Twelve Don'ts In Wearing Jewelry

Wearing jewelry is not like wearing your socks: routine, unfashionable and almost automatic. In most instances, you need to develop a keen sense of style and a knack for mixing and matching in order to look your best with jewelry. When you're tired of browsing through the long list of dos as well as several advice pieces that are too lengthy and numerous to remember, take the road less travelled and check out the following simplified and easy-to-recall list of no-nos instead.

1. Don't allow your necklace and pendant to rest inside your plunging neckline. The sight is such a turnoff. When wearing plunging clothes, you have two options: a choker or a long chain that falls past your bust line.

2. Don't apply any foundation, powder and other cosmetic after wearing your jewelry. For an even finish, apply your makeup first and wear your jewelry last.

3. Don't sport rusty jewelry: nose rings, tongue rings, earrings and other pieces that involve piercings. Tetanus complications might ensue. Take care of your health by practicing good hygiene.

4. Don't wear a choker when you have a stumpy neck. Doing so will only make your neck appear much, much shorter than it already is.

5. Don't wear a choker when you're donning a turtleneck. The short necklace can't possible compete with the prominence of the collar. For a noticeable contrast, select a long-chained necklace to wear.

6. Don't wear a heavy pendant on a delicate chain. The reason is obvious. The weight of the pendant will be causing too much strain on the thin chain, causing the latter to break.

7. Don't wear a long necklace when you have a slender neck. Doing so will also elongate your neck further.

8. Don't wear a necklace whose size and thickness are inversely proportional to the size of your neck: thick chains if you're portly, thin and delicate chains if you're slender. The same principle applies to bracelets or bangles which you must consider in line with your wrist size.

9. Don't wear earrings that mimic the shape of your face. They simply don't look good that way. If you have a round face, go for square-shaped or triangular-shaped stone settings in your earrings. If you have a square face, go for oval-shaped stones and round shapes.

10. Don't wear jewelry to sleep. Soft metals will get deformed. Pointy settings will also cause you much discomfort when you're lying on your bed.

11. Don't wear jewelry when you're engaging in strenuous physical activities such as jogging, working out and swimming. Your acidic sweat, the saline water or the chlorine-treated pool will pose damages to your jewelry. When you are active, you are also less likely to notice if you've lost a jewelry piece that accidentally fell off.

12. Don't wear your jewelry piece twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, four weeks a month and so on. Doing so will invite dirt to settle. Unclean earrings will particularly make your piercings prone to infections if you do not take the earrings off.