Constance and Violet

Feminine, unique and utterly precious. Constance&Violet's gemstone jewellery is a breath of fresh air. The use of delicate but impressive design mixed with such beautiful colours take me back to the glamour and elegance on the early 1900's.

http://constanceandviolet.com/

 

Here are some of my favourite pieces from the collection:

 

The gem pendants on these beautiful gold chains are timeless and oh so chic.

 

 

Oh, which colour to choose?

These earrings would be all you need to add a touch of glamour and individuality to your outfit. 

Adorn my fingers, please x



Celebrity Engagement Rings - www.Brides.com

I was googling a certain designer this evening and came across www.Bride.com and a list of their favourite celebrity engagement rings - have a little gander http://www.brides.com/wedding-dresses-style/2012/06/celebrity-engagement-ring-photos?slide=2#slide=2

One in particular caught my eye! Apparently, according to www.Bride.com, it is Jessica Biel's:

 

I love the antique look of it and the two blue gems sitting so prettily next to that fabulous diamond xx

 

They also showed a beautiful ring, which they say belongs to Drew Barrymore:

 

 

Now, the one below belongs to Halle Berry, I wouldn't want it as an engagement ring myself but it is a beeeautiful ring, that I would quite happily wear every day, just because it is so gorgeous!

 

 



Love

It may not be a gem stone but it is a gem of a piece of jewellery. When I left Dubai my girl friends got together to buy me a very special friendship bracelet, a Tiffany & Co. Love bracelet. I love it xxx

 

Rubies, Rubies, Gold and Spinel

I'm often asked what my favourite gem stone is, which I find impossible to answer. However, rubies and spinel are up there on my top ten favourites list. I just adore their pink colour and the way they look so pretty with turquoise and chrysoprase,

For my 30th birthday present, I received a beautiful spinel and gold necklace with an exquisite Indian design style pendant - I adore it.

This weekend, I finally ventured to Opium on the Kings Road in London (I've blogged about this wonderful shop before). What wonders awaited me, I fell madly in love with the shop and all its treasures. While there I spotted the very pretty ruby braceletes and earrings and was lucky enough to be able to purchase some... they match perfectly with my Spinel necklace - a match made in gem heaven x

 



 

The Times UK Article on Vintage Gems - March 2nd 2013

My boyfriend was reading The UK's Times newspaper this morning and came across an article he knew I would love. See the interesting article on buying antique jewellery below.

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/money/investment/article3703382.ece

 

The picture below features in the article and explains how much the celebrities gems of choice for award ceremonies impacts the jewellery market, as you might suspect. This years Oscars means that Diamonds are a favourite, especially diamond bracelets.

 

 

Venus Rox

Having just arrived back into London to study at the GIA, I took some time off to wonder around the wonderful Notting Hill. While looking around I happily came across a wonderful shop - Venusrox, on All Saints Rd. Wow, what a treasure trove of crystals!

Have a look at their site: http://www.venusrox.com/home-page

Their collection is mesmerising and quite magnificent, they have all the crystals you could think of. Now the focus of this wonderful shop is crystals and their energies, which each person will have their own view on, however, they are all still crystals and stunningly beautiful. I think this place is a must for any gem/crystal lover. I especially like how each crystal is named and a description of the energy is given, http://www.venusrox.com/crystal-information

Venusrox also has a few pieces of beaded jewellery on offer, very simple, elegant and beautiful, http://www.venusrox.com/store/jewellery?p=2

Dita's Charms

Dita Von Teese is a style icon who never seems to put a Louboutin foot out of step, she is a pioneer of vintage style, femininity and glamour. The other day I saw a photo of her wearing another fabulous outfit but also an amazing charm bracelet... an antique or vintage charm bracelet. It reminds me of one my mother has, which she inherited from her mother, one that I have admired and loved since I was a child xx

The King of Design - Indian Design

Indian design first captured my attention when I was a 5 year old girl living in East Africa. We had gone for dinner with a colleague of my Father's, who was Indian and his three beautiful daughters. I was mesmerised by these beautiful girls but even more so by their exotic clothing and jewellery, to me they were like Princesses and all little girls love a princess. One of the daughters took a shine to me and gave me one of her rings, which was an Indian design, gold and just simply beautiful, I still remember how excited and grateful I was!

Since then my passion for all Indian design has escalated, I love their textile, furniture and especially their jewellery design, it just reels me in and always manages to give me something new. I was lucky enough to spend 4 months there in 2007. During this time I devoured the markets in Delhi, Mumbai and of course Goa, however, I did not have very much money, so was unable to feed my desire. I did however manage to buy a few bits and pieces to add to my ever expanding collection of Indian inspired jewellery, which has been added to since.

A mixture of Indian jewellery, that I have picked up from India and other parts of the world.

These pieces demonstrate the exquisite design and intricacy that makes Indian design and Indian jewellery so very special.

My treasured ankle bracelet and charm bracelet, I love them xx

This ring is so simple and yet so pretty and special. This necklace was bought in Ipswich, Suffolk of all places but the design certainly reminds me of Indian design and I adore it!

My Treasures from Kathmandu

A friend and I travelled to Kathmandu in Nepal, to soak up some wonderful, raw culture and eat some delicious food, I had a feeling that I would find some beautiful jewellery there too and knew that gems were plentiful but I was not prepared for the abundance of gems and amazing jewellery!

Each little street and alley way we walked down was lined with funny little shops and jewellers with the most amazing array of jewellery and gemstones, however, my favourite place were the markets with their mix of antique and newer designs... I could have spent all day there. I found some amazing pieces that I will treasure forever!

The detailed carving in this stunning cuff, is just so pretty and just so beautiful. I also love the turquoise stone in the centre of this gorgeous silver cuff. With Nepal bordering both India and China, the jewellery reflects both cultures design, so gorgeous.

I also found this pendant and ring on one of the cluttered market stalls. I loved hunting through and finding these little treasures! Their intricate and pretty designs make them so precious to me.

It was also so fascinating to see the workshop dotted around where they actually made the jewellery, I felt so lucky to witness it actually being made by local, talented artisans.

A Nepalese jeweller at work.

One of the many gem shops that captivated me x

My friend at one of the market stalls playing a local Nepalese board game.

Jewellery Theatre - Loving the Theatrics

Russians seem to have an eye and love of opulence and beauty, so there is no surprise that the magical and wonderful Jewellery Theatre is a Russian jewellery house. A friend of mine suggested I take a look at their web site and what a treat it was to look through their designs!

http://www.jt.ru/#/history_en

I would love to be able to show you my favourite designs of theirs but I'm not able to upload their images, so you must go and have a look at the absolute theatre of jewellery that is Jewellery Theatre.

I love the Byzantium collection http://www.jt.ru/#/c?c=byzantium  and Eden collection http://www.jt.ru/#/c?c=eden the most! I also LOVE that they have a video on how they make their pieces http://www.jt.ru/#/production_en

I have attached some Jewellery Theatre photos that I found on a search engine, these are however a small sneak preview of all tehir other glamorous and beautiful designs!

 

This ring leaves me breathless.

Don't you agree that the imagination and use of gemstones combined is just so wonderful, it is like watching a Russian ballet. It is wonderful to see such beautiful and exciting designs that take you on a journey of fantasy.

New Love - Opium

I met with my lovely friend Antonia for lunch today, who also shares my absolute love of gemstones and jewellery. I have blogged about her jewellery designs before. Well today, she had on the most beautiful pair of blue drop earrings which I instantly asked her about. Antonia informed me that they were from a favourite shop of hers on the Kings Road in London - Opium.

So back at my desk I decided that I needed to google Opium and find out more about it. Antonia having the gorgeous taste that she does was not wrong. I adore the concept of this shop and love the pieces its owner brings back to London from India, furniture and kaftans, textiles and of course beautiful jewellery. You must have a look at her website: http://www.opiumshop.co.uk/jewellery-8-c.asp

Reading more about the shops owner, Tracy Kitching, I discovered that she designs the jewellery herself - what wonderful designs she has and oh how I would love to live her life. This is her blurb on her jewellery designs:

"India, and particularly Jaipur, is famous for its wealth of semi-precious stones and jewellery ateliers. Inspired by these fabulous jewels and the beautiful antique tribal and Mughal pieces sourced on her travels, Tracy began designing a small collection for the shop. This was an immediate success and over the past 10 years, her unique jewellery designs have become a signature of Opium and are much in demand. The emphasis is on delicately cut stones with fabulous clarity and colour at affordable prices.  As part of her collection, she chooses semi-precious stones to mirror precious stones...kyanite for a blue sapphire look, green onyx for emerald and treated spinel to give the blue-black lustre of black diamonds. Many of her necklace and bracelet designs are created using healing stones and antique Hindu & Buddha pendants to bring protection and good fortune to the wearer, with no two pieces the same. Tracy particularly favours tourmalines, rubies, moonstone, laboradite, kyanite, blue opal and silver diamonds and is constantly adding new stones and varying subtleties of colour to her range. Tracy designs a range in both 18 carat gold and in 18 carat micron plated gold."
This is what I would love to do one day. Here are some of her beautiful pieces of jewellery.

Beautiful colours and designs, I will certainly be visiting Opium when I'm back in London.

Dreamy

Exquisite!

So beautiful and simple, look how these beautiful little green onyx briolette's make a beautiful piece of jewellery, stunning.

I love this and am sure I would never take it off.

So pretty and so special.

Ripe Market - Two in the Bush

The Ripe Market is one of Dubai's many pleasures on a Saturday, I love visiting and seeing the organic food stalls and clothes stalls but my favorite thing are the jewellery stalls. Dubai is abundant with all kinds of wonderful jewellery, as I have mentioned quite a bit.

This week I went and visited, as my friend Becky had told me about a fascinating man she had met the week before. Mark runs a jewellery company called Two in the Bush with his wife, they are from Kenya and source only African stones and then bring them to Dubai to sell. Previously Mark ran a safari tour business but transitioned into the gemstone business quite by accident. I loved talking to him because he is so knowledgeable and has such a passion for the gems. I especially love his Tanzanites!

If you want to buy in Dubai I think he is the man to see.

 This is the chap himself, with his wife. Such an interesting life that they live!

A selection of their gems, so beautiful!

This is a real uncut ruby, how stunning, loving that colour xx

The Tanzanites, I loved the one on the far right!

More of their designs.

Some of their stones - they look like sweets x

Treasure Hunting in Sharjah Blue Souk

I have lived in the UAE for the last four years and have hunted out all the fabulous souks and markets that I can find, however, I had not yet been to the famous Blue Souk in Sharjah.

My very good friend, who has lived here for almost 17 years, kept telling me off for visiting the UAE's many souks but not visiting the Blue Souk, so yesterday she and her husband drove me there in search of wonderful hidden gems.

I was not disappointed, the beautiful Iranian inspired souk with its little passageways and shops over bridges was a treasure chest of amazing one off little bejeweled pill boxes, bangles, gold shops with my favorite Indian designs and treasures from Afghanistan, Oman and Northern India. It was my heaven and I could have spent hours going through each shop and finding the perfect little bargains.

Here are some of my pictures and they are just a few of them....

This was one of the many gold shops in the main park of the souk. The Indian jewellery is exquisite and amazes me every time.

I fell in love with this gold and turquoise cuff bangle!

These Afghan cuffs were in a little shop over one of the bridges and were the main treasure in an otherwise unexciting shop. They aren't real silver but the stones are lapis lazuli, turquoise and garnet. They are beautiful and the design on the metal is just so gorgeous!

I found these pretty little north Indian pill boxes in a funny little shop stuffed with little treasures!

This box of goodies was in another little side shop, which had silver cutlery and all sorts of odds and ends that I would love to deck my home out in.

This is a cushion cover with real gold and gem stones embroidered in, how stunning!

These rings were very pretty and cute x

Imagine row after row of shop windows just like this but each piece is individual and has its very own wonderfully beautiful design.

I would absolutely LOVE one of these engraved cuffs - oh I am in love xx

Not sure how real the turquoise was in this belt but thought it would look good with jeans in the UK.

More beads and precious little rocks hidden away in a funny little shop.

Omani daggers, once lovingly kept in their beautiful cases.

Malachite and lapis lazuli animal figures, these remind me of ones I saw in Africa - very sweet!

Bangles, bangles and more bangles - oh how I love gold bangles!

Beautiful beaded belts from Afghanistan and north India.

Look at the gold bracelet with the cluster of coral on it, I really loved this one. It seemed so European and out of place. I think it is so pretty and elegant.

Imagine wearing this on your wedding day! Look at the intricate design - wow!

Pretty gem watches, that's my kind of watch.

Which ring would you wear?

I would love one of these sets. I would feel so special in them.