So you bought that beautiful necklace as the perfect accompaniment to your daily outfit. Like a star on top of a Christmas tree, you're expecting it to shine out for your friends to appreciate. You expect it to adorn you and represent your fashion sense in all sorts of situations. Pretty soon, it will be like a personal friend to you, being there through the peaks and valleys that you will go through.

But have you ever thought about how long this necklace would last? Like all other material things, you can expect it to fade away, or to simply lose its beauty sooner or later. Though this is a fact, there are still a good number of things that you can do to make your jewelry last longer .All it takes is simple jewelry maintenance.

First of all, you're doing your jewelry a favor when you take them off before you get a bath or hop into the sauna. Gem stones in particular, are quite sensitive to exposure to moisture. Remember that moisture on any of your jewels serves as a trap for dust and dirt to collect.

Avoid wearing your jewelry in therapeutic baths, take it off before you go inside the sauna, especially if your jewelry is made out of precious gemstones. This sort of material is highly sensitive to high temperatures. Pearl jewelry doesn't react well to extremely humid situations either.

Cleaning jewelry is one thing that many people do to extend the life of their valuables. If your piece of jewelry has precious stones in it, then a mixture of conventional cleaning powder and water can do wonders in removing common stains and spots. Take note, however, that the softer your stones are, the more delicate your soap should be. You can easily brush off dirt from harder diamonds and sapphires with a good solution of distilled water and cleaning powder. If you have softer opals and moonstones, try using more delicate soaps.

This solution of soap and water can also be used on gold and silver. Take care to avoid using cleaning powder without any whitening chemicals, as they will affect the color of gold in particular. Check if the powder has any chlorine in it as well, as it would affect the finish of silver jewelry too.

One other rule in cleaning jewelry is to proceed with caution. If you aren't sure about the chemical content of the soap you're using, try applying it on a less conspicuous section of your jewelry first. Oftentimes chemical reactions occur right away, so you should see if the washing powder has any effect on the metals which comprise of your jewelry.

Proceeding with caution also means that you don't want to go ahead and start with literal scrubbing. If you can simply wipe off dirt from your jewelry, stick to just wiping it. Once you finish cleaning your jewelry, make sure it's dry before you store it. Keep jewelry in dry, cool and closed containers. Heat and exposure to the sun can damage your jewelry significantly.