Fashion Jewelry

Body Piercings and Jewelry

It seems that everywhere you go nowadays, body jewelry is more and more popular. Along with body jewelry, you’ll find piercing to be the most common form of wear. Perhaps many of us don’t find it appealing to have small holes made in our body, it is more and more common for young people to go crazy for it. Long practiced in many cultures all over the world, body jewelry and body piercing is a big hit in the west lately.

Some of the most common forms of piercing are: Face Piercing, Ear Piercing, Nipple Piercing, Navel Piercing, Nose Piercing, Tongue Piercing, Eyebrow Piercing and some other areas we won’t mention in this article. Let us say that with the world record being more than 4,000 piercings on a single person, there is quite a variety of places and styles of piercing out there for the asking.

A body piercing is exactly that — a piercing or puncture made in your body by a needle. After that, a piece of jewelry is inserted into the puncture. The most popular pierced body parts seem to be the ears, the nostrils, and the belly button.

If you are going for a piercing yourself, here are some of the things you might expect. The area you’ve chosen to be pierced (except for the tongue) is cleaned with a germicidal soap. Your skin is then punctured with a very sharp, clean needle. The piece of jewelry, which has already been sterilized, is attached to the area. Then the person performing the piercing disposes of the needle in a special container so that there is no risk of the needle or blood touching someone else. Afterwards, the pierced area is cleaned and the person performing the piercing checks and adjusts the jewelry. You should then get you instructions on how to make sure your new piercing heals correctly and what to do if there is a problem.

If you’re thinking about getting a piercing, there are some things you should know and think about first. If you’re under 18, some places won’t allow you to get a piercing without a parent’s consent. It’s a good idea to find out what risks are involved and how best to protect yourself from infections and other complications. Certain places on the body can cause more problems than others. Infection is a common complication of mouth and nose piercings because of the millions of bacteria that live in those areas. Tongue piercings can damage teeth over time. And tongue, cheek, and lip piercings can cause gum problems. The list goes on and you should seriously consider some diligent research. After all, it is your body, and taking advice from anyone that is not a professional may be a mistake.

If you do finally decide to get a piercing, you should make sure you’re up to date with your immunizations (especially hepatitis B and tetanus) and plan where you will get medical care if your piercing becomes infected (signs of infection include excessive redness/tenderness around the piercing site, prolonged bleeding, pus, and change in your skin color around the piercing area). If you plan to get a tongue or mouth piercing, make sure your teeth and gums are healthy. You also need to be sure that the place you go is sanitary and has good hygiene.

Body piercing and body jewelry can be fun and interesting. Unlike a new dress or bracelet, this affects the integrity of your skin and puts you at risk in ways that almost all other fashion decisions do not. Think it over carefully and be sure you research specifics of your chosen piercing. If you decide to go ahead with it, take care of yourself and keep the area clean and you will have a new surprise to show off as fast as you can say “ouch!’

Trying to have Tiffany’s for Breakfast?

In the news recently, tiffany Jewelers lost an important lawsuit against eBay. This was by the second circuit U.S. court of appeals, so it’s not good news for Tiffany.

This occurred last month. The result found eBay not liable for trademark infringement even though some of its sellers market counterfeit goods. Tiffany’s case was that eBay contributed to trademark infringement because it allowed a steady stream of sellers to offer fake Tiffany items. Tiffany’s seemed to feel that the famous auction web site should be penalized for its part in the sales that use the Tiffany name, but deprive Tiffany of its rightful profits. This case has been in the courts for 6 years. The original tip-off to Tiffany was that 73 percent of eBay listings for Tiffany products were fakes. Instead of going after each individual seller, Tiffany tried to go after eBay – a much easier target. But this strategy failed.

In addition to stopping the sale of counterfeit goods, Tiffany also wanted to control the online trade of their branded genuine goods. They don’t seem to appreciate how successful eBay is at marketing their products and benefitting from the name – even for the real thing.

But, the court disagreed. They posit that eBay is not liable for several reasons. One of the key reasons being that eBay removes auctions of fake goods upon request. To eBay’s credit, an investigation showed that eBay stopped every single auction when Tiffany complained of counterfeit goods. Beyond this diligence where Tiffany is concerned, eBay has been careful to develop or acquire tools to promote trust and safety on its site, including the buyer’s protection program. At no little cost to eBay, reportedly this effort sets them back $20 million per year.

Taking a step back, the results of this lawsuit can be looked at as a good thing ecommerce in general. As long as a company is diligent to protect buyers and sellers and effectively discourages fraud and the many types of rip-offs that can occur on line, they should be protected from frivolous lawsuits. These issues become even more important when we look at resale services like eBay which somewhat change the market. Millions of people are able to benefit from old items in their dresser and garage by selling them on line compared to just a few years ago, we were stuck with them for life.

So, as long as you are doing honest business, whether an individual selling some unwanted family heirlooms or an online service helping people to trade over the internet, you should feel a bit reassured by this recent ruling. As always, though, caveat emptor!

Natural Selection

Jewelry has always been a holiday gift staple. Diamond necklace? Check. Diamond earrings? Check. And while diamonds will always be a girl’s best friend, we’re wishing for more artful baubles, such as Waris Ahluwalia’s black-enamel bird earrings for his House of Waris line. The long, dramatic plumage of the exotic creatures would pair beautifully with a simple cocktail dress, making these considerably more exciting than your standard bling-y studs. Click the image to shop.

-Laura Wasson

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