I would start with what she currently wears and try to find something with similar styles and metals.
Yes, metals do matter, some metal coatings don't work with some people and will cause them problems.
!nostupidquestions is a community dedicated to being helpful and answering each others' questions on various topics.
The rules for posting and commenting, besides the rules defined here for lemmy.world, are as follows:
Rule 1- All posts must be legitimate questions. All post titles must include a question.
All posts must be legitimate questions, and all post titles must include a question. Questions that are joke or trolling questions, memes, song lyrics as title, etc. are not allowed here. See Rule 6 for all exceptions.
Rule 2- Your question subject cannot be illegal or NSFW material.
Your question subject cannot be illegal or NSFW material. You will be warned first, banned second.
Rule 3- Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here.
Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here. Breaking this rule will not get you or your post removed, but it will put you at risk, and possibly in danger.
Rule 4- No self promotion or upvote-farming of any kind.
That's it.
Rule 5- No baiting or sealioning or promoting an agenda.
Questions which, instead of being of an innocuous nature, are specifically intended (based on reports and in the opinion of our crack moderation team) to bait users into ideological wars on charged political topics will be removed and the authors warned - or banned - depending on severity.
Rule 6- Regarding META posts and joke questions.
Provided it is about the community itself, you may post non-question posts using the [META] tag on your post title.
On fridays, you are allowed to post meme and troll questions, on the condition that it's in text format only, and conforms with our other rules. These posts MUST include the [NSQ Friday] tag in their title.
If you post a serious question on friday and are looking only for legitimate answers, then please include the [Serious] tag on your post. Irrelevant replies will then be removed by moderators.
Rule 7- You can't intentionally annoy, mock, or harass other members.
If you intentionally annoy, mock, harass, or discriminate against any individual member, you will be removed.
Likewise, if you are a member, sympathiser or a resemblant of a movement that is known to largely hate, mock, discriminate against, and/or want to take lives of a group of people, and you were provably vocal about your hate, then you will be banned on sight.
Rule 8- All comments should try to stay relevant to their parent content.
Rule 9- Reposts from other platforms are not allowed.
Let everyone have their own content.
Rule 10- Majority of bots aren't allowed to participate here.
Our breathtaking icon was bestowed upon us by @Cevilia!
The greatest banner of all time: by @TheOneWithTheHair!
I would start with what she currently wears and try to find something with similar styles and metals.
Yes, metals do matter, some metal coatings don't work with some people and will cause them problems.
This.
Jewelry gifts are not a time to get wacky. She has made very purposeful choices of what counts as every day wear thus far. If you want to get her something that could be every day wear, take note of the current stuff.
Seconding everything here, but emphasizing point 2. Some folks have metal allergies or sensitivities - nickel is a common one, for example.
Surgical steel is usually safe, but still best to confirm she doesn't have any particular sensitivities.
Tell her you are going to get her what she wants with the budget you provide? She can pick it out and you know she will be happy with it. Sometimes its the thought that counts, but no woman wants to be stuck with jewelry they think is ugly and they dont want to wear, no matter how thoughtful the person that gifted it to them was.
If she has an Etsy account follow her and buy the things she favourites
This is great advice. My partner does this, and he surprised me with an alexandrite ring I was drooling over. I was so delighted when he gave it to me, and it was such a thoughtful thing to do.
Just ask her to go with you to buy the present. Everything doesn't need to be a surprise. People have this misconception that every god damn thing (birthday parties, presents, etc) needs to be a surprise. It doesn't!
With your price point, I'd highly suggest looking at Swarovski crystal jewelry. You can get much "nicer" looking jewelry at much lower prices, but obviously it's just crystal rather than gemstones. Almost nobody can tell just by looking at it though.
Costco is a great place to buy jewelry if you have a membership. Their profit is limited to 15%.
When I was dating my wife I got her dangle drop earrings and a necklace, matching, crystal, nothing too spendy but looked super elegant, and told her she was gonna need those, because we're getting dressed up and going out on the town. And it worked. I could only describe her style as 'art teacher', pretty creative and undefined, but I took a gamble and she loved it. Going elegant and using it as a lead up is def an option
Go to a jewelry shop and ask for advice. If they’re any good at their job, they field tons of customers just like you and make recommendations based on what you tell them about your partner and maybe a photo.
Can’t go to shops I’m immunocompromised unfortunately (thanks Covid)
Learn to spell, search Etsy, instead buy mushrooms and trip together.
Is there a new age store in your area? They often sell jewelry.
I guess Etsy could be a good place to look. It has gotten annoying in the last few years, but sadly it's still the best place for a lot of people to sell their crafts.
She might enjoy a unique handmade piece by a silversmith there just as much or more as a high-end necklace, and unique hand-made designs can be cheaper than diamonds. Maybe you can even reach out to a silversmith and design something together.
I tried searching for #jewelry on mastodon.social, and @kosmimatis@handmade.social was the first thing to pop up. Of course you probably want to look around more, but their latest post is not necessarily a terrible starting point. For illustration purposes of course.
In short, I think it's possible to go about it looking for a silversmith rather than a jewellery store. What it lacks in expensive stones it makes up for by being potentially personal. :)
I've always found earing and necklace sets that they enjoy (they don't have to be expensive) and are fun to wear are always a hit. Its also a good way to test the water with something relatively cheap (>$50- $100) to identify their style. If possible, I would strongly recommend buying in-person at something like a craft market or farmers market: anything in-person. How something looks online often just does not translate to in-person.
The key here is a set, something they can add in-combination to something they already have.
Etsy has lots of unique and affordable options when it comes to jewelry. You can use keywords about her style and whichever type of jewelry you are considering.
I took a quick look for autumn witchy earrings, and I found a ton of cute options. I will share some of what I liked below, but of course you know her tastes best!
At a jewelry store.