Inexpensive Quality Jewelry,anyone Help Me ?

Q: I've followed many of the recommendations posted here for online jewelry, but all the the places I've seen you all rave about are not affordable for me right now or are wholesale only and I don't know anyone with a wholesale license to help me out. Around here, a plain CBR STARTS AT $20.00, so I'd really like to find affordable but reliable quality jewelry online. Is it possible to find high quality basic surgical steel CBRs for around $10.00? Or affordable cute barbell ends and beads that are good? I'm really wary of most places that have tons of cute, cheap stuff after reading so much about how important quality is, but there's a budget and lots of holes to fill

A:You really do risk sacrificing quality when you look for cheap jewelry. Is $20 really that much to pay when the jewelry is made from high quality material, and often hand-finished and carefully inspected? When you know that the product will be perfect, and if it's not, you can return it? I know it's hard to do bodyart on a very tight budget, but one thing I will not do is skimp on getting the best. Custom Steel isn't bad for basics. I have worn Skin Deep jewelry ($5-10/CBR) without much of a problem, but there is a distinct different in quality between their pieces and, say, Anatometal. A few people have come out decently with Thibault barbells. The thing I've found it's hardest to get cheaply is good internally threaded barbells. The cheaper you get, the nastier barbells tend to get. You have to prioritize. Quality, cost, or variety? Would you rather look cool or have something really good in you? Would you rather have a dozen crappy pieces or a couple really good ones?

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