Your engagement ring, the bracelet your grandmother gave you, a family heirloom.

Fine jewelry from shops like https://www.windsorjewelers.com/estate-jewelry-services-nyc or that jewelry item that was given to you as gift is an investment and typically has a high sentimental attachment placed on it, so you want to spend a little extra time each week treating those jewels to some TLC! But you typically put your jewelry on as you rush out the door and take it off before you wipe away your makeup in exhaustion at the end of the day. The art of adorning yourself turns into a hurried act, so it’s easy to forget you need to care for these pieces as you would any other investment. That ends today, becuase I’ve got a few simple tricks to caring for your bracelets, rings and other jewels. When it’s time to sell gold or sell your silver  jewelry pieces, you may get in touch with a gold buyer.

So what is all this fabulousness on my wrists?! Today, I’m thrilled to share a fine jewelry line with you: Vahan Jewelry. Truthfully, I thought I originally found the line from one of my favorite bloggers, Holy City Chic. She has this turquoise ring. When Vahan asked if I would like to borrow some jewels to shoot for them, I automatically said yes because I’d seen their jewels on Megan for a while. But, while I was looking through their site I was thrilled to see that I had seen Vahan years ago as a young girl. Their signature textured bracelets were Christmas gifts to my mom and aunts by my meme. It was the best kind of déjá vu, so I knew I had to style these pieces.

Vahan has been around since 1968, and their work is made in the USA- based out of New York! Vahan is well known for their textured bracelets that are as stunning as they are comfortable. Think fine jewelry, you are supposed to live in. You all know I love that, as my motto is, “Why save things for special occasions? What if special never happens?” That’s why I will tell moms to go ahead and wear the sundress with toddlers! If it gets stained, it will be a memory! But as I wore these bracelets for a few hours during the shoot, I totally understood. You feel luxurious {I mean I seriously felt like I was far chicer than I am shooting this!} but you don’t feel as if you can only wear these pieces on a date. Imagine being gifted such a bracelet but feeling silly wearing it to go grab Diet Cokes with girlfriends. Who wants that?! I may be a bit frivolous, but I also like to be practical.

So now that I’ve convinced you to wear your diamonds to carpool pick up, let’s talk about caring for your fine jewels. I always refer to the brand directly when it comes to how they say to care for their product, but here are 5 rules I always follow.

Katey’s 5 Tricks for Caring for Fine Jewelry

• Off First & On Last

First and foremost, the easiest way you can care for your jewels is in your wear of them. You WANT to religiously wear your fine jewelry during the week, but in order to do that a little trick is to create great habits with your wear. You may notice in many of my Insta Stories, I do not have my wedding band set on. That’s because I follow the rule: off first and on last. I put my fine jewelry on last before I leave the home and take off first when I get home for the night! I don’t want to get grease on my ring if I’m frying food for dinner or something like that! So if I get home with Maxi for the evening at 5 p.m. I’ll go ahead and store my wedding ring in its box. Of course, that is just personal preference, but I like to do that to avoid extra dirt. I also put it on last while getting ready that way hairspray or other chemicals I apply while getting ready don’t get my jewelry dingy!

• Clean Regularly

Naturally, this seems like a no-brainer. But life gets busy and your fine jewels can get a bit neglected! For at-home cleaning, I recommend cleaning items you wear daily like your custom made engagement rings once a week, then have them professionally cleaned and inspected at least twice a year. For items, you wear a bit less frequently I clean them once a month. However, I always bring all my fine jewelry to the jeweler twice a year when I get my rings cleaned. We make a day out of it and go to brunch then take all my jewelry. I have pearls from my Meme and I only let the professionals clean those. Ammonia can be so damaging to stones like pearls, emeralds, etc. so I don’t want to mess with that!

• Storage

Think of your fine jewelry like your skin, sunlight can damage the color and clarity of a necklace just as easily as you could get a sunburn. Be sure to store fine pieces in the pouch or box them come in, in a jewelry box away from direct sunlight. You don’t want unintentional scratches, which is another reason why I try to take my jewelry off first when I’m in for the night! If I wait until 9 pm I’ll just toss it on my nightstand haphazardly.

• Insure Your Fine Pieces

When gifted a fabulous piece or when purchasing it yourself, the next step is to check on insurance! Check with your renters or homeowners insurance as some of that may cover a certain amount. You can typically purchase an extension of that insurance which will help with that. However, if you have accumulated a collection or know you have a brand you want to keep purchasing for years to come, I would go the Jewelry Insurance route which is a specific type of insurance.

• Keep a Cleaning Kit

For your weekly or monthly cleaning sessions, keep a cleaning kit on hand. In this kit, you’ll want to keep a soft toothbrush {a baby toothbrush works great!}, a polishing cloth, mild dish soap, Ziploc bags, Windex, a notepad, and some girls include an ultrasonic cleaner. To start, go directly to each brand or jeweler when making note of how to clean {you can e-mail brands via their contact page on their website}. Some stores may recommend you clean your engagement ring with warm water, Windex, and a soft toothbrush. Others will say to stick to mild dish soap and warm water. I’ve done both per my jeweler’s recommendation and have been happy with it. However, I wouldn’t do that for other pieces, so you’ll want to care for it exactly how the specific brand says. Having a little kit like this makes it easy so you can whip it out and care for your pieces while you catch up on your weekly episode of The Bachelorette! I just get the kit out when I’m watching my junk tv and go to town!

But what if you haven’t started to really collect fine jewelry or you just aren’t even sure what to look for? I always say find something that resonates with you and explore aquamarine jewels gemstones if you want unique pieces. Think of the fabulous women in your life and what reminds you of them! I felt really connected to my Meme shooting this post because of the moment she gifted her 4 daughters Vahan bracelets one year for Christmas. I was around 12, and I remember them opening their boxes and just thinking they were stunning. My aunts always talk about how that was such a special Christmas. It was sentimental to have the honor of shooting these pieces years later. Maybe your aunt always wears turquoise or your mom has a certain type of print in her home. When looking at specific jewelry or brands, definitely look to that. While selecting what I would style, I found that Vahan has quite a versatile collection- more so than you typically see in a brand!

I also recommend giving yourself a little self-care day and get dressed up, go to brunch and then head to a jeweler. If you want to see these pieces in person, you can insert your zip code here. Bring a friend that will not rush you and allow you to ask a lot of questions or go solo! Tell the jeweler about your lifestyle and how you normally are with jewelry. They will be able to advise you on specific pieces in a line or even introduce you to something you haven’t thought of before. The reason I love bracelet stacks is that Maxi truthfully doesn’t really mess with them as she does earrings! They fit for my lifestyle as a mama and I know they will continue to.

Ultimately, I think that’s why fine jewelry is such a special treat! It’s worn a bit more regular than a statement earring and becomes uniform with you. Your wedding band, the bracelet you were gifted at 30, the right-hand ring you bought yourself…it’s this extension of your soul you wear on your skin. It seems so cheesy to word it like that, but it’s why we get so attached to things like our grandmother’s watch. A vintage watch deserves a complete service. Visit https://swisstimeservices.co.uk to know iwc service cost.

I hope you all found as much inspiration from this shoot as I did! Do you have any tips for caring for fine jewels?! What’s your favorite pieces from this shoot?!

Ring: Vahan | Bracelets: Vahan | Necklace: Vahan | Earrings: Vahan | Dress: Amazon | Jacket: Amazon | Shoes: Old, Similar | Clutch: Similar

Photography by: Madison Katlin | In collaboration with Vahan Jewelry. All opinions are my own.