Please remember that Helix & Conch jewellery is small and dainty and therefore needs to be handled with care.  If your huggies no longer make that satisfying 'click' when you close them, it will easily be coerced back to its original position…if like me you are a typical Taurus, and a bull in a china shop, perhaps enlist the help of a careful person rather than the bull in a china shop!  Here is a link to give you a little pointer on how to fix yours.

The base is always 925 sterling silver, and to give you a quick overview of Helix & Conch jewellery, the plating is a process where a layer of rhodium or yellow gold is coated onto the silver base.  As it is not 100% solid gold, please take extra care and maximise its beauty and lifespan! (Anything plated will eventually tarnish with time and wear.)

To decrease the chances of your pieces fading or losing its lustre, here are some tips:

• Do not spray perfume onto the jewellery 
• Wait until your lotion is dry or has been absorbed by your skin before you wear the pieces
• Chlorine and perfume may react with plated jewellery and cause it to tarnish. This is also true for sweat, so make sure you remove your gold-plated jewellery when you exercise or are swimming. Of course, if you want to wear your bling on the beach, then do it, but every day isn’t ideal
• Each time you remove your earrings, clean them with a cotton ball or a very soft cloth to remove any dust, dirt, grease etc. Gently rubbing with a soft jewellery cloth will help bring back shine. Do *not* use a polishing cloth on plated pieces as this will strip away the plating.
• If it needs more than a quick wipe, then you can clean H&C pieces with warm, soapy water. Soak it for a few minutes and then clean with a soft cloth. Keep away from jewellery cleaners and antibacterial soaps (despite what you read on google!!) as they have certain ingredients that will strip or tarnish your pieces.
• To avoid scratches, keep your earrings in the pouch they arrived in or in a jewellery box and keep metal colours together. So white gold with other white gold, and yellow gold with other yellow gold. 

If this all sounds too much work, then you are maybe better suited to the solid gold pieces, these will never fade, and if they look dull you simply give them a swipe with a jewellery cloth and they will be back to their former beauty!  You can find them here