I have to be honest with you. I never saw myself as owning my own business at the age of 26. I thank my boyfriend for that push to become my own boss. Yes, I still have a 9-5 as a Nurse, but that’s not the full time plan for my life. So you might be wondering...why necklaces?
Jewelry has always played a special place in my life. I do wish I took more care of my jewelry growing up, however I always recieved a necklace in special moments in my life. When I got baptized, at 12 years old, my best friend at the time gave me a sterling silver necklace with a charmed diamond heart attached to it, (which I still have to this day and wear it sometimes when I miss her). One time my mother went to New Orleans and I begged her to get me an anchored charmed necklace, I wanted to be a marine biologist at the time, and I love anchors (I have a tattoo of it). I sadly lost that one down the drain and to this day ask her to get me another one.
One day about last year I really wanted an anchor necklace but couldn’t find one that caught my eye. Then I figured...why not make it myself? And I did! Even though the material irritated my skin I still wore it. I eventually made anklets too to compliment my anchor tattoo on my foot. A part of me always felt that Mermaids loved their jewelry and I still believe it. I started an Etsy account and sold my jewelry through there for bit and a friend inspired me to create my own website so I did! I have to be honest, I wasn’t to comfortable selling gold plated jewelry that irritated the skin, so that’s when I decided to find a material that is hypoallergenic and can keep the gold color last longer.
GOLD VERMEIL (Pronounced Ver-May). After doing some research I fell in love with gold vermeil jewelry, it was created in the 18th century in France and was used for a lot of crowned jewels. There is even a "Vermeil Room" in The White House! What is it exactly? Gold Vermeil is a high-quality form of gold plating in which a thick layer of gold (must be more than 2.5 microns and is usually between 14k – 22k gold) coated over sterling silver. My Gold vermeil necklaces are more than just the average gold plated. It’s actually pretty close to being recognized as ‘Fine Jewelry’ it’s under the category ‘Demi-Fine’.
Over the years I have learned that jewelry is an investment. And only people that love jewelry understand that. I hope every customer that buys Mermaid Lavaliere cares for their jewelry and passes it down generation after generation. This means more than just buying a necklace, Mermaid Lavaliere wants to create moments that jewelry has created for me since I was a little girl.
