I'm a bit of a magpie when it comes to jewellery, so I have quite the collection of necklaces, rings, bracelets and earrings. Gold has always been my favourite, and I've got a mix of brands like Missoma and Monica Vinader, as well as treasured sentimental pieces.
I love each and every item, but here's the thing - I don't spend much time looking after them. I have lint rollers, fabric shavers and coat hangers that won't leave marks in my tops, and steamers to keep my capsule wardrobe looking pristine. Don't get me wrong, my jewellery is all stored in boxes and drawers, all nice and separate so they don't get tangled up, but I haven't ever spent much time cleaning or polishing my beloved accessories.
When you think about the everyday grime that can accumulate on jewellery - soap, fake tan, SPF and sweat, you can see why it would need cleaning. Coming into contact with things like moisturiser and perfume can cause tarnishing, and when some of my favourite necklaces started leaving marks on the neckline of my new white t-shirts, I knew they needed some attention.
I do actually have an ultrasonic retainer cleaner that I've tried on some rings before but wasn't hugely impressed. So when the HG jewellery liquid cleaning bath was recommended to me I decided to give it a go. It costs just £7 on Amazon, so is much easier and cheaper than a trip to the jewellers.
It has over 12,000 reviews on Amazon, and promises to "restore the original shine", "remove dirt quickly and efficiently", and says it works on both jewellery and dress jewellery.
The directions are simple and easy to follow: immerse the jewellery for 3-5 minutes depending on how dirty it is, remove from the tub of liquid with the help of the blue plastic tweezers provided, then use the brush to clean any parts that are difficult to reach. Rinse the jewellery under the tap and clean with a non-fluffy cloth. Sounds easy!
So how did I get on? It's REALLY good. Admittedly, it's not a dunk your jewellery in the bath, have a cup of tea, come back and your jewellery is now sparkling: there is some elbow grease required.
The tweezers are messy to use, so smaller jewellery can be tricky to fish out. The brush is definitely good for detailed areas though (you'll see that I really put this product to the test with some seriously complicated designs!), but the one thing I think is missing is a good cloth.
Tarnished areas need polishing after being in the cleaning bath - it doesn't just fall away whilst submerged. However, I cleaned ten items and the colour of the liquid afterwards indicated to me that it really had worked, and well, the results speak for themselves.
One Amazon reviewer agreed: "the cost of sending [my necklace] to Tiffany to clean was £135 so I thought I would try this first. It was very easy to use, I dropped the necklace into the solution and left it for the time advised. It comes with tweezers to get the item back out of the solution and also a small brush for any stubborn discolouration. The results were amazing... necklace looked like new again so much so I proceeded to do all of my silver jewellery. I did also buy a silver jewellery polishing cloth to buff the items afterwards."
If you're looking around for Amazon Prime Day deals, I'd definitely add this to your shopping basket alongside our top recommended Amazon essentials.
There's actually some really amazing jewellery on Amazon too if any of your pieces are past the point of cleaning - such as this dreamy necklace on Amazon.
