Just Ask Leslie: Jewelry Tips

Dear Leslie,
What should I buy for my teenage daughter?
Jim from Bloomfield Hills, Michgan

For teenage girls, avoid anything too showy or osentations. We want something understated but fun. Do your best to acertain your daughters tastes subtly if you wish to make it a surprise, or simply ask her what she likes, as teenagers tend to change their tastes quicker that you realize.

Nonetheless, here are some suggestions that may prove helpful;

For daily wear, look at these simple silver hoop earrings, or this Heart Diamond Pendant, or perhaps this whimsical Charm Bracelet.

When dressing up a bit more, this modern take on the classic pearl necklace is lovely and also available in pink and has a matching bracelet. or take a look at this Jade and Amethyst Bracelet

Dear Leslie,
I want to buy something nice for my fiance for Christmas, she doesn’t own much jewelry, so I don’t know what her tastes are. What can you suggest?
–Danny in Pheonix

There are a few standards that are essential to every woman’s jewelry collection,

Diamond Stud Earrings
Hoop Earrings
Gold or Silver Bangle Bracelet
Pearl Necklace

It is virtually impossible to go wrong with any of these. Many variations on the theme are available, so you can choose something classic or more modern.

Solitaire diamond engagement rings continue to be far and away the most desired, but three-stone diamond engagement rings with a larger center stone flanked by two smaller diamonds are gaining visibility of late. This style has become popular among some of music’s greatest pop divas. Madonna wears one with round diamonds totaling five carats; while Toni Braxton’s has an oval-shaped center stone with heart-shaped side stones totaling 4.5 carats.

Storing jewelry properly requires a little extra care. Diamonds and other gemstones are hard enough to scratch metal jewelry and to mar the surfaces of other stones they come in contact with. Store gemstones in their own individual soft cloth pouches or place them in a jewelry box that has separate compartments for each piece. Metal jewelry should also be stored separately. Select from one of the How To Buy Jewelry pulldowns on your left for further tips.

Opals are the birthstone of the month for October. The name Opal comes from the Sanskrit word Upala. From Queen Victoria to Napoleon to the Holy Roman Emperor, it has fascinated people down the ages. Opals are regarded as a symbol of hope, innocence and purity. There are white opal, black opal, boulder opal, crystal or water opal and fire opal.

When buying opals, you need to understand its colors. The value of an opal is determined by the hue that it reflects. An opal that reflects a deep, fiery red is considered the best and is the most coveted. Opals are generally cabochon shaped or rounded to enhance the play of colors. To clean your opal, use a soft or damp cloth. Do rub it with a piece of cloth moistened with olive oil regularly to retain its natural luster. Avoid exposing it to heat or dry weather.

Opals have been used as the centerpiece for brilliant jewelry designs with its ever-changing display of gorgeous colors and fiery light-its unique variety of colors makes it the world’s most versatile gemstone.

Colored diamonds – known to elite jewelers as “fancy colored diamonds” — are rarer and exponentially more expensive than their white counterparts. Fashionistas are drooling over the engagement rings of the stars. Celebrity brides-to-be have recently seen a 6.1-carat, pink diamond set in platinum, and a 10-carat marquise-shaped, canary yellow diamond.

Colored diamonds come in every shade of the rainbow and are extremely rare. Some, like the yellow ones, are colored by the naturally occurring addition of elements such as nitrogen, whereas pink diamonds simply reflect light differently than white diamonds. Check out this blue diamond ring and black diamond jewelry at ice.com.

What’s the most important thing to remember in buying a diamond?

How a diamond is cut – so that all of its facets work in harmony to spark the greatest brilliance – is perhaps the most important thing to consider in the gem itself. Diamonds burn brightly as symbols of love. For centuries, they have conquered hearts, launched romances, marked anniversaries. Kings and queens covet them. Movie stars flash them. Some of the planet’s hottest and coldest spots produce them. In story and song, the desire for diamonds is as enduring as diamonds themselves.

Sifting mountains of rock, in the harshest of climates, produces rough diamonds. A ton of diamond-bearing rock may yield half a carat. The frozen wastes of Siberia, the desert outback of Australia, thousands of feet below ground in Southern Africa, the desolate reaches of Northwest Canada–these are the crucibles of today’s diamonds. If it is earth’s ability to squeeze carbon into the hardest substance known, it is the hand of man that coaxes out its luminous personality.

Slip a diamond on your finger and you wear a piece of geological history 70 million years old. Though diamonds are cut to rigorous standards, nature endows each with its own identity. Tiny quirks, most invisible to the naked eye, exist in the form of specks, bubbles and feather-like lines. Among the millions of carats mined each year, truly flawless diamonds number in the hundreds. These rarest of beauties are the costliest.

How diamonds are cut affects their brilliance. Traditional cuts radiate an almost incandescent spark of light. A modern version called the Ideal cut is said to trigger a rainbow of fire-like color. Debate over “light” and “fire” rages on. Which to buy is in the eye of the beholder. Both can be dazzling.

Read the rest of this entry »

The traditional one-carat solitaire has now grown to three to five carats. Diamond engagement rings with round diamonds are still the most popular, followed by marquise. But the fastest-growing shape in recent years is square, as in emerald and princess shapes