Our products are made with high quality materials with care and attention but this does not mean our jewelry will last forever through everyday wear and tear.
Since we use products such as gemstones and shells, there may be some variations and natural blemishes that are not product flaws. These distinctions are what make your pieces special.
Wearing Your Jewelry
- Always put jewelry on after you apply makeup, perfume and hairspray.
- ROLL any stretch bracelets over your wrist to prevent stretch cord from snapping.
Please note that certain oils, body pH, body lotions, tanning products, and other skincare formulas may discolour, cause oxidation or tarnish the delicate metals and natural details.
Cleaning Your Jewelry
Although our metals should not easily tarnish easily, sometimes, through everyday wear, there will be build up from lotions, skins natural oils and water residue to form a thin layer of debris.
We recommend gently wiping each piece of jewelry with a 100% cotton cloth after you wear them. This helps to clean off the make up and skin oils.
Storing Your Jewelry
Some metals such as gold filled, brass, & gold plating have a tendency to oxidize (turn black) when exposed to oxygen and light. To help prevent this, when not being worn, always keep your jewelry away from light, air & moisture to prevent oxidation.Using mini ziplock bags inside your jewelry box is a great way to do this!
Chemicals such as chlorine can damage, discolour or erode precious metals and gemstones. Allowing an item to sit in a damp place (ie. a wet counter) will most likely damage the metal, so please take care.
AKA is not responsible for the maintenance of your jewelry. If your items do tarnish immediately, it can be caused by a metal-to-skin oil reaction. Each persons oils and ph can make metal react differently, in this case, it's not our responsibility to return or exchange your item. We apologize in advance.
REPAIRS
We create each piece with care and attention, but they aren’t indestructible and may break over time with regular wear. If your jewelry happens to break within 60 days of purchase, we will restring or repair it at no cost to you. If more than 60 days have passed since your purchase, there is a $5 charge to repair each bracelet and $10 for necklace repairs.
- Download our Jewelry Repair Request Form and follow the instructions to return your jewelry to our studio.
- Please note: Depending on the circumstances or age of your jewelry, the product may be repaired, replaced with the same product or substituted with a product of comparable value. We may have to slightly alter the design.
- The fee covers repairs or resizes. You are responsible for the shipping cost to send the item(s) to us.
Tarnishing or oxidization does not constitute a repair.
A BIT ABOUT METALS
Gold-filled is a brass sheet or brass core with a pressure-bonded outside layer of gold to produce the look of gold at a more reasonable price.
Gold Plating is a method of depositing a layer of gold onto the surface of sterling silver through an electrochemical process. Care should be taken when cleaning gold-filled and gold plated jewelry to protect the layer of gold from being worn away or nicked. Do not use abrasive compounds to clean the jewelry.
Although Gold Filled and Gold Plated jewelry will not tarnish, it will get dirty. The oils from your skin transfer to the metal which can cause oxidation and need to be washed off periodically.
Sterling silver is an alloy of silver containing 92.5% pure silver and 7.5% other metals, usually copper. The first thing to understand is sterling silver tarnishes typically by things that we do or not do and/or wear.
Perfume, colognes, lotions, sweaty skin and hair products can all be contributing factors to tarnishing your shiny jewelry. When the jewelry is removed and the residue isn’t wiped off, the chemicals will contribute to the tarnishing process. Harsh chemicals from dishwater detergents, chlorine and the like will tarnish sterling silver.
If sterling silver is exposed to the air and left unprotected when not being worn, tarnish becomes inevitable. The less air and light your silver is exposed to when you aren’t wearing it, the less tarnish will occur, making it easy to have shiny jewelry each and every time you’re ready to wear it. Taking the time to keep your jewelry clean after wearing it and storing it away from light and air is all that’s needed to prolong the life of your jewelry.