Jewellery care is extremely important in keeping your costume or fine jewellery looking it’s best for it’s entire life. Unfortunately, over time it is natural for metals to become tarnished and accents to dull because of exposure to light, oxygen and your bodies natural oils. These tips will help you keep your jewellery looking it’s best at little or no cost.

Storing Your Jewellery
Jewellery should be stored in soft cloth pouches, soft cloth wraps or plastic zip lock bags when not being worn. All Scarlet Impressions jewellery is packaged in a zip lock bag with an anti tarnish strip and is an ideal place to store my own designs.
- Do not store pearls in plastic bags or wraps as this will damage them.
- Lay chains flat to avoid the links tangling or becoming kinked.
- Store your jewellery in a dry place. Avoid extreme temperatures.
- Always store jewellery in separate pouches or wraps. Don’t cram them into your jewellery box. Overcrowding could result in the metals and stones becoming scratched or connections can become lose and you will end up with lost parts.
- Don’t leave earrings, gold chains or pendants on the rim of a sink or edge of a bathtub, they can easily slip down the drain.
- Don’t leave coloured gems, pearls or Swarovski crystals exposed to sunlight for extended periods as they will fade.

Caring for Your Jewellery
- Apply your make-up, hair spray and perfume before your jewellery – the chemicals in them will damage the finish of the metal and the stones. In other words, put the jewellery on last.
- Examine your jewellery regularly to make sure the connectors are all secure. If hit against a hard surface or snagged on clothing, connectors may loosen, risking the loss of a stone or piece of the jewellery.
- Remove all jewellery before taking a shower or cleaning. Soap can cause a film to form on jewellery making it dull.
- There are many commercial cleaners available to clean jewellery at home. You will find a soft chamois cloth an effective and inexpensive way to keep your jewellery lustrous and shining.
- Don’t ever use toothpaste to clean jewellery.
- Be careful of chlorine. Chlorine, especially at high temperatures can permanently damage and discolour your jewellery. Do not wear gold while using chlorine bleach or while in a pool or hot tub.
- You can remove tarnish with jewellery cleaner. It is natural for some tarnishing to develop over time this does not mean you won't be able to wear your jewellery again. Some jewellery is sold oxidised and should not be cleaned in this way or it will loose the patina.
- Earring hooks can be cleaned with an alcohol swab to remove germs and oils left on the wires from wearing.