2015! I'm back...

Hello all and a Happy New Year to you. I'm sorry that I've been AWOL for some time. We ran way to get married and we've had a pretty tough time of it in the months following, and then of course... Christmas! So I can only apologise and hope that you can forgive the huge gap. 

Our wedding day was perfect. In every possible way (well, I wasn't blown away by my dress, but that happens) and we had an amazing time. We got married in San Francisco and I wouldn't change a thing; we smiled and laughed so much. I will share my wedding jewellery with you later in this post [I've realised that I'm missing photos, so I will show you another time]. 

What else has happened? I think my little sister had just had little R when I was last here; he's now 6 months old and the most beautiful little person. My brother-in-law and sister-in-law are here from Aus at the moment with their little people - T1 who is 3 years and T2 who is 7 months. They are a joy to be around and Christmas was fun because they were around. 

Anyway, none of that is jewellery related, so I must move on. One of my resolutions for 2015 is to sell at least ONE vintage ring this year. I hope that I can do that. The amount of things that I need to concentrate on this year is a little overwhelming, but I hope I can make it through. As I type I should be essay writing, but that'll have to wait! 

Look, I've come all this way and still no lovely pictures of jewellery... I'm still as obsessed as ever. I ordered a ring on Friday night that I will show you when it arrives. There's every chance that it won't fit, as it comes in limited sizes, but I'm hoping that if that's the case then it will make the perfect midi-ring. Here's hoping! 

SALES! They've been everywhere. I've had my eye on a few jewellery sales, mostly the Astley Clarke one, of course. I have been oh-so-tempted on a number of occasions, but we had such a heavy Christmas that I've had to hold back. 

Here are some of the things to have tempted me... 

Dinny Hall's Tear drop earrings in sterling silver. £85, now £45. These are sadly sold out, otherwise I think I would have bought these. I don't own any DH but I'd love to correct that in 2015. 

DH's Tear drop necklace in rose gold. £130, now £90. This piece was exclusive to AC. There's something quite lovely about these drops, they are a really nice size/shape. 

AC's hematite Symphony ring. £165, now £95. I love hematite. I've loved it since I was a kid. The cut on this stone is also my favourite. So what's not to love?! 

Alex Monroe's Pomegranate necklace. £180, now £125. This is one of my favourite AM necklaces and I was hoping to find it in my Christmas stocking this year [I didn't]. If I could afford it right now, I'd love to bag it at this reduced price. Alas, it's not meant to be at the moment. I love the garnets; nothing else could look more like pomegranate seeds. Just look at them! Beautiful. 

Marian Maurer's 18 carat cold and champagne diamond Orpheus ring. £1, 795, now £1, 250. There are so many things right about this ring. I love MM, I love rose gold, I am obsessed with champagne diamonds, and I love these bubble-style diamond rings. I think I'd rather they were different shades of champagne diamond, rather than champagne and white, but this ring is still utterly beautiful. 

There are lots of other lovely things to be had but I don't want to swamp you with my first post, there are other things to look at! 

Alexis Dove is also having a sale. Here are some of my favourites... 

This is an absolute bargain at £85, down from £250. I would have bought it in a heartbeat, but it's not in my size. Helios ring. One of my favourite bits about Alexis' designs is her beading and this ring shows that off really well. 

I have two of AD's wild rose rings and I adore them. I'm wearing them right now in fact. The large one is in the sale [I have tiny and small]. They vary in price depending on finish, but they start at £75. 

Here are mine... 

Up next is the love potion necklace. I'd not seen this before the sale, so it might be a limited piece? It's very sweet and something else that I'd have bought if I had funds. The hand engraved 'love' is quite lovely. £75 from £125. 

Finally, the stacking ring set. £60 from £100. I make it no secret that mixed metals are my thing. These flowers are very simple and three of Alexis' rings for £60 is an absolute bargain. 

I was going to show you my wedding jewellery, but I realise that I am missing decent photos of the two things that my husband gave me on our wedding day, so I'll take photos of those and show you next time. 

I didn't get any jewellery for Christmas this year (!!!) and I didn't buy myself any, which I usually would, but I did buy a necklace for my Ma. I got her a Merci Maman necklace in sterling silver [the only photo I could find of it was the gold one] and I got my two brothers' initials put on the circle charm, mine and my sister's two initials on the star charm, and my dad's initial and a 'x' put on the heart charm. The quality of these products is so good. I was impressed with the one I got my sister and this one too. The engraving is done by hand, which is what made me purchase both necklaces. It's hard to find places that don't all use standard fonts, which I guess are engraved by machine. The hand writing detail is very sweet. It also helps that the packaging is lovely. 

I think that'll do for today. I hope you've forgiven me for my absence. I'll keep you updated on the e-shop, as and when it comes, and various other things that I hope will happen this year. 

Thanks for reading! 

L. 

Pink stones.

I am going to point out that I'm not a girly girl. Well, I like handbags, and nail polish, and blusher, and scarves… (this isn't helping my point, is it?) but I'm not a pink and fuzzy kind of girl. I do, however, like a pink stone. This is a recent development and I'll show you the ring that turned me… 

Alexis Dove's bespoke India ruby ring. 

Just look at its beauty. That's a ruby! It's cloudy, and gold, and beaded, and hammered, and…and… *breathe* bespoke… and locally made. Could it be more perfect? I think this is a rose cut, as that's the cut that Alexis seems to favour. And this is more than okay by me. It's an unusual but stunning cut and I would wear one proudly. She features some beautiful grey stones on her website, but this post is about pink stones, so I'll save those for another time… 

What to look at next? Well, I guess I should mention the pink diamond, which falls in the "fancy colour" category of diamonds. It's not my favourite of the pink stones, but it is certainly worth a mention. Coincidentally, this week, the most expensive diamond in the world sold for £52million at auction. This was a pink diamond and you can read all about it here. It is called Pink Star and is a huge 1.06 inches x 0.81 inches and a whopping 60 carats. It is mounted on a ring, and here is a photograph of that ring… look at those tiny claws holding in that massive stone! I'd quite like to see it on a finger. 

The next items all come from Astley Clarke, one of my favourite online jewellery retailers. I have spent far too many hours on their website, I'm surprised they've not noticed! 

A slightly more modest pink diamond, featured on a ring by Hilier. Yours for £295. 

A more subtle shade of pink can be found in the stone Chalcedony. This pink Chalcedony ring is a part of Astley Clarke's Colour collection and costs £135. You'll come to notice that I like milky stones, I think they are so very pretty. 

Marian Maurer's micro stud earrings show off these pink sapphires rather well, I think. £260. I'll feature Marian Maurer soon because she is one of my favourite designers. 

Next up is pink tourmaline, found in these lovely drop earrings by Pippa Small. A little on the high side at £625, but stunning all the same. Look at those crackles, and bursts of pink colour within the stone. These in particular are a lovely natural shape, and dangly earrings are a weakness of mine! 

There are of course other pink stones, but if I told you all about all of them now then we would have nothing to chat about in the future. 

Enjoy!