News

Have you ever experienced ‘Green Finger??’

A common misconception when a silver ring turns your finger green, is to assume that the ring isn’t real silver.  This is unlikely to be the case, as a silver ring may turn your finger green because of a chemical reaction between the moisture on your skin and the alloys contained in the metal.  This moisture can be simply water, body sweat or humidity, or contact with a chemical product such as a skin cream or lotion.

You may also have a similar reaction, known as oxidation, when you wear a copper ring too as the green finger or tarnish, occurs frequently with copper and copper is an alloy often used in silver, hence the connection with sterling silver and a green finger. 

Again, most people assume that if your finger turns green or your ring tarnishes, that the ring is not genuine 925 sterling silver.  The opposite is true because acids that cause the silver to oxidize, which are regularly found in the air, water, creams and soaps, produce a reaction and cause tarnish.  This can leave a dark ring or green stain on your finger.   

We can easily avoid a green finger by following the following simple care steps -    

CARE - Firstly, take good care of your silver jewellery! A lot of people don’t take the time to regularly clean their jewellery and ensure they are stored separately from other items. All jewellery requires cleaning and sterling silver is no different to maintain a long and happy life!

REMOVAL - Remove jewellery especially rings, when washing your hands, and remove all jewellery when swimming, cleaning, showering etc. Then you should find tarnishing or discolouration isn’t a problem. Avoiding chemicals and moisture will help to prevent your jewellery tarnishing.

BARRIER – If your still find you suffer from green finger after following all of the above advice, then a tip to avoid a green finger is to coat the inside of your ring with clear nail polish.  A few layers of clear nail polish will provide a barrier between the ring and your skin so the ring will not tarnish or turn your finger green, or simply remove the jewellery and clean again. Some people may just react with certain metals, of even the highest quality, but hopefully if you care and clean your jewellery properly you can avoid tarnishing and the dreaded ‘Green Finger!!’. 

For more information on cleaning your jewellery, please read our article on Jewellery Care.

It's been a while since our last update and so much has happened, so here's the last six months in a snapshot!

We had quite a busy Summer with sales of Toe Rings and Anklets higher than ever and our Christmas trade from October to December was crazy busy with sales of Kids Jewellery and Marcasite Jewellery soaring! These few months are always spent chasing our tails and nothing much goes on except keeping up with the orders and sending out customer newsletters. It was a lovely Christmas period last year without any major glitches! Nothing went missing and everything arrived on time; Thank you Royal Mail!! Makes a refreshing change!

January was quieter than normal, but we had a great Valentines Day sale and lots of lovely gifts went out to lots of lovely girls and guys (from lots of lovely significant others!!). Hope you all liked your surprise gifts! Throughout March and April, we've been giving the website a bit of an overhaul and we're preparing for some exciting new departments! The major one will be a new costume jewellery collection called Stardust & Dreams and a mini Art Gallery; more on both of these additions soon! We'll also be expanding our Handmade Card Collection and adding to our Handmade Jewellery department, my sister Kristina had her little boy Jacob in November ( he's gorgeous!) so she's now ready to start designing some lovely new handmade stuff, in between changing nappies!  So lots of work to do and lots of new projects to keep us busy!! "Whistle while you work" is now playing in my head!... Anyway that's all for now folks and I promise I'll keep our updates a bit more regular over the coming months! 

Niki xx

It's Feel Good Friday at Uneak Boutique and your chance to save 20% off your order all weekend!! Visit our Feel Good Friday page for more details!! 

We try to keep our delivery costs as low as possible but due to the Royal Mail Price increases (yet again!) we have had to adjust our delivery charges slightly inline with these increases. Our Standard Delivery has increased from £2.65 to £2.95 (free on orders over £35) Our Express Delivery remains at £4.99 and our Next Day service has increased from £6.99 to £7.99. We feel our delivery prices are still very reasonable and in many cases below the delivery charges on many other websites so we will continue to keep them as low as possible for as long as we can. 

Have you got your Valentines Day gift sorted?! Nothing says I Love You like a piece of jewellery. Flowers fade and die, but keepsakes last a lifetime, so don't leave it until last minute! Buy your Uneak gift now and save 10% off your order with code-VIPVALENTINE Plus we'll upgrade VIP orders to EXPRESS DELIVERY include a FREE CARD and a FREE GIFT Just enter the code at the checkout!

Read our latest newsletter for some great jewellery offers! Click Here 

Send something special this Valentine's Day, send something Uneak  

The Plumeria Flower. One of Hawaiis great symbols and also one of our best selling pendant and earring designs - our marcasite Plumeria Pendant with matching marcasite Plumeria Earrings and ring. The design of these items is just stunning and we love the shape of this gentle, feminine flower so we thought we’d take a look at the history of this flower and tell you a little more about it.     

The Hawaiian natives have a special relationship with nature and the beauty of the islands they inhabit. Plumeria flowers are a national symbol of Hawaii and represent 'perfection' and signify the start of the spring season when new life is begins to bloom in the plant kingdom. Because of this, Hawaiians adorn themselves and Hawaii visitors, with this colourful, evocative flower. 

The plumeria flower is very common in Hawaii, adorning the streets and parklands of this beautiful paradise Island. We were lucky enough to visit Honolulu in 2011 and see these stunning flowers all over the island in a variety of bright colours including white, pink, yellow, red, orange and even pastel colours. The plumeria trees upon which they grow can reach as tall as 30 feet with broad canopies of plumeria flowers spreading just as wide! The flower was present all over the island as it is commonly used in visitor lei’s and a lot of traditional Hawaiian artwork and tattoos.   The Hawaiian plumeria flower, known also as the frangipani, is a native to tropical America. It is grown as an ornamental flower, as it is not found in the wild and has been cultivated throughout the Hawaiian Islands since the late 1800s. The plumeria is the most widely seen flower in Hawaii and is therefore used in most flower lei’s and also in a variety of Hawaiian products including pendants, earrings, wood carvings as well as other trinkets and keepsakes. The Hawaiian ladies often wear these pretty flowers in their hair on clips and on hair bands so of course we made sure we did the same! After all when in Rome and any excuse to buy jewellery, so I picked up a matching pair of plumeria earrings and a pretty plumeria hairband to remind me of this beautiful tropical Island and one of its most magnificent symbols!

Niki x

Below are some photos from our trip featuring the beautiful Island of Hawaii, me wearing Plumeria Flower jewellery and the Plumeria Flower adorning a local monument by Waikiki Beach.

Our January Sale is now in full swing! We have some fantastic clearance lines in our sale with lots of one of pieces so the discounts are huge! 70% and more in some cases! We're clearing out old stock to make way for new so visit us today and grab a bargain in our BEST EVER January Sale!! See the link below to go straight to our sale department...

http://www.uneakboutique.co.uk/collections/sale-offers

Our crazy Boxing Day Sale is now on!! We have some amazing new designs at crazy clearance prices plus all of the stock in our sale department is available for immediate dispatch! (Please note there are limited stocks on some designs so it's first come first served!) Click the link below to shop now!

http://www.uneakboutique.co.uk/collections/sale-offers

A huge thank you to all of our wonderful customers for your continued support and valued custom in 2013!

Our delivery options will be changing from next Monday so we'll be removing our free standard delivery service. All orders will go out using our 2-3 day Express Service so we can use Royal Mail Special Delivery on all orders.

This is the safest, fastest and most reliable postal option for your Christmas orders. Also our last day for delivery before Christmas is 19th December for Express Orders and 20th December for Next Day orders (both subject to availability)

Any orders placed after 12pm on 23rd December may not arrive until the 3rd of January depending on our stock levels.

Normal Service will resume from the 2nd January. 

Many thanks 
The Uneak Team 

We're so pleased to have reached 700 followers on facebook so to celebrate we're giving all of our loyal followers a 20% off discount code to use online today and Friday!

Click here for voucher code details!

Lots more great offers to come over the winter months so stay tuned to our Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest pages! 

 Uneak Team x

Hot off the Press! Statement Fiorelli Pink and Orange Resin Bib Necklace by Fiorelli Costume Jewellery. This Fiorelli Pink and Orange Resin Bib Necklace by Fiorelli has pink and orange style hexagon shapes joined together with gold tone links to form this dramatic piece of costume jewellery. The geometric pattern and large prominent design makes this a must have Fiorelli necklace. The design is bright and vibrant and is sure to turn heads.

Jewellery makes the perfect gift, whether its for a birthday or anniversary gift, a romantic gesture or an occasional gift like Christmas, Valentines or Mothers Day, nothing says 'I love you' quite like jewellery! But before you make your selection, there a few important factors you might want to consider. Size, style and colour for starters, so when buying your perfect gift, be sure to consult our gift buying guide just to make sure you get it right! Click here to read Our Gift Buying Guide