I love jewellery, but jewellery doesn’t always love me.

I love wearing jewellery but my budget, like most people my age, does not allow for expensive, bespoke pieces and so I have to make do with the cheap (well cheapish) version from high street shops. I’m not complaining as I feel that high street shops do well to supply the masses with interesting and cutting edge pieces at a reasonable price. However unfortunately my skin type subjects such jewellery to extreme oxidation and I’m left with ugly brown rings, necklaces and bracelets that smell of rust. Well I though all was lost until a few years back when my friend told me that she coats her cheap jewellery in clear nail varnish. I couldn’t believe there was such an easy answer but it works so well! I now coat most of my jewellery in clear nail varnish and I have a few tips for you if you should decide to do the same...

~Coat the ring or pendant on one side first, place it down on the unvarnished part and leave to dry, then do the other side.
~Use smooth brush strokes that go in the same direction.
~If you haven’t got time to do the whole thing just focus on the parts that are in main contact with your skin.
~ Repeat the process whenever you see/feel the varnish is wearing thin- the length of time it lasts depends upon your skin type, the kind of varnish and how often you wear the item.
~necklace chains can be tricky and time consuming to coat so I suggest buying a couple of more expensive chains and putting your pendants on those.
~I wouldn’t recommend doing all your jewellery at once as the varnish can make you go a little light headed.
~And I wouldn’t recommend that you do expensive jewellery- expensive jewellery shouldn’t need this.
Hope that’s helpful...

This is what happens to my jewellery if I don't varnish them- I didn't varnish this ring until it was too late but I love it so much and the face is still silver so I varnish it to stop it getting worse.

I use 17 nail varnish as it's not too gloopy and it's cheap.

Peace and Love,
Gracie