Costume Jewellery Care & Cleaning

Costume Jewellery and Fashion Jewellery is often produced with no-precious metals - usually gold and silver plated, and with or without synthetic or glass stones.

No matter how high the quality of costume and fashion jewelery, it still needs handling with care in order to remain in good condition. With a little care, the life of the metal plating can be enhanced. The following tips will help you to keep your jewellery looking at it's best.

• Jewellery should be put on last and taken off first while dressing
• Always store in a cool dry place and store separately in order to avoid scratching
• Avoid contact with chemicals, such as perfume, moisterising lotions, deodorant, hairspray etc
• Clean your jewellery with a mild detergent and a soft cloth if required. Rinse with clean water and dry with a soft cloth.
• If required it is also possible to use commercial silver dip liquid only on fashion jewellery. Use of a siver polish cloth, paste or other strong jewellery cleaner is recommended.

There are also other specialised products on the market for cleaning fashion and costume jewellery. These are available from companies like Hagerty (available on line from Fred Harrison Ltd ). However for the most part diluted detergent and water will work as well.

For more information on jewelllery care, please see our other articles Silver Jewellery Care & Cleaning and how to keep your jewellery looking lovely.

Silver Jewellery Care & Cleaning

The main problem with silver jewellery is tarnishing. Tarnish is a product of oxidisation which is caused with the interaction of silver jewellery with oxygen and other chemicals. When worn regularly, tarnishing on silver jewellery does not occur, therefore when not in use - silver jewellery should stored be carefully. Here are a few tips on the storage and cleaning of silver jewellery.

• To keep your silver tarnish free, store in an air tight container or plastic bag, ideally wrapping in tissue or a velvet pouch.
• Store individual pieces of silver jewellery separately to avoid scratching.
• Frequently clean your silver with a mild dishwashing liquid diluted in water. Thoroughly dry your silver jewellery after exposure to water.
• To remove tarnish from silver, you can use a commericial silver dip liquid, polish paste or polish cloth. Make sure there are not any loose stones or parts and limit the expoure of gemstones to silver cleaners.
• Always rinse jewellery after cleaning and dry thoroughly with a soft cloth.
• Please read the cleaning product's instructions before use.We recommend the Hagerty range of jewellery cleaning products, available from most high street jewellers or on-line from Fred Harrison Ltd
  
  For more information on jewellery care and cleaning, please see our articles How to keep your jewellery looking lovely and Costume Jewellery Care & Cleaning.

How to keep your jewellery looking lovely

When you first receive a piece of jewellery (hopefully from Taylor & Vine!), no matter how much it costs and what it is made of you will love and cherish it. To help you look after it and to keep it looking as lovely as the day you received it, we have put a few tips together for you.

• Always protect your jewellery from sharp blows, scratching, sunlight and extreme of temperature



• To prevent silver and costume jewellery from tarnishing, always keep your jewellery away from the air in a jewellery box or roll.



• Try to keep pieces apart, so they don't rub together



• Before storing necklaces, remember to refasten the class to help prevent knots and kinks



• Jewellery should be put on last and taken off first while dressing



• Always store in a cool dry place, and store separately in order to avoid scratching



• Avoid contact with chemicals such as perfume, hairspray deodorant, household cleaning products etc



• Never go swimming in your jewellery - chlorine in the pool can damage it



• Wear jewellery for appropriate tasks, avoid wearing rings when cleaning, gardening or performing sports activities.

For more information on jewellery care and cleaning, please see our articles Silver Jewellery care & cleaning and Costume Jewellery care & cleaning.

First Fashion Show for Taylor & Vine

In the hectic run up to Christmas, Taylor & Vine were lucky enough to be invited to participate in a fashion show as part of a Hertfordshire Women's networking group. The event, which was held in early December, was attended by over 60 business ladies with a common interest in networking and having fun!

8 lovely ladies involved with the networking group had been recruited by local image consultants Style2you, to "strut their stuff" as models. This involved showcasing casual wear from Greenhouse (a new capsule range to the UK), evening wear from Brockhurst Boutique (a local dress agency). All outfits were accessorised with jewellery from Taylor & Vine, which included pieces from Azuni, Anna Lou of London, and Taylor & Vine's own fashion jewellery brand - Ziga Zaga.

The outfits & accessories were handpicked to suit each models size, shape and personality. They looked fantastic and had a real ball with the audence cheering and clapping as they did their sets’ up and down the runway.

The event was a great success and it's something that we'd definately do again.

Another blog entryfrom this event can be found at http://www.mycapsulewardrobe.com/

SALE WEEKEND - 20% off everything

In order to make room for our new Spring/Summer Collection, Taylor & Vine will be having their January sale weekend on 17th/18th January 2009.

During the whole of the weekend, all of the products on the Taylor & Vine website will be available with a discount of 20% . This will include products from designers Azuni, Anna Lou of London and Michael Michaud and will also include a 20% price reduction on all our Babette Wasserman stock which is already heavily discounted.

The 20% discount will be applied at our website check out. To gain the 20% discount, you will need to enter the promotional code JAN09 at website checkout. This offer is available to everyone, so please tell your friends and family.

Winged Beauties

As featured in Look Magazine (24th November 2008 issue), Bird and Insect Necklaces are the latest star craze. Stars such as Peaches Geldof and

Leona Lewis have been spotted wearing the Anna Lou of London Dragonfly Necklace, which Taylor & Vine are offering in Black, White and Pink for an unbeatable £33.95 (with free UK delivery).

Anna Lou of London

As of October 2008, Taylor and vine are proud to add Anna Lou of London jewellery to their list of featured designers.

Founded by Anna Louise Scaife in 2004, Anna has enjoyed success and a dedicated celebrity following with her celebrated fashion jewellery, handbags and accessories, with collections selling to hip and trendy boutiques, concept stores and luxurious department stores worldwide.

The collections are designed and hand crafted in the UK and worldwide, each piece is made to the highest degree of care and quality. The collections are trend driven and extensive, each showcasing a variety of colours, styles and materials. The entirely individual nature of each collection provides its owner with a truly personalised piece.

The flagship and diffussion ranges are stocked in over 300 stores and many exclusive boutiques internationally. Celebrity clientele are an impressive and continually expanding list of red carpet glitterati, including Kate Moss, Madonna, Kylie Minogue, Kelly Osbourne, Kate Winslet, Minnie Driver, Trinny Woodall and Jodie Kidd ( Elle Style Awards 2007). The ‘Anna Lou of London’ collection has also been a hit with great young fashion icons such as Peaches Geldof, Kate Nash, Charlotte Church, Leona Lewis, Holly Willoughby, Cat Deeley, Fearne Cotton and Myleene Klass.

Anna Scaife and her accessories have received a considerable amount of favourable press coverage featuring in publications as diverse as Vogue, Elle, Marie Clarie, Grazia, The Evening Standard, New Woman, Cosmopolitan, Company, Look, Happy, Lucky Magazine, Teen Vogue to name but a few.

The acrylic and Swarovski crystal Retro Collection, first developed in the Summer of 2007 has been an absolute hit with stores and the press internationally and new designs are being introduced all the time. As we approach Autumn/Winter 2008 the newest pieces have already been selected in advance by the worlds most influential department stores and boutiques.

A small but select collection of Anna Lou of London jewellery is now available at Taylor & Vine, which we think focusses on products which will be very wearable this autumn but will also be make the perfect Christmas gift.