Stone and Strand Jewelry Reviewed: Read Before Buying

Has a Stone and Strand jewelry piece recently caught your eye?

The fine jewelry brand offers a unique range of gorgeous fashion bracelets, earrings, pendants, necklaces, and rings, so we’re not surprised!

If you’re after some guidance about whether you should add a piece from the brand to your jewelry box, this is the guide for you.

(Did you know there are five places you shouldn’t wear your fine jewelry? Check out our favorite backup pieces below, or keep reading to discover everything you need to know about Stone and Strand jewelry!)

Stone and Strand jewelry’s founder Nadine McCarthy Kahane established the brand in 2013.

The Wharton grad developed the idea while getting her MBA at the prestigious business school. It came about because Nadine endeavored to “combine affordable jewelry, female ethos, and meticulously designed, quality pieces — All without the typical 10x mark-up.”

The brand's handcrafted jewelry pieces are designed in New York City, with 70% made in the city itself.

Stone and Strand’s jewelry pieces can be purchased on their website or in their New York showroom by appointment. Net-a-Porter, Nordstrom, and Neiman Marcus also stock the brand.

The jewelry brand is known for creating relatively affordable fine jewelry that exudes a dainty, sophisticated style. Pieces tend to be quite colorful and look particularly good stacked.

In fact, “Expensive taste without the mark-up” is a key part of Stone and Strand’s branding.

Jewelry pieces are typically accented with diamonds, gemstones (such as turquoise,  tourmaline, and topaz), or pearls.

The brand is also known for its progressive values-driven ethos.

For example, the company designs two collections a year to help fund causes the company believes in, such as women-focused education and breast cancer awareness.

At the time of writing, its latest cause-driven set is the Good Girl collection, which contributes a portion of revenue to rural women's civic engagement programs.

The brand is also committed to becoming completely carbon neutral and investing in the local New York City production community.

Soon, the brand additionally plans to begin a program to mentor minority jewelry designers.

Some people may choose to shop at Stone and Strand Jewelry because they’re looking for a more affordable alternative to expensive jewelry brands.

Pieces typically range from $96 to $475, a relatively more accessible price point than some other brands that also offer pieces with pricy gems like diamonds.

Others may wish to shop at the fine jeweler to support a women-run jewelry brand that sells non-mass-produced jewelry, has progressive values, and contributes to causes they support.

People may also choose to buy Stone and Strand jewelry pieces because they appreciate that the brand uses high-end metals and accents. Its materials may be a big drawcard for anyone on the market for a more boutique-style piece of jewelry.

On paper, the brand ticks all of the boxes in terms of quality.

Stone and Strand Jewelry says that its pieces are produced "at the same places as the traditional Fifth Avenue brands.”

As mentioned, the brand uses high-end metals and accents. For example, metals such as 10k and 14k solid gold, gold fill and gold plated, sterling silver, and platinum feature throughout the brand’s collection.

The brand also only uses 100% natural, conflict-free, and ethically-sourced diamonds and gemstones.

But some customer reviews tell another story, as reviews about the brand's quality are quite split down the middle.

Stone and Strand Jewelry has a 4.2-star rating on Google from 66 customers, with plenty of reviews expressing how pleased customers were with its quality, especially given the brand’s relatively affordable price.

Many others, however, highlight complaints about everything from tarnishing to dull stones.

Quite a few customers even complained about their jewelry easily breaking.

The sentiment of both these positive and negative reviews is echoed over on the company’s Yelp profile.

So is Stone and Strand jewelry a designer jewelry brand that’s worth purchasing?

The brand no doubt offers several head-turning pieces which suit anyone with a modern jewelry aesthetic.

However, based on the volume of negative reviews about the brand’s quality, we’re not sure about this aspect of the brand.

That’s why we suggest taking a read of the reviews before committing to a purchase (especially as there were just as many reviews that praise the brand’s quality).

That way, you can decide for yourself whether Stone and Strand jewelry is worth the price tag.

Or, you could pick up a piece from Blush and Bar instead.

Our jewelry pieces are all handmade, affordable, and well-reviewed.

You won’t need to worry about the quality of our pieces, either. Each one is crafted with the utmost care and is even backed by a lifetime warranty. Sound good? Shop our collection today!