How to Get the Best from Your Earrings

Most women really enjoy buying jewelry especially when it comes to buying earrings. Having said that most often we do not spend a great deal of time or thought into our purchases. This is somewhat surprising when we think about how much care goes into picking our hairstyles and applying our makeup.

Choosing Earrings That Will Flatter Your Face

We all have different face shapes and surprising enough you, earrings can enhance the shape of your face provided you choose the ones that are best suited for you.

Choosing the Right Earring for the Right Occasion

Usually when an individual is choosing earrings it is easy when one considers the two basic categories of fashion being casual and formal. So when it comes time to choose our earrings we just pick out the fancier ones of our collection. There is actually more to it than that. Reason being is because these two categories can be broken down to sub categories. If you want to be chic and in style then you will match your earring to these categories as well.

Choosing the Right Materials

When it comes to picking earrings, we often do not pay a lot of attention to the materials. Of course, this is only applicable to costume jewelry. Golds and silvers we are much more careful about buying.

Now that you are starting to get into the pattern of giving your earring choices, more thought you would probably be able to line up the best materials for the occasion. For example...

• Plastics » casual
• Metal » casual/dressy
• Beads » casual/dressy
• Gold/Silver » semi formal/formal
• Diamonds/Precious Stones/Crystals » formal

Choosing the Right Colors

There are three major points to consider when choosing the colors of your earrings. One is the outfit you are wearing, the color of your hair, and your skin tones. Lets look at these three areas individually:

Hair
You are certainly not going to put a lot of emphasis on your hair color when it comes to your earrings but there are a few things you don't want to do. To begin with, the normal action is to choose earrings that match your outfit. If you are wearing white or black and have red hair then do not wear pink earrings. You are going to get a definite clash. It automatically creates a negative look. You will have lost the balance of your overall look. If fact if you are wearing black and white then be sure to pick out a pair of earrings that is going to bring out the best of your hair color.

Skin Tones
We just take for granted the color of our skin tones. Actually, our skin is made up of several different color tones. It may be reds/yellows or blues. Often you will hear an individual being referred to as warm or cool. This is in reference to their skin tones. Warm tones are the yellows, reds, golds, whereas the cools are the blue and greens.

Clothing
This is the easiest part of matching your earrings but it is not always done correctly. If you are wearing the golds and silvers or crystals then you are ok. It is when you get into the colored pieces that you must be cautious. Often individuals figure if they are wearing a blue outfit then any shade of blue earrings will work. This is not the case most often the variety in the blues will clash.

Birthstone Earrings

Various people believe differently when it comes to their birthstones. These are considered their lucky stones. Whereas feel that the color of the stone best compliments them.

Common Terms for Earrings

Posts
This is a small nut. Usually metal but can sometimes be a plastic disk. It is used for holding studs in place.

Butterfly
This too will hold the stud in place. It gets its name because it appears as if it has two small wings.

Clips
Most everyone has pierced ears now but for those that do not earring come with a small clamp on the back of them so they can be clipped onto the ear.

Hooks
These are just like a piece of bent wire that slides through the hole in the ear and keeps the earring in place.

Earring Styles

Stud
This is usually a round ball, but often takes other shapes as well. It is mounted on a post that is slipped into the hole then held in place with a post.

Gemstones
These are the earrings that you seed with the different colors stones used to decorate the earring. Quite often, it is the birthstone.

Seed Earrings
These are beaded earrings that are made from seed beads. Often they can take on patterns of characters or animals for example.

Chandeliers
These earrings have a frame and within the frame hang several small stones or even one large one.

Drop
If the earring dangles below the earlobe, it is called a drop earring.

Hoop
These oval or round circles usually are placed through the hole in the lobe.

How to Take Care of your Earrings

To begin with, it depends on the style and the components that the earrings are made of. It is interesting to note that very few people even think about cleaning their earrings. If you want to keep them looking their best then here are a few cleaning hints for you:

1. For the precious metals you would clean them with jewelry cleaner just as you would your expensive rings and bracelets.
2. Quite often besides the precious metals there are other components as well. If there are glass stones. A little window cleaner on a q-tip will have them sparkling again.
3. If they are beaded earrings then simple place them in between a soft cloth and gently roll your thumb over the cloth.
4. For the part that inserts into the lobe wipe them with a little alcohol on a q-tip. It is a good idea to do this around the hole in the lobe as well. It freshens it and helps to kill any bacteria that are there. Do not do this too often though as the alcohol tends to dry the skin.
5. Storing your jewelry is very important. Unfortunately earrings can be quite difficult to store and we ten to throw them into our jewelry box. Here they get scratched, bent and tangled. A great solution to this is to take a piece of window screening and frame it as if you would a picture. Now the earrings can be slid through the holes of the screen. The screen can be hung on a hook on the wall. There your earrings will be kept like new for whenever you want them.