Monday, May 11, 2009

How To Improve Your Appearance With Jewelry-Selecting Earrings





Spring is here with all nature beginning anew. This is the time for you to evaluate and rejuvenate your wardrobe and coordinate your jewelry. Never discard jewelry as you do clothing. Styles come, go, but eventually return. Select jewelry styles that flatter you even if they are not the current fashion fad. The next season will probably have a fashion fad that is flattering to you.

1. Decide how much you wish to spend. Handmade gemstone jewelry made with genuine stones and metals cost very little more than good costume jewelry. The purpose of jewelry is to attract the eye to your face which you want people to recognize and remember. You want to create a unique impression by attracting the eye to your face.

2. Select colors of stones and metals that are flattering to your skin tone, eye color and hair color. A good mirror available near a window with daylight, and an honest friend are essential for evaluating your face. Have pieces of warm and cool colored metal jewelry available. Decide if the warm color of gold, brass, or copper is more flattering than the cool color of white gold, silver, or pewter. Determine which colors flatter your skin tone, hair color and eye color. Choose the color group that gives you pizzazz.

3. What outfits -casual, dressy, formal- with accompanying jewelry will you wear the most? Shiny metals are casual, but burnished metals more dressy. Silver is more informal. Gemstones and pearls mix with any metal color.

4. To assemble your jewelry wardrobe, start with earrings. To decide the most flattering style of earring for you, you must first determine your face shape.
Pull your hair back completely from your face with a headband or scarf. Look straight into your reflection in a mirror or take a picture looking straight into the camera. Follow the shape created by your hairline and jaw line to determine the shape of your face- oval, round, rectangle/square, heart. If you have printed a picture, take a magic marker and trace around your hairline and jaw line. Knowing your face shape will help you select a flattering hairstyle as well as flattering jewelry. Correctly shaped earrings can help you create the illusion of a perfectly shaped face.

5. General rules for face shapes:
Oval faces are the most “perfect” face shape. All hairstyles and earring shapes are attractive on this shaped face. All other face shapes try to create the illusion of an oval shape by manipulating hairstyle, makeup and jewelry. All shapes of earrings are flattering to the oval face if you choose colors that flatter your skin tone, hair, and eyes.
Round faces should avoid round shaped earrings. Choose drop or dangle earrings (stick, oval, square, spiral or geometric shape) to give a linear shape to the face. Avoid circular, tiny stud or button earrings. Circular shapes attract the eye to the circular face and make it appear rounder since the eye goes round and round.
Heart shaped faces should wear small round drops, chandeliers, teardrops, hoops, or oversized earrings in any shape that makes the chin appear wider. These shapes make the chin appear wider. Avoid very short earrings.
Rectangular/square faces should select wide spirals, wide drops and wide oval shapes. Never wear square/rectangular or square geometric shapes. Avoid long dangles if your face is very oblong. Round shapes will carry the eye away from the square shapes of the face.

6. Consider the scale of your face and body in relation to your jewelry.
Small delicate faces are overpowered by large scale earrings. By the same token, very small earrings are lost on a large individual.

7. Store your earrings with matching necklaces in partitioned plastic boxes. These can be found in the craft or fishing section of stores. If the sections in the boxes are too small, the partitions can be removed easily by cutting. It is best to keep earrings in small plastic bags to prevent scratching the necklaces. Store the boxes in a drawer (not near light or heat and away from moisture). Before you have a need, experiment to find suitable jewelry for each outfit. Group matching items together when you store them. This will save time when dressing for an occasion.

Purchasing necklaces, bracelets and rings (in that order) will be discussed in a later article.


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