The Sweet Pea Jewelry Journal

The short answer: one small, quiet, real piece pearl or crystal studs, or a single fine chain with a simple pendant. Interview jewelry should be forgotten the moment she sits down. Buy something in st...

The short answer: borrow a ring she already wears on the finger you are buying for and measure its inside diameter in millimeters that one number gives you her size. If you cannot get hold of one, ask...

The short answer: classic pearl earrings or a simple sterling or solid gold piece in the $50 to $125 range. Skip rings, lockets, initials, hearts, and anything that says Mom. You want something she ca...

The short answer: plain gold wins, because in officially licensed team jewelry diamond accents barely exist. Across the roughly 18,000 licensed collegiate and pro pieces we carry, essentially none are...

Continuum sterling silver is a patented silver alloy, developed by the American manufacturer Stuller, that replaces most of the copper in traditional sterling with palladium a platinum-family metal. T...

The short answer: buy one small piece she can wear every single day without thinking about it a licensed school pendant on a chain, or a pair of simple studs in sterling silver or solid gold, not plat...

The short answer: yes if you shop by weight instead of by width. A rising gold price moves the metal inside a piece, not the labor that shaped it. On small earrings, where most of what you pay is the ...

The short answer: small solid studs, a 16-inch chain with a lobster clasp, and a flat-backed pendant. In a classroom the thing that ends a piece of jewelry is not wear, it is a hand closing around it....

The short answer: an experience usually wins the day, and jewelry usually wins the decade. Experiences produce the stronger feeling at the time; jewelry produces the stronger reminder afterward, becau...

The short answer: buy a shape rather than a trend. Solitaires, crosses, lockets and hearts have been made continuously for over a century, so none of them can go out of style. Then check three things:...

The short answer: store each chain fastened and hanging or laid flat in its own pouch, never loose in a shared drawer. Tangles are caused by light chains with open links and catchy spring-ring clasps,...

The short answer: two pieces reliably survive a twelve-hour shift small solid gold post earrings, 35mm, and a thin gold chain worn under your scrub top. Skip bracelets, dangles and stone-set rings: th...