Do you wear cz? Do you have to have the real thing? Do you wear some other diamond substitute? Do you not care about jewelry at all?

What do you wear? What do you like? What does your conscience allow you tobuy?

Evilah

I plumped out of my rings, and part of my incentive to lose weight was so that i could wear them again, now I feel I need a little finger candy for the journey, and am trying to decide what to buy. Probably something that is resizeable (not plated) but I really don't like gold tinted stuff, even white gold which is not rhodium or platinum plated seems yellowish to me, and it just doesn't look good on my skin tone.

Recently I got a silver and cz pendant from my husband that I absolutely love and wear all the time. A real one with that color and clarity and tcw would be ~40k. So glad it's not real! Or I'd never wear it! Once someone asked me if it was real and just said no, but wanted to say, "DO YOU HONESTLY THINK I'D WEAR A 40,000 piece of jewelry to go shopping here?" "AND SET IN SILVER?" But I know most people can't tell the difference. I love looking at and shopping for real jewelry, especially online, mostly becaue I want to know by sight how to identify and evaluate jewelry. Maybe I should become and appraiser? LOL! Oh and I prefer a quality cz or manmade diamond to a real one if the real one is cloudy, yellowish, or has anymore than VS1 inclusions. And the blood diamond movie among other things makes me question whether the Kimberly diamond act is effective or not in keeping "bad" diamonds off the market.

quick story_ Way back when I was "skinny" I used to date a DeBeers, 30 something nasty old thing, with a penchant for speaking dirty french to his girlfriends and smuggling diamonds back from belgium. BLECK! Why did I do that? Ah well, I was young and stupid. At least I never became "serious" with him. LOL

Evilah

PS. Someone smack me if I ever ask someone if their jewelry is real. Just compliment it if you like it and enjoy looking at it! LOL

PS. With plain light, a 10x glass and the proper training a mandmade diaomond, diamond, and cz can all be differentiated. So, some of the claims made by manmade diamond and cz makers are true to an extent.

My engagement ring was my grandmother’s (and my brother inherited her band to give his bride/harvest its stones). They’re a gorgeous platinum set from Tiffany’s, and my part is a 1.3K round diamond with baguettes on either side. But...it no longer fits! Wahhaahh! :think I’ve gained about 100 lb. since our wedding, so the diamond ring & my plain platinum band sit in the safe deposit box.

I have 3 replacements to my original set, all fakes. During my 1st pregnancy everything swelled, and I really hated not being able to wear my wedding ring, so DH presented me with a 3-stone “Absolute” ring from HSN & a gold Claddagh ring guard. My fingers shrunk after the baby, but not enough to wear the real stuff again, so DH bought me a white gold band from QVC, set with Diamonique. With my 2nd pregnancy, the swelling was even worse, so DH turned to HSN again for a channel set round Absolute band -- my favorite of the fakes. The HSN channel set is too loose now, but the QVC ring is still too small. I can’t wait to wear the genuine set again though!

I don’t regularly wear any other jewelry anymore -- not even a watch! And I used to have a huge (mostly costume) earring collection! I do have a fondness for heart pendants which DH has catered to a bit over the years, but I just stopped wearing jewelry at some point. For special occasions I like to wear my kids’ birthstones (pearl & citrine), my own (peridot), a locket given to me by my mother, or one of the heart pendants.

And I am looking for an amethyst piece to represent my Lap-Band, since I was banded in Feb & that’s the birthstone of the month. But I’m not sure which direction I want to go for that (circle pendant, journey pendant, band ring, or something more artsy with a polished amethyst rather than a faceted stone). Anybody else get a bobble to commemorate this “milestone” in our lives?

Suzanne

I thought an amethyst would be pretty in cabachon, but I've never seen one!

Evilah

CAB AMETHYST 190

cabochon amethyst

My jewelry is very simple and I prefer white gold or sterling silver. I typically wear only my engagement/wedding rings and 1 ring on my right hand - the Tiffany & Co. Hook and Eye ring in sterling silver & 18k yellow gold (no longer available). Tiffany & Co. still sells the matching bracelet though.

Occasionally, I will wear my Movado necklace and matching earrings, which were a gift from my husband for Valentine's Day.

I have a real golden topaz ring that my parents gave me when I was a teenager. I understand that that colour are not available anymore.

Really? I have a yellow topaz pendant. That's my birthstone. Why isn't it available?

As for earrings, anything groovy and dangly. I don't even own a pair of studs.

I used to be that way, too. Then I had kids. :what: They're old enough now, though; I should revise my earring wardrobe.

Currently I have been spending some money on makeup, which I don't normally wear because I read before that women who do wear makeup are taken more seriously and that appearance really does matter and stuff like that. This surprises me, but I guess its worth a try. I'd rather have pretty jewelry, but I guess makeup might be more important.

Seriously? That's depressing. I hate hate hate makeup. Why oh why does the world want its women to be painted?

And I am looking for an amethyst piece to represent my Lap-Band, since I was banded in Feb & that’s the birthstone of the month. But I’m not sure which direction I want to go for that (circle pendant, journey pendant, band ring, or something more artsy with a polished amethyst rather than a faceted stone). Anybody else get a bobble to commemorate this “milestone” in our lives?

Suzanne

That's a great idea! My anniversary is next month, the day before my rebanding. I told my husband this must be the silicone anniversary and I was getting a ring!

My jewelry is very simple and I prefer white gold or sterling silver. I typically wear only my engagement/wedding rings and 1 ring on my right hand - the Tiffany & Co. Hook and Eye ring in sterling silver & 18k yellow gold (no longer available). Tiffany & Co. still sells the matching bracelet though.

Occasionally, I will wear my Movado necklace and matching earrings, which were a gift from my husband for Valentine's Day.

I notice it's your birthday today, Tricia. Happy Birthday to you, and have a wonderful year at your goal weight!

Really? I have a yellow topaz pendant. That's my birthstone. Why isn't it available?

Apparently there haven't been any around to mine in a long while. That's why Citrine has now become the November birthstone. In the 80's when I was living in the UK I was talking to someone in a jewellery shop who, when I told her I had a golden topaz, insisted that I didn't, that it was really a citrine. I always meant to bring it back with me from one of my trips home but never got around to it.

I was at a local rock and gem show a couple of years ago and a youngish man had an assortment of topazes, all clear or smoky. When I told him of my golden one, he said that they didn't exist. I guess he was just too young to remember.

Of the people who come to see me, the older Scorpio ladies often have them.

About 10 years ago, I found a very expensive pair of golden topaz studs in a store that were the same shade and shape (but smaller) than my ring. I was sorely tempted to buy them but faced the reality that I would probably never wear them because I like the dangly stuff.

Wow, that's very interesting. Learn something new every day!

I notice it's your birthday today, Tricia. Happy Birthday to you, and have a wonderful year at your goal weight!

Thank you very much!

I have an antique Topaz necklace - not sure how antique, but my great aunt Anna's husband gave it to her and they were married in 1925 (he died in 1958). I say it's Topaz because that's what she (my auntie) told me it was.

I have never worn it because frankly, it's not my taste. Should I have it checked out by a jeweler?

That is so beautiful, Carlene. Yeah, I would get it checked out. If it is a genuine golden topaz, this will be the first time I've seen one that large.

The only reason I know anything about topazes is that I grew up believing they were golden. When that fellow at the gem show said that golden ones didn't exist, I had to find out if he was correct or if I had been mislead all these years.

I hope it's genuine.

My mother has an older ring with a very large alexandrite. It has absolutely amazing colour changes ranging from navy blue to pale pink, magenta, purple and sea green. It's stunning and exquisite. It's history is a bit fuzzy in that it's an old ring that a friend gave her without any details.

I borrowed it for awhile and looked up a bit about alexandrites and realized that if this stone was genuine, it would be worth a lot of money. You know, the sell the ring and pay off the house kind of money.

I was about to get it appraised when I found it's twin on eBay for a couple hundred of bucks, describing it as a manufactured stone from the late '20's. I was actually happy about that because it's such a cool ring, I'd love to see it stay in the family, which wouldn't happen if it was worth a bunch.

So then I was inspired to buy an imitation alexandrite for myself. I got a fairly inexpensive silver ring off eBay, and was disappointed in the stone. It basically turns from magenta to purple and that's it.

That's alright, I don't wear rings much anyway.

I love jewelry.. I dont get it very often for the same reason as others, with four kids, who has the money? I have fakes and wouldnt mind more if they were in a quality setting. Unfortunatly everything I stick in my ears has to be gold or I get terribly red and inflamed.

My wedding band is small princess cut dimonds channel/step set consisting of 7 dimonds. My new-er wedding ring is 3 carats of 23 stones. My husband is from Panama and altho is he very American the way he was brought up he is still very "latin" when it comes to his wife and buying her jewelry. It has to be real, and has to make some kind of statement and it cant be look at what my cheap husband bought me...

When we got married he offered me two rings, one was this channel set band and the oportunity to go with him to Germany, or a two to three carat stone and I would have to wait for him to come back some 18 months later. I chose the smaller ring because, really, why would I get married just to watch him leave? He promised some day he would get me the big ring which wasnt a big deal to me anyway. But last year we were out at a jewelry store purchasing a ring for his mother and I found this "jaw breaker" as my friends call it, and fell in love. He hated it because it was to many stones, he wanted one. But while he was in Iraq he said honey if you really want that ring you can go get it, because all that matters is what you like not what I like. So I went and picked up my ring. And of course now he likes it just fine, because everyone who sees it says WOW he must really love you!

In reality if every single one of these diamonds were white topaz or Moissanite I would be just as happy. As long as it was a quality stone in a quality setting.

I have loads of fake jewelry and I also have loads of real jewelry, most of which I dont really have occaction to wear. Some of my rings are just to small, my grandmothers pearls and bue topaz clip are to tight to go around my neck anymore (its a choker)... But I wear her costume jewelry whenever I get the chance... I will have nice pieces to pass on to my two daughters when its time, even though our 16 yr old has a few pieces of semi precious stones already.

So anyone in the mood to go get me a nice Moisanite piece just email me and I will send you my mailing address LOL!

My engagement ring is a white gold setting with a single round diamond. My wedding ring (that I get to wear in 2 weeks!) is white gold with I think 6 small stones set in the ring. I got an aquamarine(my birthstone) earring/necklace set from my fiance for my birthday, that has little diamonds in it as well. The earrings are going to be my 'something blue'. He's also gotten me 2 Topaz necklaces, one white topaz and one 'mystic fire topaz'. They are both very nice, and I am always wearing one of the three necklaces, unless I'm wearing something specific for an occasion or something.

The other jewelry I have is cheaper stuff. A lot of the jewelry from places like Claire's is just fine for me on any given day. I have 3 sets of ear holes, Often I wear all hoops, or 2 hoops and something dangly, but recently, I've started wearing 2 sets of dangly earrings... the 2nd set being a little less dangly than the first, and then something small at the 3rd hole. I've gone back and forth with the idea of getting a higher up piercing on one of my ears, and one of my goal rewards is a belly button piercing.

I have no issue what-so-ever with manufactured diamonds, and if the price is that much better, than they make more sense to me anyway. My fiance and I have actually had conversations about this, so he knows, lol.

Carlene, that's very pretty.