I bought these lovely earring from Lovisa the other week (they were only $3 too!) but was somewhat disappointed to discover that one of the sparkly crystals had a noticeable scratch in the silver backing. Normally I just ignore chips as much as possible and do my best to prevent them by being extra careful with my jewellery but then I had the thought – that in perhaps painting the back with silver nail polish it might not only be able to mask the hole but also prevent it from further damage too.

1. Silver Nail Polish to coat small scratches

2. Clear Nail Polish, Mod Podge, jeweller’s resin or jeweller’s glue to Protect other Crystals

Here you can see I filled the chipped crystal but dotting in a small amount of silver nail polish.

I then painted all the remaining holes with clear nail polish and let it dry.

(I think something like Mod Podge would work well here too, also jeweller’s epoxy resin)

This is the finished earring. Although the silver doesn’t blend in perfectly with the stone, I think it does look noticeably better than before. 

Tip: Make sure to match the colour of the nail polish with the crystal backing rather than crystal colour. Most gems in cheap jewellery like this use silver backing, even ones with coloured gemstones. 

I also tried doing a few of my other pieces with a silver leafing pen, it looked alright, but I think the nail polish looked better. 

I’m not sure how great this would work with patching larger holes (they might be beyond saving) but could be worth a shot. 

I think the idea of preventing scratches in the first place is a really good one though, and I think clear nail polish is a really great option (I can’t imagine it would do any harm or discolour the jewellery, if you’re worried, use resin). 

Anyway that’s what I’ve done and it seems to work well. 

Linking up with: Whims Wednesday,