January’s birthstone is and in a few weeks new babies will be born under the umbrella of February’s . Stones chosen by different cultures (in different eras) were not necessarily the same group of twelve birthstones we use today, but most groups shared a common belief: wearing your special stone brings good luck. and learn a little about its historical uses.
There are many different options for stretching your ears and crescent ear stretchers are a great choice. Crescent ear stretchers are crescent shaped pieces of jewellery that you can use to stretch your ear piercings. They are thickest in the middle and allow you to gradually insert the stretcher until the middle part is comfortably in your piercing. There are many different shapes of ear stretchers so it is really down to personal preference which shape you use. I stretched my ears to 12mm and 14mm using a combination of crescent and straight ear stretchers. Personally I found the crescents more comfortable to wear while my ear healed, but everyone is different.
You can find crescent ear stretchers in a wide choice of materials but the most popular are surgical steel, acrylic and buffalo horn. All are excellent materials for stretching with and it is really a question of which material your skin reacts best to.
Acrylic ear stretchers are a cheap, comfortable and easy way to stretch your ears. Acrylic is a high quality plastic that is very light, durable and affordable. I have found acrylic ear stretchers to be very comfortable to use and you can even wear them as jewellery after you have stretched your ears. The main advantage of acrylic ear stretchers is how lightweight they are. Heavy stretchers can pull on your piercings but with acrylic, you’ll hardly feel them at all. This puts less stress on the piercing and gives it a better chance of healing quickly. It also makes them comfortable to wear while your ear is healing – even at night.
There are 3 main shapes of ear stretchers: spiral, crescent and straight. They are all used in the same way but some people find different shapes more comfortable. You can also choose the one you think looks best. At
Market Week in NYC!
Market Week consumed the beginning of this week for us at Charm & Chain. Marc came in from Chicago and we hit the different jewelry shows to do some buying for Spring & Summer. Overall, we honestly thought the collections were stronger than ever—it seemed like each designer really stepped up his/her game for this season. It seemed like the foot traffic was definitely up too, which is a very good sign for our industry. In terms of trends, we saw a lot of ivory and cherry red jewelry—and tons of turquoise, of course. I noticed some really pretty lavenders as well throughout the show. Some designers stuck completely to neutral tones, while others did bright colors more than ever. It seemed like wood was being incorporated into many pieces for summer as well. A lot of the collections seemed very 70’s inspired, an obvious nod to the runway looks for this season. And statement jewelry is obviously here to stay.
