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Whether you are a fan of gold or silver jewelry, both types of jewelry tend to lose its luster over time. Common color-impacting culprits include cosmetics, corrosion, sweat, dust, dirt, even certain types of medication which alters the body's natural chemistry thus interfering with the alloys in both gold and silver.

How To Get The Color Back To Your Jewelry

Fill a bowl with two cups of warm water. To clean gold jewelry, add a few drops of a mild dishwasher liquid, such as Dawn, to the water. This solution can be used to clean pearl jewelry as well. Simply dip a cloth into the solution and rub each pearl clean. Place your gold jewelry in the bowl and let it sit for 15 minutes. To clean silver jewelry, either let the jewelry piece sit in a bowl of polish fluid or fill up a bowl with two cups of plain warm water and swish the silver jewelry around gently to rinse off any loose dirt or residue. Remove from the bowl and blot the silver jewelry dry with a soft cloth.

Lift a portion of the gold jewelry out of the bowl of warm water, and use a soft-bristled toothbrush to remove any dirt or other residue. Continue this process for the remainder of the jewelry piece, paying close attention to hard-to-reach nooks and crannies that may hold the most dirt. For silver jewelry, use a silver-specific cleaning polish, such as Tarn-X, to remove tarnish. Use a soft cloth when applying polish onto your jewelry and clean using either a left-and-right or up-and-down motion. Move the cloth around to ensure a clean side is being used to polish out the dirt. Do not use a circular motion when cleaning silver jewelry and be extra careful not to get the polish on any delicate stones. This may damage the stones as well as strip it of its protective coating. Continue polishing silver jewelry until there are no more visible signs of tarnish.

Fill another bowl with two cups of warm water. Place your gold jewelry in the new bowl of warm water and swish it around gently to remove the soap. Remove the gold jewelry from the water and place it on a clean, soft cloth. Blot the gold jewelry dry, then buff it gently to make it shine.