If you went on the streets and asked someone whether or not they truly love themselves, what would they say? Probably something along the lines of “Yes, well except for this one thing and this other thing and.. Hmm maybe I am not thaat happy with myself in general..” Self love isn’t all that easy I must admit, but what if it could be as straight forward as setting a new mindset? Or putting in a little more thought and purpose into what we do or say to ourselves? Well, it could be! Here we are honoured to have beloved Christie from @babeswithbrands answer a few questions on self love, self care and confidence alongside some self affirming thoughts and quotes.
I’m a very high energy person in my personal life and my career so I love to relax and reset by keeping it very low key. A self care Sunday would involve sleeping in, drinking coffee, reading a book, going for a walk with my dog, watching my favorite show, and lathering up on my skincare. -Christie
Keep practicing, keep showing up, and keep reminding yourself of your why. This goes for even after you feel confident enough to do the thing. If you’re struggling to start, ask your future self to borrow some confidence. If you do anything enough, you will be confident in yourself. -Christie
Some affirmations I use include: “I’m choosing to give myself grace.” “What is this experience teaching me?” “Am I showing up as my best self?” -Christie
Self love is being kind to myself, liking who I am on the inside and out, and being fulfilled in my daily life choices.Self love is so important to me because in order to give my best to others, I need to first give the best to myself. This includes, sleeping 8-9 hours per night, eating healthy food, exercising, making time to relax, speaking kindly to myself, etc. When I’m not giving enough love to myself, I feel out of alignment and irritable. Self love is not a destination or something you achieve. Self love is an active practice. I’m constantly learning new things about myself and what makes me happy. -Christie
“I am so damn proud of the woman I am becoming.” I’ve posted this quote on @babeswithbrands several times! It’s a reminder that we are constantly growing and evolving; we can be proud of ourselves at every step along the way. -Christie
Nothing beats staying grounded with a solid foundation built on self love. Self love isn’t a luxury but rather more of a necessity in today’s society. So start small, perhaps with implementing a few of the practices/mindsets shared above by Christie and always remember to have compassion with yourself when you fall short. Life may be a battle but hey you’re a pretty great warrior yourself! Psst.. Your actions have a ripple effect on others so when you care for yourself, you’re caring for the world too.
Follow us on our #selfcaresundays journey on Sundays @ellaofficialstore as we share some of our self care tips and hear from you about your self care routines too!
What is self love to you?
Some may say that shiny diamond jewelries should only be worn on special occasions. However at ELLA, we have made it such that the majority of our jewelries can be worn as a daily accessory, design and comfort wise. Our diamond simulants are timeless and glamorous and they could most definitely last you a lifetime if well taken care of.
Solitaire diamond jewelries are versatile and timeless and almost absolutely necessary as part of your collection. At ELLA, we aim to provide a variety of solitaire jewelries for you to choose from so you can sit back and choose your favourite cut and size of diamond simulants at the most affordable prices.
New to diamond/diamond simulant jewelries? Shop Elsie, our timeless round solitaire earring studs perfect as a first pair.
Rule of thumb, match your metals! To ensure that your jewelries go well when worn together, it is best to avoid pairing a rose gold ring with a white gold one. If you’re a lover of yellow gold for example, you could try shopping for yellow gold jewelries when shopping for jewelries and never worry about mis-matching them ever again. Love them all and can’t decide which metal color to pick? WE FEEL YOU… Perhaps then you could go with the metal that best compliments your skin tone. How? First of all, you may determine your skin tone with the tips below.
You are most likely to have a warm skin tone if
And most likely to have a cool skin tone if
So which color metal would go well with my skin tone? Skins with cool tone will look good with light or white metals such as white gold, platinum and silver. Warm skin tones on the other hand would go perfect with yellow gold, rose gold, brass or copper jewelries. However if you have a neutral skin tone, you will most probably have to pick out a piece of jewelry based on your color preference since all metal colors will suit you equally well.
If you’re opting for a more eye catching and sparkling look for your company dinner next weekend, a statement piece like Rochelle would be your perfect choice. Choosing a jewelry piece with a big main stone or one with multiple stones would give you the extra bling that you need. We would advise you to have at least 1 or 2 statement pieces for big occasions because you never know when they’ll come in handy!
The clarity of a diamond is deduced by how significantly or insignificantly included the diamond is based on the GIA(Gemological Institute of America) clarity scale. With these beautiful stones being formed naturally, they tend to have natural 'scratches' inside of the stones which in turn affects the clarity. The less flawed the diamond is, the clearer it looks and the more expensive it is. Although most of these inclusions can only be seen by a professional through a diamond loupe, the fire and brilliance of the included diamond could be significantly decreased causing less light refractions and sparkle. To avoid purchasing a dull looking diamond or overspending on a perfectly clear one, people normally shop for diamonds within the 'VVS1-VVS2' clarity range since it is generally clear enough for the naked eyes.
At ELLA, our diamond simulants are lab made under precise conditions and fall within the 'FL-VVS1' clarity range ensuring intense shine and clarity.
The cut of a diamond refers to the facets, symmetry, dimensions and reflective qualities of the diamond. To find one's ideal diamond, we should start by choosing the shape of diamond (round, heart, pear etc) then work toward finding that shape in the most appealing cut. The main factors impacting a diamond's cut quality are
At ELLA, we offer round Hearts & Arrows cut diamond simulants for maximum light performance as well as round brilliant cut ones for the traditional look.
Carat = Weight of a diamond. People often misunderstand that carat denotes the size of a diamond which is not necessarily true because a larger diamond may turn out to be the same weight as a smaller one. This all depends on the way the diamond is cut. Diamonds with a poorer cut (deep cut or thick girdle etc) will maintain their heavy weight but 'hidden' in the base of the diamond with less surface on top so they look smaller. Of course one would love to purchase a diamond of a preferred size without having to shortchange the cut and clarity of a diamond and hence a larger diamond could potentially burn a hole in the wallet.
With proper research and high standards in production and manufacture, ELLA is able to offer large carat diamond simulant jewelry pieces at an incredibly reasonable price. Nothing you can't afford, check out our largest carat piece Rochelle at a whopping 3.9ct.
The most important of the 4Cs, the color of the diamond. This refers to how colorless it is and people tend to avoid purchasing anything beyond 'I' to avoid the yellow and dull look to the diamond. Diamonds within the 'D' to 'I' range, are perfectly white and differ only in tone and the difference is the diamond's brightness, not a hue. Diamonds beyond Z-grade are called "fancy," and their value increases with the color strength. Diamonds occur naturally in almost every hue: red, green, pink, blue. They are the rarest and command astronomical prices.
To ensure top notch beauty of our colorless diamond simulants, ELLA only source for stones within the 'D' to 'F' range on the color scale. We do also source for fancy colored diamond simulants such as fancy light pink as seen on our Perry Jane huggies.
Aren’t you just so sick of having to remove your jewelries everytime you take a shower or showering with them on and watching them tarnish before your very eyes? WE ARE! Besides, we couldn’t get behind how much of a pinch it is to purchase a natural diamond jewelry when sometimes all we want is an affordable and durable piece of jewelry to doll up on random occasions or even just for daily wear.
In search for the best quality jewelries at the best market price, we virtually met with several international jewelry manufacturers in 2018 where we ensured that our priorities and high expectations were understood and met before agreeing on a partnership.
”Why do some other brand(s) that sell the exact same standard of jewelries as ELLA set their price point so much higher?” Our commitment to providing affordable and accessible quality jewelry to everyone remains the number 1 priority even if it means that we take home a smaller cut. ELLA truly believes that we could all use a little gleam and glam to boost our confidence sometimes and this should be easily accessible to anyone, anywhere.
Besides the promised high standard manufacture of our jewelries, we also carry out a few tests to ensure that our jewelries will maintain it’s beauty and have a quality that can withstand the test of time.
Scientifically, all metals will at some point of time ‘darken’ or seem to lose its shine hence, with any purchase from ELLA, you will receive a free microfiber polyester polishing cloth proven to restore the shine of your jewelries. Restore your jewelries intense shine again and again for years on end without having to buy a new one. Wipe it, wash it and have it as good as new all over again, now that’s something we can get behind!
Natural diamonds are formed from carbon deep within the Earth, hundreds of miles beneath our feet. While all forms of mining can have negative consequences, diamond mining has proven especially brutal. The detrimental impacts on the environment includes soil erosion, deforestation and ecosystem destruction, just to name a few. Besides the negative impact on our environment, these naturally mined diamonds are incredibly costly due to it's natural origin.
Simulated diamonds are known for it’s durability and close optical likeness to a natural diamond while maintaining an ethical standard in protecting our environment. Besides being environmentally friendly, these affordable and synthetic stones have an unparalleled shine effect and brilliance as great as naturally mined diamonds. These man-made gems are optically similar to natural diamonds and can only be differentiated by a professional through a loupe in loose pieces. When mounted onto a setting it would be nearly impossible to tell the two apart with the naked eyes.
With the many likeness between the two at such a huge price difference and impact to the environment, what would your pick be? Besides the affordability and similarity to natural diamonds, simulated diamonds are created under precise and controlled laboratory conditions allowing them to look as good as an Internally Flawless diamond (highest on the clarity scale and very very expensive). With the amazing price point and quality, these environmentally friendly diamond simulants can easily be a stand in for natural diamonds. No more worrying about losing expensive jewelries.