New Jewelry Purchases & Splurge Vs. Steal

I was on Hautelook.com the other day when I came accross some gorgoues piece by Bansri. I'm not really much of a jewelry person, but I do like unique pieces. One of the items I purchased was a black and gold clover necklace that instantly reminded me of the one by Van Cleef & Arpel's Alhambra. If any of you watch the Real Housewives of Orange County you may have noticed that Alexis wore this necklace a few times. 

This necklace is so expensive that you actually have to request the price. I'm not sure of the exact price, but I've seen similar shorter versions of the necklace going for over $6,000 on eBay. Yeah, it's that expensive!

So I purchased this gold plated Bansri piece for $41 marked down from $98

I also got these gold plated evil eye bracelets (in Turkish we call call the evil eye a nazar boncugu).  I love things with the evil eye, despite it's name which can be kind of strange; it's actually kind of like a talisman as it's known in many cultures to protect against the evil eye. The idea of using these is that it will attract the evil eye (nazar) before it can damage the thing or the person that it is directed to, absorbing the damaging power of voluntary/involuntary "evil look". Therefore the nazar bead is always out in the open, not a secret talisman. In Turkey you will often see a nazar boncugu pinned to a baby's clothing and if it ever breaks it is usually replaced immediately. 
  [There's your educational info for the day hehe]

The closure has a little hamsa (hand) that dangles from it.

To be honest, I was kind of disappointed in the quality of these. A set of 2 was also $41 marked down from $98. They are definitely cute, but too pricy for the quality.