How to Begin a Jewelry Collection - Selecting Earrings

November 22, 2017

Spring is here with all nature beginning anew. This is the time for you to evaluate and rejuvenate your wardrobe and coordinate your jewelry. Never discard jewelry as you do clothing. Styles come, go, but eventually return. Select jewelry styles that flatter you even if they are not the current fashion fad. The next season will probably have a fashion fad that is flattering to you.

1. Decide how much you wish to spend. Handmade gemstone jewelry made with genuine stones and metals cost very little more than good costume jewelry. Good selections will appreciate with age. The purpose of jewelry is to attract the eye to your face which you want people to recognize and remember. You want to create a unique impression by framing your face with flattering jewelry.

2. Select stone colors and metals that are flattering to your skin tone, eye color and hair color. A good mirror available near a window with daylight, and an honest friend are essential for evaluating your face. Have pieces of warm and cool colored metal jewelry available. Decide if the warm color of gold, brass, or copper is more flattering than the cool color of white gold, silver, or pewter. Determine which metal colors flatter your skin tone, hair color and eye color. Choose the color groups of gemstones and metals that give you pizazz.

3. What outfits -casual, dressy, formal- with accompanying jewelry will you wear the most? Shiny metals are casual, but burnished metals more dressy. Silver is more informal. Gemstones and pearls mix with any metal color.

4. To assemble your jewelry wardrobe, start with earrings. To decide the most flattering style of earring for you, first determine your face shape. Pull your hair back completely from your face with a headband or scarf. Look straight into your reflection in a mirror or take a picture looking straight into the camera. Determine the shape of your face- oval, round, rectangle/square, heart by following the shape created by your hairline and jaw line with a magic marker on the mirror or on a picture. Knowing your face shape will help you select a flattering hairstyle as well as flattering jewelry. Correctly shaped jewelry can help you create the illusion of a perfectly shaped face.

5. General selection rules for face shapes; Oval faces are the most "perfect" face shape. All hairstyles and earring shapes look good on the oval shaped face. All other face shapes try to create the illusion of an oval with hairstyle, makeup and jewelry. All shapes of earrings are flattering to the oval face if you choose colors that flatter your skin tone, hair, and eyes.

Round faces should avoid round shaped earrings. Choose drop or dangle earrings (stick, oval, square, spiral or geometric shape) to give a linear shape to the face. Avoid circular, tiny stud or button earrings. Circular shapes attract the eye to the circular face and make it appear rounder since the eye goes round and round.

Heart shaped faces should wear small round drops, chandeliers, teardrops, hoops, or oversized earrings in any shape that make the chin appear wider. The eye is drawn to the bottom of the earring across the chin to the bottom of the other earring thereby making the chin appear wider. Avoid very short earrings.

Rectangular/square faces should select wide spirals, wide drops and wide oval shapes. Never wear square/rectangular or square geometric shapes. Avoid long dangles if your face is very oblong. Round shapes will carry the eye away from the square shapes of the face.

6. Consider your face and body scale in relation to your jewelry. Small delicate faces are overpowered by large scale earrings. By the same token, very small earrings are lost on a large individual.

7. Store earrings with matching necklaces in partitioned plastic boxes. These can be found in the craft or fishing section of stores. If the sections in the boxes are too small, the partitions can be removed easily by cutting. Tarnish preventing squares can be added to the boxes. Recycle the small moisture absorbing inserts in medicine bottles by putting them in jewelry storage containers or plastic bags with jewelry. It is best to keep earrings in small plastic bags to prevent scratching the necklaces. Store the boxes in a drawer (not near light or heat and away from moisture). Before you have a need, experiment to find suitable jewelry for each outfit. Group matching items together when you store them. This will save time when dressing for an occasion.

Following these simple tips will coordinate your jewelry collection with your clothing wardrobe.