Meet our materials

We make our jewellery in a range of different materials, because we’re here for all the different moods and moments of your life!

Most jewellery wardrobes contain a mix of pieces: everyday-wears, milestone pieces, and fun, expressive jewels for styling. Some people have a favourite material they choose for all their jewellery, while others mix it up depending on the piece.

With different materials and metals to choose from, it’s all about choosing what’s right for you in this particular moment.

Our guide is here to help you understand the differences, so you can choose confidently and build a jewellery wardrobe that really works for the way you live.

Jump to your chosen material using the buttons below, or read the whole guide to help you make your choice! You can also read about how to care for all our materials in our Care Guide, here.

Sterling Silver

Sterling silver is one of the most classic, everyday jewellery materials. Its cool, bright tone makes gemstones pop and pairs beautifully with all outfits, colours and skintones.

Silver is a solid precious metal, which means it’s durable and long-lasting. Because pure silver is too soft for everyday wear, Sterling Silver is created by alloying 925 parts of silver with 75 parts of a stronger metal, predominantly copper.

Due to the alloy, Sterling Silver can tarnish, which means oxidation from the copper appears as a darkening or tarnish on the surface of the piece. This is completely normal and easily reversed with a gentle clean and polish.

As long as you’re prepared to give silver just a little love and attention, it really is an everyday-and-forever metal.

Gold Vermeil

If you like the properties of silver but you’re a yellow-gold fan, Gold Vermeil might be your go-to for everyday jewels.

Gold Vermeil is a high-quality gold plating; to be called vermeil (pronounced ver-mey), a piece of jewellery must have a Sterling Silver base and be coated in 2.5 microns of gold.

The silver base and thick coating means you have a quality, love-forever piece of jewellery with plating that will last as long as possible. Because vermeil is a layer of gold bonded onto silver, it needs just little more care, especially with frequent wear. Any metal plating will eventually rub off with wear, revealing the metal below. Gold Vermeil can easily be replated, at a small cost, so you can enjoy your pieces for many, many years to come!

We use 14k gold for our vermeil, which gives a beautifully balanced, bright gold look. Our Gold Vermeil is a wonderful option for everyday jewellery, special pieces and styling favourites you reach for again and again.

It’s a perfect middle ground: luxurious and high quality, but more accessible than solid gold.

Gold & Silver Plated

Our Gold and Silver Plated pieces are crafted from solid brass and coated in 1 micron of 14k gold plating, which is thicker than the flash plating you often see in costume jewellery. This means our plated jewellery is designed to last and wear beautifully, especially when given just a little love and care!

Gold and Silver Plated jewellery is brilliant for ‘personality pieces’: seasonal favourites, statement styles and jewels that allow you to play with styling. We use gold and silver plating to keep chunkier pieces affordable, allowing you to enjoy the look of these luxurious metals across a wider wardrobe of pieces.

All our plated pieces are crafted to the same high standards as our Silver, Vermeil and Solid Gold lines. We’re never about throwaway jewellery, even at our most affordable.

As with all plated jewellery, the gold or silver is a surface layer bonded on top of the metal, so over time and with wear it may need replating, something we’re happy to offer for a small fee. If you're happy with that, choosing Gold and Silver plated jewellery is a fantastic way to build a varied and expressive jewellery collection!

Solid White & Yellow Gold

Solid Gold is jewellery for life. The lowest maintenance and most luxurious option of all, solid white and yellow gold are often chosen for milestone pieces, daily staples and jewellery you never want to take off.

We craft our Solid Gold jewellery in 9k, 14k and 18k. The K stands for Karat (also written as Carat), which refers to how much pure gold is in the metal. 24k is pure gold, which is rich in colour but very soft. To make gold strong enough for jewellery, it’s mixed with other metals. 9k gold contains 37.5% pure gold, 14k contains 58.5%, and 18k contains 75%. The higher the carat, the richer the colour and the softer the metal.

Our everyday gold jewellery, including our storytelling Treasured Collection, is crafted in 9k Yellow Gold: a durable and beautiful metal with a soft, warm gold tone. Thanks to its alloy mix, 9k gold is particularly hard-wearing, which makes it ideal for pieces you wear every day. It can tarnish slightly over time, particularly if left in storage without being cleaned, but this happens less readily than with silver and is easily polished away.

Our engagement and wedding rings are crafted in 14k or 18k gold. These higher carats have a richer gold content, giving a more luxurious colour and feel that’s perfect for milestone jewellery. They still offer excellent durability, while feeling a little more precious, perfect for marking important moments!

When it comes to yellow gold, the higher the carat, the brighter and deeper the colour. 14k and 18k gold both have a brilliant, warm yellow gold shade that really makes diamonds and gemstones pop.

We also offer many of our Solid Gold pieces in white gold. While its core properties are the same as yellow gold, white gold is naturally a pale yellow tone. To achieve that crisp, bright white finish, it’s plated with rhodium. Over time, especially with pieces like rings that see more wear, this plating can gently wear back, revealing a slightly warmer tone underneath. This is completely normal and can be easily refreshed with replating, which we offer for a small cost.

If you’re building a ‘forever wardrobe’ of pieces you’ll wear year after year, solid gold is always a beautiful investment.

How to choose...

Choosing a material is as much about how you live as how something looks.

If you wear the same jewellery every day, wash your hands a lot or rarely take your jewellery off, durable solid gold or sterling silver might suit you best.

If you love switching up your look, layering and styling different pieces with different outfits, plated jewellery will give you variety and flexibility at a great price.

Most people find their jewellery wardrobe ends up being a mix: solid gold or silver for the forever pieces, vermeil or plated jewellery for styling and self-expression.

It’s worth knowing that not all yellow gold tones look exactly the same. Our 9k solid gold has a slightly softer and more subtle tone than our vermeil and gold-plated pieces, as the surface layer is a higher carat gold with a brighter yellow tone.

Personally, we love mixing these shades together! Jewellery doesn’t have to match perfectly to look beautiful, and an authentic jumble of pieces feels relaxed and modern.

There’s no single ‘best’ material for jewellery, only what’s right for you right now.

The beauty of jewellery is that your collection grows and changes with you. A yellow-gold lover might start with vermeil, for instance, and then transition to or add in solid gold milestone pieces over time. And someone with a love-forever wardrobe of gold might enjoy vermeil and plated pieces for playful styling moments.

When you look at any of our products, you'll find material information in two places: right under the product name and in the 'Product Details' section. You can also click on 'Care Information' for a short summary on each material.

And if you’re ever unsure, reach out to our Customer Service Team on hello@carrieelizabeth.co.uk. They'll be happy to take you through your options!