So, here we are, well into the holiday season and I’ve had several people ask me about jewelry – how to wear it, how to layer it, and what looks best on them.  With so many inspiring and beautiful pieces of jewelry available these days, I wanted togive you some helpful hints on adding jewelry to your everyday outfits. 

The first thing to think about is to:

Find balance with your jewelry.  First, find balance with the size of your jewelry.  Each piece should be proportional to the size your body frame and to your facial features.   If you have smaller, more delicate features, you want to look for jewelry that isn’t over-sized or too layered so it doesn’t overpoweryour face.

Also, find balance in the items you’veselected to wear together.  So, if youare wearing large earrings, wear a more delicate necklace and vice versa.  If you are wearing a large, chunky necklace,wear smaller earrings. Your arms are also important to think about.  If you have particularly small wrists, avoid clunky bangles or wide cuffs. 

Create a focal point with your jewelry.  Now, not every outfit needs jewelry as the focal point but when you do wear a statement piece of bling, let that be your focal point and have your outfit compliment that piece.  If you add too many focal points, your outfit becomes confusing to the outside eye.  So, the person looking at you doesn’t know what to look like at if there is too much going on.  Create one focal point and make sure everything else in your outfit compliments it and doesn’t competing against it. 

Jewelry enhances areas of the body.  Jewelry naturally draws attention to an area. So, when you are wearing jewelry, be sure the items have some space on your figure. For example, when wearing necklaces, make sure they do not complete with the neckline of your top, dress, or belt. What I mean by this is, a necklace should either sit above the neckline of your top (so on your skin), below it or take the place of it – like a bib necklace on a crewneck top.  If your top has a unique or elaborate neckline, that will take the place of a necklace and another should not be added.   Also, if you added a belt to accessorize your outfit, the necklace should finish before the top of your belt begins.

Jewelry should complement your skin tone as well as your outfit. It’s so important to select jewelry that not only looks great with your outfit but enhances your natural coloring as well. Opt for jewelry metals and gemstones that illuminate your natural skin tone.   Gold tones typically look best on most women even when your skin has blue undertones.

To watch the full video, please click here: Alexandra Styles. Thank you so much for listening today!  I’ll see you next Wednesday.