Spending $ on jewelry.

[Pom]

I can't afford the stuff I would really want, LOL. We have some nice pieces, nothing crazy expensive other than our wedding rings and H's watch. H has bought some smaller, but nice diamond earrings and a pendant.

[morningmania]

I have real diamond stud earrings in my second holes & my wedding band that I wear every day. I have some very simple nice things that H has bought me. All of the rest of my stuff is "fake". I love necklaces and wear them all the time, and love to change them out for new things.

[mrssandro]

A combination. I have a few super nice pieces but I really enjoy costume jewelry.

[ESF]

H is good at picking out the jewelry. His good friend owns a store that sells estate jewelry, so that has been good for the gifts over the years -- a ring with tiny pink sapphires on it, a pair of garnet earrings, and an opal necklace. I have zero interest in most classic pieces of jewelry - diamond studs, pearls, etc. I prefer colorful gemstones in interesting settings. H does a good job of picking these things out.

Generally though, I wear a lot of costume jewelry. I prefer larger statement pieces, so the delicate opal necklace necklace almost never gets worn, but the other two pieces do. H has also given me a blue topaz cocktail ring that I wear all the time.

I've got a couple other nice pieces that were accumulated from family, etc, that rarely get worn.

The rest of my stuff is from mall stores, neighborhood shops, etc. I've developed a pretty serious addiction to Bauble Bar over the last few months.

[wanderlustfoodie]

Almost all my jewelry is "real." I tend to stick to the basics as opposed to getting all creative with my jewelry style so I'd rather buy great quality items that will last years. The "cocktail" pieces I do own were my grandmother's which I got when she passed away - she had owned a clothing store in her younger days and had fabulous style and I love the vintage look to the pieces. But whenever I buy jewelry for myself, it tends to be substantial as opposed to casual.

[genet313]

I have a mix. I have a lot of "good" jewelry, and I wear engagement/wedding rings and Mikimoto pearls every day.

But lately I've been buying a lot more costume, and I find it fun. It helps accessorize my outfit and I enjoy it. I don't spend a ton per piece, but I would say my spending, all in, is between $150-300 per year.

[Deleted]

All of my jewelry is either completely fake (like Forever 21 fake) or the real deal. I'm not spending a lot of money on jewelry unless it's nice. The only things I wear daily that are real are my wedding set and a David Yurman ring. Everything else just comes out during the holidays or special occasions.

[catbus]

I guess kind of in between. I can't wear most costume jewelry because of a metal allergy, so I have mostly sterling silver stuff. It's not super expensive; my necklaces range from ~$40 to ~$200. The only diamonds I own are in my wedding set.

Speaking of, I actually got really pissed at an Etsy seller who sold this cute handmade pendant supposedly on a sterling silver chain. I wore it to a company party and ended up with a rash around my neck after a couple hours. The seller would not admit the chain was not pure silver. So not cool.

[mbcdefg]

I don't have any real jewelry other than my rings - diamond solitaire and plain band, both made of palladium.

Other than those, the only thing I wear everyday is earrings. All my earrings are from Etsy or department stores.

I have an Etsy necklace that I wear occasionally, which is one of those tiny metal discs with my initial and a little birthstone charm. I also have a few department store bracelets for special occasions. My wedding jewelry was $20 Macy's earrings, a Givenchy necklace from eBay, and a $20 bracelet from White Aisle.

I would love to have diamond stud earrings and a pearl strand necklace someday, but right now I don't have the desire to buy them for myself.

[Deleted]

I do a mixture of both. I mostly wear just my wedding set and my diamond studs everyday and then change up my necklaces-- some are "real" and some are costume. My wedding set was quite expensive but other than that I don't really like spending a lot of money on jewelry. It just seems really frivolous to me.

[limey]

My only real jewelry is my e-ring and wedding band.

I have a vintage pearl necklace and a few silver pieces.

I used to have diamond stud earrings but lost one and now just wear fake earrings. It was one of the last things I had from my dad, so it stung a bit to lose it.

[dexteroni]

I have both. My real jewelry is mostly classic stuff - diamond studs, diamond hoops that match the stones in my wedding band, platinum hoops, pearl necklace and earrings, and studs in my favorite stones, like sapphire, ruby, garnet, and topaz. They have all mostly been gifts from DH, a couple from my parents.

I don't understand the "DH didn't get the memo" issue - give it to him. If you've told him several times what you would like and he still doesn't get it for you, then you have a defective DH, and I'm sorry about that. lol. The good news is that gives you permission to buy it yourself.

ETA: I buy myself fake jewelry; that's more likely to be trend-based, and I don't expect DH to be fully up on every trend and what parts of each one I like and don't like.

[Deleted]

I don't really have "fake" stuff, like a big plastic diamond or whatever. I do have plenty of cheap fun jewelry like from Target or Loft or Kohls. And a few real things like diamond studs and a string of pearls. I wear all of it from time to time. I guess my cheap stuff gets more face time at work due to a business casual wardrobe... pearls dont look right with everything.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using proboards

[Deleted]

Part of my job is to design costume jewelry. I am allowed to wear or borrow whatever I like. I pretty much wear stuff from work.i will wear a costume piece or two I buy from the gem show I shop for work. DH is buying me an anniversary band, & I plan to shop the gemshow for that as well.

[Deleted]

Jan 9, 2013 12:52:31 GMT -5 @buckybells said:

pearls dont look right with everything.

BLASPHEMY

[SuziSaysDa]

I have a mix of both - but all my costume jewelery was purchased by me, he likes to buy me the good stuff (and really so do I).

But it does get frustrating sometimes b/c he will buy something very expensive on a whim, without my input and gets his feelings hurt if I don't love it.

For example, for a significant birthday, he purchased a diamond tennis necklace - it is gorgeous, but not something I was in the market for at the time, so I had to warm up to it. I was disappointed at first b/c if we are going to spend that much money I want to be in on the decision making, but now know how much it means to him so I don't say anything.

[Deleted]

My rings are not fake, I buy only gold or silver because I wear them the most. I do buy cheaper earrings but have been trying to be careful because I am becoming sensitive to metals. I prefer silver jewelry so I find it fairly easy to purchase inexpensive items. I also stay at home so I don't have to dress up on a daily basis.

[dexteroni]

Jan 9, 2013 13:07:23 GMT -5 @savestheday said:

Part of my job is to design costume jewelry.

Wha? That sounds awesome. Tell us more about your job.

[Deleted]

My accessorizing would be so boring if I only wore real jewelry--my wedding ring and a pearl pendant that my sister gave me.

I like interesting jewelry and am fickle. This does not lend itself well to expensive items.

ETA--saves the day, please elaborate. It sounds awesome! And PIP! Pretty please?

[wannabe]

95% of the stuff i wear is stella & dot. the stylist discounts are the only reason i signed up.

[M]

I only wear real stuff...like gold and platinum. My ears are allergic to anything less than 14k gold and I don't prefer to wear too much jewelry or anything fake. A ring or two on each hand (nothing flashy except my sparkly ering and bands haha), a watch, and stud earrings.

H will only buy me higher quality jewelry which tend to be really sparkly and flashy so when we go out somewhere nice I'll throw on a pair of flashy dangly earrings and maybe even a diamond tennis bracelet, but all those mostly stay put up.

[Deleted]

dexetroni & mrschicken- I have some pics at home I will post ( don't want to post the " work" pics)

I run a program for adults with disabilities. I help them design, create, market and sell there own jewelry and they get 40 percent of the profits. It is TONS of fun, and really hard and pays peanuts compared to most MMs jobs.

I get to shop for beads ( gemstones, silver, pearls, swarovski crystals) 2-3 times a year. I get to go out and market the jewelry at shows, and to local businesses. The artists love getting there paychecks and feeling the accomplishment. It really is a great job.

[holly116]

DH's uncle holds a jeweler's license just for personal use. He orders stuff for family, friends and friends of friends at cost. It's awesome. Every single on of DH's friends has gone though his uncle for engagement rings.

I tend to either wear completely real or completely fake. For example, I'll wear jcrew stuff, but I wouldn't wear fake diamonds.

Most of the time, I wear the same few pieces - my wedding set which is platinum with a diamond center stone and alexandrite side stones, a right hand ring with the kids' birthstones, 1/2 caret diamond studs or alexandrite studs. I also have a 3 stone diamond pendant from DH and a sterling silver and pearl Tiffany's necklace I bought for myself years ago, but necklaces are put away till my little guy stops trying to kill me with them. Every now and then I'll pick up a statement necklace or something to wear with a specific dress for an occasion, but to be honest, a lot of the trendy stuff intimidates me.

I like simple stuff and have told DH that he can buy me jewelry as a gift anytime, especially since it's so MM.

[lightbulbsun]

I have a few pieces of real jewelry, but I usually buy necklaces and things at forever 21, lol.

[everam01]

My rings are real, earrings must be nickel-free or I break out, necklaces are almost always costume jewelry/beads. I have a couple of real necklaces but I rarely wear them.

[auntie]

I have very little "fake" stuff and most of that is from DS when he was little.

I have a few really good things (sapphire e-ring, diamond wedding band, pearls, 2 gold watches) and a lot of nice quality silver pieces.

[M]

Jan 9, 2013 10:21:13 GMT -5 raangoli said:

I've always been curious as to what the employee discount is at Tiffany. I might not want to know though, that might be too "painful" to see.

My company gets a business discount of 15% at Tiffany's, but only on business related stuff like card holders, awards, etc. So H buys gift cards at 15% off online then goes to the store to buy whatever.

I am curious too what the actual employees get off. When I worked in a jewelry store (years ago in college), I got 30% off the customers lowest price. I don't think Tiffany employees get that much off though. The prices are high but when you look at the quality of their pieces...it's priced pretty fairly.

[anna7602]

I wear mostly nice, "real" jewelry, but have some flashy fun necklaces and bracelets that I wear every once in a while.

ETA: I don't know why I put real in quotes. I'm simultaneously trying to GBCN and look up info on line for something else. But I do want to know what the difference is between wearing to work kind of stuff and not? Anything I have that's outside of a safe deposit box is every day jewelry. The safe deposit stuff is in there mainly because I didn't want to lose it in our big move and its sentimental value is too high (rings that were my grandmother's, etc.) Otherwise, I would also wear it daily/often.

[martini]

I have a mixture of both. I have a few nice pendants, and then some more 'fun' necklaces that I like to wear also.

The nice stuff I own has mostly been gifts while the inexpensive stuff is usually what I buy myself...

[marshmallowhands]

I have a pair of diamond studs that I wear almost everyday with my engagement/wedding rings and my nice watch. I'm not very adventurous with accessories so I really wanted some nice "basics" that I could wear everyday. I've been having a little more fun with necklaces here and there and sometimes some different funky earrings, but those are always inexpensive pieces.