The color scheme of this gemstone is just as off-the-wall as the name, Lapis Lazuli.

This deep blue gemstone is opaque and composed of the minerals Lazurite, Calcite and Pyrite.  It hails from the Sar-i Sang mines and other mines that are found in the northeast of Afghanistan, going back as far as the 7th millenium B.C. Also called Lapis for short, this gem has been found in bead form at neolithic burials in Caucasus and Mehrgarh.

A fun fact: Lapis was used to decorate the eyebrows on King Tutankhamun's funeral mask, dating back to somewhere between 1341 and 1323 B.C.

Are we surprised that Nordstrom is a favorite among shoppers and Wal-Mart fell at the bottom of the list?

Market Force polled 4,300 consumers...and the survery revealed that Nordstrom is at the top of the favorite fashion retailers list. As far as composite loyalty, Nordstrom topped retailers including Kohl's, T.J. Maxx, Macy's and Dillard's.

Walmart ended up with the worst scores in the market survey, with a loyalty score of 27 in comparison to Nordstrom's score of 66. Just above Wal-Mart were WINNERS, Old Navy and Target. Does this come as a surprise to you?

The SAG (Screen Actors Guild) awards 2015 featured a fabulous line-up of celebs wearing jewelry that is to die for!

Forbes announced that "Yellow Gold Jewelry Makes an Appearance at 2015 SAG Awards Red Carpet". This all-white event was complemented with awe-inspiring yellow gold. One of the boldest appearances, according to Forbes, was the gold display of Amrit necklace and Fred Leighton gold earrings and bracelets, was adorned on Jennifer Anniston.

Also mentioned was Maggie Gyllenhaal, who was embellished with the yellow gold trend, featuring a gold and peridot 1940s diamond ring and Fred Leighton Victorian Gold pendant earrings.

While yellow gold was a hit at the SAG Awards, Reese Witherspoon and Kimoko Glenn broke the mold wearing a "Girl's Best Friend" and white jewelry. Witherspoon featured 3.5 million dollars worth of diamonds designed by Harry Winston and Glenn wore the white, in the form of ear climbers designed by Dionea Orcini.

Which ones are your favorite?

One of the top sold items for Valentine's Day? Why, jewelry, of course! But, it's not as popular as greeting cards, candy and flowers.

Last year, Mashable provided us with an idea of which types of products people purchase the most for Valentine's Day. They offered us a chart that showed what men purchased as opposed to what women purchased. The top choice for men to purchase was flowers, with jewelry falling in 5th place, under candy, greeting cards and an evening out.

Women made very similar choices for Valentine's Day gifts as men did. However, there was a slight difference. Only 15% of women purchased flowers, as opposed to 61% of men. Women's first choice was greeting cards, their second choice was candy. Jewelry came in last, at only 9%.

What are you buying this year for Valentine's Day? Are you going to think outside of the box or purchase something on the "most popular gifts" list?

Don't forget BC Custom Jewelry if you are in the 29% of men or the 9% of women who are planning to purchase jewelry! We can craft one of a kind pieces that will make anyone's Valentine's Day special.

The Gemological Institute of America (also known as GIA) has made some tweaks to the reports for colored stone and pearls, which will go into effect February 1, 2015.

Hayden Panettiere, if you haven't heard of her, wears many hats in the Hollywood scene.

The American actress, activist, model, and singer is known for her role from 2006 to 2010 as the cheerleader, Claire Bennet on the series, Heroes, which was featured on NBC and her Juliette Barnes role on the series Nashville, which ABC broadcasted.

If you still don't know who she is, maybe you would recognize her photo?

Whether you recognize her or not, she is the newest addition to the lines of celeb ladies who have received an emerald cut diamond as their engagement ring. Miss Panettiere got engaged last October.

Other "popular" ladies who have received an emerald cut diamond for their engagement rings include: Angelina Jolie, Beyonce, Mariah Carey, and Kate Hudson.

We wish Hayden and her fiancee, Wadaimir Klitschko, good luck as they continue their engagement and make plans for their wedding.

We talked about Grossular, which is a type of Garnet, just a couple of days ago in our Gem Of the Week post. Today, we are going to take a quick look at the January Birth Stone, which is the Garnet. While garnet gemstones can range in color to just about any color on the spectrum, the January birth stone is the red garnet, which is known for calmness.

Were you born in January? Are you a calm type of person? If not, maybe you should get yourself a custom made piece of jewelry with your birthstone on it, because it is supposed to bring calmness to the wearer.

Not to be confused with the ruby, the ruby is a much rarer stone, also more expensive. The best way to tell the difference between a ruby and a garnet is to hold the stone up to light. The rainbows, or spectrums, that the stone makes will be the telltale. Because rubies absorb green and yellow and do not reflect these colors, you will not see both green and yellow in the "rainbow" that the gemstone creates. If yellow or green appears in the rainbow, the gem is most likely a red garnet.

Grossular is a type of garnet that comes in a wide variety of pretty colors, although the purest Gossular is colorless.

Garnets are made of a class of several different minerals, and Grossular is just one of those minerals. Additionally, there is what you could call a "subclass" under grossular, in which you will find grossular types such as the Tsavorite, which is a fabulous deep green, or the Hessonite, which is a remarkable orangish brown color.

You may hear the Grossular be called Grossularite, and either  term is acceptable and known in the gem world. Basically, those two words are synonyms.

Grossular can come in hues of white, colorless, yellow, orange, red, green, purple, gray, brown or pink. Above, you see it in a yellow hue.

Are you a fan of garnets? Which colors are your favorites and which type of jewelry is your gemstone on?

When the Golden Globe Awards come around, there are always a few things to ponder...who is going to get the awards is first and foremost, but right behind that, designers, celebrities and the rest of the fashion world wonder what the celebs will be adorned with, including gowns, jewelry and footwear.

For the 2015 Golden Globe Awards, which was the 72nd annual affair held on January 11th, we saw some of the most beautiful jewelry displayed on the necks, arms and ears of celebs from Julianne Moore to Keira Knightly.

The most stand-out statement piece of the night award would go to Naomi Watts, who showed up adorned in her snake necklace:

Chandelier earrings were one of the biggest trends at the Golden Globe awards this year, though...with Jennifer Lopez standing in the limelight with her Lorraine Schwartz diamond earrings:

Eliizabeth Taylor would have been proud of Julianne Moore's ensemble of ice that was dripping off of her wrist and fingers:

Who was your favorite jewelry wearing star on the night of the 11th at the Golden Globe Awards?

The countdown to Valentine's Day is on...and it seems like we just got past Christmas! You may have noticed that before the leftover Christmas items were marked down to 50% and 75% off in stores, Valentine's Day items were showing up in the stores.

Here are some interesting consumer Valentine's Day spending facts, but before we tell you them, know that 53% of women reported that their boyfriends would be kicked to the curb if they didn't receive a gift on "Love Day"...so beware!

Business Insider reported that the average consumer in the U.S. will spend an average of about $115 on gifts, cards, meals and events on Valentine's Day. You could skip heading out to the stores and do your Valentine's Day shopping online like the 32% of consumers who purchase their V-Day gifts online. And, if you are a man, plan to spend twice as much as your female counterpart (about $150 versus about $75).

And, remember that women would prefer to be taken out somewhere for Valentine's Day, as opposed to receiving a material gift, while men would prefer to get their gift in the morning, rather than in the afternoon or evening of Valentine's Day. So, get your timing and your gifting right this Valentine's Day!