It’s not your mother’s gold and pearls.
Credit: Reviewed / Jackson Ruckar
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As the saying goes, you get what you pay for, especially when it comes to jewelry. Fine jewelry will stand the test of times, but the expensive price tag can seem daunting and, frankly, unattainable for the average shopper.
On the other hand, cheap costume jewelry that’s typically made of more nickel and plastic than any precious metals isn’t an ideal alternative. These items can lead to skin irritation and may not last long as they tend to break or tarnish easily.
Enter Mejuri, a millennial-focused fine jewelry brand with budget shoppers in mind.
Mejuri knows that nobody wants to wear fake jewelry, but the brand also knows that the fine jewelry of our mother’s generation is expensive, stuffy, and inaccessible for the majority of young women (and men). Mejuri’s business model is that it sells fine and semi-fine earrings, necklaces, rings and more directly from jewelers, which helps keep prices low.
After seeing ads for Mejuri all over my Instagram, our style editor, Amanda Tarlton, and I decided to see if its delicate earrings, rings, and necklaces could make us feel beautifully accessorized—and last through months of regular wear—without breaking the bank.
What is Mejuri?
Mejuri is a Toronto-based jewelry brand that sells a variety of fine and semi-fine pieces made of precious metals without the typical markups found in jewelry stores. If you’re someone who wears jewelry and uses the internet, you’ve probably seen their ads, featuring beautiful women wearing sleek minimalist rings and earrings. They also have two brick and mortar stores, one in Toronto and one in New York City.
Like most successful millennial brands, Mejuri fills a unique niche. Many young people especially are interested in ethical, sustainable living, i.e., they’re careful to purchase clothing, jewelry, and other goods that will last many years and not contribute to excess waste. They seek brands like Mejuri that are committed to high manufacturing standards and quality materials. But because many of those people don’t have a ton of cash lying around for luxury goods, the products also need to be affordable—which Mejuri jewelry also claims to be.
On its website, Mejuri says it “believes luxury should be accessible, fun, and part of your everyday,” and that its mission is to “have women embrace a daily dose of luxury.” It also has a (fairly sparse) chart explaining how the company avoids markups by building relationships directly with manufacturers, and a page outlining how it ethically sources its materials, including 14K solid gold, sterling silver, gold vermeil (a fancy term for gold-plated), freshwater pearls, gemstones, and diamonds.
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Mejuri earrings review
Cassidy has been a fan of Mejuri jewelry for two years and bought several pairs of earrings to try out.
Mini Hoops ($35 each)
These two solid gold Mini Hoops have been chilling and looking great in my second piercings for months on end. They’ve yet to show any real signs of wear and tear, although I should probably mention that they are not sold as a pair.
Mejuri has many offerings to suit various types of piercings, and they even offer single earrings for those who may only have one pierced ear. In this category I found the single Mini Hoop, which I liked the look of, so I chose to purchase two of them and make my own pair.
Editor Hoops ($78)
While I enjoyed the minimalist look of the gold vermeil Editor Hoops, I was devastated when one of the earrings snapped at the post after just 10 days, thus making them unwearable. Given the price of these hoops, I was feeling let down and surprised they broke so easily.
However, I decided to purchase another pair of gold vermeil hoops with a slightly different design to see how they held up in comparison.
Midi Hoops ($58)
With a traditional clasp closure as opposed to the narrow posts on the Editor Hoops, these new hoops appeared to be stronger and better made, and I’m pleased to report that my assessment was right. The Midi Hoops have a more substantial weight to them and are still shining and opening and closing easily after months of regular wear.
Amanda tested out another pair of hoop earrings from Mejuri.
Boyfriend Hoops ($60)
As much as I love hoops, I’ve never owned a pair as chunky as the Boyfriend Hoops, so I was worried they would be heavy and pull at my earlobes. But they were surprisingly lightweight—I wore them all day without any pain or discomfort. I wore them for an entire week and then placed them back in the black velvet bag they came with. Unfortunately that may have been a mistake—when I pulled them out three weeks later, they were visibly tarnished in a few spots. I still wear them because you can’t see the spots until you get up close, but it’s still disappointing.
Editor’s Note: The Boyfriend Hoops have been discontinued by Mejuri, but their Daily Hoops are a similar alternative.
Mejuri necklace review
Amanda purchased a necklace from Mejuri to try.
Satellite Necklace ($98)
Made of 14K gold and boasting three tiny gemstones, the Satellite Necklace is very dainty. I like the short choker length and that it’s very lightweight so it doesn’t hurt the back of my neck. It’s neutral and thin enough that you can easily layer it with other necklaces—which is a look I love—and it works with almost any outfit, no matter how casual or dressy it is. Also, I’m happy to say that unlike the earrings, the necklace has yet to tarnish at all in the months I’ve owned it.
Mejuri ring review
Cassidy loves wearing her Mejuri ring.
Last but not least, my parents gifted me the solid 14K yellow gold 360 Ring—which sadly is no longer available—for my birthday. I now wear the 360 Ring on my left index finger all the time, and it hasn’t warped or tarnished in almost three months. With its hollow gold circle in the middle of a delicate band, it’s both subtle and unique, and I believe it will stack attractively with other delicate rings if I ever buy them.
While the 360 ring is no longer an available option, the Pavé Diamond Circle Ring is the most visually similar ring that Mejuri offers.
Is Mejuri jewelry high quality?
Apart from the thin gold-plated Editor Hoops that broke after just 10 days of wear, everything I’ve purchased, gifted, or been gifted from Mejuri has impressed me with its quality. As with most other jewelry, you still have to keep in mind that you get what you pay for—solid gold is going to last longer than gold vermeil, diamonds and gemstones are always going to be baseline expensive, and so on.
It’s worth noting that I also much prefer the designs offered at Mejuri to the ones I’ve seen at department stores like Macy’s and Nordstrom and jewelry stores like Tiffany and Co. Mejuri’s designs are simple yet fun, trendy yet elegant, and they appeal to me as a 20-something woman who lives in a major metro area and doesn’t want to wear the kind of jewelry I saw at the mall growing up.
How much does Mejuri jewelry cost?
Mejuri’s major claim to fame is its comparatively low prices, so that begs the question: How competitive are they?
The simple answer is that most Mejuri jewelry indeed costs less than equivalent jewelry from traditional retailers, but not always by much. Let’s consider a simple pair of small, thick gold hoops from Mejuri, the Bold Hoops. Made from solid 14K gold, Mejuri sells these hoops for $150. A similar pair from Macy’s, also made of solid 14K gold, retails for $350. However, Macy’s has knocked that down to a sale price of $192.50, and with an additional offer code, they can be purchased for $134.75.
In the end, both pairs of hoops are available for roughly the same price, but Macy’s forces you to wait for sales and jump through some hoops (pun intended) to get to that price. Mejuri eliminates markups from the start, meaning the listed price is exactly what you pay. It’s worth noting that the Mejuri earrings are also more modern-looking than those from Macy’s, with smaller clasps and rounded ends, and thus appeal to different (usually younger) shoppers.
Department stores are different from devoted fine jewelry stores, however. At a store like Tiffany & Co., you’re unlikely to find discounts that will bring jewelry prices low enough to compare to Mejuri. For example, Tiffany sells a grooved sterling silver cuff bracelet for $525. Mejuri sells a similar sterling silver cuff, the Croissant Dôme Bracelet, for just $105.
You can spend anywhere from $35 for a single mini-hoop earring to $2,000 for an engagement ring from Mejuri—prices that aren’t substantially different than what you might find on sale in a department store, but much less than what you’d pay at a fine jewelry store.
I’m personally satisfied with the prices at Mejuri, and I’m much happier buying their modern, elegant designs than digging through mountains of sale jewelry (or hunting for coupons) at a department store to find something I might like. I appreciate that the brand provides great value for a fraction of the cost you might see at high end jewelry retailers.
Is Mejuri jewelry worth it?
After testing several different pieces from Mejuri over four months’ time, I can say that most of its jewelry is well worth the price—particularly if you’re smitten with the minimalist jewelry trend that’s everywhere right now.
If you’re willing to scour the web for deals all the time, you can probably find pieces similar to those from Mejuri for cheaper, but not by much. Mejuri makes it easy to go to one place and consistently find dozens of chic, affordable pieces you can stack and layer and collect over time. It’s like a trendy jewelry ecosystem, without the ostentatious Tiffany charms.
Don’t get me wrong—Mejuri hasn’t made fine jewelry not a luxury. Each piece is still about as much as I would spend on an item of clothing, and if you’re not raking in cash (i.e., if you’re like me), you won’t be able to afford it all. But I can confirm that there is a big difference between the $2 hoops from Shein I usually wear and the pair I got from Mejuri.
Mejuri also doesn’t offer the unique, maximalist pieces that you can get on designer websites and at vintage stores. But if you’re looking for pretty, well-made fine jewelry at a fair price, Mejuri is a great first stop.