I will preface this by saying that although I have dabbled in a few professions over the years including: bioinformatician, social media and e-commerce specialist and skincare rep and trainer, the one job I have had the longest is in the luxury jewelry industry. I wouldn't say it's my passion, but I like it enough as long as I still have the freedom to do the beauty stuff. I am part of a great management team and when it comes to understanding people and true client service, the jewelry industry has taught me the most.
When it comes to WHERE I spend the bulk of my disposable income, it would be without a doubt on skincare and jewelry. I rarely wear costume jewelry and though I do not want to sound like I am looking down on this category of jewelry, but after 12 years in this industry and seeing countless repairs, things that last are fine jewelry pieces when cared for properly.
When it comes to WHERE I spend the bulk of my disposable income, it would be without a doubt on skincare and jewelry. I rarely wear costume jewelry and though I do not want to sound like I am looking down on this category of jewelry, but after 12 years in this industry and seeing countless repairs, things that last are fine jewelry pieces when cared for properly.
At this point, I have quite a bit of jewelry in my collection as I obviously get a staff discount, but when it comes to diamonds or gold pieces, they do still command quite the price tag so I am very selective about what I purchase. The first thing to note is that I have small fingers. Now, every Asian girl says this about her hands, but I have alien-like small fingers. I am a size 2.25 on my ring finger (about the circumference of a dime). To this day, I have met only ONE other girl and we both kind of looked at each other in the store with this total look of comraderie because she was finally able to see what a ring would really look like on her finger (she was buying the same wedding band I have). This ring size is so weird that I can't even wear certain rings because they either will not look good on my hand at that size OR the design just cannot be made in that size. I can also never buy anything out of the showcase as EVERYTHING needs to be specially ordered!
Let's start with my engagement ring and matching wedding bands. My engagement ring is a Canadian 0.66ctw, H colour, VS1 clarity Birks Amorique set in platinum. This diamond is a modified brilliant cushion cut diamond and I had contemplated going up to a 1ct, but because my ring has a halo of diamonds around it, it already looks closer to a 1ct. Halos definitely make the central diamond look bigger!
As for my wedding bands, I went with two matching pave diamond wedding bands in platinum that tuck just underneath my engagement ring so that all three rings sit flush.
I also got a third wedding band in the exact same style in 18K rose gold so that I could stack like in this next photo where I am wearing all three wedding bands plus a larger channel set band with 11 diamonds set in 18K white gold.
This year Birks came out with the Iconic Collection which includes a number of stackable bands in both sterling silver, 18K gold and diamonds. Last Spring, I decided to continue with my love of stacking and picked up the Iconic Rock and Pearl sterling silver ring (bottom) and the Iconic Bee Chic ring in 18K yellow gold as I wanted a tri-colour gold set of rings going. Here, I have paired both rings with my ever useful wedding bands! I often will mix and match these between both hands depending on my mood.
The final ring I wear almost daily is my Birks Double Snowflake ring in 18K white gold as it was my 4 year anniversary gift last year. This one I had to wait 10 weeks for as it needed to be specially ordered, but I really love it! It's wider than my other rings, but still looks quite delicate. This ring is a bit more finicky to take care than my other rings as I need to be careful when rummaging in my bag and not getting it caught on zippers.
When it comes to care and prolonging the wear of your rings, TAKE THEM OFF WHEN YOU GET HOME OR GO TO THE GYM. Diamonds are not indestructible and WILL chip if there is impact at the right angle. All jewelry eventually will need repair as claws and prongs will get worn over time or even something as simple as snagging your sweater on your rings can cause a claw to slightly lift and in some cases, a stone to come loose. Fine jewelry is a responsibility and clients are often shocked to learn they cannot wear their engagement ring 24-7 without some sort of damage happening to it over time or even instantly. You can have a tame office job or be a rock climber and there will be different and oftentimes very mundane activities that can lead to wear so reduce the amount of stress placed on your rings and take them off once you get home!
Where do you enjoy spending your money? Would you rather spend thousands on a designer handbag or shoes? Is there anything from Birks you have been eyeing? What are you everyday jewelry pieces?
.JPG)
No comments