by shopping with a retailer that has a good stake and large general emphasis in the type of material in which you have an interest. This will provide you with your best chance at viewing a nice collection of gems from which to choose and competitive pricing. Additionally, I recommend that you purchase from sellers that are more than happy to work with you on a custom order. If they are hesitant to do this, it may indicate that they are getting their gemstones from other retailers and dont want to bother with an order like yours because they simply cant turn it around quickly. It is then possible for you to find yourself purchasing a stone which is only close to what you really desire. Why settle for something close when you are getting ready to drop a chunk of hard-earned change on a fancy gemstone for yourself?

The Gemstone When

And finally, the When question deals with such inquiries as: When will my gemstone order ship and by what method (carrier)? Are there any extra fees when shipping gemstones? When do you restock your gemstone inventory? When is the best time of year to purchase a quality gemstone? You get the idea. By asking these types of questions, you get to know your gemstone retailer better and can pave the way for a long-term, successful relationship with your gemstone dealer.

In summary, it is important that you have a good understanding of the company from which you wish to make a gemstone purchase AND their quality and price are in keeping with your overall expectations. In our companys experience, we have found it amazing how much repeat business we have done with our valued clients over the years by simply providing answers to these basic questions.

Hopefully, you will make many wise gemstone purchases in the days, months and years to come. There are many types of gemstones available in the market today and you owe it to yourself to get the facts FIRST before making any additions to your gemstone collection. I encourage you to put this purchasing model in place to avoid the common pitfalls and disappointments of making incorrect buying decisions on your next gemstone purchase. Give it a try! Youll be glad you did.
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