Know Your Jewellery

Tarnish is the dull, grey-brown film that forms when the metal under a plated surface reacts with air, moisture, sweat and sulphur compounds. Anti-tarnish jewellery slows that reaction down — it does not switch it off.

In practice it means three things: a base metal chosen to react less, a thicker layer of gold-toned plating so there is more material to wear through, and a clear protective seal over the top that keeps skin oils and humidity off the plating itself.

Treat it as a resistance rating, not a guarantee. Worn a few times a month and stored dry, an anti-tarnish piece keeps its colour for a very long time. Worn daily in a humid coastal city, it will age faster — that is physics, not a defect.

CZ is cubic zirconia — a lab-made crystal cut using the same facet geometry as a diamond. In India it is usually sold under the trade name American diamond.

It is hard, colourless and extremely bright under artificial light, which is why it dominates halo studs, tennis bracelets and solitaire-style rings. It is not a diamond, it has no resale value, and nobody at Divipraa will ever tell you otherwise.

Because CZ is harder than the plating around it, the setting almost always ages before the stone does.

Solid gold is gold all the way through, priced by weight and purity, and it is what a jeweller buys back from you. Gold-plated means a base metal — usually brass or an alloy — carrying a microscopically thin bonded layer of gold-coloured finish.

Divipraa sells gold-toned plated imitation jewellery only. You are buying the look, the weight in the hand and the finish, not a store of value.

The upside is freedom: you can wear a heavy bridal set to a wedding, travel with it in hand luggage, and lend it to a sister next season without insuring anything.

It depends far more on where the piece sits than on the piece itself. Earrings and pendants barely touch anything and hold their finish longest. Rings and bracelets rub against desks, bags, steering wheels and skin all day, so they always fade first.

As a realistic guide for our sealed range: occasional-wear pieces hold colour for years, weekly-wear pieces for many months, and daily-wear rings show contact wear soonest.

Plating that has worn through at a contact point after long use is normal ageing. Plating that lifts or discolours within days of unboxing is not — that is covered by our replacement policy.

Daily wear is fine for studs and pendants. Rings and bracelets can be worn daily too, but expect visible contact wear sooner.

Do not shower, swim or exercise in it. Shampoo, soap and chlorine strip the protective seal quickly, and chlorinated pool water is the single fastest way to ruin plating.

Humidity is survivable if you dry the piece before storing it. Wipe it with a soft dry cloth after wearing, then seal it in its pouch — the pouch does most of the work.

Dry, dark and separate. Air, light and friction are the three enemies, in that order.

Keep each piece in the pouch it arrived in rather than piling everything into one box, where chains scratch stone settings and clasps snag on each other. A small silica sachet in the drawer helps a great deal during monsoon.

Never store jewellery in the bathroom, and never leave it sitting on a metal or marble surface overnight after a function.

Yes — alcohol-based perfume and hairspray are the most common causes of premature dulling, because they are usually sprayed exactly where a necklace sits.

The rule is simple and it works: perfume first, jewellery last. Let everything dry on the skin before the piece goes on, and take the piece off before you remove make-up at night.

For light dulling, wipe gently with a soft dry cloth. Do not use toothpaste, baking soda, silver dip, or a metal polish — every one of those is abrasive or chemically aggressive, and on plated jewellery they remove the finish rather than clean it.

For stone settings, a dry soft brush around the bezel lifts dust without loosening anything. Avoid soaking any piece in water.

If a new piece arrives already discoloured or fails within our replacement window, record your unboxing and contact us — that is exactly what the 8-hour unboxing-video policy exists for.

Our core range uses nickel-free, skin-friendly bases, because nickel is the most common contact allergen in costume jewellery.

If you react to almost all fashion jewellery, start with earrings that have coated posts and wear them for a short evening first. Keeping the piece dry also matters — most irritation comes from sweat trapped between metal and skin, not from the metal alone.