How to Care For Your Jewellery

I did promise more useful jewellery articles, so here's another one. If you like reading them, remember to click on the labels "Jewellery Articles" to see all my articles at one go.

1. Store your jewellery separately
I'm guilty of it sometimes. When I am in a rush, I just plonk my jewellery on my bathroom counter or throw them in a box with my other bits and pieces. DON'T! We should try to keep our beautiful jewellery (especially those lovely handmade ones) stored separately to prevent entanglement and scratches. My favourite way to keep them without the bulky boxes? Use a small ziploc bag for each piece to prevent scratches. With ziploc or any clear bag, you can also identify your jewellery easily and quickly.
2. Clean after each wear
Wipe your jewellery with a clean and soft lint free cloth after wearing to remove any body oils or residues that will make your gemstones dull and tarnish precious metals.
3. Put on your jewellery last
Makeup, perfume, lotions and body and hair sprays are bad news for jewellery. They make silver tarnish easily, not to mention ruin those plated jewellery. Wait a good five minutes before your wear your jewellery and you will help to keep them lovely for years to come.
4. Avoid pool or sea water or any water!
Any prolonged immersion in any liquid is bad for your jewellery. Remove them before showering, doing dishes or swimming. Chlorine found in pool or tap water can change the colour of gemstones and precious metal.
5. Never sleep with your handmade jewellery on
Most handmade jewellery are delicate things. Sleeping with them on may cause them to become misshapened or even break.
6. Store necklaces and bracelets flat
To prevent your necklaces and bracelets from tangling and also to retain their proper tension (especially those with heavier gemstones), store them lying flat in jewellery boxes or wrapped in cloth.
7. Keep silver jewellery in sealed plastic bags
Silver tarnishes as a result of its reaction to air. To keep them shiny longer, store each piece in a sealed plastic bag. I keep mine in small ziploc bags. And if they do tarnish, just polish them gently with a silver polish cloth. For hard to clean areas, I dip a cotton bud with a tiny amount of liquid silver cleaner and clean those areas very gently and carefully, especially if there are gemstones on that piece.
8. Avoid repeated exposure to direct sunlight
Prolonged exposure to strong sunlight can cause some gemstones to fade or discolour over time.