EL&RO Betty Hoops Gold

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The betty hoops act as a reminder that there is beauty in simplicity.

✧ 3-micron 18k yellow gold vermeil and E Coat (nano-ceramic coating) over brass
✧ 20mm classic chunky hoops 

GOLD VERMEIL (Vermeil is a French word and is pronounced Ver-May)

Gold vermeil is much more affordable than solid gold but higher in quality than gold-plated pieces. To create vermeil, sterling silver is covered in a layer of gold that's at least 10 karats and 2.5 microns thick; a micron is 1/1000th of a millimetre. Most of our gold vermeil jewellery is coated in 18k gold and is 3 microns thick over sterling silver. It can be a more expensive method but it gives the best result for long-wearing quality jewellery. To the naked eye, vermeil looks very much like solid gold.

What does "18k vermeil" actually mean?

If you see "18k" or another karat before the word "vermeil", this simply refers to how much gold content there is in the jewellery piece i.e. 24k is 99.9% gold content, 18k is 75% gold content, 14k is 58.3%, 10k is 41.7% and 9k is 37.5%. Pure gold (24k) is very flexible and yellow in colour, so mixing it with other materials strengthens the gold, making it more suitable for use in jewellery.

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