Haven’t taken my bracelet off in a month or so, because I can’t get it off lol without DH help. I like to keep it on. Shower in it etc. I clean it every day while wearing it with a soft toothbrush and Dawn dish soap. You can scrub the onyx and it looks new after each cleaning. The onyx looks gunked up so fast, though. Only downside
VCA ~ Van Cleef Arpels Discussion thread!
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Thanks! VCA seems so high maintenance for me, but they’re so pretty. I’ve had my sweet mop necklace for 6 months and never took it off - even when I went on vacation. Sadly, today I noticed so much gunk on it so thinking to sell and get the vintage onyx. Sigh
Really, all fine jewelry should be treated with care. I do not sleep or shower with any fine jeweler on. I want my jewelry to stay beautiful and look beautiful when I wear it. It’s really not a big deal to take jewelry off and either clean with a cleaning cloth or put diamond jewelry into cleaning solution or an ultrasonic every few days to keep it clean and looking it’s best. There is a lot of wear and tear on the pieces when one wears fine jewelry 24/7.
Can mop or onyx go into an ultrasonic?
I just find it hard to get into the swoopy areas on the Alhambra shape with a cloth so sometimes i use q tips instead
You can use warm water and dishwashing liquid like dawn and soak for less than a minute, rub off stuff and rinse off, for onyx and the sturdier stones. A VCA SA told me before. I use a very soft brush to get the edges. I do that once or twice a year for onyx and chalcedony and agate. I do take it off every night though. I don’t usually use the ultrasonic for my stone pieces, just diamond.
Your SA should absolutely be able to help you with this. Reach out!Has anyone had their lengthening services take a lot longer than you were told? My regular SA wasn't in the day I dropped by so another SA helped me. She told me 10-12 business days and it has been way over that. I've had other pieces lengthened and it always came back earlier or within the time frame.
I tried to reach out to the SA via text and call but have not heard anything back. I assume she may be on vacation since the holidays are near so I decided to call the store and it just sends me straight to voicemail. I haven't been able to stop by the store since it is about 2 hours from me so I can't inquire in person which is a bit frustrating.
Has anyone had any issues like this? I don't know if I should contact my regular SA to see if he can help me only thing was he wasn't the one who processed the lengthening request.
Oh no, I was mostly referring to diamond jewelry in the ultrasonic. I would not put any VCA Alhambra stones in the ultrasonic especially since most shouldn't even get wet. I agree with @EpiFanatic than onyx, carnelian, chalcedony, and agate can on rare occasion be cleaned in water. But I wouldn't put those in an ultrasonic. It's probably fine to put the solid gold or pave pieces in an ultrasonic occasionally, but I would ask my SA before doing so. It would almost be necessary with the pave pieces to keep them looking their best. I do need to ask that since I have VA pave earrings and pendant.
Cleaning a piece with 2 types is tough- like pave & stone ; or guilloche & stone.
Although I have a cheap amazon ultrasonic & never seen any difference between that vs toothbrush w soap & water on any jewelry
Take it to a vca for cleaning. I wear MOP daily and they can fix it right up
MOP is made of exactly the same thing as any regular pearl so it can be cared for the same way 
Dunk in tepid water and wipe off with a gentle cloth after every wear. Minimal soap. Avoid lotions/perfumes/hair products as much as possible. The US by itself won't damage MOP if you use softened, distilled, or pre-boiled (and cooled!) water, but you'll want to make sure the tub has been cleaned thoroughly beforehand - no detergent or cleaning solution residue - and leave it pretty empty so that the vibrations don’t make other pieces move around and scratch the MOP. I recommend against leaving MOP or any other pearls soaking in hard water for extended periods of time.
Definitely don’t use any steamers around MOP! Pearls don’t do great with extreme temperatures or sudden temperature changes.
Dunk in tepid water and wipe off with a gentle cloth after every wear. Minimal soap. Avoid lotions/perfumes/hair products as much as possible. The US by itself won't damage MOP if you use softened, distilled, or pre-boiled (and cooled!) water, but you'll want to make sure the tub has been cleaned thoroughly beforehand - no detergent or cleaning solution residue - and leave it pretty empty so that the vibrations don’t make other pieces move around and scratch the MOP. I recommend against leaving MOP or any other pearls soaking in hard water for extended periods of time.Definitely don’t use any steamers around MOP! Pearls don’t do great with extreme temperatures or sudden temperature changes.
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I wonder when something new will come out? Doesn’t vca usually have something come out before Valentine’s Day?
I use my ultrasonic on pretty much every piece I own outside of MOP and gemstones (i.e. sapphires and rubies). I use cleaning solution that my SA gave me which VCA uses as well. Maybe you could ask your SA to divulge where/which type they use. He just brought me a bottle of it and I've used it ever since. I wear several pieces day in and day out but I am of the mindset to enjoy it and I do not buy pieces that I think may sit in my jewelry box. The only issues with wear I have had was I knocked a prong off a 5 motif onyx and a carnelian piece fell out of my ladybug. They were able to fix them, no problem and I wear the ladybug alone now. The problems that I have had with VCA over the years has been primarily with initial construction and nothing to do with every day wear.
Yes, usually for spring.
I am hoping for something in WG! It's about time WG gets some loving!
Hopefully this is appropriate to post here and won’t get deleted, but in relation to yesterday’s discussions, here is my fiancé’s current stack. I think malachite or onyx would be a perfect addition
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I finally get to share a very lengthy but amazing VCA show and tell! A big special thank you to @BigAkoya and @DS2006 for all the advice and help a couple months ago with this!! My fiancé and I were in Vegas last week and I had met a SA at the Bellagio boutique the year prior so I had texted her to place deposits for two Onyx 5 motif VA bracelets for the both of us since I knew malachite was not going to happen/had a long waitlist of people who have already paid in full. We went to look at the bracelets on Sunday and they were ready for pickup after sizing on that Thursday. With sizing, for my fiancé he had an extra inch added to his to make it 8.5” and I decided I wanted mine to measure the same as my tennis bracelet which I thought was always 6.75” but was actually 7” so I had her take two links out. Btw, @BigAkoya sizing was correct, 2 links out for 7” and 4 links out for 6.5” is what my SA told me. 6.5” is too tight and would make it difficult putting on by myself and I like a looser fit with my bracelets, I think it looks more flattering. There was no charge to add links for my fiancés bracelet for those who are wondering and was told any changes are free the first time around so you could ultimately size it anyway you want. I also asked where the links came from if the jeweler had them made since that was a concern for me as I would want them to obviously be authentic VCA and my SA said they always supply the links to the jeweler.
Here’s where it gets interesting. In Vegas, there are 4 boutiques. From the time gap we had between that Sunday and Thursday, we decided to just walk into each one on a complete whim to see what inventory everyone had as my fiancé’s #1 choice was malachite. On Sunday, Wynn had one malachite but it was sold from someone who had already paid in full. We were able to try it on but I wasn’t a fan of the stones they were too light in my opinion. On Tuesday, we go over to Crystals around 4:00 pm and ask if they had anything in VA malachite. The SA that helped us actually I think there were some in our shipment about 25 mins ago!!!!! I was shocked!!! He goes to the back and not only does he bring out one VA 5 motif in malachite, but another with pave diamonds and even the VA pendant!!! We couldn’t believe it! Two to choose from that were actually available!! We were stumped because obviously we couldn’t cancel/return the onyx since they were being altered so we sat in the boutique for about 30-45 mins trying to make up our mind. It didn’t take long because the SA next to our’s said she just got a text from her client looking for the malachite with pave and guilloche with pave bracelets so my fiancé ended up ultimately choosing the malachite with pave diamonds! I still regret not buying the regular malachite bracelet as it was so beautiful but I had already purchased the onyx and couldn’t justify making another purchase so soon. The malachite bracelet will arrive tomorrow so I will share more pictures once it arrives but here are some pictures of our goodies that we picked up.
Experiences at both boutiques as well as Wynn were absolutely amazing! I understand some like to buy online for the return policy, but I am 100% someone who loves buying in the store for the experience, it’s just as exciting to me as the actual item! Something the SA we bought from at Crystals said which I found to be interesting is that since we’ve made purchases in Vegas now at two different boutiques, we are put at a higher priority for finding/buying items that are HTF, etc than those across the country even though we live in FL. Not sure how true this is but that’s good to know! Know down the slippery slope of VCA, we go! Couples who shop together, stay together! ❤️
