March = Aquamarine

Happy Saturday. Boy I am happy the weekend is here. Let's get going... 

Birthstones. We've all got one. Mine is peridot. The birthstone for March [March, we are in you] is the beautiful Aquamarine. Aquamarine translates as "water of the sea" in Latin and is the blue variety of the gemstone beryl. Yes, beryl. Siblings with such other beauties as emerald and morganite [morganite = swoon].  

Here's a fact from good ol' Wikipedia >> 

Sadly I don't own any aquamarine jewellery [yet] so I can't show you any of mine. However, I will show you some lovely aquamarine pieces from around the t'internet. Where should we begin? Gemstones... hmm.. Astley Clarke, of course! Gemstone jewellery at its... finest?! Let the search begin! 

Of course AC has not let me down, look at this beauty - Aquamarine Cocktail ring by Astley Clarke Tearoom. £2,450. Not only does it have a halo [which of course I love*] but it has a beautiful basket and it gives a good amount of finger coverage. It is made from white gold and has 4.46 carats of aquamarine; what a great example of how beautiful this gemstone can be. 

* My engagement ring is a sapphire halo. 

For something much less showy, but even more beautiful, AC has this stunning milky aquamarine ring by Astley Clarke Couture. £2,750. This would be my pick from the aquamarine on the AC website. I think it's the bezel against the milky stone that does it for me. It's very low profile so it would be great for every day wear. 

We can't look at rings all day, can we? Let's see what else we can find to showcase this beautiful stone. Maybe Tiffany & Co can offer us something? 

I am not disappointed, folks. Look at these amazingly petite but beautiful Elsa Peretti, Colour by the yard, aquamarine stud earrings. Sterling silver, .12 total carat weight. £360. 

Up next we have these 'oui' earrings from Dior. They match their famous 'oui' ring, which also comes in aquamarine, but I thought these were a less obvious choice. I have searched and searched but I cannot find a price for these, sorry. They are white gold. The basket, holding the aquamarines, is made up of the word 'oui'. Very sweet! 

It's all been a bit pricey recently, so let me look for something a little more affordable...

This very pretty aquamarine birthstone bracelet from NOTHS.com, by Between you & I, is a lovely way to proudly wear your birthstone. It's £39, made from sterling silver, and is made with 4mm aquamarine beads. 

Of course it wouldn't be my blog without a mention of Alex Monroe. Here is his aquamarine 8mm Hoya ring in 18ct yellow gold. The Hoya is one of my favourite pieces from AM and one day I *will* own the 8mm morganite. £945. It is so refreshing to see some aquamarine set in yellow gold as it is almost always set in white gold or silver. I guess its icy tone lends itself well to the coolness of those metals. 

I was going to end it there but in my travels I found a lovely ring [sorry that there have been so many rings in this post] on net-a-porter and I couldn't not share it. 

I adore flower clusters, but at £4,000 this one is currently out of budget. 

22 karat gold, 6 carat total weight of aquamarine, the petals actually rotate, and it is just beautiful. Made by Munnu The Gem Palace. 

There's lots of lovely aquamarine out there, so go and take a look. Do you have a friend or relative with a birthday in March? Did you get married in March? Mother's Day is coming up. Or you could just celebrate that it's the weekend. 

Enjoy your Sunday & you might even hear from me again tomorrow. 

I ordered my first ever Birch Box today. Get me! If you don't know what a Birch Box is, please go and have a look - they send you various cosmetics samples each month as well as how-to guides and the such. I'll update you when I receive mine. My Erica Weiner wedding band was also dispatched today, so I'm hoping to have that within the next few weeks. 

I'm off to watch Life of Pi.

Thanks for reading, 

L. x 

Sunday spotlight… Citrine & gold.

It’s time for the Sunday spotlight and this week I’ll show you some beautiful ways to wear Citrine and gold. Citrine is a stunning stone from the quartz family that comes in many different shades. But less chatting and more showcasing! 

In the spotlight above I’m showing off the 22k gold vermeil necklace with a hand cut, faceted citrine. This is made by Dinny Hall and can be found here for £150. I think that the drop shape of this necklace gives the necklace a luxury look and the gold really shows off the deep colour of the citrine. I’m also going to quickly show you what the clasp looks like on this one because it’s a nice-looking feature. 

Dinny Hall also sells these citrine earrings (which can be found here). These earrings feature 7mm heart trillion cut gemstones with rose cut facets. 

Moving on I have to show you this ring from Tiffany & Co (here). It’s a bit out of range for a “pay-day treat” at £1,325, but it is Tiffany. 18k gold (not vermeil like above - not a bad thing but explains the price difference) Sparklers cocktail ring with an 8.5 carat, cushion cut citrine. Look at that colour saturation! The Tiffany & Co website only gives the bare minimum amount of information, sadly. So let’s just have a look... (look at that cushion cut - my favourite). 

Next there is a ring from Etsy (here). It is gold plated sterling silver and this time it’s a champagne citrine. Still beautiful, but more on the smokey side rather than bright. 10mm faceted round cut citrine. At 10mm this is going to be on the large side, but I have size 8.75 / R1/2 fingers so it would fit quite nicely. It can be yours for $62 from seller OhKuol. I’ve not purchased from this seller before, so I am not recommending, but they have some beautiful looking Druzy so it might not be too long. 

So there we have it. Some beautiful examples of citrine (at least I think so!). Let’s finish off with a “what I wore today” picture. These are my Alex Monroe Tiny Bird Loop earrings. Aren’t they wonderful? 

Bye for now folks. Keep checking back for updates. 

L. x