Anna Lou of London

If you’ve ever worn silver jewellery, you know that it can get tarnished over time especially if you don’t clean it regularly. While you know about silver polish, few people realise that polishing your silver can scrub some of the silver off the surface of the item. It can be particularly detrimental for pieces that are silver-plated, where a layer of silver may be especially thin. Another issue with using silver polish to clean your jewellery is that it can be tricky cleaning all the nooks and crannies in your pieces. Here’s the good news: silver rings and other jewellery made by Silver.uk.com can be cleaned using an easy method that will return the glow to your pieces without causing any damage to them. Even better, you can use this cleaning method right away! The Ingredients for the Cleaning Substance You will need: • Salt • Water • A water softener powder, although baking soda can be used as a substitute • An aluminium plate, although aluminium foil can be used as a substitute The Cleaning Procedure Whether you are cleaning quality silver earrings for ladies, a bracelet or a ring, here’s what you will do: 1. Take your aluminium plate or even a regular plate that has been covered with a piece of tin foil 2. Place 1 tablespoon of a water softening powder or baking soda and 1 tablespoon of salt onto the foil 3. Pour hot water onto the mixture on the plate – make sure the water is not boiling 4. Stir the mixture well until all the powder is dissolved 5. Now carefully dunk your jewellery in the solution How long you need to keep the silver jewellery in the solution will depend on how tarnished it is. The results could be immediate, or it could take just a few minutes. If you have an item that is very tarnished, this method for cleaning jewellery will not make the item look brand new, but it will certainly give it a better sheen. A Word of Warning This cleaning method is not recommended for jewellery that contains semi-precious or precious stones. However, we have found that many people – even silversmiths – have indeed used this method for cleaning gemstone jewels with no bad effects. But we don’t think it’s worth the risk of damaging your precious stones. It’s also worth mentioning that this jewellery cleaning method is not ideal for oxidized or antiqued silver, since cleaning will serve to remove the special finish on the silver as well as the tarnish. How the Cleaning Method Works Are you interested in chemistry? Here’s what happens when your silver jewellery is being dunked in the solution: It is silver sulphide that makes the silver jewellery look tarnished and grey over time. This process is known as oxidation. When you immerse the jewellery in the salt and baking soda solution, the silver sulphide and aluminium reach, pulling out the sulphur atoms and plating them into the aluminium. The silver that remains from this reaction is then redeposited onto the silver. I hope this article is of great help to you. If you have other tips on how to clean tarnished silver jewellery, share it to us in the comments section.

This month is the month of Aries! Happy birthday to any April babies! This is your month to over indulge and truly treat yourself for making it to another year marker. If you're into astrology, or like me, just find it extremely entertaining, I found out a few facts about what it’s like to be an Aries. According to trusty Google, an Aries is independent, generous, optimistic, enthusiastic and courageous. Isn’t that lovely? Since you’re all these nice things, it’s only necessary that you buy yourself a little birthday gift, right?   Anna Lou of London has a collection of birthstone jewellery, guaranteed to make every birthday special and give you something special to treasure. The birthstone for April is clear crystal, which will look gorgeous on a silver name necklace, against spring florals and fluorescents. Anna Lou of London also has birthstone charms to add to your ALOL charm bracelet, and my personal favourite – the Initial Birthstone Necklace. Style the Birthstone Necklace with a long chain, over crisp whites and candy pinks! Spring ready in under £100!   And if you’re reading this because you’re stuck on what to get your feisty Aries for her B-Day, Anna Lou of London can give you an easy, yet unique, sentimental and personal gift all at the click of a mouse! All of our birthstone jewellery is available for every birthday on our website @ http://bit.ly/1oiOW0N, so don’t feel like you’re missing out! And don’t forgot to add a personal touch!   Shauna Cook (Social Media Intern)

Happy Easter everyone! Hope everyone’s having a lovely weekend! If like me, you were already overloaded with Chocolate, you must be in serious need of an egg replacement. This may be just me trying to justify a shopping addiction. But there’s just too many cute seasonal bits that are too hard to resist.   The bunny kisses collection is great for kids when trying to make the family look festive, fun but presentable this Easter. All this aside, they’re just a super cute piece that your collection is dying to welcome with open arms. It’s always good when you can combine practicality, and adorableness so easily, right? You can keep your child's hair pinned back this Sunday whilst they chase each other round the garden fighting over who’s going to find the last egg you hid.   And if you want to go for a subtler look this Spring, we also have our Lucky Rabbit earrings, charm and necklace. Yes, Easter themed, but definitely cute enough to wear all year round, especially in Spring! You can also get a Lucky Rabbit in gold, silver and rose gold – gold is my fave choice for the rabbits.   A perfect egg replacement for this weekend, or just a nice little spring treat to add a little season back into your wardrobe. And don't forgot, we've got 25% off all weekend over at Anna Lou! Hope everyone’s enjoyed this little read and enjoy their Easter thoroughly! What’s everyone got planned for Bank Holiday? Lots of chocolate? Me too. You can find all the easter gifts you'll need on our website @ http://bit.ly/1qdYM5A     Shauna Cook (Social Media Intern)

Morning everyone! Hope everyone’s week is going well! But, if you are struggling to make it to Friday in one piece this week – how about planning ahead and start thinking about your very own Anna Lou of London shopping party? The shopping party is great way to get money off Anna Lou of London items and introduce friends to the brand for extra perks!   On the night of the event, you will receive a £25 voucher to spend online, as well as further discounts depending on what your friends spend. If you’re guests spend between £100-£799, you will get 10% of that figure, credited on your account… and if they spend £800+ the you will get 15% of that figure. So, say you collect £800 on the night of your do, that means you’ll get £120 credit, on top of your original £25 off voucher! And all you need to do is host a party! Pretty great right?   Anyways, to make the night a memorable one, here are my top 5 tips on hosting an Anna Lou Party to remember.  

1. Drinks! But not too many! Keep it at a merry level so your pals can still stand to shop! Have a few cocktails in the same room as the jewellery to give them as much shopping time as poss!
2. Cool cocktails! Give the girls something to Instagram! Whether it’s an attempt at an Espresso Martini or an easy breezy Sex on the Beach.
3. Sweet set up! Another great Instagram opportunity! Lay the jewellery out all pretty on tea pots, mugs and plates – easy, pretty and fabulously British!
4. Keep things entertaining! Put your ‘Girls Night’ playlist on Spotify and gush over Beyonce’s new song! Will fill all the silences whilst they look at the accessories!
5. Lastly: Have fun! Don’t worry too much about selling, if you follow the previous steps, the selling part will just happen!

Hope you enjoyed this little post and are now feeling inspired mid week!  You can follow the link to the website for more info, or get in touch with me at any time if you need a hand. Enjoy the party planning! http://bit.ly/22ybVbd Shauna Cook (Social Media Intern)

2016 is the year of the hashtag. Well, 2015 was the year of the hashtag too – the hashtag is just taking over. Social Media and the rise and fall of an instafamous #lifegoals, has left us with a whole collection of new vocab for the year. And as well as EVERY emoji, the hashtag is my new fave thing to do. It gets the conversation going, and gives me the easiest opportunity that my new Insta selfie does in fact have #nofilter. So following that, I thought I’d compile together Instagrams top ten hashtags right now. At number five, we have #friends, for all the cute BFF selfies. Perfect for when Instagramming in bars, museums and cafés with mates. At number four, there’s #yummy. We’ve all been there, you’re in a cool little coffee shop with exposed brick and wood interior, and the latte art was just too pretty not to snap. Can scrolling through the #yummy hashtag be considered a hobby? It’s definitely mine. #feelinghungry…

Another favourite, coming in at number 3… #throwback. Everyone loves a little nostalgia right? Throwback Thursday gives us the perfect opportunity to look back on special moments, funny memories or simply just a really great selfie. Just missing first place on my little hashtag hierarchy, is #lol, a timeless classic. You could say this one is what kicked off the crazy new take on the English Language, as is still one of the most used words daily. I’m definitely not the only one who sometimes slips up and says it out loud…

Finally, taking first place and THE most used Instagram hashtag right now is, wait for it……. #fashion. Yes, us Instagrammers care just that little bit more about our style. Fashion will always be our number one priority (kind of), here’s a few ideas’ on how to incorporate the hashtag into your style.

Hashtag NOFILTER Necklace http://bit.ly/1PCJig1

Hashtag NYC/LONDON/TOKYO Necklace http://bit.ly/1RHe6h8

Hashtag HAPPY Necklace http://bit.ly/1TfWDlg

Hashtag RICH Necklace http://bit.ly/1WTScfc

  Shauna Cook (Social Media Intern)      

Ever since the beginning of 2015, Pantones colour of the year, Rose Quartz hasn’t just been adding ‘= the right amount of colour’ into our wardrobe, but also piling up in my jewellery box like a rose gold mine. There’s something about the warm tone of copper that is Rose Gold, which has such an edge of femininity and youth to it. As someone who has always been scared of the colour pink, rose gold has helped me ease my way into this pink hued love affair, and like most love affairs, my love is only growing deeper, so I put together a little wish list on the Anna Lou of London site whilst daydreaming about all the possible styling options. Our Rose Gold Name Necklace adds just the rights amount of personality to an otherwise quite plain outfit. I’d pair this under my collar, and if it’s not cold enough to layer clothes that day – I’ll just layer my accessories. The name necklace next to our Woodland Necklace would look gorgeous together, and give an easy outfit and easy pick me up. It doesn’t stop there either, if you’re like me, you like one thing, you’re obsessed with it and have to have EVERYTHING to match. A couple of our Rose Gold Regal Rings stacked next to an Initial-Heart Ring (or two) would keep the theme running perfectly. And the great thing about our initial heart rings, is you can just keep adding, there are no limits with the amount of children, friends or loved ones you can have piling up on your hands (in reason). Most importantly, I think the great thing about my new fave colour, is that it’s not an investment in a whole new accessory collection – layering lengths, shapes and even shades works incredibly in rose gold’s favour – if anything, a little touch of sterling silver would work a dream. You can find all the rose gold jewellery on our website @ http://bit.ly/1St4hXe   Shauna Cook (Social Media Intern)

Recently, supermodel culture has become one of the most talked about things online, ever. Okay, ‘ever’ is a little bit of an exaggeration, but in all seriousness – fashion’s new it girls aren’t in the movies – they’re on the catwalk. Of course if you count Kendall Jenners appearance in ‘Keeping Up With The Kardashians’ a ‘big screen debut’, then that changes things. But, what I was saying was, everyone wants to be a supermodels bestie – GiGi and Bella Hadid’s sidekick or Cara Delevigne’s no.1 girl… #friendshipgoals Another social trend, floating around the internet at the moment, are ship names. A foreign prospect at first – what on earth is ship?! When in doubt, turn to Urban Dictionary. A ship name is “a name given to a ship, or pairing. like a couple name but for fictional characters”. Quite a fun thing to have between besties right? Fashions fave threesome, Kendall, GiGi and Cara have most recently shared their love and got their ship names on a friendship necklace, keeping the girl band alive at all times, at any place. You and your besties get get your own personalised friendship necklace on our website, available in gold, silver and rose gold! And if you’re a threesome like the girls – do what Kendal did and get two! You know how we feel about layering accessories here at Anna Lou of London! Consider it a high end version of a friendship bracelet. You can find our Friendship Necklaces on our website @ bit.ly/1SiT353. Happy Shopping!   Shauna Cook (Social Media Intern)

You want to buy the perfect diamond ring for your engagement but something is missing. You are unsure of where to go, what some of the common mistakes are when buying diamond rings, and more importantly, you’re unaware of how to spot the perfect one.   Many thoughts can be rushing around your head making you uncertain about a purchasing decision. This is not unusual. Buying diamond jewellery is normally a big investment and especially when it’s going to be the ring you will propose with.   Your friends have gotten engaged, been through the whole process yet there are some things they are just not telling you. Frustrating huh? Well, that’s why we have written this article. To guide you through the essential things you need to know when buying diamonds so you don’t fall down the common pitfalls.  

• Start by going to a reputable, certified retailer

  Where you go is a huge part of the success of your final purchase. If you want to find the best certified diamonds collection, some research is required on your part. This means scanning the websites or stores for certifications, any reviews or testimonials and finding out how long they have been in the business for. Simon West Jewellery offers a stunning diamond collection that is not only immaculately designed but that are fully certified.  

• Learn more about the Cut of diamonds

  This aspect is a tricky one as it’s often harder to spot than the clarity and colour of a diamond. This means you will have to be aware of what makes a diamond well cut in the first place. If you go somewhere and they present to you multiple cuts at once and one stands out, it doesn’t necessarily mean the cut is brilliant. Out of the current choice you are shown, however, it may be the winner. You need to stay away from poorly cut diamonds that carries the weight in depth (hidden) compared to width.  

• Be wary of the wrong jeweller

  Some jewellers can inflate the grades they give their diamonds. As an unsuspecting customer, you may be unaware of this and walk away with something that should have cost less. It is safe to say you should not buy a diamond if its $2,000 or more unless it is loose and can be properly evaluated.   If you want to check the site of a reputable and verified retailer, go to Simon West. You can view and select from their gorgeous range of diamonds and be sure to find a brilliant choice for your special woman.  

• Get clued up about the essential 4 C’s

  This is commonplace in Jewellers talk. It is everything that adds up to the final price of your diamond jewellery which is why it is essential to know this stuff. The three C’s consist of: carat (weight), colour (the less colour the higher the value), clarity (how flawed it is) and the cut (shape) of a diamond. Knowing these elements will help you make an informed decision about what you are buying instead of jumping in the deep end without knowing how to swim.  

• Think about buying a loose diamond

  As we mentioned earlier, it can be much easier to inspect the value in its entirety when the diamond is loose. This just means you can place it in a setting later and it even makes your engagement ring easier to customise.   Hopefully, you now have some facts and tips about buying diamond jewellery responsibly so you can have confidence in your purchase.

Here's my Top Tips for running a Successful Christmas Stall. With all the Christmas fairs and stalls wrapped up for Winter, it’s not quite time to put our feet up. There’s still plenty of orders to pack in the countdown to Christmas.

Our display at Open Studios

However this Christmas season has been jam packed with fairs, fêtes and festive stalls. Starting this season as a stall novice I spent a great deal of time researching lighting, props, tables and top tips for a successful Christmas stall. Here’s some top tips to ensure the running of the stall goes to plan: Ikea.Ikea.Ikea. I can’t stress how fantastic Ikea is for tables, Christmas decorations and battery powered lighting. The table (such as the Linnmon/Adils) comes with legs which can be unscrewed ensuring the tables can be easily thrown into the back of car and assembled with ease on site. Plus they’re super lightweight and come in several colours. Battery powered lighting is super important considering you’re more than likely going to be at a venue with zero access to electricity. It was tricky finding appropriate lighting that struck the balance between decorative and practical. I managed to find a rose gold star that added to the festive vibes of the stall. Argos and Maplin also stock a range of high voltage battery powered lights. Candles add a nice and atmospheric touch. Decorations. This is the fun part. Ikea had a gorgeous range of affordable decorations which drew in lots of compliments. Surprisingly, Waitrose had a festive selection of tablecloths decorated with tiny metallic stars which really complimented the jewellery. Also don’t forget to purchase a miniature tree for the stall which can be used to hang decorations and adds to the overall Christmas spirit. Extra tips. Don’t forget to bring a chair to ensure your legs don’t get too sore/ you’re not left perched on part of your display. Stock up on hot chocolate/mulled wine/hot beverage of your choice and don’t forget to smile, it really welcomes guests over to your stall. Make sure you’ve got your packaging sorted and bring order forms in case you get commissions on site. Hopefully these top tips for a successful Christmas stall have put you in a festive mood and have provided some inspiration for next Christmas. Have fun!

The Wedding season isn't quite over. With idyllic dreams of snowy countryside gardens, a festive red and white colour scheme and all round festivities it’s easy to imagine why a winter wedding would appeal to a future bride to be. With so much sparkle surrounding Christmas, it’s the opportune time of year to make a perfect day even more magical. However planning a winter wedding really is the cherry on top of what's an already busy and stressful season. You’ve got the dress, shoes, cake and venue. But what about wedding jewellery?  an important ingredient to add into the mix of a hectic but special day. Anna Lou of London has a stunning selection of Winter Bridal Jewellery which is suitable for all ages, skin tones and hair colours. Kit out the Bride, Bridesmaid and Mother of the Bride in these stunning bespoke Bridal pieces that will add extra shimmer and sparkle to one of the most important days of her life.

Small Initial Birthstone Necklace

Bridesmaids: Whether you have one, two, five or six Bridesmaids joining you on the day, a birthstone initial necklace is the perfect piece of winter Bridal jewellery which’ll complement the dresses beautifully. Select from gold, rose gold or silver to ensure no clashes with the dress and have each of the girl’s initials etches into an intricate sterling silver disc. For the crystal birthstone, there’s the option to pick out each Bridesmaid’s birth month or alternatively, opt for a singular shade of birthstone so your Bridesmaids can match. If you’re all Sex in the City fans a name necklace is a must have. Not a conventional piece of Winter Bridal Jewellery, but one that’ll become their go-to everyday necklace that they can wear with any outfit. It’ll remind them of their unending friendship and the important day which they got to be a part of. Bride to be: Probably one of the most difficult decisions a Bride must make regarding her big day, other than the flavour of her cake, obviously! With jewellery carrying so much sentiment it’s very important to pick out the right bridal jewellery. It’ll be in every wedding photograph, admired for years to come and potentially passed down to her daughter one day. You get it. It’s important.

Personalised Locket

An engraved piece of Bridal jewellery is the way to go. A locket, such as the monogram sterling silver locket, would make a lovely memento from the day and could be engraved with the Brides brand new initials, a lovely way to tie in her new partner. The locket can open to encase a photograph or keepsake from the day, such as a miniature portrait of the happy couple or a piece of confetti! [caption id="attachment_5623" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Love Hoops [/caption] The love loops necklace is another alternative piece of bridal jewellery which makes a subtle statement but still carries a romantic message. Each hoop can be engraved with up to 21 characters so could be inscribed with a saying, “I love you” or the name of her new partner. Hopefully this has provided you, whether you’re a bride, bridesmaid or mother of the bride, with winter bridal jewellery inspiration. Order before the 9^th December standard delivery if the jewellery is for a pre-Christmas wedding. Charlotte Letch