Jewellery Care Guide
Beautiful jewellery is meant to be worn, enjoyed, and made part of everyday life. With a few thoughtful habits, you can help preserve the beauty of your favourite pieces for years to come.
At Carabella by Cheryl, our jewellery brings together a variety of carefully selected materials, from pearls and gemstones to sterling and fine silver, gold-filled components, crystals, and artisan glass. Each material has its own character and benefits from slightly different care.
This guide offers simple, practical advice for cleaning, wearing, storing, and protecting your jewellery. Whether you're caring for a favourite pearl bracelet, a sterling silver piece, or a gemstone design, the goal is the same: to help your jewellery remain beautiful while allowing you to enjoy wearing it often.
Jewellery shouldn't spend its life tucked away in a box. The pieces we treasure most are often the ones that become part of our story.
Care Guide by Material
Gold-filled and rose gold-filled components offer the beauty and warmth of gold with excellent durability when cared for thoughtfully. Unlike gold plating, gold-filled materials contain a substantially thicker layer of gold mechanically bonded to a base metal.
How to Care for Gold-Filled Jewellery
• Remove jewellery before swimming, bathing, exercising, or using household cleaning products.
• Apply perfume, hairspray, lotions, sunscreen, and cosmetics before putting on your jewellery.
• After wearing, gently wipe the surface with a clean, soft, lint-free cloth to remove oils and residue.
• When deeper cleaning is needed, use lukewarm water with a small amount of mild soap. Rinse carefully and dry thoroughly with a soft cloth.
• Avoid abrasive cleaners, polishing compounds, harsh chemicals, and rough polishing cloths that may gradually wear the surface.
Storage
Store gold-filled jewellery separately in a dry jewellery pouch or lined compartment to minimize scratching and contact with other metals.
Carabella Care Tip: Put your jewellery on last when getting ready and take it off first at the end of the day.
Gold-plated jewellery has a fine layer of gold applied over another metal. Because the gold layer is thinner than that of gold-filled materials, gentle care is especially important for preserving its finish.
How to Care for Gold-Plated Jewellery
• Avoid prolonged exposure to water, perspiration, perfume, lotions, cosmetics, and household chemicals.
• Remove gold-plated pieces before showering, swimming, exercising, or sleeping.
• After wearing, gently wipe the jewellery with a soft, dry, lint-free cloth.
• If cleaning is necessary, use a slightly damp soft cloth and dry the piece immediately.
• Do not use abrasive jewellery cleaners, silver polish, polishing compounds, or aggressive polishing cloths on plated surfaces.
Storage
Store each piece separately in a soft pouch or lined jewellery compartment in a cool, dry place.
Carabella Care Tip: Gentle handling is the best way to extend the beauty and life of a plated finish.
Sterling and fine silver develop their own character over time. Exposure to air, moisture, cosmetics, and other environmental factors can naturally cause silver to tarnish, but regular gentle care can help restore and maintain its beautiful finish.
How to Care for Silver Jewellery
• After wearing, wipe silver gently with a soft, dry cloth.
• For uncomplicated silver pieces, use lukewarm water and mild soap when additional cleaning is needed. Rinse carefully and dry completely.
• A jewellery polishing cloth designed for silver can be used gently on suitable polished surfaces.
• Avoid chlorine, bleach, harsh household cleaners, and abrasive products.
• Remove silver jewellery before swimming, bathing, or using household cleaning products.
A Note About Ultrasonic Cleaners
Do not assume an ultrasonic cleaner is appropriate simply because a piece contains sterling silver. Pearls, gemstones, crystals, plating, adhesives, oxidized finishes, and other design elements may require different care.
When in doubt, choose gentle hand cleaning.
Storage
Store silver jewellery clean and dry, ideally in an anti-tarnish pouch or closed jewellery box and separately from pieces that could scratch it.
Carabella Care Tip: Tarnish is a natural surface reaction and does not mean your sterling silver jewellery is damaged. With gentle care, its beautiful finish can be refreshed.
Freshwater pearls are naturally beautiful and comparatively delicate. Their lustrous surface deserves gentler treatment than many metals and gemstones.
How to Care for Freshwater Pearls
• Put pearls on after applying perfume, hairspray, makeup, lotions, and other beauty products.
• After wearing, gently wipe pearls with a soft, slightly damp cloth to remove oils and residue.
• Avoid soaking pearl jewellery in water.
• Do not use ultrasonic cleaners, steam cleaners, abrasive cleaners, silver polish, or harsh chemicals.
• Remove pearl jewellery before bathing, swimming, exercising, or sleeping.
Storage
Store freshwater pearls separately from harder jewellery that could scratch their surface. A soft, breathable pouch or fabric-lined compartment is ideal. Keep pearls away from excessive heat and very dry conditions.
Carabella Care Tip: Pearls are meant to be enjoyed. Wearing them regularly and treating them gently is one of the loveliest ways to make them part of your personal story.
Swarovski® Crystal Pearls combine a crystal core with a carefully developed pearl-like coating that creates their beautifully smooth, luminous appearance. Although durable for regular wear, their surface should still be treated gently.
How to Care for Crystal Pearls
• Wipe gently after wearing with a clean, soft, lint-free cloth.
• Keep away from perfume, hairspray, lotions, sunscreen, cosmetics, and household chemicals whenever possible.
• Remove before showering, swimming, exercising, or sleeping.
• Avoid abrasive cleaners and polishing compounds.
• Do not soak crystal pearl jewellery or use ultrasonic or steam cleaning unless the complete construction of the piece has specifically been confirmed as suitable.
Storage
Store separately in a soft pouch or lined jewellery compartment to protect the pearl coating from harder jewellery components.
Carabella Care Tip: Treat Swarovski® Crystal Pearls with the same thoughtful care you would give freshwater pearls: gently and away from harsh chemicals.
Mother of pearl is valued for its natural iridescence and subtle shifts of colour. Like natural pearls, its surface is softer than many gemstones and should be protected from scratching and harsh chemicals.
How to Care for Mother of Pearl
• Wipe gently with a soft, slightly damp cloth after wearing.
• Avoid perfume, hairspray, lotions, cosmetics, chlorine, and household cleaning products.
• Do not use abrasive cleaners, polishing compounds, ultrasonic cleaners, or steam cleaners.
• Avoid soaking mother-of-pearl jewellery in water.
• Protect it from knocks and contact with harder gemstones or metal surfaces.
Storage
Store mother-of-pearl pieces separately in a soft pouch or lined compartment.
Carabella Care Tip: The natural surface and iridescence are part of mother of pearl's beauty. Gentle cleaning helps preserve both.
Natural gemstones vary greatly in hardness, porosity, structure, and sensitivity to heat, chemicals, and moisture. There is no single cleaning method appropriate for every gemstone.
For that reason, Carabella recommends a conservative approach to gemstone care.
How to Care for Gemstone Jewellery
• After wearing, gently wipe gemstones with a clean, soft cloth.
• Keep gemstone jewellery away from perfumes, lotions, hairspray, household cleaners, chlorine, and other harsh chemicals.
• Remove gemstone pieces before swimming, bathing, exercising, gardening, or household work.
• Avoid sudden temperature changes and unnecessary impact.
• Do not automatically use ultrasonic or steam cleaners. Some stones and treatments can be damaged by either method.
• When you're unsure how a particular gemstone should be cleaned, gentle surface cleaning is the safest starting point.
Storage
Store gemstone jewellery separately to prevent harder stones and metal components from scratching softer materials.
Carabella Care Tip: Every gemstone has its own character. When a piece contains several different materials, always care for it according to the most delicate component.
Crystal beads, rondelles, and decorative crystal accents add light and sparkle to many Carabella designs. Their faceted surfaces are best preserved through gentle cleaning and careful handling.
How to Care for Crystal Jewellery
• Gently wipe crystals after wearing with a soft, lint-free cloth.
• If appropriate for all materials in the piece, a soft cloth lightly dampened with lukewarm water can help remove surface residue.
• Avoid abrasive cleaners, harsh chemicals, and aggressive polishing.
• Keep perfume, lotions, hairspray, and cosmetics from being applied directly to crystal surfaces.
• Protect crystals from hard knocks and drops that could chip or damage faceted edges.
Storage
Store crystal jewellery separately from harder or heavier pieces to help prevent scratching and impact.
Carabella Care Tip: A clean crystal surface reflects light more beautifully. Gentle wiping after wear is often all that's needed to maintain its sparkle.
Murano and artisan glass bring extraordinary colour, artistry, and individuality to jewellery. Handcrafted glass beads may include delicate surface details, decorative finishes, or individually applied elements that deserve careful handling.
How to Care for Artisan Glass Jewellery
• Wipe glass gently with a clean, soft cloth after wearing.
• Keep jewellery away from harsh chemicals, perfume, hairspray, and household cleaners.
• Avoid dropping or knocking glass jewellery against hard surfaces.
• Do not use abrasive cleaners or polishing compounds on decorative glass.
• Avoid ultrasonic and steam cleaning unless every material and decorative treatment in the piece has specifically been confirmed as suitable.
• Remove artisan glass jewellery before swimming, bathing, exercising, or sleeping.
Storage
Store glass jewellery separately in a padded pouch or lined compartment so beads cannot strike harder jewellery or surfaces.
Carabella Care Tip: Small variations in handcrafted artisan glass are part of its individual character and artistry, making each piece beautifully unique.
A few simple habits can help preserve almost every piece in your jewellery collection.
Everyday Care
• Put jewellery on after perfume, hairspray, cosmetics, lotions, and sunscreen have been applied and allowed to dry.
• Remove jewellery before swimming, showering, exercising, sleeping, gardening, or household cleaning.
• Avoid exposing jewellery to chlorine, bleach, cleaning products, and other harsh chemicals.
• Handle jewellery by its more durable components whenever possible rather than pulling on beads, pearls, chains, or delicate connections.
• Check clasps, connections, wirework, and stringing periodically, particularly on pieces you wear frequently.
Cleaning
When a piece combines several materials, always choose a cleaning method suitable for the most delicate material in the design.
If you're uncertain, a soft, dry or slightly damp cloth is generally preferable to aggressive cleaning.
Storage
Store jewellery clean and dry. Keeping pieces individually in soft pouches or separate lined compartments helps reduce scratching, tangling, tarnish, and unnecessary contact between different materials.
Wear It
Beautiful jewellery doesn't need to be saved only for special occasions. Thoughtful care allows the pieces you love to become part of everyday life.
Carabella Care Tip: A few seconds of care after wearing can make a meaningful difference over the life of your jewellery.
Have a Question About Caring for Your Jewellery?
Thoughtful care for the pieces you treasure.
Every Carabella design is created from its own combination of materials. If you're unsure about the best way to care for a particular piece, we're always happy to help you determine the gentlest approach for its materials and construction.