The Specialists in Clip on Earrings and Non-Pierced Earrings

Every year we’re blessed with an extraordinary amount of people who invite us in to be part of the celebration of loved ones in their lives and for that, we’re deeply flattered and grateful. At the same time we get asked a million and one questions about whether certain styles of clip on earring would be suitable and so I thought it might be helpful to share a few rules I’ve learned as a jeweller on what works.

Let me begin by saying I use the word rule in the loosest sense of the term. In fashion and jewellery, we have those of us who like to follow styles like the impish charm of Audrey Hepburn, the high glamour style of Kim Kardashian or the innocent rocker of Kristen Stewart. Then there are the exceptions. I once listened to Mary Portas talk about them. She called this group the fashion rebels. It doesn’t matter to them where fashion is saying to go, they go their own way! Although the rules that follow are meant as guidelines, not everyone will fit. Into them. For instance, many women enjoy the notion that as they get older they care less what others think about them. However only a few 70 year olds have shocking pink hair!

Zandra Rhodes when we visited her penthouse studio – living proof that for every rule there is a brilliant exception

I’m not much of a fashion rebel myself, despite my bohemian leanings. I admire them greatly and love having them as friends but good luck to you if you choose to gift them fashion. It can be done and sincerity often counts for more than style when gifting to them, but if you know them well you may easily be able to find something that ticks all their highly individual boxes.

For the rest of us, there may be something to gain by looking at some guides as to whether a particular style of clip on earring works on a given person, although again, feel free to accept of reject based upon your knowledge of the recipient’s preferences.

The first factor I would suggest using to narrow your search is age. Just like younger ladies wear their hair longer, so too they often sport longer drop earrings. Unless you know she likes her chandeliers huge, a drop on a clip on earring of about 6cm is going to be big enough for the average sized woman. Beyond that, there’s a good chance that the bottom of the clip on earring will start rubbing on her shoulders.

For shorter length earrings, there’s still a wealth to choose from. Some brands of clip on earrings like Basics and Elements produce a lot of very dainty drop clip on earrings that dangle only a centimeter or two. Then there are the more traditional stud, shield and pearl style clip on earrings that remain massively popular – Rodney Holman’s large collection of perpetual classics is a great range to choose from if you want a clip on earring design that sits on the ear without any drop or dangle.

The next method I’d look at in asking whether those clip on earrings suit her is to do with face shape. Does she have a slender or a wide jaw line? The reason this has a bearing is because if a woman with a square or broad jaw line wears a large clip on earring, it can accentuate that width. The very same clip on earrings on a slender jawed sister would make a better sense of balance. It’s not to say that larger faced women can’t wear big earrings – after all, RuPaul has shown the world that a big face with huge glitzy earrings can be sensational. However if your loved one is less fiery or if you can’t imagine your Grandma in 17cm crystal showstopper, it might be easier to keep the sense of perspective. As a rough guide, earrings up to 4cm high will work well for most broad faced women, whereas the slender faced can go far larger. It’s also worth noting that very small clip on earrings on slender jawed women can seem quite underwhelming, so unless she’s of a shy disposition, it may be better to marry her ears to a more extrovert pair of clip on earrings.

The next dimension, and possibly one of the most important in my opinion, is to remember whether the recipient has a round or angular face shape. It’s pretty much always the case that women with rounded facial structures will look better where there is a contrast. If they wear clip on earrings which are based on angular geometric shapes like squares, rectangles or straight drops, the contrast will show both the earrings and their features better. It’s a bit like the way it takes just a dash of jam to bring bread alive!

Caroline’s angled jaw and cheek bones are complimented by the round disc chandelier

For angular faced women, round or curved shaped clip on earrings are a better choice. Whether that’s a round button or stud, a hoop or a chandelier featuring discs, the contrast again plays off of one another to frame the face favourably.

Lastly, while there are some styles of clip on earring that are universal classics like pearl clip on earrings, solitaire clip on earrings and spring loaded hoop clip on earrings, if the recipient is of a more daring outlook, you’ll probably score more points for thoughtfulness by pushing the boat out a little further past those always-safe choices.

Whatever you decide, we stock only lines of clip on earrings that are of a quality sufficient for gifting. Many come gift boxed to make things easier and we can deliver around the UK in as little as 24 hours. Give us a call if you need any help!

One of my little indulgences of late has been catching up on the Twilight saga. I saw the first pretty soon after it came out and loved that Kristen Stewart‘s Bella was just a regular girl who falls in love with an extraordinary monster. That he is hot and dangerous, a forbidden fruit of a man, helps the allure but he could choose anyone. Kristen is very much plain Jane and doesn’t do much in the way of girliness. It’s rare to see her in a dress and heels?

Eduard and Bella – the vampyre couple

I caught Twilight – Breaking Dawn 1 a week ago and immediately me and my partner were bitten again! Now we’re counting down the days each week for our Friday night movie when we fill in another blank.

Kristen Stewart is timelessly stylish in vintage clip on earrings

OK, don’t spoil it for us; I know many of you will have seen the full saga and know what happens to the Vampire lovechild! One thing you might not have noticed is that Kristen is a clip on earring wearer. Although she’s quite rightly blossoming since the story began, when off screen at movie awards and the like, it’s only more recently she’s started to indulge in what a beautiful woman she is. She’s started to wear designer dresses more often and add accessories although it’s only once in a while she breaks out the earrings. When she does, they’re clip ons and wow, does she rock in them. Kristen Stewart – even before you become a vampire, you’re proof that style can transcend age and that clip ons are great for anyone who doesn’t like piercing.

It’s been terribly unseasonal weather of late in the UK. Here in London, we’ve been lucky to escape the worst of it and our thoughts and well wishes go out to our many customers who have been affected by the snow.

As a result, some areas are experiencing delays in delivery times. These include parts of the North of England, Northern Ireland, North Wales, Staffordshire and Derbyshire. Royal Mail are putting up a brave fight against the chill and you can find out their latest updates on the service here. A big thanks to all their staff who are working in tough conditions to keep things rolling and a big thanks to the patience of our customers.

Over Easter, there will be some closures:

• Friday 29th March – no postal deliveries
• Monday 1st April – no postal deliveries

Post will be delivered on Saturday 30th March as usual for UK customers.

We will be joining the postal service in observing the Bank Holiday on Friday 29th March through to and including Monday 1st April (no joke!). Our customer service and dispatch teams will be back to full, normal service from 10am on Tuesday 2nd April.

Wishing all of you a very Happy Easter from all of the team here at Make Me Beautiful.

Whenever I speak to ladies about clip on earrings there are a few running themes they tell us as to why they don’t wear clip earrings more often. Some of them – like where can you get them these days – we’ve solved for you – here of course! Not only can you get them from us, you can get clip on earrings in styles to suit your age, budget, build and skin tone here. So it’s not a case that clip earrings are just for kids or the older generation anymore. Anyone who cannot or will not have their ears pierced can look fully accessorized after a shopping trip to Make Me Beautiful.

Other frequent complaints are that clip on earrings pinch or hurt your earlobes if you wear them for a long time. This is sort of true and sort of not. Let me explain as it’s something we can help with.

Clip on earrings don’t have to be old fashioned

Clip on earrings use tension in order to stay attached to your ear. So there will always be some level of pressure and you may experience that differently to others. I have certain clip on earrings I love wearing and can wear for hours at a time. Some of my customers have clip earrings that they love to wear that I find difficult to live with for more than an hour. So there’s an element of uniqueness to this and you shouldn’t think clip earrings will hurt you just because someone else says they hurt them. Some people have very generous earlobes while others were given slender earlobes and that, as well as your sensitivity, is part of what determines how tight the clip earrings feel when worn.

Another factor is the designer. It’s very true that, like bras, you might have to try a few brands before you find one that’s a comfy fit for you. The designers of clip on earrings make them to different tensions and sometimes even with different types of clips. Try different brands on. You’ll soon start to feel the difference. Don’t ever think that because you tried one clip on earring on, that all clip on earrings pinch. It’s simply not true and there are hundreds of great choices.

The next thing to consider is the type of fitting on the earring. Sometimes, clip on earring is used as an umbrella term to encompass every type of non-pierced earring. Technically it’s not accurate but as everyone knows clip on earrings as being the type of earring anyone can wear, it often happens. In truth there are lots of types. Firstly clip on earrings can have a lot of different types of clip:

- the paddle back clip is the most traditional
- the loop back clip is very gentle
- a shepard’s hook style clip features on many modern, trend led styles of clip on earring
- a mini clip is generally only found on petite clip on earrings and seldom causes discomfort due to it’s small size

Then there are all the alternative types of non-pierced earring:

- a screw on earring is similar to a clip on earring and allows the tension to be instantly adjusted with a twist
- ear hooks simply hang from the ear. Some also have hair clips attached
- ear cuffs slide over the cartilage at the top of the ear and are tightened with a gentle squeeze
- magnetic earrings typically take the form of a small stud with a magnet on it’s base. You get a second magnet to put on the other side of the earlobe and the force field between the two keeps the earring on
- spring loaded earrings are generally hoops with a plunger mechanism that allows you to attach them

These alternative forms of non-pierced earring give you a lot of choice in how you decorate you ear and since not all are placed on the earlobe, there’s the chance to take the pressure off of there altogether, something that may appeal especially to ex-pierced earring wearers who’ve suffered torn or split earlobes. It’s a great alternative way of taking attention off of the earlobe and still looking beautiful.

Then, of the actual true clip on earring styles, most can be adjusted to create better comfort.

A clip earring comfort key or adjustment key

With a paddle back fastening, use a clip earring comfort key to adjust the tension bar on the back of the clip. Lifting this upwards gently reduces the pressure in it.

With loop or mini clips, the best way to adjust them is to bend the bottom of the U bend in the clip. Making it just a millimeter wider is often all it takes. Be gentle and make lots of small adjustments rather than one big one. Try it on after each and see if it’s enough.

With shepard’s hook clip on earrings one can either open the U bend as above or press the pad on the back down. This immediately reduces the tension (and you can do the reverse and lift the pad up if you want them to be tighter.

Loosening a Shepard’s hook clip on earring

So between finding a designer that suits, trying different styles of clip on earring and finally fine tuning the clip itself so that you get the perfect fit, there should be plenty of doorways opening up for you to look more beautiful than ever without feeling the pinch!

As the parties subside and the glitz moves away from Somerset House to leave little but sore feet, it’s time for us to feast on the banquet of new fashion trends presented at London Fashion Week’s Autumn/Winter 2013 show.

London Fashion Week‘s exhibition always stars a duo of our favourite luxury jewellery brands right as one enters – Mawi and Erickson Beamon.

Mawi’s distinctive avante-garde designs continue to innovate the marriage of feminine and masculine forms with tough bike chains and spikes contrasting against vivid Swarovski details and bird-of-paradise colour schemes. Coupled with their signature high quality finishing and you may need to wipe the drool from your chin after inspecting the range.

Erikson Beamon’s style has the raunchiness of statement labels like Adele-Marie London. It’s all handmade in the capital and continues to be a darling of celebrities.

With an entree as rich and delectable as this, it was serving up to be a full flavoured event. We found our mains soon after, in the form of the ever effervescent Les Nereides and newly launched Lola Rosa Boutique.

Lola Rose came to fame for it’s use of sculpted natural stone. Think chunky bracelets of polished semi-precious stones and rings with gemstone centre-pieces. The new Lola Rose Boutique moves into new territory by introducing metal to the range. That might not sound like a giant step for mankind but it’s certainly a new world for the designer label to explore. The new collection has strong, sexy evocations with geometric shapes cut for a new Cleopatra.

“To give you an idea,” spoke Roger, Lola Roses’ sales director, “we’ve launched Boutique 18 months ago and it already has grown to account for 50% of sales!”

Lola Rose Boutique bracelet

I couldn’t agree more with the public. I’ve always loved Lola Roses’ charm but I’ve never felt like I could give up shopping at Waitrose for it – until now! Whatever cutbacks it takes, I want it!

Another designer that highly impressed me and my colleagues was Maria Francesca Pepe’s range. Cited on a small and demure stand to the edge of Swarovski’s ever gleaming installation for the show, this was a collection of the Michelin persuasion. A few key ingredients were finely presented to create a dish that excited the mind and satisfied one’s appetite.

I’ll put one of Maria Francesca Pepe’s video trailers for the collection in a moment but to set the scene, know that we’re talking about accessibly priced fashion pieces, many in delicate portions, made from gold or silver plated bronze and finished to a high standard. If you’re an 18-30 fashionista looking to take home your own piece of catwalk fresh London Fashion Week, this is the collection to watch. It’s cool enough that everyone will know it’s from the pinnacle of fashion whilst still being wearable enough that you don’t need an invite to the. Elle Style Awards to have an excuse to wear it. See what I mean:

This year fashion lovers can wake up each morning with a sense of anticipation. London Fashion Week has only just finished showcasing the fine clothes and jewellery that are coming for Autumn and Winter 2013. This is going to be a vintage year and the quality of the jewellery collections coming your way leave me in no doubt in making this recommendation – buy some and treasure it; you won’t regret it!

It’s time for the Aquarius to take the centre stage this month! If you are in search of a gift for a friend whose birthday is between January 21 and February 19, then we’ve got the thing for you! Just as every other astrological sign, the Aquarius has its own birthstone that corresponds to their unique personality traits. The birthstone strengthens the Aquarius and balances out their positive and negative characteristics, helping them live a more fulfilled life.

If you know an Aquarius, you know that they are very creative and entertaining,  also independent and enlightened. Their negative qualities can’t remain hidden, so here we go: the Aquarius can be very rebellious, extremely impractical, and change their mind too often. But, as every other zodiac sign, the Water Bearer has a ruling planet (Uranus), which rules the signs birthstone – the Amethyst.

The gorgeous purple stone helps people born under this zodiac sign and gives them stability, courage, inner strength and balance.

We here at Make Me Beautiful love to give you clip on earring give ideas for your friends, so here are our favourite suggestions for the Aquarius birthstone – the Amethyst! Have fun!

Elements Silver Amethyst and Cubic Zirconia Bracelet

Elements Silver Amethyst Teardrop Clip On Earrings

Elements Silver Amethyst Beaded Friendship Bracelet

Elements Silver Blue and Amethyst Swarovski Drop Clip On Earrings

Elements Silver Amethyst Heart Bracelet

Elements Silver Tree and Amethyst Clip On Earrings

Want to know about Gemini, Pisces, Aries or Taurus?

The zodiac signs are a complicated system of astrological calculations that act as a guide to our personality. The Capricorn sign is represented by the Goat and influences people who are born between December 22 and January 20. As all other star signs, the Capricorns have a gemstone that is ruled by Saturn (their ruling planet), and it corresponds to the Capricorn’s personality traits.

But before we tell you all about the Capricorn’s stone – you have to know a little bit more about your friends who are born under the sign! The Capricorns have numerous good personality traits; they are very patient, stable and trustworthy people, always persistent and positively ambitious.  However, as in the case of all other astrological signs – Capricorns have bad qualities too. Those born in the end of the year or at the start of the new one can be conservative, often cold and at times – materialistic.

Not to worry, because the birthstone of the Capricorns is the Garnet. It has its own unique qualities relating to colour, character, abilities and crystalline structure. It influences the people born under the sign by balancing both their good and bad qualities. The deep red of the Garnet strengthens the Capricorns, and makes them more truthful, aware, pure and fulfilled.

We here at Make Me Beautiful like to give you some examples of our favourite Garnet inspired clip on earrings. It is also believed that the Garnet enhances sensuality and sexuality, making it a special gift for a special Capricorn friend…

Angel Rocks Red Garnet Om Necklace

Red Garnet Gemstone Oval Clip On Earrings

Red Garnet Gemstone Teardrop Clip On Earrings

Basics Sterling Silver Celtic Swirl Clip On Earrings – Red

Elements Silver Red Beaded Heart Bracelet

Rodney Holman Bauble Clip On Earrings – Red

Or are you looking for Taurus, Pisces, Aries or Gemini?

As many of Good Housekeeping’s readers will say, one of the handiest regular columns is Linda Gray’s The Time Saver. Each month, Linda pulls out a number of tried and tested answers to common problems, saving you time. In the January 2013 edition, we were delighted to find that one of our favourite devices, the hercules necklace clasp, got a thumbs up from the lady in the know!

Hercules necklace clasp in Good Housekeeping magazine

The Hercules clasp gets it’s name because of it’s special interlocking magnetic design that makes it super quick and easy to put and take off yet makes it close to impossible for it to come off by accident! They come with a lobster claw fitting that means they’ll work with most necklaces. Whether you’re needing to get dressed quickly or get the necklace off fast, this necklace clasp will look after you again and again. Check out our hercules necklace clasps.

Stop and think for a second. Surely you know someone born between November 23 and December 21? They are those quiet, but spontanious people who love to make everyone around them laugh. Humorous and lively, the Sagittarius hold a respectufl position in our mystic features. Represented by the sign of the archer, the Sagittarius’ ruling element is Fire, and their ruling planet is Jupiter. We here at Make Me Beautiful are great fans of that zodiac sign, and all of the people we know born under the specific star arrangement are incredibly creative, generous and dynamic.

Maybe we like the people, or maybe we just adore their birthstone! The Turquoise is one of our favourite stones; its natural beauty and colour mastering always excites us. It looks good on everyone, but the Sagittarius representors get the best of the Turquoise.

The stars are alligned in a unique combination during the month of the Sagittarius, and the Turquoise stone correlates with their cosmic powers. The stone helps people born under the Sagittarius sign to harmonise their minds and balance their positive and negative qualities. As much as the Sagittarius-borns are compassionate and ethical, they can also sometimes be vulgarly impulsive, very impractical, often foolish and at times – too proud. The Turquoise purposefully pushes Sagittarius people to be more happy, and brings them good fortune. The stone is also used in times of health trouble, and can help the star sign with throat, lungs and teeth pain issues.

But enough from us! It’s time to give you some gift ideas in case you are searching for the perfect present for your favourite Sagittarius friend! Fiorelli, Elements and Basics Sterling Silver are the perfect designers for that! And make sure you don’t get too carried away in the mystic powers of the Turquoise…

Basics Sterling Silver Turquoise Coloured Teardrop Clip On Earrings

Elements Silver Imitation Turquoise Bracelet

Basics Sterling Silver Celtic Swirl Clip On Earrings – Turquoise-Coloured

Fiorelli Worn Silver Turquoise Stone Set Cuff Bracelet

Natural Turquoise Teardrop Button Clip On Earrings

Want to buy more presents for people? Why don’t you look at the Aries, Taurus, Pisces and Gemini for some inspiration?

We’ve recently been communicating with our customers about the rising price of silver and how it affects the price of jewellery. Let’s put this into a little context. It’s quite well known that when countries do what is called “Quantitative Easing” or printing money, money becomes worth less than it was and as a result, investors rush to buy gold. They do this because gold keeps it’s value because it’s in limited supply whereas banks can keep making more money when they need. During the recent global financial crisis, investors around the world put their money into gold and as a result gold prices soared. This made gold jewellery suddenly become both expensive and difficult to price. One of our suppliers was unable to tell us exactly what the price of jewellery would be in advance; they had to call a price when we ordered based upon that day’s gold price.

When prices are prone to going up and down so fast it gets hard to tell if you are getting a good deal. In hindsight, anyone buying gold jewellery in 2008, 2009 or 2010 is probably laughing at what a great deal they got compared to today’s prices but at the time many thought the price would surely drop as politicians brought the Eurozone problem under control. Here in 2012, we can see there’s still a lot of work for the powers that be to do!

Silver is also a precious metal and yet it is slightly different from gold. Gold is normally the metal investors rush to when markets crash but silver has a lot of uses. It’s used in medicinal products because it has an anti-microbial function. In fact the old term for a Royal, “blue bloods“, comes from the fact that the Royals would only eat using silver plates, cuttlery and goblets. It helped to keep them healthy but over time it would build up in them which gave them a blue tint to their veins!

Silver is also used in many other places, not least of which is jewellery. It’s as firm favourite there because, although it need polishing fairly often, it doesn’t age or cause allergies. And yet for all these great virtues, silver doesn’t charge up in price like gold. What has happened instead is a long steady climb and I’ve heard economists say that as China and other developing countries are starting to use more, the price is heating up because there is only so much silver in the world and only so much can be mined. What ever the fundamental drivers, the facts remain the same:

Silver prices over 5 and 10 year charts by goldprice.org

As the charts of silver’s daily market price show, if you bought silver at the start of credit crunch, it would have more than doubled in value by weight. If you bought the same silver just after the end of the dotcom crash in 2003, that same silver could have increased by over 500%.

What is noticeable about silver’s increase in value is that it’s a much more steady increase. Gold tends to go up and down depending upon all kinds of funny things like whether politicians have indigestion or not, whereas the worth of silver comes more from the fact it is a hugely useful metal that more and more people want to use in various ways. The speculation on it is much less.

So we do have both good news and bad news. First of all the bad news. We’ve not increased the prices of our silver lines throughout this time and that’s meant that some have become unsustainable to supply at the prices they currently are at. There is going to be a price correction working through our ranges of 925 silver clip on earrings over the next few weeks, together with some designs being discontinued.

The good news is that for many of our customers who’ve been buying their 925 silver clip on earrings, some of them may already be worth more than when they bought them! We’ll also be introducing new ranges to sit alongside the existing ones, so if you plan on building a wearable treasure chest of art, there will be plenty of exquisite things to feast your eyes upon! Watch this space for more soon!