How To Care For Your Wolf & Moon Jewellery

Here at Wolf & Moon, one of our top priorities when designing and making jewellery is quality.

We use high quality materials to create each of our pieces, but when they leave our studio and find their new homes, there are some things that you can do to help maintain their quality and ensure they last as long as possible.

Below is all the information you need to keep your W&M pieces in top condition!


Jewellery Care 101: Caring for and cleaning your Wolf & Moon jewellery

How do I store my jewellery?

We recommend storing and transporting your jewellery in the cotton pouch or box provided, to avoid tangled chains or pieces knocking against each other. Avoid dropping your jewellery onto hard surfaces as the impact can weaken or break the piece.

Hoop earrings are best stored with the hoop and charm/pendant parts unassembled.

How can I avoid tarnishing or damage?

It’s best to keep your jewellery in a cool and dry place and remove before sleeping, showering or exercising.

Sprays and creams including soap, perfume, moisturiser and suncream can cause damage to some acrylic pieces and metal components, so it is best to remove your jewellery before using any of these products.

Please see "What metals do you use and how should I care for them?" below for more specific advice on different metals.

How do I clean my jewellery?

All non-metal components can be easily cleaned with a soft, dry cloth. To clean metal parts, please see below.

What metals do you use and how should I care for them?

We use a selection of different metal components depending on the piece. Read about each of our metals and how best to care for them below.

All metal that touches the skin is nickel-free.

14k Gold-Filled

What is gold-filled?

Our gold-filled findings are made from a jeweller’s brass core with a thick outer layer of 14 karat gold, that is 5% or more of the total weight of metal. The solid gold layer is mechanically bonded to the brass using heat and pressure.

Is gold-filled high quality?

Yes. Gold-filled jewellery is a high quality but affordable alternative to solid gold, and has a 5-10x thicker layer of gold than gold-plated metal.

Is gold-filled jewellery good for sensitive ears or skin?

If you are very allergic to copper, brass, silver or rhodium, we recommend you avoid any jewellery containing it which may include gold-filled and gold-plates pieces. If you only have mild sensitivity, gold-filled jewellery should not irritate your skin due to the thick layer of gold.

Will gold-filled jewellery tarnish?

Gold-filled jewellery is very durable and will not easily tarnish or discolour for a very long time. It can last 10+ years in perfect condition with daily wear.

How should I care for gold-filled jewellery?

It can be cleaned with warm water, mild soap and a soft cloth. Alternatively, wipe after wearing with a dry soft cloth.

Sterling Silver

We use sterling silver for earring posts & butterflies, some hoop options and some necklace chains.

What is sterling silver?

Sterling silver is a high quality silver alloy that contains mainly pure silver (at least 92.5%) with only small traces of other metals.

Is sterling silver jewellery good for sensitive ears or skin?

If you don’t have a known allergy to silver, our sterling silver should not be irritating to your skin. If you have had previous reactions to silver, we would recommend avoiding it.

Will my sterling silver jewellery tarnish?

Sterling silver will tarnish over time. This is accelerated by exposure to water, perspiration, pollution and chemicals.

How should I care for sterling silver jewellery?

Sterling silver is easily cleaned with warm, soapy water or a silver polishing cloth.

Gold-Plated

We offer a small selection of gold-plated hoops and chains on some of our necklaces.

What is gold-plated?

Gold-plating refers to a thin layer of gold applied to a base metal using an electrochemical plating process. The quality of gold-plating is mostly dependent on the thickness of the gold layer which can vary greatly, but is generally much thinner than in gold-filled items.

Is gold-plated jewellery good for sensitive ears or skin?

If you are allergic to copper, brass, silver or rhodium, we recommend you avoid any jewellery containing it. Gold-plated jewellery has only a thin layer of gold which will wear down over time so may be irritating to the skin if you have sensitivities to any of these metals.

Will my gold-plated jewellery tarnish?

Gold-plating will eventually wear down to the metal underneath and discolour - this will happen naturally with wear. The speed in which this happens is dependent on the thickness of the gold-plating, the amount of wear and conditions it is kept in.

We offer a small selection of gold-plated hoops which have a 3 micron thick layer of gold-plating. This should last a long time and not tarnish or discolour with daily wear. Our gold-plated chains have a thinner layer of gold so will tarnish a little quicker and will require more care to avoid this.

How should I care for gold-plated jewellery?

To make sure your gold-plated jewellery last as long as possible, follow these guidelines:

  • Take jewellery off when sleeping, exercising and any time it could get wet.
  • Clean it after wear with a soft, dry cloth.
  • Store in a cool, dry place out of direct sunlight.
  • Keep substances like moisturiser and perfume away from your jewellery.

A gold-plated piece can be cleaned with warm water, mild soap and a soft cloth, but make sure you dry it thoroughly. You can also purchase polishing cloths made specially for gold-plated items.

Brass

We use brass components and chain in some of our designs.

What is brass?

Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc.

Brass is one of the most sustainable metals available as it can be recycled an infinite number of times in a recycling process which is much more energy efficient than recycling other metals such as aluminium and steel. In the UK, brass manufacturers produce brass using almost 100% brass scrap.

Is brass jewellery good for sensitive ears or skin?

Most of our jewellery containing brass elements does not have brass which sits against skin - our pendants and earrings all have our signature wooden reverse. The exception is a few items which have a brass chain.

If you are very allergic to brass, copper or zinc, we recommend you avoid jewellery containing brass.

Will my brass tarnish?

Brass naturally tarnishes (oxidises) over time, but it is easy to clean, polish and look after. Oxidisation is accelerated by exposure to water, perspiration, pollution and chemicals.

How should I care for my brass components

We recommend keeping your brass pieces in a dry, preferably airtight place, gently wiping off any fingerprints before storing as humid conditions and moisture from your skin will speed up the oxidisation process.

With all our brass pieces, we provide a small jewellery cloth that is perfect for polishing off a light tarnish.

To remove a heavier tarnish, we recommend using a standard household metal polish (Peek is our favourite brand) with a soft cloth. Always follow the manufacturer's instructions for your polish. You can also make your own metal polish at home by mixing lemon juice and baking soda into a paste.

Watch our handy video below to see how easy it is to clean your brass jewellery.

How do I change my hoops charms?

Our hoop charms are interchangeable. Whether you are mix ‘n’ matching the charms on your swapping to one of our alternative hoop sizes, it’s easy to take off and put on your charms. Watch the video below to see how.

Remember to carefully store your charms in their pouch or box when they’re not in use.

How do I fasten and remove a brooch pin?

Our brooches use secure-locking brooch pins. Watch our video to see how to easily attach them to your clothing or soft accessories.

General FAQs about buying Wolf & Moon jewellery

Is your jewellery handmade?

Yes! All of our jewellery is lovingly handmade by a small team of makers in our North London studio. You can find out more information about our team on the Our Story page.

When will an item be back in stock?

We aim to have all of our main collection pieces restocked every couple of weeks. You can sign up to a back in stock alert on the product page too!

For limited edition collections, we may only make a certain number of pieces. Once these have sold out, unfortunately we won't be able to restock.

Can I pre-order jewellery?

Unfortunately, we don't accept pre-orders for our jewellery. However, you can sign up to a back in stock alert on the product page to be the first to know when something is back in stock!

Do you do custom designs?

Unfortunately this is not a service we offer at this time.

Help! I have lost my earring.

Not to worry! We do have a single earring replacement service. Please email hello@wolfandmoon.com and we can advise.

Please note, from mid-November we may not be able to process your replacement. Our replacement service resumes in January.

Do you have clip-on earrings?

Yes! We have created a collection of designs with clip-on backs. Please find the collection here. 

Unfortunately, not all our earrings are able to accommodate clip-on backs but we will do our best to have as many pieces available as possible.

What is our jewellery made from?

We use a selection of metal components and a combination of acrylic, sustainably sourced mother of pearl, FSC certified wood and jesmonite depending on the piece.

Our earring posts and butterflies are made from sterling silver and our hoop earrings are on 14k gold-filled hoops. All metal that touches the skin is nickel-free. Further information can be found below under Jewellery Care.

We do have surgical steel posts available as an alternative. If you would be interested in purchasing our earrings with surgical steel posts, please email hello@wolfandmoon.com and we can advise further.

I've seen 'No Hoops' on a product page. What does this mean?

All our hoop charms are easily interchangeable. "No Hoops" on a product page means you can purchase the charms without the hoops - we will send the charms only.

This is perfect if you already own a pair of our hoops and would just like to buy the additional charms, or if you would prefer to buy a different size/style hoop separately to go with the charms. Additional and alternative hoops are available here.

Can I change the chain length on a necklace?

Sometimes! For most of our designs, we do have different chain lengths available.

If you would be interested in changing the chain length on a necklace, please email hello@wolfandmoon.com and we can arrange!

We hope that answered all your questions about how to care for your Wolf & Moon jewellery and enjoy wearing your pieces for years to come!