Easy to confuse — here’s how to tell them apart:
- Just dirty: the piece looks dull or filmy all over, usually from lotion, sweat, or product buildup. A gentle clean brings the shine back. (See How do I clean my gold-plated pieces?)
- Actual wear: you see silver-tone steel showing through the gold at high-contact spots — the inside of a ring band, the back of a clasp — and it doesn’t come back after cleaning.
The good news: even if the tone wears at a contact point over time, the 316L steel underneath is still safe to wear and never turns skin green. And premature fading within the first year is covered by our color warranty.
