nykeiko wears: New stacking bling rings

My mom bought herself and all of her daughters a demi pavé diamond ring duo. One in rose gold and another in white gold. Here is my rose gold one stacked with my wedding band (which is also rose gold) and the stack of rings I have worn every day of my life since my collegiate days (usually on my right hand though but I've been mixing it up since I got my wedding band). I bought the rings from a local shop in Montreal and the jewelry brand was called The Right Hand Gal. This is over a decade ago and I'm not sure if they are still in business due to the empty content on their website. The ring  (from Noi NY) on my middle finger is part of a stackable trio too but it was too difficult to wear all three with my engagement ring.

Fenton/Fallon sample sale [October 2013 NYC sample sale]

Fenton/Fallon sample sale necklaces $60

Lack of statement jewelry? Craving spikes and chains for a grunge look? Fenton and Fallon sample sale is where you should go. See my review on Racked here.

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The Bling factor

From left to right: Jewelmint (worn twice), Alexis Bittar, Judith Leiber, Lulu Frost (all never worn YET)...

I have always been attracted to high bling jewelry. Not necessarily diamonds but crystals and glass will do..just not beads! When we were young (and last time we saw each other in Taiwan years ago), my cousin and I were always looking for shiny things to buy during our Taiwan night markets shopping sprees. We were almost having anxiety attacks when we discovered and shopped in a Taiwan jewelry district where actual vendors purchase their bling at wholesale prices! Now, I still like blingy* things but not so much wearing them. I still love them so I end up with many impulse purchases but with full intention of wearing them however, I rarely or never do! I see girls on the street wear their flashy statement pieces easily paired with a simple tees and jeans looking so glam and easy-going. I am inspired to wear it like them but then, most days, I don't feel like being too flashy. Nowadays, the only opportunity for me to dress up is sadly just for weddings. I have attended many weddings since moving to New York (I think my number is now 7?), I usually just end up wearing the same pieces over and over ...so it is really my fault I neglect most of my jewelries at time. This will change. I will make an effort to not be too shy to wear something flashy even if it's just going out to grab a bite.

*how many words can you make up with the word BLING!

Wedding band shopping was suppose to be fun....

This post is a long rambling about my search for my perfect wedding band. You have been warned.

via Tacori

As the big day approaches, I am now searching for my wedding band. I had to delete an entire post because I was going on and on about wondering which band I should pick this past weekend. I was determined to finalize a design over the weekend so I went to Michael C Fina where I sent my sale consultant a couple of rings and customization ideas. I came out picking a ring completely opposite to anything I have looked at before.  I cannot wait to see it in person. It was risky for me to pick a ring that I didn't try in person yet right?

We had begun looking for wedding bands the moment we set a date for our wedding months ago and seemed too early to look. I thought I had all the time in the world. Since then, I had visited over 5 jewelers and emailed a couple more to discuss some custom options or simply just picking one from the bunch they have in stores. I had all these ideas for customizing my ring however, none of them came to reality because I was never happy with my own stupid ideas. Putting a lone sapphire stone in an diamond eternity band was weird or putting both Dave's and my birthstone together seemed like a great idea but that did not work out esthetically at all. I was so keen on this birthstone idea that I kind of lost sight of what would look nice. I finally gave it up and pursued the idea of baguette and round diamonds when I first spotted one on Etsy. Turns out, it is not such an unique design. I thought it was a rare handmade Etsy breed. Finally, I tried a couple of those styles on and somehow, it made my hands look 50 years old and I don't even know how to explain that.  So, I gave that and customization up completely and started looking at plain matching eternity bands which I was avoiding since the very beginning. I then stopped stressing about finding a band because I would just fall back on this safe eternity style band if I could not fall in love with anything else. To me, eternity bands are oh so boring but would match my engagement ring oh so perfectly. Why wouldn't I want it?

As I obsessed over wedding band designs, I started wondering why it mattered so much. I realize that although I don't believe in marriage in general and that two people can spend the rest of their lives loving each other with or without writing it on paper, I believed in this one. The one that I will be in. The one where I know who I am choosing to spend the rest of my life with and finally check off that married box in the forms. Dave's my lobster. I need a symbol of our marriage to remind me of our union to foreverland.

I learned last week that most jewelers take two weeks off in July except big brands such as Tiffany's, Cartier, Harry Winston etc. I realized that I was on a bit of a time crunch to get my ring ordered, made and done before my wedding at the end of July.  After visiting many private jewelers to make a quality no-brand custom ring, I decided that I would stick with Tacori to match the quality and craftsmanship of my engagement ring which is a Tacori (just the band).  Tacori is also one of the brands where the jewelers do not go on vacation and will be able to make my ring on time. I also didn't have a budget anymore. My 1-2 K budget was totally out the door! It was now all about 'it's worth it if I love it'. But Dave's pretty lucky that I'm still pretty reasonable...  :)

Now it is Dave's turn to 'put a ring on it'. He is a bit relaxed about the "process" because he thinks his band will be simple and so, it won't take time to make..he is wrong. I also think that he will have a hard time picking a ring because now that he has to commit to it...but nothing is scarier than committing to me I think. I cannot be returned nor refunded though. I don't know how he picked out my engagement ring with such ease...I always have a hard time picking just one. Thus, sometimes, I'll have two of the same thing but in different colors...

My ring should arrive by end of June... I hope I will love it because frankly, I'm tired of ring shopping.

xx

I made it myself so I must love it :) DIY earrings

My first pair of DIY earrings *update, I dropped the earrings and one stone broke in half. Sad.

I gotta say that I was pretty excited to take this beginner's jewelry making class. I bought a deal off Livingsocial back in October of 2011 and invited a friend who bought the deal and one more for a gift. We had planned to all go together and finally 10 months later, we joined an evening class at a convenient spot on 5th Ave in midtown.

Dina, owner of Modnista Atelier, offered us all some white wine and quickly started with introducing us to the tools sitting in front of us and then explaining the color wheel based on our choices of colors. We learned how to do a loop head and connect two loops together.

The class was an hour which felt like a hurry as picking the gems, stones, beads were the most difficult part I think to make the perfect earring. I would have liked more time but I'm pretty happy with what I got.

We are welcomed into the room with all the supplies ready. (photo taken from modnistaatelier.com).

All our beads, stones and pearl joices for the earrings we are about to make.

What we made in an hour!

Me wearing all three of our DIY earrings!

Close up: Lapis lazuli (deep blue), malachite (green), turquoise, aventurine (light green) and rose quartz (pink)!