How to care for your jewelry — without overthinking it

The best jewelry care is also the simplest. No special potions, no overnight soaks, no fancy ultrasonic cleaners. Just three habits that, repeated, will keep your pieces looking like the day you got them.

1. Store flat, store separately

Tangling is what kills delicate chains. Use the soft pouch your piece arrived in, or any anti-tarnish cloth bag. One piece per pouch. Lay flat, never balled up.

2. Polish gently, weekly

The microfiber cloth in your gift box is the only tool you need. Three or four passes after each wear. For deeper polishing, the smallest drop of mild dish soap on the cloth, then buff dry.

3. Take it off before

Showering, swimming, applying perfume, applying lotion, exercising, sleeping. Every plated finish lasts longer when it isn't marinating in chlorine, sweat, or alcohol-based fragrances.

Follow these three rules and a $50 piece will look better at year three than most jewelry looks the day it was unboxed.