The delicious ebony Tahitian pearls from the South Pacific continue to be some of the most sought-after varieties in the world. Their luxurious dark sheen and iridescent beauty make them extremely valuable to collectors and vanguard jewelry designers. But why? What places these saltwater pearls in such high demand (making them more expensive) compared to…
Do you Know Which Crystal Is Best For Home? Gemstones have wide appeal for their value in beautiful jewelry in almost every culture. Some also find value in metaphysical properties. But what does that mean? From amethyst to rose quartz, gemstones have qualities that connect their beauty to the science of their creation and the…
ByMJ
Gems, News Events
Unique Romantic Valentine’s Day Gift Ideas They’ll Love The date is standard – the gift shouldn’t be. Don’t get me wrong, flowers are lovely (I already have some in my garden). But the ratio between effort and expense should not be the end goal to show how much love you’ve invested in your relationship. Chocolates…
ByMJ
Gems, News Events, Trends
Can Healthy Home Design Keep You Healthy? Although wellness, interior design, and home decor may seem like unrelated topics, in fact, there’s a scientific relationship connecting them. Studies show where we physically live and work have a significant impact on our overall well-being. As a result, you can positively influence your well-being in your home…
ByMJ
Colors, News Events, Trends
Different Fashion Styles Are Finally Here. And They’re Bold, Beautiful, And Suitable For All. Time to think about the newest trends ready to dominate. From sustainable materials, to futuristic designs, to fashion season colors, the different fashion styles are not only intriguing but so inclusive we can all take part in this exciting style evolution….
Aquamarine – The Cool Blue March Birthstone This is the month when people born under the sign of Aries celebrate their birthdays. The most popular birthstone is the limpid blue gemstone. March birthstone aquamarine facts – #1: added to its beauty, some believe the March gemstone possesses special properties, ensuring a gift of luck and…
February Birthstone Crystal Birthday Gifts February is a month associated with love and romance, and it is also the month when people born under the sign of Pisces celebrate their birthdays. The February birthstone crystal also known and loved for its sheer beauty is the beautiful amethyst stone. Lesser known, but attributed to the second…
Many of us believe the phrase “Black Friday” comes from the idea that retailers operate at a financial loss before Christmas Day, but that isn’t exactly the actual story. The Black Friday sale frenzy phenomenon has its origin in more than just the holiday event. We’re all familiar with flashing banners and the corresponding glee…
How Can Men Wear Pearls? Men have worn pearls for centuries, but we often see them as a symbol of purity and innocence. While they have some links to masculinity, there is more to them than meets the eye. The History of Pearls for Men When it comes to pearls for men, the current and…
Once And For All, Is It Jewelry or Jewellery? To those of us in the United States, and who rely on the correct American spelling of the word, it is so official that any other spelling appears to be wrong, a simple typo we easily dismiss or gloss over. For those of us primarily in…
Garnet: January Birthstone The January garnet birthstone represents a particularly notable month, represented as the delicious ruby-red standout gemstone and as an iconic monument to a fresh new year. Garnet’s minerals include almandine, pyrope, and spessartine. The gemstone is most known for its radiant red hue, although it can also be found in shades of…
To many of us online jewelry stores are a scary proposition, but there are ways to make it safe and affordable. Here are a Few.
Glimmering Green October’s green gemstone, also known as chrome tourmaline, is a magnificent stone. Its name is derived from the term “tura mali,” meaning mixed colors because of its variegated nature, radiating with a beautiful harmony of multiple colors all in one crystal. The Mohs scale of hardness places its durability in the 7…
The Amazing History of Gemstones From their miraculous extraction from the earth, gemstones date back to their discovery by ancient civilizations 5,000 years ago. From then on, the colorful beauty of gems have maintained a prominent and integral place in our lives. The fascination with these wonderous stones finds its origin in the early belief…
Let’s talk about the amazing power of pink. First off, there’s a lot to be said about our perception of color. It triggers us each, whether red as in a stoplight or blue as in a welcoming sky. In this way, colors make us do things. In a streetlight, it tells us when we can…
Gemstone Hardness Scale: What Is The “Hardness” Of Gemstones In 1812, renounced gemologist Carl Friedrich Christian Mohs devised a method to classify gemstones based on ranking the hardness of minerals. His challenge was to answer the question: what is the hardness of gemstones? Damaged By Diamonds? Our coveted diamond crystals, rating high on the Moh…
December Birthstone – Turquoise Turquoise Ironically, although turquoise is a birthstone associated with the final birthdays of the year, it was among the first gemstones to be mined. Iran has been a source of the beautiful blue stone for at least two thousand years. Throughout its long life, its distinctive nature has made an exceptional…
ByMJ
Colors, Gems, Giving, News Events
What is Sodalite? Despite its deep rich beauty, Sodalite is not a stone familiar to many of us. Far from a simple rock, the beautiful blue stone is a mineral most popular for its use in such notable structures as statues and even pyramids. So named for its sodium content, its mineralogy designates it as…
Blue Topaz November Birthstone What Is The Beautiful November Birthstone? Prized for its hardness—in fact, one of the strongest naturally occurring minerals—topaz ranks as an 8 on the MOHS hardness scale; it is third in hardness, with Sapphires ranked at 9 on the scale, and diamond, of course, at a hearty 10. Color-Treated Color-treated to…
Citrine Quartz Formation The majority of the mined crystals comes to us from Brazil where the natural geothermal process creates the highly desired warm yellow gemstone. This glamorous quartz crystal, with its cheerful sunny shimmer, is ideally named for the lemon-yellow glow of this lovely stone. In fact, the meaning of its name comes from…
August Birthstone: Peridot The Evening Emerald August’s Birthstone History For all the reasons you may know, your August birthday makes you very special, but for one reason for which you may vaguely be aware, your birthstone does, too. Your birthstone is the illustrious, shimmering gem we’ve come to love: Peridot. With its signature coloring resulting…
Australia’s Mookaite Masterpieces Direct From The Source Also known as mookaite jasper from Australia, the stone is a wonderful element for adding luster to cabochons and beautifully earthy jewelry designs. The first thing that comes to mind when people hear my Aussie accent is the almost universal happiness Australians are known for. Many of…
Celebrate Your Majesty At a museum show, a woman stood admiring one of my necklaces. When I took it off of the display so she could try it on, she said something that was very interesting to me. As she placed it around her neck, she talked about how pretty it was but concluded that…
Amazing Birthstone Alternatives The early concept of the birthstone, or as they were known, the twelve foundation stones, is a nearly universal reference to what has now become the modern tradition of assigning a gemstone to our birth month. This practice saw its beginning in the work of ancient historian Titus Flavius Josephus, inspired by…
What Makes Pearls Precious? To discover what makes pearls so valuable, we must go back as long ago as 5 BC, when the Romans and Egyptians recognized their uniqueness and natural beauty, and the pearl began its ascension to be crowned the Queen of Gems. Discovered by fishermen scouring the shores to feed their families,…
ByMJ
Gems, News Events
What’s the Magic in Moonstone? I am wildly in love with this sparkling gemstone. It may be due to the fact that I missed my opportunity to witness the recent blue moon. Although I was awake that morning at 5:00 am, I was so busy, I missed out — as a result, my morning now…
Swimming In Aquamarine Aquamarine Pools When I was little, my mum had a very vibrant friend called Sophie, someone who looked as though she fell out of a fashion magazine with black hair and radiant eyes, who always had something to say. Sophie wore an incredible aquamarine ring, cushion cut, and set in white gold….
True Blue Lapis Extreme Beauty Lapis Lazuli has always mesmerized me. Looking at the gold matrix that runs through the deepness of the stone’s blue hue, I love the way it gleams with richness, history, and majesty. Lapis has weight, presence, and speaks of the ages. It’s a stone of history and tradition, treasured and…
ByMJ
Colors, Gems, News Events
The Kasumi Pearl When I saw my first Kasumi Pearl, I was pulled into the aura to its natural luster and its organic appeal. I was drawn by the warm reflection of light from each pearl as it glowed like a luminous moon. What’s more, the complete string of Kasumi pearls warms to the skin…
This little light of mine has shown me very early on, that this is the year of us and we. I feel strongly about that and can see it everywhere — in people caring for one another, maintaining our emotional connections even as the physical connections present certain challenges, and in the hope that we…
ByMJ
Giving, News Events
We’re incredibly proud we were able to lend our hand to the families whose lives were impacted by the 2017 hurricanes. We did it!– and so did you. Our financial donation to Habitat for Humanity will add to the much-needed acts of kindness and generosity expressed from around the globe. Habitat for Humanity is commencing the…
Gemstones have always fascinated me; I was fortunate to have a brilliantly creative father who loved nature and crystals. Tirelessly working in the garage, polishing stones and magically transforming them, he passed down the joy it gave him, and I am the beneficiary. One of the first stones he gave me was an Ocean Jasper….
Glamour Meets Hammer The world is forever changing, But recently it looks different to many of us in a way we could never have imagined and on a scale so massive it will require dedicated effort from us to restore order to our friends and families affected by the recent storms. In our own way,…
Did you ever wake with something on your mind — with an image as strong is it is indelible? Even a song can send it from the back of your mind and into sharp focus. For me at this very moment, it’s a color. Not just any color, but beautiful attention-grabbing purple. I’m seeing it all over the…
There are a number of organizations that attest to the virtue of work, and the dignity it instills in those of us who find ourselves in need of both. Working Wardrobes, a nonprofit organization founded in 1990, is special, not because of their belief in the same, but because of their dedication to actively helping…
ByMJ
Colors, Gems, News Events, Trends
There is something special about the care that goes into making things by hand. There is especially the case for beautiful jewelry. For the designer, the act represents the contribution of something new to the world, and for the wearer, the end of the process produces a thing of beauty that will serve as an…
I was thrilled to be chosen to show our stunning freshwater pearls at “The Art of Adorning” last weekend, taking place at Bowers Museum. Many hours went into the selection, design, and creation of my jewelry. Regardless of how many hours and the intricate details, the highlight of my day was to meet the people…
Why Handmade Jewelry Is Special When designing handmade jewelry, it takes countless hours to create a necklace or a bracelet. I’ve often heard comments “how do you have the patience?” It’s true that I touch each stone or crystal and hand weave them into the design. The answer to the question is that I lose…
Pearl Evolution – Oh, The Colors The pearl evolution has transformed us and will continue to, as it further advances our fashion trends and options. Looking at the pearl through its long and illustrious history, we first came to know the iconic morsel of calcium carbonate as a glimmering white sphere, often surprising us from…
I received an invitation to a black and white event. I enjoy themed events; I consider them a break from my usual mode. Who secretly doesn’t rejoice at the opportunity to go into dress-up mode and explore the deep mysteries of their wardrobe? (and, perhaps, the occasion to say “Bonjour, red.”) Going against the norm…
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