ORGANIC NATURE INSPIRED JEWELRY WITH AN EDGY TWIST

Do you ever wonder when or if we should ever take off our jewelry daily?  

Many people wear an earring, necklace, ring, and even a bracelet.   So it could be pretty troublesome if we do have to put on and take off all of them every day.  Even though this is probably a personal preference, there are indeed times that we recommend taking off your jewelry.   Especially jewelry made of gold, sterling silver, and copper. Specific environments would expedite the tarnish and could damage the jewelry too.  Therefore, under these circumstances, we would highly recommend you to take them off.

1. Doing weight training (especially if you need to hold any heavyweights or need to rub against any other hard metals).

Rubbing your jewelry against other hard metals can scratch and possibly dent the jewelry metal.

2. You are going to a swimming pool. 

Most pools are filled with chemicals that can damage jewelry.  

3. When you are cleaning with cleaning detergent.

Most cleaning detergent is an aggressive chemical that can damage jewelry.

4. When you are taking a bath.

This typically would just expedite the tarnish on jewelry especially if you do not wipe dry the jewelry right after shower/bath.  

5. Putting on lotion or perfume.

Some lotion or perfume would also expedite the tarnish process on the jewelry.

Taking off your jewelry when you are doing the above activities would allow you to keep your jewelry clean, new, and have minimal tarnish.  Sometimes your jewelry may still tarnish even when you try to avoid all the above activities.  This could happen as everyone’s skin pH level is different and so your skin may react to the jewelry, especially if you sweat often.

So how can you remove tarnish from jewelry?  Luckily tarnish can easily be removed with a jewelry cloth.  Most major departments or online stores would sell them.  Just make sure you select the jewelry cloth that is specific to the jewelry materials you have.  All our unique handmade jewelry comes with a jewelry cloth.  You can use it to wipe down any tarnish or polish the jewelry so that it looks new again.  You may not want to wipe our handmade copper jewelry as copper tarnishes beautifully over time, and it will just make the copper jewelry more rustic and unique.

Are you thinking about surprising your girlfriend for the first time with a piece of jewelry? Have you wondered what would be the best first jewelry gift for her? Here is a quick and honest guide that hopefully will guide you in choosing the perfect jewelry gift.

What kind of jewelry does she like to wear?
It probably is a good idea to start by finding out what kind of jewelry your girlfriend wears the most. Observe a few days and see what type of jewelry she puts on for school, work, weekends, or for special occasions. Does she like to wear a ring, bracelet, bangle, earrings, and necklaces every day? Does she like to change her jewelry to match her outfit every day? Or does she wears the same jewelry daily or weekly? With the above, you will have a better idea of whether you should give her a ring, necklace, bracelet, bangle, or earring. Plus it will be a gift that you know for sure she will most likely wear.

What style of jewelry does she like to wear?
Once you know what kind of jewelry she wears most, let's try to figure out what style of jewelry she likes to wear. There are so many styles in clothing and jewelry such as fashion, modern, geometric, casual, elegant, bohemian, minimalist, vibrant, sexy, etc. Once you know what styles of clothing she likes, it is much easier to choose the right style of jewelry gift. In general, buying a classically styled jewelry will be a good idea if you want to be safe. However, it can also be exciting to give a trendy piece of jewelry if your girlfriend is very stylish.

What jewelry metal does she like?
Copper, sterling silver, gold-filled, gold plated, and gold are common jewelry materials. The material, complexity of the design, and how it is made significantly affect the price.  Typically gold will cost more than sterling silver, and sterling silver will cost more than copper. Plated jewelry can get intricate as it depends on the plated material and the base metal underneath. Thus the price can vary a lot but in general, are less expensive than other pure metals.

If your girlfriend wears mostly gold or silver-tone jewelry, it would be wise to buy 18k/14k gold or sterling silver jewelry. Gold or sterling silver jewelry will cost more, but they do retain value over time.  People tend to pick copper jewelry as they like the copper tone and also like how it tarnishes over time. Keep in mind that the copper ring will most likely turn one's finger green. Gold-filled is another great option if she prefers gold color jewelry, and you don't want to overspend. Plated jewelry is the most affordable, but please keep in mind that over time, the plated material can wear off.

Once you sort out all the above, you can do a google search to see similar jewelry to shop online or go to any local jewelry store. Below are some examples of various jewelry styles with different jewelry metals and styles. 

Copper Jewelry

 Copper Trinity Necklace / Elegant Copper Necklace

Copper Treebark Necklace / Rustic Nature Organic Copper Necklace

Silver Jewelry

Nature and organic Silver Necklace

Cute Bumble Bee Silver Necklace 

Dainty Modern Sterling Bracelet

Simple modern gemstone necklace

Gold Jewelry

Minimalist gemstone gold ring

Dainty gold band

An organic classic gold band

Hopefully, now you have a better idea as to what you should buy for your girlfriend for the first time.  It is always extra unique and exciting when you shop for your first jewelry gift, but nothing beats seeing her reaction when she opens the gift.  Good luck!

It has been a very long time since we have posted on this blog. There have just been too many things going on with us Monkeys but we are finally back on track and we can’t wait to share with you all again things happening at our shop, new ideas, and inspirations.

First of all, please make sure you know about our free shipping code (domestic) when you order $35 or more.  More reasons for you to order the special jewelry that you have always wanted.

Today we would also like to share with you about Monkeys Always Look stamping fonts and styles.  Since we mostly make personalized and custom jewelry, many customers have requested a variety of personalization on our jewelry including rings, necklaces, and bangles.  Since we pick our fonts and styles carefully when we design our jewelry, there may be some limitations as to how many letters or words we can stamp on each of our jewelry.

The above pictures show some examples of the rings we make in different widths. As you can see, some rings have two rows of stampings while others have one. This typically depends on the font size we use and the ring width. If you do want us to stamp a long sentence on a thin band then sometimes we would recommend changing our font style and size.  We would for sure confirm the details with you before we proceed on production.  As an example, for a US size 7 (a popular ring size), we typically can stamp 20 letters including spaces on our thinner bands.  If we can change to a smaller font, we could possibly go up to 30 letters including spaces.  If you decide to order a wide band instead, we can most likely stamp in 2 rows, which means we can stamp approximately 40 letters including spaces.

What else have Monkeys been doing over the summer? Other than staying busy as usual with our work, we do also try to spend quality time with our families. We love going to the beach as it brings peace and relaxation looking at the big blue sky and listening to the ocean waves. The blue sky in the picture below inspired us to think deeply on many things~