Are you familiar with pink gold? Perhaps you are laughing at my question, however many are not aware that pink gold is an option. In fact, it does exist, but not in a natural form, for just like white gold the color is achieved by adding alloys to change the color of pure gold that is always yellow.

Pure gold is titled at 24 karats, however 24k gold is too soft to make solid jewellery with. To fully understand where rose gold comes from, it is important to understand that all jewellery, whether it is made of yellow gold, white gold or even red gold (yes!), they all contain other metals in varying proportions. These mixtures are called gold alloys and depending on the title of your jewellery – 10k, 14k or 18k - the quantity of these metals varies. An 18 karat pink gold ring is made of 75% pure gold and 25% of other metals. In other words 18 parts of pure gold on 24. If you have an 10k piece of jewellery, that means that there are 10 parts on 24 parts of pure gold (24k) and the rest are alloys, thereby the alloys outweigh the gold. The term Karat refers to the pureness of the gold while when we say .75 carat diamond (with a c) that is referring to the weight of the diamond. These measurements are sometimes confusing. 

In the case of pink gold, copper and silver are added to obtain the colour pink. Pink gold is one of the precious metals that oxidize the least and is difficult to scratch. It is the best of both worlds, To learn more about gold and its kt, please refer to this very informative text.

Pink gold is said to be romantic and feminine. Having said that, more and more men are starting to wear pink gold jewellery.  It is suitable for all skin tones and add diamonds or any other precious stones to it and you get a stunning result. Engagement rings in14 karat pink gold have been gaining in popularity for several years now because it  is resistant to everyday activities. 

If you like pink and your budget is limited, you will surely be happy to know that 10-karat pink gold tends to be a bit pinker than 14k or 18k due to a greater amount of copper in the alloy, which gives it its pinkness. Unlike yellow gold, which becomes richer as the amount of gold increases, pink gold has a softer pink color. The only downside to this equation is that a higher presence of copper in the alloy could cause an allergic reaction for some.

The story goes that the jeweller Pierre-Karl Fabergé from St. Petersburg was the first to introduce rose gold by incorporating it into the famous Fabergé eggs that he designed for the Russian royal family. Was this gold alloy created by accident or was he really looking for a new shade of gold? The fact remains that the popularity of pink gold, once called Russian gold, quickly crossed borders, and reached its peak in the 1920s, thanks in particular to Cartier's "Trinity ring". Later abandoned in favor of platinum, 18-karat pink gold jewellery regained its popularity after the Second World War, while platinum, used mainly in the war efforts, became scarcer and much more expensive.