How to choose jewellery you'll actually wear
The surest way to choose a piece of jewellery you will genuinely wear is to start with your life, not with the piece. Before you look at designs, look at your hands, your clothes, your days and what you already put on without thinking. Choosing well is not about landing on the prettiest piece in the window: it is about finding the one that fits an ordinary day of yours, the one you reach for on any given Tuesday without a second thought.
It sounds obvious, and almost nobody does it. We buy while looking at the piece on its own, beautifully lit against a neutral background, and then we take it into a setting that has nothing to do with that: rushing, rucksacks, coats, keyboards, children, buses. That is how jewellery ends up in the drawer with the tag still on.
What follows is the order in which we suggest thinking it through: first how you will use it, then the material and finish, then the size and format, and only at the very end the look. Not because the look doesn't matter – it matters a great deal – but because it is the one thing you already know how to judge without any help.
The question that decides almost everything
Before anything else, answer this: at what exact moment in your week can you see yourself wearing this piece?
If the answer comes quickly and specifically – "on the days I'm at work", "when I go out for dinner", "with that white shirt I always wear" – you're on the right track. If the answer is "oh, for some occasion or other", you have a problem. Occasions don't come round as often as we think, and a piece saved for occasions is a piece that hardly ever gets worn.
That, in fact, is the most common trap when buying jewellery. We buy with a version of ourselves in mind who goes out more, travels more and has more events than the real one. And then the piece sits waiting for a day that never quite arrives.
The alternative is simple: choose with everyday wear in mind. If it also works for a wedding or a dinner, wonderful. But let your starting point be the Tuesday, not the Saturday in June.
Start with what you already wear
Your jewellery box is the best market research you will ever find about yourself. Open it and sort it into three piles.
- What you wear every week. Usually two or three pieces, no more.
- What you wear now and then, a handful of times a year.
- What you haven't worn in the last twelve months.
Now look at the first pile and see what the pieces have in common. There is almost always a clear pattern: a similar size, a type of fastening, a weight, a length, a format. That pattern is your real criterion, the one you have been building through wear without even noticing. It is worth more than any generic advice.
And look at the third pile just as carefully, because it has lessons too. Ask yourself why you don't wear those pieces. The answers tend to repeat themselves: it's heavy, it catches, the clasp is awkward, it's not my size, I'm afraid of spoiling it, it doesn't go with anything I wear. Every one of those reasons can be avoided if you keep them in mind before you buy.
Weight, fastening and length matter more than design
A piece that bothers you won't get worn, however beautiful it is. And what bothers you is almost never the design: it is the weight on the earlobe, a clasp that digs in, a chain that falls exactly where it rubs against your shirt collar.
So when you have the chance to try something on, pay attention to the unromantic things. Can you feel the weight after five minutes? Does the clasp open and close with one hand? Does the length fall where you want it, or exactly where you don't? Does it catch on your hair, your scarf, your woolly jumper?
These are questions about wear, not style, and they are what separate the piece that lives with you from the one that lives in the drawer. In our full collection there are bold pieces and minimal ones, and the difference between them is not one of rank: it is one of everyday life. Someone who wears headphones eight hours a day has a different problem from someone who doesn't.
What to look for in the piece: material and finish
This is where most people buy blind, because hardly anyone explains what lies beneath a gold-coloured piece. And that is precisely what most determines how it will age.
What it is made of inside
Our pieces begin as brass, which is a copper alloy. It is not a precious metal, nor does it pretend to be: it is a jewellery material with a very long tradition, one that works well by hand, lends itself to sculptural forms and allows a piece with a great deal of work behind it to carry a reasonable price.
What matters to you, as the person buying, is that the base material shapes everything else: how it behaves with perspiration, how well the gold plating adheres, how it responds over time. A gold-coloured piece with no intermediate layer between the base metal and the gold darkens sooner, and that is something you won't see in the product photo.
The finish, layer by layer
Our process goes like this: brass, matting, white bronze plating, 24-carat gold plating and a final hypoallergenic coating.
Each layer is there for a reason. Matting prepares the surface so that what follows will adhere. The white bronze acts as a barrier between the copper in the brass and the gold. The 24 ct gold gives the colour: carats measure purity, not quantity, so that number speaks of the warm tone of the gold, not of how long it will last. And the final hypoallergenic coating is the layer that sits between the gold and your skin, which is where all the real wear happens.
When you compare two gold pieces at very different prices, this is what to ask. Not "is it gold?" but "what's underneath the gold?". If there is no answer, or only a vague one, you have learnt something important.
If the piece has colour
On our enamelled pieces, the enamel is hand-painted, layer by layer, with bisphenol-free resins, and the post and back are 925 sterling silver. All other pieces are brass with the full process.
This has a practical consequence when choosing: because the colour is painted by hand, no two pieces are exactly alike. If you like things to be identical and precise to the millimetre, handmade jewellery will disappoint you. If you like your piece to be yours and not a copy, it is exactly what you are looking for. It's worth knowing which side you're on before you buy.
Size: the number one reason a piece ends up put away
With rings, size is not a detail: it is the difference between a piece that lives on your hand and one that lives in a box. A ring that pinches comes off after two hours. A ring that spins either gets lost or stays at home for fear of losing it.
Before you choose a ring, measure yourself. Our size guide explains how to do it at home without buying anything. And bear in mind two things that almost nobody mentions:
- Fingers change size over the course of the day and the year. They are slimmer in the morning than in the afternoon, slimmer in winter than in summer. Measure at an ordinary moment, not straight out of bed nor after a run.
- The width of the ring affects the size. A wide ring feels tighter than a narrow one on the same finger. If you are torn between two sizes for a wide piece, the larger one is usually right.
Something similar happens with necklaces and chokers, though with less drama: the length decides whether the piece sits where you like it or two fingers lower. If you have a necklace at home that you wear a lot, measure it. That number will serve as your reference for the rest of your life.
Choosing by format, according to your day
Not every format suits every routine equally. This isn't about what is most flattering; it's about what survives your week.
Earrings
The most forgiving format for everyday wear. They rub very little, hardly catch on anything and stand the test of time well. What does make the difference is weight: a bold earring can be perfectly comfortable if it is well made, but if you are going to wear it for ten hours, it's wise to feel it on before you decide.
If your ears are sensitive, look at the material of the post and the fastening more than at the design. That is what will be touching you all day long.
Necklaces and chokers
These depend a great deal on your clothes. A short necklace with presence works with high necks and closed necklines; a longer one asks for an open neckline. If your wardrobe is fairly consistent – and almost everyone's is – choose with the garments you wear again and again in mind, not the exception.
The weak point tends to be the clasp. If you struggle to fasten something with one hand behind your neck, that will determine how often you wear it more than anything else.
Rings
The ones that suffer most and are enjoyed most. They come into contact with everything: the keyboard, the steering wheel, the shopping bag, water. If you work with your hands, choose pieces without very prominent parts, and accept that a ring worn every day will age faster than a pair of earrings. It isn't a flaw: it's proof that you wear it.
Brooches and pins
The forgotten format, and the easiest to bring in without changing anything you already wear. They sit on your clothes, so they suffer very little wear, and they lift a jacket or a coat with no further effort. If your wardrobe is understated and you want a piece that gets noticed, it's a path almost nobody explores.
Five questions before you pay
If you take just one thing from this article, let it be this list. It works just as well buying here as anywhere else.
- When am I going to wear it this week? If there is no concrete answer, wait.
- Which three things I already own does it work with? If you can't think of three, it's a piece for a single outfit.
- Do I know what it's made of and what finish it has? If the shop doesn't tell you, that is information someone has decided not to give you.
- Is the size or length actually mine? Not "nearly". Mine.
- Would I wear it on an ordinary day, with no occasion? This is the one that really sorts things out.
Four out of five is enough to buy with peace of mind. Two out of five is a piece you will look at a lot and wear very little.
Buying with discernment also means buying less
There is a widespread idea that having good judgement means having plenty to choose from. It's rather the opposite. The clearer you are about what you wear, the fewer pieces you need, and the better they can be.
A jewellery box that works doesn't hold forty pieces: it holds a few that are genuinely worn and that go with one another. Two or three pairs of earrings you rotate, a necklace you know by heart, a ring you never take off, and every so often something with more character for the days you feel like it. From there, each new purchase should answer a real gap, not an impulse.
This also has a practical consequence: if you rotate between a few good pieces, each one takes less cumulative wear and they all last longer. Always wearing exactly the same one is the quickest way to wear it out.
We work in short runs, and that too changes how you should choose. There is no endless restocking and no everlasting catalogue: there are small batches, made one by one in our Madrid workshop. If you settle on a piece because it truly suits you, go ahead; if you're unsure, hesitating costs nothing and is usually a good sign.
Common mistakes when choosing jewellery
We see them often, and every one of them can be avoided.
- Buying from the photo without checking the real size. Product photos are made to show detail, not scale. Always check the measurements if they are available and compare them with something you have at home.
- Choosing with an event in mind. We've said it already, but it is the costliest mistake. A piece bought for one particular wedding tends to come out of its box once.
- Ruling something out as "not my style" without trying it on. Personal style is more elastic than we think, and very often what we call style is simply habit.
- Choosing a size "just in case". A ring that is too big won't fix itself, and one that is too small won't stretch. Measure yourself.
- Buying five cheap pieces instead of one good one. It works out more expensive, takes up more space and none of the five ends up being the one you wear.
- Not asking. If you have a question about materials, care or measurements, ask. Our frequently asked questions cover the most common ones, and anything not answered there we'll reply to in writing or in person.
And if it's a gift
Choosing for someone else is the same exercise, only with less information. The temptation is to play it safe and end up buying something so neutral that it says nothing at all. It's appreciated, it's put away, it isn't worn.
It works better to reverse the order. Instead of asking yourself what they would like, think about what they already wear. Do they wear earrings every day or hardly ever? Rings? Short chains or long ones? Colour, or simply gold? Two or three observations like these will get you much closer than any abstract idea about their style.
Two practical words of advice. With rings, if you don't know the size for certain, it's better not to take the risk: a piece that won't go on spoils the moment and means an exchange. And with very distinctive pieces – lots of volume, lots of colour – make sure the person already wears things like that; giving character to someone who dresses simply rarely goes well, however beautiful the piece.
If you are truly unsure, there is an honest way out: ask. You lose the element of surprise and gain a piece that will be worn. With gifts, that trade is almost always worth it.
What happens when you get it right
A well-chosen piece does something you can't see on the first day: it gradually adapts. And not in a figurative sense. Continued wear marks the surface, softens the edges, leaves the shine where it rubs most. The piece stops being a new object and starts to become your object.
It is an idea at the heart of how we understand the brand: jewellery is not decoration to be put away and saved for its moment. It has an aesthetic role, yes, but also one of self-esteem and confidence, and very often it has been, and still is, the keeper of secrets. It is made to be worn with complete ease: to walk, jump, run for the bus, work at what you love most and at what you love a little less, come home early or in the small hours.
And to wear the same piece long enough for it to adapt to your shape, to your way of being, and become familiar. That is the beauty of the everyday as we understand it: not something apart from use, but something shaped by it.
That is why we are so insistent on choosing with everyday life in mind. A piece that isn't worn can do none of this. It stays new for ever, which is the saddest way to grow old.
If you'd rather decide by seeing and touching
Some decisions are far easier to make with the piece in your hand. The weight, the real size, how it hangs, how it fastens: these are things a screen doesn't convey well, however much care goes into the photos.
The workshop and shop are at Calle Alameda 4, in Madrid's Barrio de las Letras, and they are open to the public. You can come in, try things on, ask questions and watch us work. It's what we call our open kitchen: the process isn't hidden behind a door, and anyone can drop by to see it. On our workshop page we tell the story of how a piece is made from start to finish.
Watching how metal is cut with a piercing saw, how it is soldered, how it is sanded and polished before the enamelling has even begun changes quite a lot the way you look at a piece of jewellery. And, along the way, it makes choosing much easier: you understand what you are comparing.
In short: how to choose jewellery you'll actually wear
To recap, in case you'd like to keep just the bare bones:
- Start from your real life. Look at what you already wear and why; that is where your criterion lies.
- Put everyday wear before the occasion. If it works on a Tuesday, it works always.
- Ask about the material and finish. What lies beneath the gold matters more than the word "gold".
- Get the size and length right. It is the number one reason pieces end up put away.
- Choose the format that will survive your week, not the one that looks best in a photo.
- Buy less and better, and rotate what you have.
Once that is clear, the rest – the design, the colour, the character of the piece – is the fun part, and there you need no guide at all. You could start by browsing all our pieces with these questions in mind and seeing how many pass the test. There are usually fewer than it seemed, and that is exactly what you were looking for.
