Seashell Earrings

I bought these for a beach trip and then never took them out again, which was not the plan. They went in the ocean every morning of that week, then the pool most afternoons, then straight into the shower with sand and sunscreen still on them. I did not rinse them carefully, I did not dry them, I just left them in. Since then they have been through swim lessons with my daughter twice a week and every single shower I have taken since April. The gold has not clouded, the ridges have not gone chalky, and nothing has crept in behind the shell where water could sit. They look identical to the day they arrived and I have honestly stopped owning any other pair.

Gold shell earrings are exactly the kind of thing I expect to look cheap after a season, because the textured surface gives tarnish a hundred places to start. I have worn these every day since mid February specifically to see how they would hold. Hairspray every morning, dry shampoo, sunscreen all summer, and a lot of hot showers. The ridges have not gone dark, the flat back has not gone coppery, and the two shells still match each other exactly in tone. There is no dull ring around the post where it meets the shell, which is where every other pair I own has given out first. Five months of that and they still read as expensive from across a room.

My ears react to almost everything. I have had costume studs turn my lobes red and sore within an hour and even some gold-filled pairs bother me by the end of a day. These went in at the end of February and they have essentially not come out since. No itching, no swelling, no crusting, no tender spots at bedtime. I sleep in them, I swim in them, and I wear them through summer heat when my skin is at its most reactive, and there has been nothing. The posts are smooth going in and the flat shell back sits against my lobe without any pressure. After years of only wearing surgical steel, finding a chunky gold pair my ears simply ignore has changed what I buy.

Gorgeous earrings and the finish is lovely, no complaints there. They are a bit bigger on the ear than I pictured from the photos, which took me a day to get used to.

Fell asleep still wearing them after a late night and woke up with no soreness whatsoever. Nothing pressed into my ear against the pillow.

Boat days, lake water, and a lot of sun since May. No fading, no water spots.