JEWELLERY CARE ADVICE

All Lunar James jewellery items are handmade using carefully chosen natural materials and (mainly) recycled metals like eco-silver, gold plated and gold filled, and brass. All our products are lead and nickle free.

If taken care off properly, your jewellery can last you a very long time and we recommend you follow the below tips on how to keep your jewellery pretty and shiny.                                                 

GENERAL CLEANING TIPS

- Avoid leaving exposed to water - immediately dry after contact with water.

- Remove before going to sleep and avoid wearing your jewellery when work outs, sunbathing or when bathing. We recommend to apply any lotions and perfume well before putting your jewellery on.

- Remove any jewellery when during household cleaning. In particular chlorine and bleach accelerate tarnishing and should be avoided.

- Ideally store your pieces of jewellery separately, so that they don't rub together or become tangled. Also, when taking your jewellery with you on holiday, we advise transporting it in a little box to avoid any pressure on your jewellery. We recommend storing your jewellery in the Lunar James gift box or pouch. 

- When cleaning your jewellery with a soft fabric or polishing cloth, rub the piece in one direction rather than circular motions.                                                   

PRECIOUS METALS

Gold-filled jewellery

The Lunar James Curated Luxury collection is made using 14k gold-filled. Each of our gold-filled jewellery pieces contain the 14k/20 hallmark guaranteeing the quality of your jewellery. 

Unlike plated metals, gold-filled is legally required to contain 5% (or 1/20) gold by weight, and on average it has 100 times the amount of gold as plating. If taken good care, gold-filled jewellery can last a lifetime.

For daily maintenance, rinse it with lukewarm water and dry with soft polishing cloth. You can  deep clean by soaking gold-filled jewellery in warm water (with a bit of fairy soap) and gently scrub with an ultrasoft toothbrush. Rinse it off and dry it well before storing.                                                   

Gold plated jewellery

Gold plated jewellery consists of a base metal plated with a small layer of gold. If the base metal is  Sterling Silver it is called Gold Vermeil, if the base metal is brass it is called Gold plated. It has a recognisable deep golden colour, and is seen as the affordable alternative to 18k gold jewellery.

Although lasting, gold plating is not permanent and will fade eventually when worn frequently. To slow down the tarnishing process, we recommend following all the general tips set out above.

To clean your gold plated jewellery, we recommend wiping it down with a damp cotton ball or micro fibre cloth after every wearing to remove smudges and surface soil. Please avoid using a polishing cloth or silver/gold jewellery cleaner, as this may strip away the plating.                                                    

Silver jewellery

Lunar James only uses Sterling Silver (925) for its silver jewellery. With proper care, your silver Silver jewellery will retain its beauty and character for many generations to come.

As a metal, Sterling Silver tarnishes, especially when exposed to salt air and products containing sulphur. However, if worn regularly it typically needs less care, so we strongly encourages you to wear your silver jewellery every day.

A special silver cleaner can be used to clean Sterling Silver pieces but cannot be used to clean your 14k Gold Plated jewellery. Using only a small amount of silver jewelry cleaner on a soft cloth, gently rub the silver several times. Then rinse the silver thoroughly in warm water and carefully dry. This will remove the tarnish and make your silver jewellery look like new again.                                                     

Brass jewellery

Having a beautiful golden tone, brass naturally adds warmth to your jewellery.

Brass is naturally yellow in colour, and so the golden tone will always remain. Just like any other metals, brass may tarnish over time - rubbing on a polishing cloth or denim fabric will brighten up your brass jewellery again. With brass the tip is, the more you wear it, the more it will shine brightly.                                                     

SEMI PRECIOUS STONES

Please avoid from wearing gemstones around hot water, harsh chemicals and cleaners. You may clean most gemstones with a soft, damp cloth after wearing. Very porous stones  however, like turquoise and emeralds should be cleaned using an untreated, dry, soft cloth only. We recommend avoiding the use of tissue paper or paper towels as they can cause scratching.                                                

NATURAL MATERIALS

- Wood, seeds and nuts: we advise to avoid any contact with water.

- Shells and Pearls: they may look and feel robust, but are natural materials and can be fragile, so please handle them with love.

- Mother of Pearl: derived from sea shells, mother-of-pearl has a delicate shine and reflection. we recommend cleaning mother-of-pearl carefully using a soft dry cloth. As mother-of-pearl is a naturally soft substance, in time small scratches can appear on its surface.

- Feathers: our cruelty-free feather jewellery can be cleaned by gently washing it with lukewarm water and letting it dry naturally. To avoid your feather jewellery from fraying, we recommend storing it in the complimentary Lunar James gift pouch.