After all the posts about my birthday, you guys deserve a present.
When Blue Nile got in touch with me about another giveaway recently, I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I confess, Part One involved something for me.
As you may know, I rely on chandelier earrings to elevate my Extreme Casual. As you may also know, most days I wear this necklace, two diamond solitaires dangling from one chain. The second stone, invisible in this photo, is round.
I love the necklace, it has sentimental value and occupies my favorite casual luxury space. But it doesn’t go with these chandeliers.
I knew a big necklace of any sort wouldn’t work for me. But a teeny disc, with a center stone, that could be nice. Behold Blue Nile’s Mini Birthstone charm. In amethyst. It comes in your birthstone of choice.
One detail. My birthday was September. Am I not required to sapphire? Impunity! Claim your talisman! In crystal lore amethysts promote patience and ward off intoxication.
Besides, purple compliments the chandeliers.
This is a very small pendant, but the circle stands out against a v-neck. (No, the earring’s large circle of rutilated quartz didn’t turn orange overnight, it’s an artifact of light and my insistence on monochromatic skin in these jewelry shots. Blame my waning vanity.)
And now we’re giving away a similar necklace, maybe to you. Choose your own teeny stone for the center. Either your birthstone, or one with meaning to you. Alternatively, pick a color, we all understand the power of aesthetics.
To help narrow your choices, here’s an index of mineral implication and birthdate assignments. Hey, I’m a Northern Californian, it comes with the territory. I don’t actually believe in this stuff, but as ideas enhance the world’s mystery I don’t close my ears all the way.
Stones (And Some Jewelry Bits And Bobs From Blue Nile And Elsewhere) For Birthdays, Or Meanings. Many, Many Meanings.
January || Garnet (rectangle ring) || Passion, Intimacy
February || Amethyst (cabochon earring) || Patience, Temperance, Stilling The Mind
March || Aquamarine (raw gem earrings) || Releasing Fear, Mental Clarity
April || Diamond (mini-studs) || Faithfulness, the Richness of Self (I quite love this)
May || Emerald (diamond and emerald necklace in case you wonder what almost $1,000,000 in gemstones might look like, used) || Emeralds placed on the heart bring emotional balance. Well OK then.
June || Pearl (way too early to think about this but cute Christmas earrings, no?), Alexandrite || Pearls for Integrity and Loyalty
July || Ruby (Swedish fish charm) || Supports your emotions, Devotion, Happiness
August || Peridot || Brooch with shelves carrying peridot and loose sapphire stones || Peridot for the Heart Chakra brings Unconditional Love, Happiness and Light
September || Sapphire (teeny stacking ring) || Personal Expression, Release Of Pain
October || Opal, Tourmaline (earrings by Melissa Joy Manning) || Opals are for protection and loyalty, but can be seen as bad luck. Tourmaline is here to help us on our path to new dimensions. OK then.
November || Topaz, Citrine (drop earrings) || Citrine for Success, Clear Thinking, Topaz for Protection from Greed
December || Turquoise (necklace on sale) || Turquoise for Healing and Balancing
And now for your present. Leave a comment here letting me know you’re in, and what you’d like – your birthstone? Do you like your birthdate? Its stone? Or something else? If something else, tell us a story about why. I always love your stories.
I’ll draw for the winner on Monday next week. To Blue Nile, thank you so much. You are a pleasure to work with.
Note: Giveaway has been completed.
Links may generate commissions. Here are various links for gemstone meanings: Energy Muse, Sunny Ray, and yes, the American Gem Society.
60 Responses
Good morning!
I love this necklace! It is simple and beautiful! I see myself wearing the amethyst one even though my birthstone is opal.
My birthday is on Halloween! I will be 61. My late husband would have been 64 on the same day. We were married for almost 30 Years❤ His favorite color was purple so I would love this necklace to wear always❤
Halloween is a great birthday as even if your not having a party there are always fun things to do!
I hope I win! Lol Best of luck to everyone and thank you for having this contest!
Happy Halloween
Peace,
Doreen
@Doreen Higgins, I love the necklace also and my birthday is also Halloween! I will be turning 60 in a few short weeks. Where does the time go?
I’m a cusp baby, half Cancer, half Leo, and love the two complementary flavors-like sugar in your spaghetti sauce. I get to choose, when I think about birth signs, and to appreciate the duality of all human experience. Yeah, I was raised in northern California, too.
I’d choose a ruby for the glow of summer sunsets, and the potent power of that rich color.
I’m an April baby and I love my diamonds …. but garnet is where it’s at.
I love my birth month, June, the beginning of summer which is my favorite season. I love my date, the 15th, because it is right in the middle and I never had to go to school on my birthday. I love my birthstone, Alexandrite, because it is my favorite color purple. I got my first birthstone ring when I was about 5 years old and instantly felt so grown-up!
I also love Pearls but was much older before I found out they also represented June, so I don’t associate them as much with my birth month.
Pearl – my daughter’s birthstone. Such a lovely offer ~ Thanks
What a lovely necklace! Enough to make me come out of the shadows.
I’d take my birthstone, Garnet. Sapphires have long been my favorite stone, but I was gifted with extensive garnet earrings by a dear friend years ago and they have grown on me. The necklace would compliment them perfectly, and it’s simple, elegant design is my style.
Thank you for this blog, by the way! I have been reading for a few months and I really enjoy your insight and the way you see the world.
In Edmonton Alberta Canada where I live, my birth month of May is one of the best times of the year. The leaves are coming out after a long winter, the mosquitoes haven’t arrived yet, we are so thrilled to take off those big coats and boots. The emerald is a nice stone as well.
My birthstone is amethyst, but I’d pick this pendant in opal…opals are my favorite stone, and also will be my daughter’s birthstone. She’s one week old today! I’d love to wear this in opal while she’s little and then pass it on to her when she’s old enough to wear it herself.
I love my birth month, which is January (I also married in January, and my wedding ring has garnets). I also love my birthstone, and would choose garnets. In January, the holiday season is over, and everything seems to be still and quiet. For tree farmers, this is a dormant season, when we can catch our breath. I do miss the dense fog which used to descend on the valley like a cloud blanket, but with climate change it has all but disappeared.
I love my March aquamarine, and now love it more since discovering my only son’s true love celebrates her birthday one day after mine. I would be so happy to give this lovely necklace to the lovely woman who makes my child so happy.
I love the birthstone concept, first introduced to me as a young Pisces. I couldn’t wait to be gifted an amethyst gem. Alas, I’m still waiting. :)
I’m a May baby – May 1st. I turned 65 this year. I love my birth month and my birthstone – emerald. The only emerald jewelry I have is my baby ring from my godmother – and I’m not sure it is even real.
I’d go for Ruby/July. My sweetest bestest friend would love this necklace with a little Ruby and wouldn’t it make a great birthday/Christmas present? She’s been a rock for me this past year, I’d love to get a little rock for her.
My birth stone is garnet because my birthday is January 1 – it’s true. But my favorite pendant was a tiny jade circle with a gold symbol for happiness in the center which my brother brought back from a once-in-a-lifetime trip to China, our ancestral homeland. Sadly, it was stolen in a home break-in a few years ago. It lives on in my memory. No need to put me in for this drawing, although I love this tiny pendant – really lovely! Hoping someone else wins it who will really cherish it.
My birthstone is garnet (Jan. 13) and I do love it. I have several pieces but don’t wear them as much as I should. All the pieces are lovely!
What a lovely giveaway Lisa, thank you! I have seen this necklace on Blue Nile and I love it’s simplicity. My birthstone is peridot, but I would choose aquamarine, as that is the birthstone of my husband and our two sons.
I was born in April, and I’ve happily collected diamonds (lucky me) but I would love the October stone, as it was my father’s stone and we lost him this year. Tourmaline actually sounds perfect, I’m ready for new dimensions :)
Those earrings are very pretty on you Lisa…that diamond necklace is beautiful and I can see why you’d want to wear it everyday.
Blue Nile is a fun site to visit…when I worked in the library at school a young teacher and I spent an hour online choosing her engagement ring. We were able to pick the stone, the cut and the setting…I was thrilled a few months later to see that same ring on her finger! She is married now and has two children and her smart husband gave her a diamond necklace from Blue Nile after the birth of her second child!
My birthday is in March and I will be 62…but I am not particularly fond of aquamarines.
I adore diamonds and wear simple diamond stud earrings and my wedding rings every day…even when I am gardening.
This necklace, if I were to win, would need to be a diamond as I would probably want to wear it a lot.
Thank you for offering all your readers a chance to dream about jewelry…
I am a February gal and happen to really like amethyst so that is my choice. Patience, temperance and stilling the mind are daily goals for me so that is fitting! Thanks for the opportunity and for your blog!
What a lovely giveaway! Were I to win this necklace, I’d choose garnet for the center stone. The deep red of the garnet would coordinate with many of my clothes, and I plan someday to buy a great Victorian garnet ring with the garnet set in a halo of pearls.
What a sweet and simple necklace.
Emerald – my favorite color is green and I happened to be born in May, so they suit me.
I am a September girl and I love sapphires. I love the combination of sapphire and pearl together and have and it means even more now because my husband is a June birthstone. I love either alone as well.
What a lovely necklace – I’d go with topaz, my birthstone.
While my birthday is in March and Aquamarine is pretty, my engagement ring (and so much of my jewelry) is Sapphire and I love how pretty the stone is. Thank you for the give away!
My birthday is in February (turning 60) as is my oldest daughter’s and was my mother’s.. Love amethyst and love this beautiful necklace. The only jewelry my mom wore were her rose gold wedding band (now passed on to me) and a large watch. I could imagine her enjoying this delicate amethyst necklace though. I think she would have passed it on to me for our birthday bond (one day apart) as I would hope to pass to my daughter some day (our birthdays’ three days apart.)
When asked to pick my favorite color, I always hesitate. Of course the easy answer is “blue,” the color my childhood tomboy self decided would be sufficiently masculine to annoy my mother, but would still be unobjectionable because it is actually my birthstone color (sapphire, September).
In my 30’s, I discovered that sapphires come in many colors, including pink, yellow, green, white and red (technically, rubies are the same corundum as sapphires, though they go by a different name). Hhhhmmm — looks like I need a better answer than “blue.”
If you look at my wardrobe, you’d probably guess the answer is “black” — I wear it constantly and it easily makes up 80% of what I own.
But the truth is that I can’t name just one color because in fact, I love them all! I HATED pastels as a child, but show me a blush wool overcoat, or an ice blue driving loafer and watch me swoon. Ditto a great pair of leather gloves in red, the shade that holds lots of blue undertones (think fire truck rather than tomato).
But I find color hard to wear — does this match? Is this color right with my complexion? Will people STARE AT ME??? (heaven forbid!)
Colored gemstones are a safe way for me to indulge my love of color. With gems, it isn’t just the shade, but the crispness and clarity of the stone – give me an emerald cut anything over those fancy checkerboard cuts that camoflage the beauty of the stone (imho). Colored glass gives me the same thrill, at a much lower price point (but you can’t really wear it, now can you?)
So I have to pick just one, you say? Cruel, cruel, you are too, too cruel. Aqua. NO, tanzanite (so yummy!) Wait, OK my current crush in pink tourmaline — SUCH a deep pink, like watermelon sherbet on crack. Not one of my options? PHOOEY!! That’s my answer and I’m sticking to it!
. . . . today
Ruby! Just because a touch of red makes everything better.
I’m an October girl so opal is my stone, but. My first daughter was a March baby so I’m partial to aquamarines. Good looking necklace.
I love my birth month, September. Likewise, I love the sapphire. My name, sign (Virgo), the late summer/early fall season of my birthdate, and the sapphire are all in perfect harmony. Love the necklace! Thanks for the opportunity to win it!
I love this necklace! I’m in, and would love to have the necklace with my birthday, the amethyst. I was born in February, on George Washington’s birthday, and love the childhood memories I have of that date. My mom always put cherries and tiny plastic axes on my birthday cupcakes!
What a beautiful jewelery I must say,
thanks for sharing. X Charissa
http://www.ladygoldapple.com
Pretty necklace, easy to wear and it looks good with your earrings. Please don’t enter me, happy for someone else to have a chance at it.
xo
I thought at first, it was too small, but when i checked it out of Blue Nile, it actually is exquisite, especially if two is worn together. For that i choose the mini emerald birthstone. My birthstone is diamond and i think pairing the diamond and emerald will look great. Why emerald? Well because my two sisters and mom, who are all living abroad and i don’t see much, have the same emerald birthstone. It will be nice to remember them every time i wear the necklace. Also, in the write up it says that emerald placed on the heart brings emotional balance. Just the thought might bring me the emotional stability i need right now. Thanks for the generosity!
Gorgeous jewelry! I’m usually more the type to enjoy beautiful jewelry but to not want wear it myself; however, the understated birthstone pendant looks pretty and wearable. I’m in for a citrine/topaz. It’s just my birthstone with no special story other than that it rarely receives much love as a birthstone. It’s very autumnal, and I like it.
Love them all. I am a March baby, but love pearls best!
I have a milestone birthday in 3 weeks — 65. I am approaching this day with joy and terror in equal measure. I love the necklace and would choose peridot both aesthetically and for its association with unconditional love, happiness and light — ideal qualities always, but appreciated even more as we age. Thank you for the inspiration, humor, and honesty in your writing (and happy belated birthday).
What a pretty necklace. While there’s hardly a gemstone I wouldn’t wear or appreciate, in this particular style I think I’d surprise myself and actually choose my April birthstone.
Just a simple little necklace designed to make me happy..While I am a Pisces and the aquamarine is my birthstone, I would prefer a small diamond in my necklace…The necklace which becomes my talisman that I wear it all the time…My extended vacation in Tuscany at a villa on a hill near Prato has just begun…The sun is warmly shining and I exit the terrace bound for a day by the pool…I am wearing the slimmest of black bikinis and my necklace…The sun beats down and the day already has the earth and fragrance that is Tuscany…However, the slight sparkle from my necklace is the only light I see…Just a simple little necklace designed to make me happy…
Thank you! My birthday is in October and I have always loved opals. But as the very proper daughter of hippies, I fully support one’s right to any gemstone that calls!
July birthday here– and I do enjoy rubies in theory. ‘Choose your own talisman’, I like that. I choose pearls.
What a great gift this would be. My birthday is April so my preference would be diamond. Think this would be something I would wear nonstop as I don’t wear anything large around my neck very often. And happy belated birthday to you
I’m garnet -January – which I used to not appreciate, but now love. I have a teardrop pendant set in gold that I need to put on a new, longer chain. And I’ve got two too-small rings that you may have inspired me to get re-sized or even re-set.
I do love, however, aquamarine. I had a cocktail ring from my grandmother that I used to wear in middle school. Her rings only fit my left ring finger, which bugged my mom but delighted me.
That amethyst cocktail ring you’ve linked above … I see there’s a garnet one on the site as well … yep, totally going to have to dig those old ones up and re-size them, and perhaps add a new one to my Christmas/birthday list …
All beautiful–but I’ll stick with my birthstone, emerald. Who can argue with emotional balance near the heart?
I should hew to my garnet birthstone, but the simple sparkle of a diamond speaks to me. Something to wear with the dangling diamond drops I inherited from my grandmother, the earrings that prompted me finally to get my ears pierced at age 46.
My birthstone is topaz for November. I have several cocktail rings with topaz. I would like a garnet because my beloved grandmother’s wedding ring was a small round garnet. The marriage lasted for almost 70 years and I never her saw take that ring off. I miss her every day and she has been gone over 20 years.
What a lovely necklace! I would love to own an emerald one xxx
Love it. I like the diamond one :-).
Although my birthstone is peridot, green has never been my color. I would opt for aquamarine to bring a touch of the sea to my decidedly earthbound day-to-day.
I am an April baby and so is my son. Our birthstone is diamond so that is what I’d choose.
This is beautiful! I (of course) went to the website to see the necklace in all 12 iterations and I find it most stunning with the diamond or the citrine. My husband is an April baby (April Fools, actually) and I am November, though I usually eschew birthstone jewelry…so who knows if there was something subliminal in my liking the piece or if it’s simply displayed in the in a non-obvious way that appeals to my sensibilities.
Thank you as always for sharing and hosting!
BooHoo – all I got for my September birthday was 2 new heat pumps. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy to have them, things were a little warm this past summer, but they’re not shiny, and if they were on a chain it would heavy enough to sink a body straight to the floor of the ocean.
Sapphire, my birthstone, is always my choice.
Even though I grew up and left for college with a special watermelon/pink tourmaline my parents gave me as a child, the citron speaks to me now. When my two daughters were young and received their first birthstone rings, a citron and an emerald, one was lost. This caused some turmoil, as the rings were identical except for the emerald which was a bit light. The loss became an issue of the past and the girls grew up. At the wedding of my first daughter, I gave her a family heirloom of an emerald necklace and that citron pendant would be the perfect gift for my second daughter, marrying over the upcoming holidays. I need that pendant! Well, need is probably not the right message, but it would be a nice piece to balance the emerald/citron time.
I just turned 60 and retired as a psychologist two months ago. I love reading your blog.
Namaste,
Donna
For my 50th birthday I received a beautiful watermelon/pink pendanthas made
@Donna Beckmann,
“For my 50th birthday I received a beautiful watermelon/pink pendanthas made”
was an error in revision. Sorry. I started to say something along the line of, “I have a nice sentimental birthstone of my own and am now more interested in birthstones of others, but fell short of the delete portion of the revision. Senioritis?
Really? Really?! Does it apply only to readers stateside? Can I be in too, from here in Europe?! Can I? If so, I do like a nice stone. My favourite is probably turquoise. I like corals for the red, but I would never have it, what with the slow dying of the reefs.
But.. I share your birthday, 30. September and I love this date. It’s funny, but it seems to me such a nice round number, and I mean round as in shape – the 3, the 0, the 9. Also 3×3 exuals 9. And 9 is a very nice number in numerology, tolerant, giving, motherly. 3 is not bad either. This is also the birth date of beautiful ladies: Monica Bellucci, Marion Cotillard, Angie Dickinson.. and us :)
Ok, so now I am in and can only turn to the gods of good luck.
And – a belated happy birthday!
@Tanja,
Oh dear, equals, q, not x!
For any other possible errors, please use self correct function lodged to the left side of your brain.
Thank you,
Tanja
What a lovely offer. I was worn on the Autumn Equinox in September and as a child was enchanted by the idea of the earth reaching equal day and equal night just for me! I would adore an amethyst. Have always coveted one and it’s healing symbolism. Thank you for this lovely post.
If I win the lovely necklace, I’ll go with my birthstone, sapphire. I’ve always liked sapphire & September, with some warm days & Fall coming on. The necklace would look great with the ruby heart pendant my husband gave me & that I wear every day.
I’d choose the diamond because it’s the birthstone of my daughter and her daughter.
Oh, I’m just in time to sneak into this and participate! My birthday is in April, and so my birthstone is diamond and I’ve always liked it just fine. When I was young, I had a customized children’s book that was about Snow White and the 7 dwarves, but it had my name in the book and they found diamonds in a mine. I found it interesting as a child that the book was personalized for me, and I always liked things with my name on them. I assume this is typical for kids of that time. Now I tend to view it all as junk! A few things I loved, I once had a necklace with a diamond chip that had my name and birthdate on the back. I also loved a locket from being the flower girl in my brother’s wedding with my name on the back. I still have that. Oh, and pick-a-pearls from SeaWorld. Loved them. The things that little girls like! I will pick diamond and stay true to my April birthday. Thanks for the chance to participate.
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