Materials
What it is made of, and why that matters
Most jewelry sold as gold is plated. This page explains the difference in plain terms, because it is the whole reason Esso costs what it costs.
Solid 14k gold
The metal is gold all the way through. There is no coating to wear off, so a ring worn every day for a decade is the same metal on the inside of the band as the day it was made. It can be polished, resized and repaired. This is the top of the range and the reason those pieces cost more.
14k gold filled
A thick layer of 14k gold bonded to a brass core under heat and pressure. The gold layer is roughly a hundred times thicker than plating, which is why it is measured as a percentage of total weight rather than in microns. It lasts years of daily wear and it is safe in water. This is the floor. Nothing below it is sold here.
What is not here
Gold plated and gold vermeil. Plating is a skin a few microns thick over cheap metal. It wears through where the piece rubs, which is the clasp, the inside of a band and the back of an earring, and once it does the base metal reacts with skin. That is the green mark. It is not an allergy, it is copper.
Stones
- Diamond and lab diamondThe hardest thing you can wear. Chemically identical whether grown or mined; lab stones cost less for the same stone.
- SapphireHard enough for daily wear and unbothered by water. Comes in far more than blue.
- TourmalineDurable enough to live on a body every day. Every stone is slightly different, which is the point.
- Freshwater pearlThe one soft material used here. Pearls dislike chlorine, perfume and hairspray. Any piece with pearl is marked as not water safe.
Care
Short version: wear it. Solid gold and gold filled do not need protecting from ordinary life.
Water
Anything marked water safe can go in the sea, the pool and the shower. Salt and chlorine do nothing to gold. Rinse with fresh water afterwards if you think of it, mostly so salt does not dry in a chain.
Cleaning
Warm water, a drop of dish soap, a soft toothbrush, then dry properly. That is all. Skip ultrasonic cleaners on anything with pearl or a claw setting.
Storing
Separately, so chains do not knot and harder stones do not scratch softer ones. A cloth pouch is enough.
Pearls
Last on, first off. Put perfume and sunscreen on before the pearls, and take them off before swimming.
If something breaks
Get in touch. Solid gold can almost always be repaired, and Orel would rather fix a piece than have it sit in a drawer.