What is the difference between yellow gold, rose gold, white gold and platinum and what is right for you? We’re here to help answer these questions and explain the differences among metals. While choosing a metal color is personal preference, we thought you might like to know a little more about each metal type and karats. After all, we are all about making jewelry that is perfectly suited for you!
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN KARAT VS. CARAT?
A carat is the weight used to measure the size of a gemstone or diamond and a karat is a measurement that specifies the proportion of gold in an alloy out of 24 parts. This means that 14k gold is 14/24 parts gold.
UNDERSTANDING KARATS
Gold mined straight from the ground is 24k pure gold. When making jewelry in the US, 14k or higher is typically used. At Consider, all of our jewelry is made in either solid 14k, 18k or platinum. 10k is the lowest karat to still be considered real “gold”. 18k is going to be slightly softer and appear a bit more yellow in color. 22k is also sometimes used in jewelry, but it is much more susceptible to melting and scratching. Despite what you might have heard, 24k gold is not used to make jewelry – it’s just too soft.
YELLOW GOLD, ROSE GOLD, WHITE GOLD + PLATINUM
Yellow gold is mixed with other alloys to make the piece stronger and less susceptible to melting.
Rose gold is pink in color because it has alloys like copper that give it a blush, gold hue to increase its strength.
White gold gets its bright, white color from being bleached with nickel and other alloys. Some people are allergic to nickel and this can be a deterrent from choosing white gold. But to keep allergies at bay, we rhodium plate all of our white gold jewelry. On its own, white gold is duller until it’s rhodium plated which gives the jewelry its sparkly, silver finish. At Consider, we rhodium plate all of our white gold wedding bands, engagement rings and jewelry. We recommend that you get your white gold pieces re-rhodium plated every one to three years depending on what kind of work you do, how often you wear your piece and how it is wearing on your skin.
If you love the look of white gold, but don’t want to worry about any allergies, platinum is for you! Platinum is a rarer metal that has a higher price point. We offer platinum as an option for all of our Consider Bridal wedding bands and engagement rings.
Metal color is a personal preference. We recommend that you try on lots of different rings in a variety of metal colors with an open mind – you never know which metal color might surprise you!
And don’t be afraid to mix metals. The collected and stacked look is timeless, just like all of our precious metals, diamonds and gemstones.
The price of gold changes every day so be sure to follow us on Instagram for up to date pricing and all the jewelry inspo. Which metal color do you love?!
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