Vivienne Westwood jewellery

Evening, folk. 

Hollyoaks is on in the background [please don't judge] and I'm wandering around the Internet, as usual, and I've just realised that I've not shared with you my latest 'must have'... 

As you can tell by the post title [and the obvious emblem on the necklace] this lovely necklace is by the one and only Vivienne Westwood. Isn't it glorious? I've said before that I'm not usually into investing my money into non-'forever' pieces but there are a few Vivienne Westwood [and Chanel] items that could sway me. I might treat myself to this one in February [after pay day]; I'll keep you posted. 

This one is called the Mini Bas Relief Choker [strange name] and can be found here. 

Here are a couple more nice things from VW...

Isn't it beautiful? It's called the Three row pearl drop choker in silver [it also comes in gold] and can be found here. 

This one is the Isolde and can be found here. This is more of a statement necklace and I have a lovely black dress that would look lovely with it on a night out. 

The sterling silver small key bracelet is very pretty and could be worn every day - it's sterling silver and a bargain at £85. It can be found here. 

Finally, another one that I'm very tempted by...

Isn't it pretty?! Also sterling silver and here's the link. 

Do you own any Vivienne Westwood gems? if so, please let me know. 

Thanks for reading, 

L. x

Jennie Kwon Designs

I know I've already posted today, but I just saw these Jennie Kwon earrings and had to share. How amazing are they?! 

Sadly they are $445. I'll add them to the "one day" list. I need these in my life. 

Thanks for reading [again]. 

L. 

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. 

Catch up - the one with the vintage milk glass necklace.

Good morning everyone. 

I am so, so very sorry that it has taken me so long to update you all. All my focus has been on crazy wedding planning and doing silly hours at work. But here I am, on a Saturday morning, wanting to say hello. 

My obsession with jewellery has not lessened in the past few months, if anything it is stronger than ever. I can't wait to share my wedding jewellery with you, but the wedding is still in the future so I'll keep that to myself for a while longer. 

Since my Sean Leane splurge I've not spent too much on jewellery, I've had to spend every spare penny on the wedding and wedding-related things, but I did buy a beautiful 1930s milk-glass necklace this week that I am desperate to share with you... 

Isn't it precious? It has a lovely weight to it and the glass makes a lovely noise at it clinks together. It also warms really quickly, which is comforting. It needs a bit of love and might need to be restrung sooner rather than later, but it's from the 1930s, so that's pretty good-going. 

I'm really into vintage at the moment, a phase which I hope never ends. Actually, if it never ends then I suppose it's not a phase... anyway, let's not ramble.

My future husband has finally picked and purchased his wedding ring, which is quite exciting. I'll share that with you post-wedding, because it's AWESOME. 

What else has been happening with me? Oh yes, my little sister had a baby! You might be asking why this is jewellery related, well... of course I bought her some baby related jewellery! 

I bought her the Duchess necklace from Merci Maman. I picked this out the second I found out that she was pregnant and I ordered it the day that my gorgeous nephew was born. It has the initial of the Dad on the little heart, the baby's name on one side of the disc and the baby's date of birth on the other side, and then you can have a little boy or little girl charm. It's available on a variety of chain lengths and in sterling silver, or sterling silver with gold plate. The writing is hand engraved, which is quite important to me - I'm not too keen on the uniformity of typical "font" engraving. I didn't take a picture of the final piece, because I was too excited, so you'll have to make-do with some of the photos from Merci Maman's website. 

I think I bought my wedding nail polish yesterday. I think it's an unusual choice, but I like it a lot. It's my first Essie (I'm an OPI lover) and it is in the colour Rock the boat. Here is a really dodgy photo of the bottle, which I think is awesome at the same time (you can see my blog behind the over-exposed hand). 

Are you interested in what's featured on my Pinterest lately? Yes? Well, let's go then... 

I am loving this necklace by Kenneth Jay Lane, currently on sale at The Outnet. It's a bargain at £128 (was £320) but I just can't justify it at the moment. It is made with black resin beads and I think it's just so glamorous. I love the catch, even if they are just faux pearls! 

These Liberty print jewellery rolls by Dana Levy are amazingly beautiful. They have a beautiful ribbon to tie them up, they come in different fabrics, and they have the sweetest little charms on each of the zips. £110. My choice would be the brown and pink because the metal (zips and charms) are gold-coloured instead of silver. 

Finally, this 1970s faux turquoise bracelet, sold by vintage jewellery seller Susan Caplan. Isn't it perfect? 

There you have it. I'm going to leave you now because this post is far too long, but I hope you've had a good time and I will update you all again soon. I'm hoping my updates will be more regular after the wedding. 

Thanks folks. 

L. 

Happy Bank Holiday

Good morning, folk. It's a bank holiday in England today and as usual it is raining. How sad is that?! As a result, I've got the time to have a look on the internet and do some virtual jewellery shopping [yay, me!]. 

Why am I only virtual shopping? Well.. yesterday I made a rather exciting purchase. I got a pair of the talon earrings that I've been obsessing over. YES! I know, I know, I'm not supposed to be spending any money pre-wedding but I went to just "have a look" and I couldn't leave without them. This doesn't happen too often, so I know that when it does it's the right thing to do. 

So, I guess you want photos? Here you go... 

Here is the lovely grey box. I wasn't expecting something so nice. I didn't get the rest of the packaging because I was trying to be green. But it would have come with a nice bag and some fancy tissue paper. 

As you can see from my photo here, I went for the yellow gold. I know, right?! These were not on my wish list, but when I saw them I just couldn't resist. I'll also get the rose gold small ones at some point because they were also lovely. These ones were £175. 

Please excuse my dodgy photos, but I wasn't expecting to make this purchase but I was desperate to take some photos. Don't they look awesome!? I think they are beautiful and I can't wait to wear them over the summer. 

So, what else happened yesterday? I started my day with a Nespresso [I love my Nespresso] and then we went for an early dinner at Bill's, where we both had a burger and fries. I had sweet potato fries and they were lovely. Oh, and we started with some chips and dip. Food photos...

Looks good, right? Yes. Link to Bill's here >> BILL'S. 

What else is going on in the world of jewellery? Let's see... 

I'm very much enjoying the wares of TALON at the moment. Here are some of my favourite pieces >> 

Perfume Amulettes $178 in bronze $250 in sterling silver. They contain perfume which soaks through the cork at the top and makes you smell all lovely. They come with special fragrances, made by Talon and they are so, so pretty. I have a perfume locket and this sort of thing really does work. The warmth from your body against the metal does magical things. 

They also have a glass amulette for $250. 

Feathers and flowers ring $438 [available in other metals and stones]. Made with Australian opal and recycled metals. I'd love this as a pinkie ring. 

American Beauty cuff $148. Recycled silver. You guys know that I'm a sucker for floral engravings. 

No other posy ring $189. Same goes with this one, look at the lovely detailing. Beautiful. 

Here is some info about TALON. They seem like a nice company. 

I BOUGHT: I think I told you that last week we went to Brighton to find a wedding ring for the future MrTVB? Well, during that trip I found two lovely pieces which I will now show you [yes, the wedding ring was also found and I'll share that with you after the big day]. Brighton is a hotspot for vintage wares and jewellery & I wanted these two gems the minute I tried them on. There's a double headed snake bangle, and a snake ring [which would fit as a normal ring on a person with normal-sized hands!] which I love to wear as a knuckle/mid-finger ring. Aren't they just amazing? 

KNUCKLE RINGS: One of my latest obsessions is knuckle rings, so I hope to add some to my collection very soon. I'll keep you updated on my progress. 

TABS: During the week when I don't have time to blog every day, I keep tabs open in my browser so that I can show you what I'm looking at. So let's go through some of those tabs now... 

Gold arch ring by Michele Varian, NYC $282. I really like the unusual shape of this one. It reminds me of a rainbow, but in a stylish way. Solid 14k gold only. 

Gold and turquoise bar necklace by Michele Varian, NYC $415. Y'all know that this is right up my alley. I love it. 

Intrecciato silver bracelet by Bottega Veneta £430. I like most of the silver bracelets from Bottega. They are works of art. 

Antique silver £225. 

Silver bracelet £355. 

ILA & I turquoise diamond eternity ring $1,610. Isn't it fabulous? I love it. 

Gold plate psychic ring $171 by ManiaMania @ Bona Drag. Smoked quartz on top of a gold plate band. I really like the unusual design. Also available in Sterling Silver for the same price. 

I should stop there because I've inundated you with pictures and information. I hope you've seen something that you like. 

SHOPS TO WATCH: These are some shops that I've stumbled across this week, I'm keeping the links here so I can blog about them in the future. 

Child of Wild

MILLE

Dry Goods NYC

Asprey

I hope you enjoy the rest of the bank holiday weekend. 

Thanks for reading, 

L. x