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Who wore Claire Aristides Fine Jewels at the Logies 2012
We were super excited when Channel 7 contacted us about two of their stars for the 2012 Logies. Firstly, the lovely Ada Nicodemou wore a Pink Amethyst Oval Cocktail Ring  & Smoky Quartz Round Cocktail Ring and Pink Amethyst earrings. 

It was this shot below from our Lookbook that inspired Ada's stylist, Alex to contrast Ada's flowing Paulo Sebastian gown with the rich tones of rose gold rings set with smokey quartz and pink amethyst stones. 
Gorgeous Kylie Gillies dazzled in a Paulo Sebastian number as well, and also wore our signature CAFJ cocktail ring stack. Kylie rocked a White Topaz Cocktail Ring & Smokey Quartz Cocktail Ring combination. Finishing off with subtle but sparkly White Topaz Cushion Cut studs.

White Topaz Cushion Cut Studs 



Our Press Day at Kirribilli
Presenting to press and media is always nerve-wracking but still incredibly exciting at the same time. There is always so much to do!!  Bloggers are usually quite instant in their approach.. snapping and twittering as you chat to them, whereas print media are thinking and planning their pages months ahead of time ... One of the highlights of the day was Marie Claire requesting 3 rings for a shoot at Vaucluse.. look out for the August issue.

We held the press day at a friend's apartment in Kirribilli which was literately right on the water. We had an amazing view of the Opera House and Harbour Bridge.  Here are a couple of pics from the day.
It was hard to share these...

We popped some Moet at the end of the two days. 

The view from the apartment. 


Gary Pepper Vintage : Neon Post
We are big fans of Gary Pepper Vintage and absolutely loved their recent blog post, see our Lemon Quartz Cocktail Ring featured in their NEON shoot! Divine.





Whatever, Whenever ... Bliss
We recently stayed at the W Hotel Hong Kong. Now this is a hotel with the WOW factor - with lots of quirky and whimsical touches, like the seal and piano installation & one-off artwork on the wall. There isn't concierge as such, but a WHATEVER WHENEVER hotline...  any request any time is no bother for the W-team, and when travelling with an 11 mth old this was WONDERFUL.  

It was hard not to touch this ... especially for my son...

Every morning our butter was hallmarked... 

Yep.

Crazy insect hanging from the wall in the reception.

Mao artwork

Hotel Lobby

Butterfly wall art in the hotel's Living Room bar , we kicked back a few nights (with baby in the pram) listening to the DJ's tracks.  

Banana's in disguise

Brain food maybe..


Christening Event !
We recently celebrated my son's christening and what started out as a 'small family affair' evolved into a mini wedding. Planning the event was so much fun and I would do it again in a heartbeat.  
When my husband and I were planning our wedding, we took a trip to  Florence and stumbled across this old-world printing house near our hotel. In very pigeon Italian we managed to design our wedding invites with the printers and they created a monogram of our initials. So it was only right that we used the same printers for our son's invites - and he now has his own monogrammed 'E" based on Florentine script. 

No event would be complete without jewellery, these precious sterling silver boy pins came all the way from Greece and such a lovely Bonbonniere gift for our guests. It's traditional at Greek christenings for each guest to receive a boy/girl pin, which are said to bring good luck and ward off evil spirits and jealousy. 

My local florist, Dusty Miller Designs, created these beautiful  floral arrangements for each table. They are David Austin roses (which have a lovely scent) with a little blue ribbon tied around the vase. Simple, but pretty. 

I am a sweet tooth and love cakes, which makes me a good authority when it comes to recommending this cake maker. Miss FlutterByCakes created this masterpiece. Delicious. 

We had a number of boys coming to the day so what better way to keep them entertained than for Superman to drop in and surprise them! Some of the male guests found their inner hero too!  Thanks to Superheroes Inc. for making the day such great fun.

I saw these lovely baby blue tissue balls featured in a magazine when I visited Brisbane for the Lily-G event, they are from Carnival Parties.  We decorated them around the Botanical Gardens Restaurant - droplets of baby blue floating in the air. So pretty.

So much fun! 


Diamonds are Forever
Here we are - just putting the finishing touches on a spectacular diamond ring for one of our customer's. The centre diamond is over 3.5 carats... and is of exceptional quality. A breathtaking piece of jewellery. We are thrilled!




Princess Margaret Fine Jewelley Collection
The fourth feature of our female icons in fine jewellery is Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdown and younger sister to Queen Elizabeth II.

The stylish and sophisticated Princess Margaret had an extraordinary collection of fine jewels. Her unique choice of clothing matched with her extravagant jewels made her a 1950’s fashion icon.



The most remembered and eye-catching piece in Margaret’s collection was the ‘Poltimore Tiara’ (pictured below), that was worn by the Princess on her wedding day in 1960. The Tiara already had history – it was originally designed and worn by Lady Poltimore in 1870.

This astonishing gold and silver piece was designed by Garrard Jewellers. It is set with diamond motifs and clusters resting on a diamond line.
The incredible feature of this fine jewel is that it is convertible to a necklace and 11 brooches. Margaret had fun with this Tiara- even wearing it in the bathtub!



Amongst her collection is a fascinating 5-row diamond and pearl necklace that was presented to her by her grandmother, Queen Mary, on her 18th birthday in 1948. This art deco piece was worn by the princess in many famous birthday portraits (Pictured below). 


The necklace consists of five rows of pearls decreasing in size towards the rear where they are attached to a platinum diamond clasp (Pictured below). This piece was recently auctioned for approximately $500,000!



Princess Margaret’s fine jewellery collection was auctioned in 2006 by Christies in London.  The children of the late Princess, Viscount Linley and Lady Sarah Chatto, sold her collection to pay the inheritance tax due on her estate.


The tiara fetched $1.7 million, far more than its $360,000 pre-sale estimate. This controversial fine jewellery auction almost landed profits of 100 times its value – making an immense $1,704,576! 

I was lucky enough to be in London at the time and attend the pre-auction viewing of her pieces. One of my favourites is pictured below - a Lady's Diamond wristwatch , the reserve price at the time was USD$14,000.   

Oh to have the fine jewels of a princess!




Wallis Simpson Fine Jewellery Collection

The third feature of our female icons in fine jewellery is Wallis Simpson.

The fine jewellery collection owned by Wallis Simpson ‘The Duchess of Windsor’ was not only famous for the statements made, but for the love story in which the fine jewellery is remembered by.

 Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor abdicated his throne to marry her and proposed with an approximately 20-carat emerald engagement ring (Picture below). This astonishing emerald was almost the only ring ever seen on Wallis’ hands – she believed her hands to be very large and ugly.



 The famous royal collection consisting of 214 pieces of fine jewellery including rubies, diamonds, emeralds and blue sapphires was sold for a record price of $53.5 million in 1987.  At the Sotheby’s auction, Elizabeth Taylor bought the famous plume shaped diamond brooch (Pictured below). It is believed that Taylor had always admired this piece of fine jewellery on Wallis.



In 2010 Sotheby’s sold the Cartier fine jewellery from Wallis’ collection, which sold for a further $12.5 million. This collection included the famous jewel encrusted flamingo clip, which had been created by Cartier using stones and jewels from a necklace and four bracelets previously owned by Wallis (Pictured below). The impressive emerald-eyed panther bracelet sold for $7 million – the highest price sold for a bracelet at an auction to date.




Happy 2012... what a year 2011 was
Happy New Year lovely people.


We have had a wonderful 2011.. some of our highlights for the year include... new stockists The Vintage Luggage Company, Qualia and Lily G  ,  plus the launch of 2 new lines - our Engagement Rings and Maternity Rings.... we've had an amazing 2011.


Thank you to our inspiring clients and the CAFJ team.
CAFJ xxx


Season's Greetings - Wishing you all a Merry Christmas from Claire Aristides Fine Jewels

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas ! 

We hope Santa spoils you with lovely gifts (may be a sparkling cocktail ring or a fine jewellery gift voucher from us!) but most importantly have a wonderful day with your loved ones.

Much love from Claire Aristides Fine Jewels


Engagement Rings : Romancing the Stone
One of the most romantic moments has to be when Mr. Right proposes.   So we are absolutely thrilled to announce our Engagement Rings bespoke design service.  To be a part of the magical experience of Him 'popping the question', 'do I have ring before I ask or after she has said yes', 'what is her ring size and how do I find out without her knowing' ... It's all so so so exciting.

We are currently creating two Engagement Rings for two very lovely men, and it's just such an exciting and and joyous experience to be part of the process and help make the moment as romantic and lovely as possible.



Contact Claire Aristides Fine Jewels if you would like any information about Engagement Rings.! 





Nicole Kidman Fine Jewellery Collection
The second feature of our female icons in fine jewellery is Nicole Kidman.



Nicole Kidman continually impresses with her extravagant, eye catching fine jewellery. On the red carpet she often pairs simple classic dresses with extravagant gem or diamond necklaces, bracelets and dangly earrings.

She has her own signature style and tends to focus on one single statement piece.  The most memorable piece out of her collection is the L’Wren Scott 1400 carat diamond rope necklace, which was worn to the 2008 Annual Academy awards. The necklace was approximately valued at 3 million pounds and took an excess of 6200 hours to handcraft. The piece is made up of just over 7645 faceted, rough and polished diamond stones.  (pictured below)



Another stand out piece in Nicole’s collection was the 19th century 150 carat Riviera diamond necklace that was worn by her at the Oscars in 2011. Nicole looked stunning wearing Fred Leightons piece as a choker, delicately draping down her back. (also pictured below)


In the musical Moulin Rouge, Nicole wore the most expensive piece of jewellery that has ever been designed for a movie. Stefano Canturi designed this piece which contains 1308 platinum diamonds, for a combined total of 134 carats.



Oh to get our hands on her fine jewellery box! 





Oprah Winfrey Fine Jewellery Collection

Oprah Winfrey is certainly one of today’s most influential women, with her classic style adored by many around the world. Oprah’s extravagant fine jewellery collection is valued at approximately USD$100 million dollars, including famous diamond drop earring and the eternity ring comprising of a band of diamonds. 

Other stand out pieces in her collection include- statement pearl necklaces, cocktails rings, fancy diamond chandeliers and the Riviera necklace.

The memorable pear drop diamond earrings were worn at the Eli Wiesel Foundation for Humanity's Gala, where she looked stunning with the glittering stones standing out against her dark hair (Pictured below). 

Now, Oprah is rarely seen without her statement diamond earnings-It seems almost hard to believe that she only had her ears pierced at the age of 51!


2007- Oprah at the Eli Wiesel Foundation for Humanity's Gala, 
wearing stunning pear drop diamond earrings.
1998- Vogue  featuring Oprah wearing large clip on 
diamond earrings and bracelet by Fred Leighton New York.

Oprah at the age of 51 with her ears pierced.


Lily-G Event Brisbane : 4th October
Lily-G played hostess with the mostess launching our fine jewellery collection in Brisbane on Tuesday evening.

Melinda Boundy's beautiful store is a mecca for stunning, stylish homewares, and the perfect backdrop to launch our precious gems fine jewellery in Brisbane. An interior designer, Melinda has carefully chosen pieces that will truly make your home look beautiful.   If you haven't been to Lily-G ladies you must go!

Highlights from Lily-G VIP Cocktail Ring Event

We were kids in a candy store with all of Lily-G's 
beautiful home accessories. We presented our 
Cocktail Ring's on Lily-G designer white plates.

Claire Aristides and Melinda Boundy
Lily-G beautiful store at Norman Park.

One can't not be trying on beautiful diamond and gem rings without 
manicured hands. Mini manicures by Beauty In Style.

Rachel Fennell and Tracy Madden

Amai Brookman, Melinda Boundy, Nim Alan and Murside Tufeki


Carla Haddan, Claire Aristides and Melinda Boundy

Ladies in their element creating their own bespoke Cocktail Ring's



Janet Noyes and Julie Ryan

Cocktail Ring's and Precious Gem Earrings


Thank you Melinda for such a wonderful evening, it was so much fun!
A very special thank you to Beauty In Style who pampered our guests with mini manicures.





THE SPARKLE FROM THE PADDINGTON BEAUTY ROOM EVENT
We celebrated the sparkle in life at The Paddington Beauty Room on Saturday with guests enjoying hand and face treatments from La Prairie and the PBR, naughty indulgences from GU chocolate, and a lucky door prize worth over $1000 was won (special thanks to Dario Cotroneo & My Curl  !)

La Prairie consultant giving hand treatments.

The lovely Angela modelling Sky Blue Topaz Cocktail Ring.

Guests Marina and Deborah after their pamper.

Thank you GU for the yummy chocolate filled cups - goooeeey!

Facial treatments from The Paddington Beauty Room team

Lemon Quartz Oval Cocktail Ring - one of our fave's.

Goodey bags filled with goodies like La Prairie products.

New in - Lemon Quartz Drops..


Find the Sparkle in Life : The Paggington Beauty Room
We've teamed up with The Paddington Beauty Room for our next Sydney VIP Event 9th April 430 - 630pm.    


Acknowledged by La Prairie & Dermalogica as one of their top salons & on their highly recommended list... Find the Sparkle in Life with beautiful jewellery & learn about GREAT skincare from the The PBR experts. 

Anna is featured in this month's Good Health. An expert in her field (younger looking skin!) Anna digs deep into the benefits of precious metals when used in skincare formulations.... could precious metals keep your skin looking younger....


Could precious metals keep your skin looking younger and fresher....

Plus you could win either a 90min Gold Facial Value $250 or
Platinum Eye Cream  Value $470....

 

To RSVP go to http://bit.ly/fAHtih




The OSCAR'S : Jewellery Winners!
There's always plenty of bling on the red carpet but great to see some colour with Celine Dion & Amy Adam's emerald jewels (divine) ... drool drool drool!.
A bold shimmery silver figure hugging dress like this needs only the slightest
touch of bling. Gwen you did it.

I'd love to raid Celine Dion's jewellery box and hopefully find this
stunning diamond necklace.

Cate Blanchett stylish neonesque dress only needs classic studs
and bracelet. The bracelet looks very detailed, with the bauble detail. In love.

Interesting to have the necklace over her sequined blue dress
but this Emerald tiffany combo needs to be exposed. We love.

Scarlett Johansson's cocktail ring matches
her lace mulberry dress.
 
 


VIP Cocktail Ring Evening with Mrs. Press
It was a night of frocks and rocks at the VIP Cocktail Ring evening at Mrs. Press boutique in Paddington. Guests enjoyed mini-mani's with Mrs. Press luxe handcreams, cupcake treats and bubbles.


Thank you Planet Cake for our yummy ring inspired cupcakes.
  
Anna and Dee from Shop Till You Drop picking their favourite stones.

Siobhan from Who Magazine stacking cocktail rings!

Luxe manicure's care of Orly's creative director Fiona Hay & her team.


Alicia and Carla from AWPR.
Mrs. Press's beautiful handcreams for each VIP guest.

Mrs. Press gorgeous boutique Oxford St. Paddington.



FASHION.TO.AID
As a Brisbane-bred lass I was in shock to see the devastation and destruction caused recently by the floods. Many unsuspecting QLD'ers were affected and left without their homes, which is unimaginable.
Being far away in Sydney it was very important to help out in anyway I could, and I'm so pleased to be involved with FASHION.TO.AID a fantastic cause started by Lara Karamian and her events company Lara Inc.
The aim is to bring Australia’s biggest and much loved designers together to raise money for the QLD floods.  Each designer has donated a designer piece of clothing or accessories which will be auction on ebay from the 30th Jan 2011.

I have donated one of best selling pieces a beautiful Smoky Quartz Cocktail Ring.  I picked this piece because Smoky Quartz is a very special stone, it is a grounding and stabilizing stone that brings calmness and centering, removes negative energies, bringing happiness.


Please tell all your friends about FASHION.TO.AID  and let's raise as much money as we can for all those people affected.  You can start bidding from the 30th Jan 2011, just go to ebay.com.au.

All the best,




Golden Globes : Jewellery Trends
The fine jewels at any Red Carpet event is jaw-dropping and we absolutely love drooling over the stars fabulous pieces, and this year's Golden Globes are no different.  There's no rhinestone's here ladies! 

FINGER FURNITURE ....
Kim Kardashian has taken oversized Cocktail Ring to a new level with this stunning diamond swirl ring (divine!!!).  Angelina matched her emerald coloured sequined dress with matching studs and of course an Emerald square cut ring. Glee star Lea-Michele turquoise ring contrasting her peach gown, sensational. 

DIAMONDS ....
Timeless and classic, Diamonds are a red carpet staple. Catherine and Jennifer both work  diamond earrings beautifully.  But oh to be Halle Berry and A). have that body and B). those diamond encrusted bangles. 

GOLD BANGLES ...
I love Gold Bangles and cuff's, there is something vibrant and regal about classic gold jewellery.  Claire Dane's teamed a simple gold cuff (with diamond trim) with her floor length gown, while Kyra Sedgwick's stacking of gold bangles is striking with her Emilio Pucci gown.

BIG EARRING'S ...
Chandelier jewel enrusted earrings will absolutely never date.  




Welcome to the Claire Aristides Fine Jewels Blog
The Claire Aristides Fine Jewels Blog will be dedicated to the world of fine jewellery. We hope to share with you our passion for beautiful, striking fine jewellery, from diamonds and pearls to precious gems please visit our blog for the latest news and snippets of fabulous information about real jewellery!