Fashion Costume Jewelry

"Fashion Advice, Shopping & Style Guide to Women's Chic Fashion Jewelry"

Fashion costume jewelry is a fantastic way to update your style and multiply your outfits on a budget. And compared to fine jewelry, the variety is endless – making experimenting with fashion fun and affordable!

Trendy gold bangle bracelet
Courtesy of Fantasy Jewelry Box

One of the things that makes jewelry super fun and exciting is that it can create distinctive fashion looks! The hundreds of styles have something for everyone with different personalities, tastes and preferences.

Shortcut to fashion costume jewelry style & shopping guide

You can look classy and polished with a pearl necklace or bohemian-chic with wood and shell bracelets. Or throw on a huge statement necklace and you've meshed a trendy outfit with drama. Add silver stack rings and a couple of leather bracelets and you've got yourself a rocker chick look. And it doesn't have to cost a fortune!

Guide to Buying and Wearing Fashion Costume Jewelry

Here you'll discover lots of tips and advice on how to use jewelry to your advantage and look fabulous.

In this Shopping & Style Guide to Fashion Costume Jewelry you’ll get ideas and learn how to:

Build a solid jewelry collection that will keep you covered on all occasions, outfits and seasons
Select the best fashion costume jewelry (as well as fine jewelry) for your personal style (yes, even for your body figure!)
Strategically use it to accentuate and downplay your face and body features
Shopping tips and recommendations on the latest styles – from earrings to necklaces, bracelets to rings, and watches
Tips on how to deal with nickel allergy and where to buy nickel-free jewelry
.. and more!

So let's get running with how to make the most out of your jewelry:

Guides to Fashion Costume Jewelry

Looking for a specific jewelry piece or topic? Search for it here:

Secure the Jewelry Essentials

If you want to get the most out of your money you first need to secure jewelry in simple, versatile styles and colors. The metal should be neutral such as silver or gold, and the beads that go along with it should be clear, black and brown (or any variation of them). Oh, and the universal color turquoise is great as well.

In this way, you’ll be able to wear them with all of your outfits without worrying about if they match, as well as keeping yourself covered on all occasions all-year-around.

Grow Your Collection with Your Personal Style

A tip is to begin with securing the jewelry essentials and then build on your collection based on your personal style and the current fashion trends.

For example if you've secured a pair of round gold studded crystal earrings, then buy the same style in another color (amber, black, pink, etc.) or shape such as Princess (square). Or try hoop earrings in a different textures and details like for example wooden or/and gold beads.

Whether you're a jewelry-lover or not, you must make sure you have these essentials. These staples never go out of style and they'll work with everything - from different color combinations, styles to those inevitable occasions.

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Jewelry to Enhance and Minimize Parts of Your Body Figure

Angelina Jolie wearing rounded teardrop earrings to soften her angular jawline

Courtesy of Wireimage

Another great thing about fashion costume jewelry is that you can strategically wear it on parts of your body that you want to draw attention to.

Got newly manicured nails? Add a statement ring. Want to highlight your toned chest? Put on an eye-catching necklace. Just got a new haircut? Show it off with a pair of hoop earrings.

The right jewelry is also useful for flattering your face shape. A square face can wear teardrop earrings to soften their jawline, and a round faced gal can use shoulder long earrings to visually make her face look slimmer.

These styling tricks are mentioned here:

How to Savvily Shop for Diamond Jewelry

I believe that every quality-conscious fashionista should at least have a basic understanding of the 4 C's of a diamond - the basics on of how one place a value on a diamond based on 4 different factors:

Why is it so important?

Because with this knowledge you'll be able to spot if your engagement ring is the real thing or not (many 'fakes' such as cubic zirconia get easily mistaken for being a real diamond) ;-) Any street smart gal should know what the 4 C's mean!

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Cubic Zirconia – the Affordable Luxury

If your wallet won't stretch enough to pay for real diamond jewelry you should opt for cubic zirconia jewelry. It's a great alternative to the real thing if you can't afford or don't want to spend a lot of money on real diamonds.

They look like diamonds but they're actually made of glass, but what makes them such an attractive choice is that compared to diamonds they are perfect in color and clarity. You can even find cubic zirconia in all of the rainbow's colors and they're of high quality for less.

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What to Do If You're Allergic to Jewelry

Nickel allergy can be a pain in the bottom. I know this from experience.

But there's hope for you! Simply Whispers has a great selection on stylish and affordable nickel-free jewelry. They have a pretty extensive jewelry collection - they sell everything from nickel-free wrist watches to hoop earrings. It's a highly recommended online shop if you have sensitive allergy-prone skin.

Learn more about what nickel allergy is and how to treat it and live with it

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Where to Find Unique Jewelry

If you don't like the typical, mass-produced fashion costume jewelry being sold at Target, H&M and other cheap stores, then handmade jewelry is the way to go.

There are 3 good reasons why you should buy handcrafted jewelry:

1. It's made with love and care - resulting in a high quality piece of wearable art.
2. It's unique - you can choose between Limited edition or One-of-a-Kind jewelry
3. The designer is usually open for customization. There's a huge chance they'll customize the jewelry according to your wishes.