What Colour of Jewellery Suits Me?

Choosing a jewellery colour is a personal decision. Jewellery comes in many forms, and we can choose from a wide variety of metals in various hues. Once the metal is chosen, we need to choose our stone colour, if any. The possible combinations are nearly endless, and nearly any colour stone can be matched with any colour of metal if properly displayed.

Just because we can choose any colour of metal and stones, however, doesn’t mean we should. What sounds great in theory may come out looking completely different than you had imagined. So, what are the best ways to determine the optimal jewellery colours? Thankfully, there are plenty of artisans who craft custom jewellery in Melbourne who can help guide you.

Hair Colour and Skin Tones

Depending on the kind of jewellery, the colour of your skin and hair will play a big role in what looks best on you. First, we need to understand that skin has both colour and tone. Colour is easy to understand, whether your skin is porcelain white, olive, or deep brown. Skin tone is a bit more subtle, however.

Skin tone comes in three varieties: cool, neutral, and warm. You can also think of it as an undertone to the colour of your skin. A great way to visualise the tone of your skin is to have a look at the veins on your wrist. Purplish blue veins are typically indicative of a cool skin tone, while greenish veins point to a warm tone. If you don’t see a distinctive colour, you most likely have a neutral skin tone.

People with neutral skin tones have an advantage, in that they can typically choose whichever colour they believe suits them. Those with warm and cool undertones, however, may find certain jewellery colours to be jarring when contrasted against their skin. While neutral tones gain the bonus of flexibility, they have a disadvantage in the ability of their skin to enhance the colours of the jewellery by providing a more striking contrast to the colour being worn.

Gold and rose gold are great colours for darker and warmer skin, while silver and other bluish or grey metals are good for cool skin tones. Neutral skin tones can wear what they feel looks best, but lighting plays a large role. What looks great in fluorescent indoor lighting may appear completely different in the sun.

Similarly, warm-tone skin thrives with gems that are yellows, oranges, and reds, while cool-tone skin generally looks better with blues and purples and greens. Again, neutral tones can go either direction.

Hair colour is typically only a concern when choosing necklaces and earrings. Remember, if you regularly colour your hair, what looks great with your current colour may not look so great if you decide to change it. A great way to play with this is to use camera app filters to change your hair colour to see what looks best.

Trust Your Friends and Try It On

The best thing you can do is take your friends jewellery shopping with you—they know you best and can provide opinions on the spot. Remember to not only listen to their words, but to look at their faces when they see the jewellery. Their expressions will tell you everything. When their eyes light up and their smile shines brightly, you’ll know you found the right piece!

If some time passes and you’d like to change the colour of your jewellery, there are plenty of custom jewellers who specialise in what is called “reworked jewellery” and can replace stones or swap out metals with ease. A well-qualified custom jeweller can also help you make sense of what indented jewellery stamps mean when you find them inside of a ring.