Andreoli Archives

Andreoli’s beautiful, bountiful briolettes.

May 16, 2017

Good morning, my darlings!

I love clever jewelry and subtle jewelry and everyday jewelry, but sometimes you just want to feast your eyes on a big, juicy, brain-boggling showstopper. That’s what we’re going to do today, with a little help from Andreoli.

BAM.

The thing that makes these Andreoli pieces so remarkable – besides the obvious characteristics of size, color, and sheer glamour – is the enthusiastic use of briolettes. In this piece, the largest gems are briolettes: the ones that look like lush, trembling droplets of purple dew.

A briolette is a charismatic, opulent way of cutting a gem. A faceted teardrop-esque shape with many varieties, briolettes shimmer from every angle, presenting a constant, ever-changing sparkle rather than the concentrated flash of a modern round brilliant cut, for example.

Briolettes are frequently set in a way that allows them to move, reflecting light from their many factets in an ever changing dance. In other words, they’re a super sexy gemstone cut, sultry and opulent.

For example: imagine this Andreoli necklace when worn. Each luscious peridot briolette would rest gently against the curves of the lucky wearer’s décolletage, shifting gently from side to side with every breath she took. With each subtle movement, the faceted drop would capture the light in a slightly different way, trembling with a constant rain of shimmer.

Pardon me, I need to fan myself now. Read More

My favorites from JCK Luxury Prive 2016.

August 12, 2016

Did you know that Luxury Prive was the very first jewelry trade show to invite me to attend as press? It was way back in 2013, and if you want a proof that my photography has improved with time, that’s a great link to click on (yikes). I’ll never forget the trip home from NYC after that day: I sat on the bus in shock, thinking about all the pieces I’d gotten to handle that day and thinking I need to do this all the time. How do I do this all the time?

Good news, past me: we’ve done it!

This was a really fun year for Luxury Prive, because I felt like the show really came outside its box a bit in terms of the talent that was on display. The usual gorgeous giants (Oscar Heyman, Simon G, Setare) were there, along with a double row at the end of the ballroom of smaller, newer brands like Ron Hami, Goldhenn, Aero Diamonds, and Judi Powers. A beautifully curated and interesting mix.

My first stop was Judi Powers because – if you haven’t gotten this impression already – I adore both Judi and her designs. Judi, her lovely assistant Kayla, and her booth neighbor Meaghan (of Goldhenn – more on her in a minute!) were my home base for Luxury Prive, stashing my purse, reassuring me that my lipstick was in place, and helping me find coffee whenever I was desperate for fuel. Thanks again, ladies!

This tourmaline magnificence is a just-finished creation of Judi’s and I freaked out totally when I saw it. I love the textures and the colors of this piece, and the natural feel of the tourmaline slabs. Bonus: they’re strung on pink!

Please note that the central silver element is actually even cooler than it looks above, because in the picture I took, the necklace is backwards. That said: can you believe how gorgeous this is from the back?? See the front here.

This is another brand new Judi Powers piece – and another personal fave of mine. How spectacular is that stone? It’s a dendritic agate, which means those lacey, tree-like lines you’re admiring in the stone are completely natural.

I love how Judi has set the agate in rich, recycled yellow gold, adorned on the bail with three colored diamonds. Such a simple, soulful design.

I associate Goldhenn with two main categories: gorgeously geometric diamond pieces, and her luscious, organic water buffalo horn bracelets.

The above is my very favorite of her horn bracelets: I love this cuff’s clean lines, dramatic color juxtaposition, and three perfect bezel set diamonds. The majority of the bracelets are smaller than this, more bangle than cuff, but this is the one you get to see because it is the one I’m obsessed with. (Please disregard how strangely enormous my palm looks in the photo above.)

And here are some of the diamonds!! I loved a lot of Goldhenn’s pieces, but I had the most fun stacking these fantastic kite-shaped rings.

Can you tell how many rings I’m wearing on my pointer finger in this picture? (Spoiler: it’s 5.)

Photo recap: JCK LUXURY Privé.

August 8, 2014

Good morning, my darlings!

As you know if you follow me on Twitter or Instagram, I recently had the privilege of attending my second JCK LUXURY Privé show. This industry-only jewelry show was held this year in the historic NYC Waldorf Astoria hotel, which was a wonderful venue choice, I must say.

I met fabulous people and fabulous jewelry, both on the show floor and at the expertly curated Editor’s Preview, which culminated in a delightful lunch event for bloggers and designers alike.

I also came home with a whooooooole lot of photos. I’ve been enjoying sharing some with you on Instagram and I’m going to share a bunch more with you today.

Here are some of the prettiest pretties I met at the at LUXURY Privé:

I was far from the only blogger I saw spending time with these fab earrings from Andreoli. These are one from each of the two pairs. Which do you love more?

Andreoli also had this incredible cabochon emerald ring in the Editor’s Preview. That emerald was gorgeous: it practically glowed.

I couldn’t help but smile while test driving Coronet Diamonds’ 20.60 carat diamond showstopper, the Hekate necklace. Don’t you love the shape of it? It’s pointier than I would expect from this kind of piece, and I think it works really well.

I’m not really sure where the name comes in, but I like the idea of a bombshell diamond necklace named after a somewhat eerie mythical figure.

And now for a completely different kind of diamond necklace:

This diamond slice necklace by Dilamani was one of my very favorite pieces of the whole trip.

It’s 22 carats of naturally colored grey diamond slices set in 18k gold with 8 additional carats of round accent diamonds. It’s beautiful, but what really seduced me was how it felt when I put it on. Light and cool and impossibly delicate.

It reminded me of when, as a child, I used to go the house of a friend who had woods in her back yard with a really good stream-bank for finding mica. We would fill our hands with the flaky, sparkly stuff and throw it in the air. This Dilamani necklace felt exactly that light, that enchanting.

This bombshell of a ring is by David Mor, who apparently has a penchant for megawatt stones. This beauty has a yellow diamond and an emerald surrounded by variously cut white diamonds. What do you think of it?

These David Mor pink diamond and diamond earrings were like something out of a dream.

Same for Mor’s diamond and yellow diamond necklace. Yep, that’s my hand. Ah, memories.

Another superfavorite: this perfect moonstone and diamond ring by Blackbird and the Snow. Doesn’t this piece make you want to see everything else they make?

I’ve never seen anything quite like this hummingbird ring by Emiko Pearls.

The details were breathtaking. Be sure to notice the texture on the inside of the wings, the carefully worked stem and petals of the flower, and the fact that the bird’s body is a perfectly contoured pearl.

Here’s a closer look.

These H. Weiss gold and diamond lace cuffs were another of my absolute favorites. So softly beautiful, so infinitely wearable.

And the details were to die for:

I’m pretty sure I took 30 photos exactly like this one.

Kaura Jewels’ slogan is “Modern Armor for the Urban Warrior,” which I think is awesome and badass.

That’s also how I’d describe their jewelry, with the addition of “unique,” “boldly graphic,” and “gorgeous.” These are the Petal Strength earrings: 18k yellow gold with black ink, blue tapered baguette sapphires, opals, and pink sapphires.

This is Kaura Jewels’ Balance ring, which (for the record) I would wear allllllll the time. It’s different from either side, and it has the coolest shape: like a Russian kokoshnik tiara for your finger.

I had to give you a closer look at those details.

Have you ever seen anything like this ring? I hadn’t.

I thought these A. Link and Co. diamond earrings were awesome. Such texture and sparkle. I tried to model them for you, but earring selfies are harder to take than you might think.

A lovely tanzanite ring by LeVian in rose gold. Such good colors.

No photo could truly do justice to this amazing Love Doves morganite ring by Loretta Castoro. The 92 carat morganite in the center is matched for fabulousness by the sculpted rose-gold setting of doves that appear to be cradling the rosy stone in their wings.

An epic Loretta Castoro pearl and morganite necklace, also from the Love Doves collection. This piece was seriously substantial; a multi-strand rope of pearls and morganite held together with a dove-shaped clasp.

I would also like to observe that my skin is the exact same color as the morganite beads. This is why I can’t wear rose gold; it blends in.

This panther ring by MK Diamonds/Natalie K didn’t stand out to me at first, but I fell in love with it through the zoom lens. Who could resist such sleek golden ears and diamond fur?ani

Back to Loretta Castoro for a kiss goodbye! This KissMe ring has a 5.3 carat pink tourmaline cradled in a sparkling tsavorite garnet pout.

I have more beauties from LUXURY Privé to show you, but this seemed like quite enough for one post. Stay tuned for more soon!

A huge thanks to JCK and Communique LA for this fantastic event. I had the most wonderful time.

Follow along with me on Instagram