Most earring styles go with anything, so they won’t become wardrobe issues. Earrings are available in some different basic types: studs, drops, chandelier, and hoops.

Studs
Because they’re small, stud earrings are easy to wear. They go as easily with a cocktail dress as they do with jeans. You’ll find a variety of styles in cultured pearl earrings, diamond earrings and gemstone earrings.

Drops
Drop earrings are made to dangle below their setting. Swaying with movement, they can add an elegant touch. Pearl, diamond, and gemstone drop earrings are available in various settings.

Chandelier
The earring has multi-branches that hang down from the earring base. At the end of branch are some pearls or other gemstones, most are tear or drop shaped.

Hoops
Platinum, 18k gold, or silver hoops give a feminine touch, and precious metals go with anything. For added sparkle, choose a pair with diamonds. ~ dLoewi ~

It comes as no surprise that the diamond is the most popular gemstone of all time. It is equally popular among both men and women. But, unlike days past, today’s woman is very much into the colors of diamonds; particularly pale yellows, blues, and pinks. Men, on the other hand, still prefer the standard clear. The Blue Wittelsbach (on picture) is a 35.56-carat blue diamond is the most expensive diamond ever sold at auction for $24.3 million.

Women, on the whole, also have an affinity for pearls. Pearls have been a symbol of sacred power and the goddess of love for hundreds of years. While whites and creams remain the most popular, black pearls, as well as champagne and cocoa are also becoming highly desired.

Emerald is one of the highest ranks in popularity. The gemstones can be difficult to find in high quality and large stone size. However, perhaps it is that rarity that makes the stone so sought after. Certainly, today’s emeralds are among the world’s most expensive gemstones; often costing more than diamonds.

Aquamarine is another most popular gemstone, which has become a favorite among today’s jewelry designers. Perhaps it is the pale blue green color that appeals to a lot of women. Perhaps it is the fact that it is somewhat rare and can, therefore, be expensive. Aquamarine has supplanted the spot that once belonged solely to the ruby.

Tourmaline belongs to the five most popular gemstones, even though it wasn’t even well known a few decades ago. Tourmaline comes in virtually every color of the rainbow and many of them are more vibrant and have more fire than anything else on the market today.


Remember as far as men’s jewelry is concerned, less is more. Wearing too much jewelry can actually tarnish your image. Also stick to a single material all over for example wearing a crystal and a garnet could look artificial. Opt for ring, bracelet, cufflink and chain made of a single metal like steel or tungsten or leather to get the uniformity in your overall look and appeal. Choose bold colors, particularly if you are wearing leather jewelry to make a statement.

The most common accessories a man can add to his wardrobe are chain, bracelet, finger ring, and earrings. These accessories are commonly made out of leather, stainless steel or tungsten.

Leather Jewelry

Leather has been popular for centuries, and leather jewelry is very sleek and stylish. Men’s leather jewelry is also versatile; many different timeless leather men’s jewelry pieces are available.

Leather jewelry imparts a cool casual look to your outfit and is fast gaining popularity. Leather has always been used by men for accessorizing but mostly in the form of wallets and belts. Now designers have come up with wristbands and bracelets in leather which are selling like hot cakes. Intricate details on the leather accessory ensure that they do not go unnoticed. They are embellished with anything ranging from embroidery to stainless steel and even gemstones.

Stainless Steel Jewelry

With designers introducing newer designs and patterns everyday, stainless steel jewelry is becoming the mark of the urban man. A combination of chromium and iron ore results in the rust free stainless steel and jewelry made out of this has a shiny finish, durable and scratch resistant, requires low maintenance and does not cause any allergic reactions. Men’s stainless steel jewelry is available as rings, bracelets, pendants, cufflinks, necklaces and chains.

Tungsten Jewelry

Tungsten has been used to reach the stars and this is what probably lends to the sense of adventure and masculinity that designers seek when designing men’s jewelry. Its popularity as the “forever wedding ring” is increasing day by day. One of the strongest amongst precious metals (when combined with carbon to form tungsten carbide), jewelry made of tungsten is practically invincible. Durable, scratch resistant, light weight, no maintenance are just some of its properties and the prominent one being tungsten retains its shine forever. ~ dLoewi Jewelry ~

To become a credit card merchant, you have to buy the card-reading equipment, which costs several hundred dollars. You generally pay a setup fee, and you commit to a one- or two-year contract with the processing company. You pay $15 to $25 a month, and minimum transaction fees of $25 a month, even if you had no sales at all.

The Square Up system, on the other hand, eliminates that stuff. All of it. It makes the barrier to entry into the credit card world so low, there’s virtually nothing to stop you, the little guy, from taking the leap.

First, the equipment: you need an iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch or an Android phone. Why buy a fancy authorizing machine, when you already have a computer in your pocket?

Unfortunately, Apple steadfastly refuses to add a card-swiping slot to the iPhone. So Square provides you with a tiny half-inch reader attachment that snaps into, of all things, your phone’s headphone jack. The reader has a slot where you can swipe a credit card.

(The name Square, of course, refers both to the shape of the little reader and to what it does — as in, “are we square?” Cute.)

The Square plug is free. In other words, not only are you spared the contracts, the minimums and the monthly fees, but your equipment cost is zero. For all Square cares, you can keep your reader in a drawer somewhere and use it once a year.

For each transaction, Square charges you 2.75 percent of the total, plus 15 cents. That’s a lot simpler, and usually cheaper, than actual merchant accounts, where you might pay 3 or 4 percent, depending on the kind of card, plus 30 cents a transaction.

So let’s say someone from Craigslist comes over to buy your old junk. You snap the Square reader into your phone or tablet. You tap in the amount of the purchase; it could be $1 for a yo-yo, $25 for a box of old records or $12,000 for a used car (there’s no maximum amount). You type a description if you like, and maybe even take a photo of what you’re selling.

Now you swipe the customer’s card, which may take you a couple of tries. Your happy customer signs the phone’s touch screen with a finger (a coming software revision will make this step optional). If you like, you can tap in the customer’s e-mail address; the receipt is then sent automatically, complete with a little map showing exactly where the transaction took place.

The software is beautiful and dog-simple. To sign your name, you scrawl with your finger where it says “sign here.” Think you can handle this?

You can add a tip, when that’s appropriate. You can accept and track cash payments. And you can accept credit card payments without the card itself — over the phone, for example. You just need the card number, expiration date and security code, although these transactions cost you more (3.5 percent).

The iPad software is even nicer. It features a “shelf” depicting the kinds of things you sell the most often, with prices included, which is great if you run a small store.

Anyway, that’s the entire thing. Your phone connects to Square, authorizes the purchase, sends the receipt by e-mail and logs the transaction on your personal Square Web page. There, a tidy table reports your income for the day. You can download it as a spreadsheet if you like.

You’ve just accepted payment the way they do it at Apple stores: wirelessly, without a cash register, using a hand-held Internet-connected gizmo. Your biggest problem may be overcoming your customers’ skittishness; people don’t trust what they don’t understand.

Signing up for Square involves supplying your bank routing and account numbers, so Square can deposit your money. Only the first $1,000 of each week’s charges lands in your bank account immediately. Anything over that is reviewed by the company’s auditors; it can take as long as 30 days before you see the rest of the money. That could be a downside if you sell a lot of used cars.

Then again, that’s just for first-timers. The more you use the service without incident, the higher the company will raise that $1,000 threshold. In fact, if you’re willing to share more details about your business with Square upfront, they’ll raise that threshold from the start.

It’s easy to imagine that a concept this disruptive, brilliant and irresistible will take off, but its runway has been bumpy. The initial batches of readers were delayed. Even when they arrived, there were long waiting lists and not enough status reports.

As an antifraud measure, Square originally imposed a $100-a-transaction maximum, making the system far less useful. The original readers were finicky about reading card swipes — and didn’t work with the iPhone 4’s external metal antenna band. (Early Square adopters turned to humiliating workarounds like wedging a scrap of paper between the reader and the phone.)

The company says all of these problems have been fixed. Mass quantities of a redesigned, more reliable, iPhone 4-proof Square reader arrive this week (it’s the one I tested). Within a couple of weeks all backorders will be filled, everybody who got the old one will get the new one automatically, and new orders will be filled promptly.

Let’s hope that’s true. Because the Square system is beautiful, simple and a joy to use. It saves money, red tape, worry and lost sales.

Now let’s just hope more smart people keep asking why. As in, “Why is Wi-Fi free at cheap hotels, but $17 a night at expensive ones?” “Why don’t public sinks have foot pedals?” And “why can’t we just pay for the cable channels we actually want?”

~ from dLoewi.blog ~

Compare to ladies’ bracelet, men’s bracelet are much simpler. Men often wear more of a cuff-style bracelet that have minimal or no accents. Simple bracelets make a huge difference on a man’s outfit because they enhance a man’s fashion.

The most common materials used for men’s bracelet are stainless steel, leather, magnetic metal, and sterling silver. Bracelets are also available in materials like tungsten, carbon fiber, platinum and titanium.

Stainless Steel Bracelet

Stainless steel bracelet suits the heavy duty styles such European bracelet style. These are made either from stainless steel alone or sometimes with black carbon fiber. You can get contemporary designs to sleek styles, both signifying men as strong and powerful

Leather Bracelet

Leather bracelet make men look ruggedly handsome. Some of the common designs are braided genuine leather bracelets, Ruby Celtic cross leather bracelet, studded wristband (studded with your favorite gemstones), fish style non-dyed Christian bracelet, Dove Dyed in leather bracelet and many more.

Magnetic Bracelet

Magnetic bracelet normally comes in strands of two or three or more, depending on what the wearer likes. The black matte finished strands are connected by polished connectors in gold plated cobalt magnets. The other common styles are gold and silver bricks attached by neodymium north magnets, Magnetic chain link fence styled bracelet, gold and silver fury magnetic bracelets (designed like the strap of watches) etc. most of these designs come with clasp closure and suit a wrist of any size.

Sterling Silver Bracelets

Sterling silver barcelets are the most exquisite of materials used for bracelets. Although these are harder to maintain than most other bracelet materials, these men’s bracelets impart a class and image to the wearer like no other. Most of these come with link clasps and are intricately designed, without compromising on the manliness of the wearer. Other metals common used with sterling silver bracelets are gold, platinum and yellow gold.

In the picture Marc Anthony is wearing a bracelet made from mixes black diamonds with shining silver giving a touch of mystery and luxury.

Type of Bracelets

The popular bracelet types are metallic bracelets, Lance Armstrong bracelet and beaded bracelets. Beaded bracelets may sound like girlish jewelry but is fast catching up as men’s accessory too. Apart from the clasp style of attaching the bracelet while wearing it, other styles include link style, cuff style and handcuff style.

The cuff style bracelets are oval in shape with an opening that allows the bracelet to be slid by the side (instead of wearing it down your wrists like a bangle). Some may be fully closed, operable by a hinge. Cuff bracelets sit snuggly over the wrist.

Link bracelets can be made smaller or bigger by adding or removing links.

The handcuff style bracelet is designed like one half of the handcuffs set and has a ratchet closure with ball bearing detail

In the pictures Nicole Kidman wears galactic necklace, while Jessica Simpson is seen wearing a long fashion necklace before leaving her hotel in New York City and heading to the Steiner Studios in Brooklyn, New jersey where she’s filming a new ad.

“The City” star Olivia Palermo is spotted wearing the Wine Drop necklace in navy blue. ~ dLoewi Jewelry ~

dLoewi blog

In the picture, singer and actress Jennifer Lopez wearing pearl earrings attended a small press availability with her husband Marc Anthony after a meeting with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus in the U.S. Capitol.

Pearl jewelries truly bring an element of the past to the present and are great for any occasion, big or small, move premier or movie date night.

The heart-shaped jewelry, marketed under the brand name “Love Tester,” was sold for about $4 each in retail stores from September 2005 through June 2010. The China-manufactured jewelry was sold in small retail stores nationwide.

The U.S. (CPSC) said some 19,000 rings and 4,000 necklaces are covered by the recall.

The jewelry poses a danger to young children, who can be harmed by the lead if they ingest it. No incidents or injuries from the jewelry have been reported, according the commission.

The products change colors when the user’s “mood” changes. The rings and necklaces were sold separately and mounted on round red discs printed with the words “Love Tester” and “Are you in the mood?”

D&D Distributing-Wholesale of Tacoma imported the products from China, the commission said. The jewelry was sold to small retail shops nationwide.

On its website, the company said it tests products at independent safety labs. A spokeswoman was not immediately able to answer why the jewelry was sold for nearly five years before the high lead levels were detected.

The company also was not immediately able to provide a list of retailers who sold the jewelry.

The commission said consumers should return the jewelry to the store where it was purchased for a refund or replacement product. Source: dloewi blog

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Jewelry sales depend partly on consumer income. Small jewelers can effectively compete with large chains because price isn’t the main factor determining sales. Profitability depends on merchandising and effective marketing. Read full article

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The classic string of pearls is getting an instant update. Layering long pearl necklaces with metal chains or with even more pearl strands of different sizes give a funky mix-and-match vibe. Some artists, such as Katherine Heigl, Jamie Lynn Sigler, Sandra Bullock, and Rihanna, do a fabulous job at pairing simple pearl necklaces, long pearl necklaces, and chunky pearl necklaces with the right outfit.

In various public appearances, Heigl channels the Hollywood glamour of the 50’s and 60’s with a modern twist. To show off the elegance of her timeless pearls, Heigl has been seen wearing a classic up-doo to harmonize with the circular show stoppers. She is a master at accessorizing both hair and jewelry to complement one another. For The Ugly Truth movie premier, Heigl radiated in a multi-stranded chunky pearl necklace along with her Lanvin dress.

Rihanna is another artist who has an extreme sense of style. She showed up at the London premiere of Inglorious Bastards wearing, about a thousand layered pearl necklaces. Rihanna took pearls to the edge by piling them on in varying sizes and lengths.

When wearing a pearl necklace, it is important that everyone see the entire arrangement from front to back. Subtle pearl shine is hard to come by, so make sure to show it off all the way around your neck. Keeping hair down takes away your pearls from the fancy fashion.

Pearl jewelries truly bring an element of the past to the present and are great for any occasion, big or small, move premier or movie date night. Pearl jewelries are classic and beautiful. Celebrities and ordinary folks reach the same level of beauty, with or without millions of fans, once that pearl necklace is clasped and glowing delicately around our necks.

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