Why Buying Jewelry for Someone Else is a Great Idea!

I've often seen people struggle with finding the right jewelry item to buy as a gift for someone only to give up in the end, saying, "I don't want to buy the wrong thing" or  "I don't know what she likes." To that I say, "Bull Puckey!" Some of the best things I own, jewelry, fashion or otherwise, were picked out for me by others as gifts. Of course, not every gift over the years has been a home run, but I do think there are some common elements at play in picking out just the right piece. Mother's Day is coming up and there are a lot of new Mothers out there that will treasure their first Mother's Day gifts.

First, I don't necessarily advocate buying jewelry for someone you really don't know that well, stick to something less 'personal' in those instances. For those people whom you DO know really well, by all means, YOU have a unique and important perspective on that person. You see her as no one else does, not even herself. The piece you pick out will reflect not only elements of what the world sees about her and what she sees about herself, but most importantly what you and only you see in that person, and why that piece of jewelry is so very special as a gift from you to her.

Ok, so you're still not sure. Here are some questions you can ask yourself to guide you as you define how you view this special person.

1. Close your eyes and meditate briefly on what colors you 'think' of when you think about her. Pick the top three and find them on something right away. Try this website to get them pinned down. Color Scheme Designer. There is an area in the upper right hand quadrant that gives you a 'color' ID number you can save to get back to that exact color.  Then you can search gemstones by color. Here's a great resource for that  Limabeads by color .

2. See if you can recall if she wears more silver or gold, or brass or copper or pewter for that matter! Here, you'll want to most likely refer to what you know about her. A good way to check is to see what kinds of rings she wears. That will usually show a preference for gold or silver.

3. Come up with 5 descriptive words to illustrate her "style" again, how YOU perceive her style, so there are no right answers, there's only YOUR answers, which are unique.

4 Do a  Google image search with a color from your list and a word from your list and the word jewelry. You'll start to get some ideas of what's out there that may lead you to the perfect gift.

5 Make sure you're buying the 'kind' of jewelry she'll wear. Decide if you should buy a necklace, earrings, bracelet, broach, ring or anklet. This is where you really should draw on what she normally wears. A woman that never puts earrings on isn't going to randomly start. You do have to go with the flow of her grooming habits here. Some women always find an accessory piece, even if it's tiny stud earrings to wear camping!

6 Here, you should be at the end of the line, you know which kind of piece it will be, roughly what colors and metals resonate when you think of her and what style comes to mind when you think of her. These days with the internet, you can plug in that formula in a Google search and probably find the piece you're looking for!

Happy Gift Shopping for Mother's Day!