Jewellery Care
Each of our product pages will explicitly mention the use of material and plating. If you are unsure what you can wear and bare, please read our information below.
Our Silver Jewellery
Some background information first. The difference between sterling silver and pure silver is that sterling silver is only 92.5% pure silver and around 7.5% other metals. Pure silver is simply too soft and pure to be used in the crafting of jewellery. The craftsmen we work with will often add a small quantity of other metals to strengthen the silver. The result is 'sterling' silver, the main material used for silver jewellery. You may find sterling silver or silver plated items in our collection.
Although sterling silver is more durable than pure silver, the metals added make sterling silver more likely to get tarnished. This is because these metals may react with oxygen and other elements from the environment and corrode.
Our Gold Jewellery
Gold and gold plated are two different things, though both beautiful. Solid gold you recognise by the little gold-stamp each product receives after production. Most of our gold items are brass on the inside and plated with a beautiful thick layer of gold. Gold plated means that our products find their basis in a specific type of metal (mostly brass) and then get plated with a thick layer of gold. It's layered 3 times to be exact.
Rhodium Plated
Some of our items our rhodinised. Rhodium is a precious metal that belongs to the family of platinum. For rhodium plated jewellery, it involves plating the jewellery with a surface that guards against scratches that also gives a reflective white appearance. It is most commonly found on white gold jewellery but can also be used on silver and other materials.
How to keep your jewellery shiny
As we want you to enjoy your heyValerie Jewellery as much and as long as possible we recommend the following instructions:
- Our products that are gold plated are in fact water resistant, however, too much moist and water will fasten the process of wearing off its shine and colour.
- Cleaning: the chemicals used for cleaning purposes often have a negative effect on your jewellery, let alone your skin.
- Working out: simple, just take them off. Besides keeping them shiny longer, there could some other unforeseen injuries when wearing jewellery while working out.
Scratches and user marks may occur on the plating and sterling silver pieces. This is normal when wearing it for a longer time on a daily basis. At it's core the precious metals are formed by nature and respond only to its environment. More so, don't be shocked if over time your pieces loose a bit of their shine. It is completely normal for sterling silver & gold plated items.
Skin-sensitivity
Each person responds to metals and precious metals differently. All of our metals are nickel-free.
For all of the items we buy or have hand-made we ensure that:
- These items have been batch-tested to assure they are free of nickel or to assure the nickel is so tightly bound in the stainless steel items that it will never contact your skin to cause a nickel allergy rash.
- The Certified Nickel Free and Certified Nickel Safe emblems are our guarantee from our suppliers that those items will never test positive for nickel.
- For the jewellery you already own, test it regularly, even the "safe" and "good" jewellery, to ensure no nickel is present. There are ways besides your skin to test all your metal items for nickel content.
As mentioned most of our items are brass at the core and may have an effect on your skin.