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Favorite finds from JCK Las Vegas 2016.

If you’ve been keeping track, then you know that there’s one final piece of my Vegas jewelry adventure that I haven’t shared with you yet. Today, I’m delighted to share with you my favorite finds from JCK Las Vegas.

The JCK Las Vegas show is the largest of the Vegas jewelry week shows. It’s titillatingly enormous. If I had an extra week to spend just there I still don’t think I could have seen everything.

Since I had a limited amount of time, I prioritized two things: visiting designers I loved from afar but hadn’t met in person yet, and checking out the JCK Las Vegas Rising Stars section, because I love seeing and supporting new talent.

Two stunning gemstone rings by Ayva jewelry. This collection is inspired by flowers. Ayva jewelry was very high on my list of brands I love but haven’t seen in person yet, and I’m happy to tell you that both designer Priyanka and her lovely designs were a delight.

The two rings above are from her newest, floral-inspired collection, and I could not get enough of them. Especially the pink and blue one – a color scheme I have a particular weakness for.

A wonderful gemstone and diamond necklace by Ayva jewelry.Speaking of Ayva’s irresistible color schemes – please have a gander at this necklace. Its deceptively simple silhouette holds a combination of purple amethyst, green tourmaline, and diamonds in yellow gold, the different gem shapes combined in an interesting way. A beautiful piece that couldn’t possibly be easier to wear.

Priyanka also adorned Ayva jewelry’s booth at JCK Las Vegas with a handmade floral backdrop, which I thought was such a creative, wonderful touch indicative of the brand’s overall energy and innovative spirit. Thanks for letting me touch all of your jewelry, Priyanka!

I'm totally in love with these new Doryn Wallach rings. No wonder they won an award!You know I’m a Doryn Wallach fan – I’ve featured her work several times – but JCK Las Vegas was the first time I actually saw any of Doryn’s work in person. The gorgeous rings above, which just won a JCK Editor’s Choice Award, are some of her newest.

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Goldfish by Nat Luurtsema.

My review of Goldfish by Nat Luurtsema - a sweet, somewhat goofy YA novel about what happens when a serious swimmer has to find a new identity for herself.Goldfish by Nat Luurtsema.

This book is: sweet, wonderful YA perfection.
Other elements: friendship, self-acceptance, fish, failure, body image, swimming.
Read it: if you want a good, quirky, entertaining story with undertones of heart-warmingness.
Overall rating: 7.5/10

Lou is a 15 year old girl who knows exactly what her life is about: swimming, her swimmer best friend, and her swimming goals. At least, that’s true until she fails to qualify at the time trials for the Olympics’ training camp and her life is turned upside-down. Who is she, if she’s not a competitive swimmer? It’s not a question Lou ever thought she’d have to answer.

The online presence for Goldfish brands it heavily as a humor book. I was amused by many parts of it, but it was more of a smile and a mental “ha!” kind of amusement than giggling out loud. I was actually surprised how heavily the website and promotional material I found tried to emphasize the comedy of Goldfish.

I actually thought that the weakest part of this book is the number of pratfalls that the main character takes. She’s always falling over. True, she’s a 15 year old athlete who has just stopped practicing her sport, so it’s believable that she’d be uncomfortable in her body, but the girl cannot stop falling over. I think if Luurtsema had focused more on letting Goldfish be the great story that it is and less on trying to insert laugh-out-loud moments, those weaker instances of forced-feeling physical comedy could have been avoided and the novel would have been stronger for it.

That said: I really enjoyed reading this book. It tells an engaging story with very human characters and touches on some important issues that any teenager (or grown-up teenager) can identify with. Failure, self-identity, friendship, loneliness, changing body image, and swim/dancing in tanks full of tiny, brightly-colored fish. It’s a quick read and worth your time.

For more reads anytime, check out my Amazon recommended books store. This post contains affiliate links.

My thanks to Feiwel & Friends for providing me with a copy of Goldfish for review consideration.

The most exciting jewels of Couture 2016.

Happy Friday, my dears! I’ve got something special for you to daydream about over the weekend (the three-day weekend, for my US readers). It’s time to show you the goods from Couture 2016.

Well, not all of them. If I showed you everything that came under the heading “jewels I liked at Couture 2016” or “pretty things at Couture 2016,” we’d be here all day. So instead, here are pieces that I not only liked, but found to be noteworthy in some way: a fresh take, a unique point of view, an exceptional stone, etc.

I absolutely love these angular Melissa Kaye hoop earrings - diamond on the front, colored gemstones on the inside. Such a cool look.I thought we’d kick things off with one of my very favorite, extremely wearable finds of the show.

These angular hoop earrings by Melissa Kaye are just too cool for school. The pointed shape is an edgy departure from the traditional round hoop, and the visual effect of having diamonds on the front with colored gemstones showing through from the inside slayed me. When I was daydreaming about what I wanted to take home and add to my personal IRL jewelry wardrobe, these were top of the list.

An incredibly cool caged sapphire bracelet by Roule and Co.Roule and Co was one of the most talked-about brands at Couture 2016, and for good reason: their whimsical, mesmerizing style, which centers around gemstones trapped in geometric cages, is as fun as it is impeccably crafted.

It’s impossible to look at these designs and not want to touch them.

Two glorious natural golden pearl and diamond rings by Jewelmer.I’ve said before – and will probably say again – that I don’t generally get excited about pearls. There are exceptions to that rule, however.

These two are by Jewelmer, and the combination of their lustrous golden South Sea pearls in bold, architectural settings is really checking all my boxes. Gold on gold, soft on hard, round on angled: each piece is a masterpiece of contradictions.

I definitely did not mind test driving this beautiful necklace by Caratell. The flower petals are anodized titanium, accented with diamonds.This necklace from Caratell is a modern fairy tale dream of a piece. Light and comfortable to wear, its extraordinary beauty comes from the fact that the flower petals are made out of anodized titanium. With that rainbow iridescence as a centerpiece, the necklace flows outward in elegant angles graced with diamond buds and leaves. A glamorous, refreshing take on the classic floral motif.

(And yes, I did climb into a window frame at the Wynn in order to use their curtains as a white backdrop. Never let it be said that I lack dedication.)

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