A little care makes a real difference to how your jewellery ages. Nothing here is complicated, it's mostly about timing: what you do before you put a piece on, and where it lives when you take it off.

Before you put jewellery on is the moment that matters most. Perfume, moisturiser, hairspray and cosmetics all contain chemicals that sit on metal and slowly change its finish, so get ready first and treat your jewellery as the final step of getting dressed.

Water is the other thing to plan around. Showering, washing up, swimming and hand-washing all bring metal into contact with detergents, chlorine or salt, any one of which can mark a finish faster than ordinary wear. The habit worth building is simple: rings and other pieces come off before hands go in water.

The gym deserves its own mention too. Perspiration is quietly one of the more corrosive things jewellery encounters day to day, so pieces are best left in a dish by the door rather than worn through a workout.

When jewellery isn't being worn, how it's stored matters almost as much as how it's worn. Heat, direct sun and humidity all speed up tarnishing, so a cool, dark, dry spot, ideally an airtight pouch or box is the best home for anything not currently on. And for cleaning, a soft, lint-free cloth handles most day-to-day dulling; a soft-bristled brush (an old toothbrush is ideal) gets into settings and detail work that a cloth can't reach.

Solid gold runs all the way through the piece, so its colour and finish stay consistent for as long as you wear it. It is still a soft precious metal, though, so it can pick up fine surface marks with heavy daily wear, and prolonged contact with chlorine, alcohol gel or strong cosmetics will take some shine off it over time.

Take it off before swimming, applying hand sanitiser, or anything physically demanding, and give it the occasional polish with a soft cloth to bring the lustre back. If a piece does pick up a deeper scratch, that's something we can professionally re-polish, just get in touch: hello@bethchesser.com

Plated pieces need a slightly different kind of attention, because the gold layer sits on top of a base metal rather than running all the way through. With sensible care it can look wonderful for a long time, but it will wear thinner with contact and use, so the goal is to protect that top layer for as long as possible.

Handle plated jewellery gently and avoid anything that rubs or scratches the surface repeatedly. Water is a particular risk here, chlorine especially can permanently dull or discolour plating, so these pieces should always come off before a shower, bath or swim. Alcohol gel is worth calling out too: it wears through gold plating faster than almost anything else, so keep hands sanitised before rings go on, not after. As with solid pieces, apply perfume and cosmetics first and let plated jewellery go on last. When you take it off, store each piece in its own pouch or compartment, plated items rubbing against other jewellery is one of the most common causes of premature wear.

Solid sterling silver, used across pieces in the Multiplane collection, is sturdy enough for daily wear. Its one real vulnerability is tarnishing, chlorine brings this on quickly, and even a swim in the sea can darken silver faster than you'd expect. Silver stored loose and unworn for long periods can tarnish too, so anything you're not currently wearing is best kept in its box.

Tarnish is easy to undo: a silver-polishing cloth handles it in seconds, or warm soapy water with a soft brush works nearly as well if you're patient.

Keep stone-set pieces away from water, skincare and cosmetics where you can, residue from these builds up on a stone's surface and dulls it over time. If a stone ever feels loose, that's a sign to stop wearing the piece and send it to us before it's worn any further.

Cleaning needs differ slightly depending on the metal. Gold plated pieces should only ever be wiped, never scrubbed, a soft polishing cloth passed gently over the surface is enough, and any rubbing or pressure will only shorten the life of the plating.

Silver is more forgiving. Warm soapy water works well, but rinse and dry each piece thoroughly afterwards, since leftover moisture is one of the quickest routes to tarnish. A soft polishing cloth is an equally good option if you'd rather skip water altogether.

Beyond the metal-specific steps, a few habits are worth making routine: give jewellery a quick once-over every so often for early signs of dirt or wear, steer clear of anything abrasive when cleaning, and get in the habit of wiping pieces down with a soft, dry, lint-free cloth after each wear, this alone removes most of the make-up and natural skin oils that build up over the course of a day.