How long does gold-plated jewelry last?

Whether a piece of jewelry stays by your side for many years like a good friend or you feel like tossing it in the bin in frustration after just a few weeks depends on a whole range of factors. Luckily, you can influence some of them yourself!

Very important: both gold-plated jewelry and solid fine jewelry are always made from a blend of materials. Jewelry made from pure silver or pure gold doesn't exist. Jewelry always needs various other metals to be malleable, stable and scratch-resistant.

Let's take a closer look!

Cheap fashion jewelry

This often has a core of copper or brass, coated with a thin layer of gold that wears off quickly and suffers particularly from natural oxidation when it comes into contact with air, water or sweat. The result is jewelry that fades and turns grey, but also green ear piercings, black streaks on your skin and the core material showing through. In short: budget fashion jewelry costs as little as the joy it brings lasts.

High-quality fashion jewelry or affordable fine jewelry

This is made from 925 sterling silver or stainless steel, which provides an excellent base for adhesion and is finished to a high standard with a thick layer of gold. This is done by electroplating or electrolytic gold plating. The jewelry is waterproof and ideal for people with allergies. However, since metals naturally react to moisture and other metals, and an applied layer inevitably wears off over time, this more affordable type of jewelry should also be cared for and stored like fine jewelry. With good care, a piece like this will stay beautiful for several years.

High-quality fine jewelry

This one hits your wallet and deserves careful choosing, since this type of jewelry can stay with you for many years! Because the material is fully blended throughout, surface wear doesn't become noticeable as quickly – only when your necklace, bracelet or earrings break after a long period of intensive wear. That's the moment the jeweler tells you that they can repair your piece, but the next break in the material is inevitable.

So what should you look out for when you want to buy an affordable, high-quality piece of jewelry?

1. The thickness and type of gold layer: look for high-quality gold plating such as gold-filled.
   
2. The core material as a good material for jewelry: choose fine silver and surgical stainless steel.
3. How you personally treat your jewelry: how often you wear it, proper storage and loving care play the leading role here.
4. Buy your jewelry from a good jewelry brand you trust.

Conclusion: if you only need a piece of jewelry for a few weeks and change your style often, very inexpensive fashion jewelry won't disappoint you. But if you're looking for a true favorite piece that you want to wear regularly and enjoy for a long time, you should spend a little more and choose high-quality fashion jewelry or affordable fine jewelry.

ALICIA‘S DIARY - Slow Fashion Jewelry

At ALICIA’S DIARY, we pay close attention to high-quality, clean materials, careful craftsmanship and, more generally, a loving work atmosphere – from sourcing the metals to the design and our sales platforms, all the way to shipping our jewelry. You can feel it in every single detail, from the jewelry to the packaging. We love our products, we love our job!

What makes us special: we don't create our jewelry for just any target group, but for ourselves – and that means for you too! We test-wear every single jewelry design, and we do it the hard way. All our friends and families join in and put our products through their own personal, individual everyday lives. No holding back, so that we know exactly whether there's still room for improvement – always with our values of love, freedom and happiness in mind!