My hubby has hit on some winners in the passed, including a lovely vintage turquoise cluster ring a few years back. But he surpassed himself last Christmas.

I love Christmas. I mean seriously love it, I am Christmas’s biggest fan. I love watching other people unwrap the presents I have put time, effort and thought into buying. And of course, I love opening my presents. So imagine my delight when one of my smaller presents (see, small is GOOD!) turned out to be this stunner from the amazing Alexander McQueen.

So perfect for me, nice and chunky, bit of a punks edge with the skulls and amazingly, it fits like it was made for me (imagine, bespoke McQueen jewellery *explodes*).
Needless to say, I was we’ll happy with what Santa bought me.

Anyway back to the jewellery. First up is this tiny little cutey from jeweller extraordinaire Roger Stone. For those in the know, Roger’s Aladdin’s cave of a shop in Camden Lock Market’s West Yard is THE go to place for perfect, unique and utterly gorgeous silver jewellery.

He’s only tiny but exceptionally cute. I had him put on a slightly longer chain than he was sold on, no bother for the lovely staff at Roger Stone’s. There are a pair of matching earrings in the shop, I may have to buy him some friends int he near future….

And then, randomly whilst a St Pancras station, waiting for the Eurostar to Paris (as you do, daaahhhling!), my friend turned to me and declared she had forgotten to pack any earrings and would I like to pop to Accessorize with her to have a look for a new pair? Ah well, if I must, anything for a friend etc. etc.

I had been lacking a nice long silver necklace in my collection since the ‘death’ of my arrow head pendant from Miss Selfridges a while back, so thought I’d have a looks for something to replace it. And what did I see, waving at me from the display racks but this little fella. Well, I just couldn’t resist!

Love! Him! He’s nice and chunky and has a decent bit of weight to him. And the little diamanté eyes add a touch of glamour which is nice.

I know it’s turning into a bit of an obsession but I can’t resist these darling creatures. Cme on, admit it, you bawled your eyes out when the little baby elephant died in Africa too?

Hugs!

WSS

xxx

I’ve been eyeing up this totally cute goldfish necklace from Just K Jewellery, it reminds me of those ‘name on a grain of rice’ necklaces you used to be able to get on family holidays to Spain. I’m also a fan of the Poodle pendant, but I digress.

I’m just so strangely drawn to it (it will be mine, oh yes, it will be mine), and it started me thinking, what sorts of underwater jewellery is out there? Many of us sat there awestruck at the BBC’s The Blue Planet, that I couldn’t imagine that our beloved jewellery designers hadn’t taken on some inspiration. So I started rooting around and here’s the pick of my faves.

This is a clever necklace by Bethany Wheeler, I think it will make a real statement paired with a casual day look, maybe a rock t-shirt, jeans and trainers.

Sticking with the fishy theme, how about this Hammerhead Shark ring from Stephen Einhorn? It’s not exactly what you’d call pretty but it’s strangely beautiful and I like the slightly abstract nature of it.

Odd as it may sound, but I studied Biology at university. Not the most useful of degrees throughout my career but I had much fun splashing around in rock ponds, so this necklace by Sara Lloyd-Morris represents fond memories for me.

Hope you enjoyed this oceanic journey, as always if you dig a little deeper, there’s some amazing and really unique jewellery out there, so go grab it.

Happy swimming.

WSS.

xx

Please note, all products reviewed here are done so totally independently, the author has not been incentivised in any way. All images are used without the permission of the owner who holds any and all the rights to them. If you own these images and wish me to remove any of them, please use the Contact Us form on the site.

The prize was one of their beautiful initial rings, and I could pick what initial and what colour I would like. Pretty easy choice really, so I picked the first letter of my name and the colour pink. Always pink.

A few days later and my ring arrived, packaged beautifully. The rings are adjustable, so none of that worrying if it’ll fit properly. I tried it on, pleased with how it looked and the quality of the piece, took some photos and immediately let Amelia know it had arrived and to say thank you.

That was a while back now, and my ring has become a bit of a silent hero. I wear it loads and loads, it’s definitely a go-to piece and just works with almost everything else in my collection. I’m even wearing it now!

At only £15 it’s exceptional value, so I really do advise you to hurry and place your order. Being able to personalise their jewellery means you can get something really special for yourself or equally, they’d make great gifts for loved one.

Just a quickie, let me know if you get one and how much you love it.

Snogs

WSS.

Anyway, lots of stuff coming up, but firstly a write up of a fantastic blogger event I went to at Satya Jewelry in London’s Covent Garden.

I hadn’t seen Satya Jewelry before being invited to the event, so I was looking forward to being introduced to a whole new world of sparkles. The ethos behind the brand is based on one of the founders’ yogic journey. The jewellery all incorporates spiritual symbols along with natural gemstones set on either gold plated brass or silver. The name Satya itself means ‘truth’ in Sanskrit. I’ll admit to being slightly wary as I’m not a religious person and whilst I enjoy a good yoga session as much as the next person, I’m not one for chanting and the like.

Anyway, it was a very hot, sunny day in our great nation’s capital and I had been running about from one appointment to another, so was feeling slightly frazzled to say the least. Walking into the beautifully air-conditioned store just off Covent Garden felt wonderful and my mood was lifted even further when I was greeted with a cold glass of champers. Heaven!

The lovely staff were friendly and attentive, talking through the collections and explaining the stories of the symbols and how each collection came about. I was pleased to say that all the jewellery was very pretty and well-designed. Sometimes these sorts of pieces can end up looking a bit tacky, but all the jewellery on display was sophisticated and elegant. I fell in love with quite a few pieces instantly and had loads of fun trying on different jewellery.

The cherry on the top of a terrific evening was the goodie bag, which contained an Arise Necklace featuring a Lotus symbol, which has become one of my favourite necklaces to wear over the summer with strappy tops and sun dresses.

Here’s a few piccies I took of the evening. If you’re in London and can get to Covent Garden, their shop is definitely worth a visit. If not, their website features all their pieces and offers both UK and International delivery.

Bubbles and Sparkles, my two fave things!

Hope you enjoyed this snapshot of the loveliness that is Satya Jewelry. More posts coming soon including International Jewellery London, trends for AW12 and exciting details of my new job!

Toodles!

WSS.

xxxxx

It took a while to narrow my list down and in the end I opted for the Bijoux Cluster Ring in Bubblegum £16.50 (look, look, the preeeetty colours!) and the Alba Gemstone Wirework Cuff Mia £32. Unfortunately, it turned out that the Mia colourway was sold out, but Lauren kindly sent me Frankie instead, which is lush as well.

A couple of days after letting Lauren know my choices, I was sitting at my desk, tap-tapping away as usual when I heard a rustle coming from the front door. Mr. Postie was obviously having issues and was desperately trying to squeeze a package through the letterbox. After opening the door and giving him a sweet but rather sarcastic smile, I grabbed the package and torn into it with unbridled delight. I love getting stuff through the post!! (‘cept bills, natch).

Firstly packaging, and Westwood Rocks definitely does not disappoint. I was greeted by a beautiful pale pink bag, with black rope handles and a black bow fastening. Very classy and just the right amount of sexy.

Inside, lots of frothy pale pink tissue paper and carefully wrapped packages, all branded and with lovely touches like the care card.

I couldn’t wait to get in there, but restrained myself, making sure I’d got the right photos for you lovely people to see, before I tore into the packages with reckless abandon.

The ring was gorgeous, even better in real life than on the website. It’s adjustable, so no scary “Jeez, I hope it’s going to fit” moments pre-trying on. The colours are rich and bright and perfect complementary to one another. Definitely an absolute steal for only £16.50.

It looked lovely on my hand and I wore it that weekend to dinner with friends. I got loads of compliments, plenty of ooh and aahs, which is always nice. One thing I will say is that the delicate metal spirals can catch (I have big curly hair and kept getting it caught as I obviously play with my hair too much) so you do need to be a little careful with it.

The bangle was lovely too, the brass colour metal looked expensive and the dark purplish-black of the freshwater pearls gave it a sophisticated feel. I always worry about cuffs that you have to bend to fit onto your wrist, as mine are quite big, but there’s no worry with this product, it’s got plenty of give but feels strong and springy, so won’t end up out of shape after a few wears. Although I couldn’t as my arms are far too chunky, I think this would also look lovely worn higher up the arm, around the bicep with a Grecian style dress or working the festival chic look.

All in all, I can safely say that I loved the jewellery I tried from Westwood Rocks and would highly recommend their stuff. Plus, they’re lovely too and the service is fantastic, which is always nice.

Enjoy your hump day, I can almost smell the weekend!!

Butterfly kisses.

WSS.

xx

So, in amongst all this sporting greatness, jewellery might not always be at the front of my thoughts, but it’s never far away. I haven’t been out perusing the shops for a while, but you never know where sparkly inspiration will take hold and mine was, once again, on a trip to Superdrug, of all places.

Now, it’s not my fault, but I do have a Superdrug shop on the corner at the top of my road, so I have to walk passed it whenever I go out. It proves rather handy for emergency beauty buys but this visit was entirely selfless, as I was buying some boy-product for OH.

I hadn’t even made it in before I was drawn to the jewellery stand. It’s in the window, so I always have a quick squiz as I walk to the door. I was actually pulled in by a rather fetching multicolour leopard print scarf, which I ended up buying as well (whoops! But it was only £5.99 – bargain). But whilst there it would be rude not to have a look at what else they had to offer and that’s when I spotted these beauties.

Smart, chic and a wee bit dangly.

The colours have washed out a bit in the photo, but the sophisticated mixture of soft sea greens, dove greys and pastel yellow really belies the price tag, which was a credit-crunch friendly £2.49.

Don’t get me wrong, they aren’t the best quality earrings I’ve ever bought, the plastic faceted beads are glued into the settings and not all of them are exactly straight. But for a fun pair of earrings you can wear on a day-to-day basis, they’re not bad at all. I wore them at the weekend, out to dinner with friends and they felt dressy enough for a restaurant, but they’re not too chandelier-like that I felt over-dressed.

All in all, I’m very happy with my stealth jewellery purchase. Amazing what you can pick up shopping for Q-tips and deodorant.

Gold medal high-fives all round.

WSS.

So, with 3 days to go until the Opening Ceremony, the sun is shining and hopefully we can all now look forward to what is going to be the greatest Olympic Games the world has ever seen. Go Team GB!

You’d have had to have been been living under a rock in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean not to have had Olympic fever blasted at you from every side recently. It’s everywhere! Everyone has taken the chance to get a piece of the pie and the jewellery world is no exception. But rather than write about the same old Olympic-themed jewellery that’s been all over the interweb recently, I thought it would be a nice opportunity to look back in time and admire some jewellery inspired by Ancient Greece.

The Ancient Olympic Games are generally accepted as having started in 776 BC and included events such as running, a pentathlon, boxing, wrestling and equestrian events. They were held every 4 years, exactly as our modern games are, but had a more fundamental religious importance as well as the element of competition.

Ancient Greece has long been a strong influence in jewellery design, with motifs like the serpent, key, gold coins, reef knots, stamping, leaves and wreath designs all still popular today. Gemstones were also popular, particularly rubies, emeralds, pearls and amethysts. Many designers today will cite Greek, Persian and Byzantium jewellery styles amongst their influences and inspiration.

I’ve picked out a selection of pieces I like the most, but realistically, the choice is endless and the range of prices means there is something out there to suit every pocket. If you don’t want to invest in gold and gemstones, look for fashion jewellery in wood and leather (and even plastic and resin) with beading and textured detail. Once you know what you’re looking for, you’ll see Greek influence everywhere.

Vintage Givenchy gold tone Greek Key earrings £120 Coco’s Closet

Hammered cuff £33 by Entwined Jewellery

Fuchsia crystal druzy ring £32 by Love, Hearts and Crosses

Gold and silver cut coin Owl earrings approx £87 eBay

Apologies for the poor quality of this image, but as someone who grew up obsessed with Clash of the Titans, I bloomin’ love these!!

2 colour gold Greek key bracelet £175 by Chisholm Hunter

Gold and black snake ring £5.95 by Fashion Jewellery House

Snake rings are everywhere, but I liked this one in particular as it’s a little bit different. And totally cool!

Greek style bracelet £245 by Lucy Stratton at Open House Art

Wow. Properly wow.

Rio single strand coin necklace £51 by Stella and Dot

There you have it, my selection of some of the bestest bits of Greek inspired jewellery out there. I hope you enjoyed them?

All that’s left is to say, enjoy the Olympic and Paralympic Games and whatever country you’re supporting, make sure you shout loud, wave flags like mad, have loads of fun and generally get tonnes of national pride and support going for your athletes.

High fives!

WSS.

Please note, all products reviewed here are done so totally independently, the author has not been incentivised in any way. All images are used without the permission of the owner who holds any and all the rights to them. If you own these images and wish me to remove any of them, please use the Contact Us form on the site.

Personally, I’m a big fan of pearl jewellery. It’s so versatile and depending on how you style it, it really can look entirely different from one person to the next. Go traditional with a simple set of pearl studs and a single strand, a la Style du Sloane. Or mix it up with other stones, beads and materials for multi-textured funkiness. Personally, my favourite way to wear pearls is layered up. And up and up and up! Really, the more the better. If I don’t have a severe neck ache by the end of the night, I clearly wasn’t wearing enough.

Pile ‘em high people!

Worn this way, they can take a casual look and make it something special (think jeans, ballet pumps, a funky print t-shirt and a shed load of pearls = Soho super-stylin’). Equally, a plain LBD and strappy heels becomes a bit edgy with layers of pearls, whereas a single strand tends to look a bit flat.

Anyway, there is an endless selection of pearl jewellery available, but it can be a bit confusing, especially as prices vary so hugely. So, here’s the science bit.

Natural pearls are formed, not only from oysters, but other bi-valve (2 shells, like a mussel) molluscs as well. If a foreign substance, like a grain of sand, gets inside the shell of the creature, it can irritate the mantle, which is the layer that produces the lining to the shell (what we know as mother-of-pearl). This substance is called nacre and to protect itself from the grain of sand, the animal produces layer upon layer of nacre to surround the foreign object. These layers eventually form a pearl. Obviously, this is quite a rare occurrence, and there is no way of knowing by looking from the outside if an oyster contains a pearl. Because of this rarity, natural pearls, particularly smooth, round pearls, are very valuable.Cultured or farmed pearls, are formed in exactly the same way, but with a little bit of human intervention. Rather than the process starting naturally, the harvester opens the shell and places the irritant in manually.

Cultured pearls are the same quality as natural pearls, only less rare, so less expensive. They shouldn’t be confused with faux pearls, which are not formed by this process but are man-made using a number of different materials like shell dust or glass. Most of the fun, fashion jewellery you can buy in high street shops will be made of these cheaper faux pearls. They can look great, but won’t have the same lustre as a real pearl.

Hopefully you’ve learned something useful, but let’s get to the best bit, oogling lots of pretty jewellery. Here’s a few of my favourite pieces of pearl jewellery available today. If you see anything you like, just click through to buy.

Half price at only £90 – what’s not to love?

£24 for an amazing statement necklace. Wear this forever.

Everyone needs a pair of chandelier earrings – love these!

80% off this on Net-a-Porter. Kenneth Jay Lane fabulousness for only £93!

Pearl and Lapis Lazuli – a match made in jewellery heaven.

So go on, treat yourself to something pretty and I promise you, you’ll be a pearly queen convert forever.

Big hugs and smooches.

WSS.

xx

Please note, all products reviewed here are done so totally independently, the author has not been incentivised in any way. All images are used without the permission of the owner who holds any and all the rights to them. If you own these images and wish me to remove any of them, please use the Contact Us form on the site.

Welcomed by the lovely Katharine, my first stop was a chat with Dessy Tsolova, the Bulgarian-born genius behind Deci Jewellery. I’ve been a fan Dessy’s designs for a while now, I love the way she combines precious stones in rich jewel colours with luxuriant 18ct gold. The interesting textures and fine detailing give her jewellery a glamorous feel as well as a glimpse into her heritage and the historic influences she draws on when creating her designs.

Here are a few of my favourite pieces from her current collections.

18ct Gold Carved Emerald Roma Ring

18ct Gold Carved Emerald Roma Dangle Earrings

Tanzanite and Ruby Earrings

Sterling Silver and Tsavorite Dome Ring

Of course it was the opportunity to see the new collections that I was most excited about and Deci didn’t disappoint.

I think we can all agree that it’s generally rather tricksy to find zodiac/star sign jewellery that isn’t a bit, well, cheesy. It’s always a nice idea, the kind of thing that makes a great gift for a loved one as it shows real thought. But I’ve never been able to find jewellery that ticks the star sign box as well as being gorgeous enough that you’d actually want to wear it on a daily basis. Thankfully, that’s no longer the case with Deci’s Astra Collection.

Sagittarius – Citrine and Blue Topaz Necklace

Taurus – Diamond & Emerald, Virgo – Peridot & Sapphire, Aquarius – Garnet & Amethyst Necklaces

Now, aren’t these lovely!?! Using the actual zodiac constellations as the design and the two birthstones that fall into each star sign, these gorgeous creations will be available as necklaces and bracelets. Set on either 18ct gold or rhodium-plated sterling silver, they really are the perfect gift. What a conversation piece, so special and really pretty, I’m in love with them.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed the jewellery from Deci I’ve picked out? Please go and have a wander round her website and lose yourself in Byzantine-inspired loveliness.

Oh and in case you’re wondering, I’m a Libra. Just sayin’.

More of next seasons new and exciting jewellery collections next week. Until there, toodles and have a luscious weekend. You’ll find me sipping Rioja and sampling tapas in Southwark. Definitely worse Sundays I can imagine.

Hugsies.

WSS.

xxx