Earings for Girls

Age brings confidence to women, making decisions easier as she knows what she wants and can draw from a lifetime of experience which has developed into a set of her own values. Today women over 50 are flaunting their stuff more than ever, fully realising their beauty and inner strength in celebration.

Nowhere is this more observed than on magazine covers and on the red carpet at award shows and premieres. Timeless beauty is exemplified by these women and much can be learned from their style choices and how these have changed over their careers.

Everyone knows that celebrities get a lot of help these days from personalised teams of stylists, beauticians, PR advisors who are all aspiring for fashion victory. These days it’s not just the outfits that are important but accessories too, which have been given the spotlight in recent years. The stars are asked whose jewellery designs they are wearing as well as who has designed their frock. Although most cannot shell out the cash for the diamond drop earrings and huge carrot weight rings, those over 50 can take cues from those fabulous over 50 celebrities on how to choose the right jewellery for their personality, style and budget.

Luckily most jewellery styles can be made from different materials which can result in a huge price difference. The platinum in diamond earrings for example can be substituted for white gold resulting in the same look for a fraction of the cost. Many diamond jewellery pieces are in fact quite affordable and if chosen in a simple elegant style will prove to be a timeless ever-wearable investment.

All women like to update their looks but that does not necessarily mean they should go out and buy the latest trend. Many of the youngest celebrities in recent years have been decking themselves out in oversized costume jewellery; it might look fun and funky on an 18 year old but the clunky pieces don’t bring out the best in a woman over 50. Women of a certain age do not need to buy into any trends; the classics always work for them as many celebrities like the ever fashionable Kim Cattrall, Dame Judi Dench and Helen Mirren know. They stick to what works best for them, taking into account what they are wearing, how formal they want to be, their skin tone and face shape.

Jewellery is a great way to indulge, especially if looking for an alternative to fancy chocolates; and don’t forget, a necklace with matching earrings lasts a lot longer than the average item of clothing! Jewellery says a lot about a woman and can help them feel confident and sexy, so why not use it to update your look and bring out your mature beauty.

Can you answer the question in the title?

Some fashion magazines, writers and movies will tell you that diamonds are a girl’s best friend – but not in my case and here is why…

Hi, my name is Linda Shute from New Jersey, and here is why riding horses is one of my greatest passions in life…

As a child I think I was born with horses on my brain, they’ve always been in my life and very close to me in many ways.

Before I was old enough to drive I was very mobile because of my horses.

My uncle gave me my first pony Trotter, his color was chocolate palomino, he had no pedigree to speak of just your above average pony.

Trotter was very dear to me until I out grew him. He would perform under saddle or in harness. I started out riding western because it was the most popular where I live.

Sometimes I would ride bareback and jump over small obstacles in the yard.

Self made fences like two columns of a few baskets or boxes piled up with a broom across the top. Not much to look at, but creative enough for an eight year old kid and it served my purpose besides Trotter didn’t care what it looked like.

Mom wasn’t to happy a few times when we miscalculated and broke the broom handle then she had to go buy new broom to sweep the floor.

Trotter took me all over, sometimes I would ride him and we would go out roaming around for four or five hours we would travel ten or fifteen miles from home.

I would cut through farmers’ fields always careful to stay on the edge as not to harm their crops that were growing. My favorite ride in the summer was towards the small town of Swedesboro through the peach and apple orchards.

A diamond can’t take me to the orchards or share a piece of fruit with me.

As a small girl of eight or ten nothing was sweeter than a fresh apple or peach eaten on top of my pony. I would take a bite and give the rest to him, then pick another. I felt like the world was at my finger tips.

Trotter gave me freedom to explore the world he fed my sense of adventure.

Sometimes I didn’t feel like riding or a friend would go with me, since I didn’t want him carrying two us for that long I would hook him up to the cart and harness and drive him.

The only way a diamond can provide freedom is if you sell it for a high price and use the money to escape from something.

How can a diamond feed your sense of adventure? Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying I don’t like diamonds. They do have a big sparkle and look nice. They can also be very expensive

As I got older I out grew Trotter and sadly had to sell him for a bigger horse.

I still remember the person that bought Trotter coming to the house to pick him up. We loaded him into the back of his pick-up truck and Trotter was screaming (whinnying) and kicking he didn’t want to leave, my heart was being ripped out, yet I couldn’t keep two animals and I needed a bigger mount.

It was a hard lesson learned.

Horses also taught me responsibility because they needed to be fed and cared for everyday morning and night. Equipment and stables had to be taken care of and cleaned daily. Horses eat hay and we had farm land to raise hay. This meant harvesting. When I was in my teens sometimes I could be found driving the tractor raking the hay fields or using the baler, other times I may be on the wagon behind the baler stacking the hay for my horses. Then it would have to be transferred from the hay wagon into the barn.

Since then I have bought, sold and raised about fifteen horses. One of my favorites was Friday’s Anthem. As a girl of sixteen I won the “Rookie of the Year” award for the “Girls Rodeo Association” Eastern Chapter. One of my prizes was a free stud fee to a quarter horse stallion. I bred my mare and the colt was born on Good Friday. I named him Fridays’ Anthem. I trained him for English and Western riding and showed him at local quarter horse shows I eventually sold him for $2500.

The horse shows taught me to strive to achieve more. Observe the competition and see what they are doing, what does the judge like, who is being pinned higher than we are. Train your horse different get him to perform different or better.

A diamond can’t teach you that.

I lived in the country and our nearest neighbor was about 3/4 of a mile away.

My relationship to my Horses was the same like that of a close friend.

They each have their own personalities and temperaments just like people.

They show their feelings in their eyes and ears. If they’re having a bad day when you go to the stable you may find a tail in the doorway instead of a face. When you enter the stall you may find ears laid back on the neck instead of pricked forward you learn to read their body language.

They have dreams just like we do. I remember this Standard bred race horse I was taking care of, a trotter named Noble Tryst. He was good enough to race in The Hamiltonian. He would take a nap every afternoon he would stretch out in his stall and sometimes have dreams. He looked like a big dog he would kick his feet and make noises. You don’t see this very often in horses. I never saw a diamond with a personality.

One day when I was working on the race track I was standing in front of this filly and yawned. Then the filly yawned, the one in the next stall yawned, and so it went down the length of the barn – just like people do.

When you’re riding or working a horse and ask for more they will give you their best and then some. How do you ask a diamond for more and receive it?

If you’re having a bad day you can wrap your arms around your horse’s neck and hang on to something and they can turn their head toward you and wrap you into their neck like a hug. I’d like to see a diamond do that!

They’ll listen until you’re tired of talking or crying which ever the case may be.

Horses can be expensive, the initial cash outlay for the purchase and the ongoing upkeep. Now you can go out and buy a grade horse, buy that I mean your average run of the mill un-registered horse for around $500- $1000. But, if you want high quality pure bred stock with a pedigree you can be talking big bucks just like in diamonds

Warmly with a big smile,

Linda Shute

Inevitably during my day to day e-mail perusings at MoissaniteMaven.com I will come across the following question: “I can afford to buy a diamond ring, so why buy moissanite? Diamonds are a girl’s best friend!” Well, it’s not always asked exactly like that, but you get the point. In response I will tell them that by all means, if buying a diamond wedding ring specifically is that important to you then don’t let me get in your way. Before you do however, there are a few things you might not have considered…

Why is it so important for you to buy a diamond wedding ring? Quality, durability, beauty, and many other reasons come to mind. All of these traits and many more are symbolic of what a marriage should be. This is why most people shy away from buying synthetics and alternatives because they don’t want to think of the symbolic representation of their marriage as a sham, or to believe that stinginess was the overriding factor to their purchase. All of these sentiments can be understood in regards to an alternative like cubic zirconia, which is quite inferior to a diamond in look, feel, quality, beauty, and value. However just because in comparison to the prices of diamonds you can buy moissanite much more cheaply, this does not mean that the quality of the product itself is cheap.

The prices of diamonds have essentially been inflated by a diamond mining monopoly which greatly benefits from their perceived value being much greater than their actual value. Diamonds are certainly a valuable commodity due to their many positive traits mentioned above, but their true value is nowhere near what their cost is in the marketplace. In fact, a truer representation of the value of a diamond would be to discover the price of an equivalently sized moissanite gem. Not only that, but there are issues globally with the diamond mining industry that may concern you, and regardless of what sort of guarantees you receive about the origins of the diamond you purchased, you inevitably cannot sleep as well as you can if you’ve purchased a moissanite ring instead.

Though most moissanite today is created synthetically, it occurs naturally in rare circumstances on meteorites and below the Earth’s crust as silicon carbide. Moissanite is a gemstone with a durability and hardness nearly the same as that of a diamond, and its brilliance, fire, sparkle, and luster ratings are even higher than that of a diamond. So in fact, regardless of the price, depending upon what your own personal standards of value and taste are, you can be confident in the fact that you purchased a high quality piece of jewelry when buying a moissanite wedding ring. This is the point in the e-mail when I suggest to them that maybe it’s time for girls to have a new best friend.

As Kate Hudson says, “Frost Yourself” in the movie how to loose a guy in Ten days, Women love diamonds…….women love to be frosted and the best, most affordable way is through simulated diamonds.

Simulated diamonds are not composed of the same material with the very expensive diamond but they have the look that is IDENTICAL TO A FLAWLESS DIAMOND.

The 4 C’s of the real diamond are the ff:

Cut it is the most important characteristic of a diamond. It is what determines the brilliance of the diamond and how the light comes to reflect the many facets it has. The cut in simulated diamonds are considered ideally cut or the perfect cut reflecting the full brilliance.

The Color, Simulated diamonds are D in the color scale. Diamonds that are D in color is extremely rare because it is the highest color grade.

Clarity, simulated diamonds are very clear they have no inclusions, it is rare to find a diamond that has no inclusions and not to mention very pricey.

Last on the list would be the carat weight…..that is self explanatory, the bigger the diamond the more expensive however, simulated diamonds are a fraction of the price.

To women, the bigger the sparkle, the better. Simulated diamonds are what a perfect diamond should be. The fashion trend of today is that of big colorful jewelry with a lot of brilliance. Channel has launched its blue collection for the year with a lot of accessories; the most popular colors are the blue shade of blue sapphire and aquamarine. Blue is the color picked for 2008 by the designers. A chunky Cocktail ring with a lot of sparkle is very popular that you see it in several of the fashion magazines with the gemstone encrusted dangling earrings.

You just have to shop and find the biggest sparkle with the smallest expense to go with it! Remember No one in the world would know that you are wearing a simulant because it looks real! Lastly, buy the jewelry set in at least 14k gold so it will last a lifetime and Frost Yourself!