Our jewellery is made of Japanese glass seed beads with 14ct gold‑filled and rose gold‑filled elements. See below for what gold‑filled means.

Some colours in the beads use nickel as part of the colouring process. Nickel can cause an allergic rash for some people.

To keep your pieces looking fresh, polish gently with a soft cloth. Avoid contact with sweat and chemicals, and allow your perfume to dry before putting your pieces on.

Store your pieces with care to avoid scratches to the beads from other jewellery.

Also store away from direct sunlight, as prolonged exposure to strong sunlight might cause fading over time for some of the beads.

Yes! We use beads made by the Japanese brands Miyuki and Toho for all our pieces, and these are considered the best quality seed beads worldwide. The beads come in different colour and different finishes like silver‑lined, lustre and rainbow, and they all have different grades of durability – that is, how long the colour will last. We’ve carefully selected the most durable colours and finishes to use in our pieces so you can wear them for years to come.

The gold and rose gold elements are all absolutely fine to get wet too.

Have a look at our care instructions above for more on looking after your pieces.

Gold‑filled is made of a solid layer of gold which is mechanically bonded to a base metal, usually sterling silver. The gold layer in gold‑filled jewellery is 5 to 10 times thicker than gold plating and looks the same as solid gold. Even with daily wear, gold‑filled jewellery can last from 10 to 30 years.

The gold in our jewellery is mostly manufactured in the US where 14 carat is the most common gold purity – see below for more on what 14 carat means. That’s why our gold and rose gold jewellery is 14 carat gold‑filled. If you use a jeweller’s eye loupe or a magnifying glass, you’ll see a tiny 1/20 14K stamped on your earring hooks – that means they’re 14ct gold‑filled and the gold layer makes up at last one 20^th of its weight.  

Gold is quite a soft metal and is usually alloyed (mixed) with other metals, usually copper and silver, to make it more durable for jewellery making. The purity of gold is measured in carats (spelled karats in the US). Pure 100% gold is called 24 carat gold, shortened to 24ct (or 24K in the US).

Different countries have different standards of gold purity. In Australia you’ll most commonly see 9ct and 18ct, but 24ct jewellery is rarer. Nine carat means it’s 9 parts gold out of 24, or 37.5%, and is stamped with a tiny 375 so it can be identified. Eighteen carat gold means it’s 18 parts gold out of 24, or 75%, and is stamped 750.

Our gold at Sugarberry Shimmy is mostly manufactured in the US where 14 carat is the most common gold purity. If you use a jeweller’s eye loupe or a magnifying glass, you’ll see a tiny 1/20 14K stamped on your earring hooks – that means they’re 14ct gold‑filled. See above for more on what gold‑filled means.

Nope, rose gold is not plated, it’s real gold. All gold that is not 24ct is an alloy (mix) of gold and other metals – see above for more on that. For rose gold, that lovely soft pinky colour is achieved by mixing more copper and less silver in the alloy.

Our rose gold jewellery is 14ct rose gold‑filled, meaning it’s made of a solid layer of 14ct rose gold which is bonded to a base metal – see more on what gold‑filled means above. Gold‑filled layers are 5 to 10 times thicker than gold plating and are extremely durable.

Yes! White gold is an alloy of gold and silvery‑coloured metals like silver and palladium. White gold is naturally quite dull, so commercial white gold jewellery is often plated with rhodium, a super bright silver‑coloured precious metal.

Rhodium plating does wear off over time, especially for rings that you wear a lot, so you’ll need to keep re‑rhodium plating your white gold jewellery to keep it looking sparkly white.

We don’t sell white gold or silver, just yellow gold and rose gold.