Why Does Some Gold Jewellery Turn Your Skin Green?

If you’ve found after a while that your gold jewellery is making your skin turn green, you’ve met with an age-old problem that tends to affect a lot of gold-plated accessories.

After some time of wear, you could find your jewellery is tarnished, and either showing green specks or rubbing off on your skin, leaving it green.

So, what the heck is going on — and can you stop your gold jewellery from going green?

Why Is My Gold Jewellery Turning Green?

This gold-to-green process happens if you’ve bought yourself some gold plated jewellery with a copper base.

Jewellery made from copper or a mix of metals containing copper, nickel or brass can turn your skin (temporarily!) green.

When copper interacts with air, water or other substances, it oxidises and turns green. This then rubs off on your skin.

Note, this isn’t an allergic reaction, but a standard metal process. However, that still doesn’t mean we want that happening to our jewellery. So how do we avoid it?

How Do I Stop My Gold Jewellery Going Green?

Of course, solid gold jewellery won’t turn green. However, not all of us are living on a solid gold budget, if you catch my drift.

Fortunately, you can purchase jewellery that doesn’t contain the aforementioned green-inclined metals, and therefore won’t tarnish.

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Australian jewellers Noble & Precious specialise in tarnish-free jewellery. It also uses processes that are friendly to the environment.

Noble & Precious uses marine grade biodegradable stainless steel as the base for their design.

“This is key, as it’s one of only a few metals that are highly durable but also corrosion and rust resistant,” explains Noble & Precious founder, Georgia Antill.

“This means it won’t erode from the inside when exposed to water, skin, creams, sweat or perfumes, keeping the 18k gold exterior completely intact — even if you shower or swim in it.”

Georgia founded her business after struggling to find gold-plated jewellery that would last, and didn’t want to sink truckloads of money into solid gold accessories.

As a by-product, Noble & Precious is not only tarnish free, but waterproof, allergy safe, nickel free and 18k gold.

Where To Buy Tarnish Free Jewellery

You’ll need to do some investigating if you find a piece of jewellery you like. However, brands like Noble & Precious which specialise in tarnish-free jewellery can guarantee you won’t be turning your fingers green.

Here are a few pieces we’re eyeing off — and it goes without saying, they’re all made from non-corrosive, marine grade stainless steel, plated with a layer of vibrant 18k gold.