When it’s time to give a gift—whether it’s the holiday season, an important anniversary, or just time to show your loved ones that you care—you want to make sure that it’s the perfect present for your favorite person.

When it comes to buying body jewelry, shopping for that quintessential gift can be exceptionally difficult.

Not only do you have to consider matters of style, you need to know the correct size and shape of the jewelry to properly fit the piercing. With so many options available, you might be tempted to give up on the gift of body jewelry for your pierced loved one in favor of an easier gift.

But, buying body jewelry might be easier than you think. To help you out, here’s a complete guide to gifting body jewelry, from sizing options to discreet ways you can gauge the giftee’s style.

Steps To Buying Body Jewelry Online

First, let’s break it down a bit...

Step One

When you first come to FreshTrends, if you’re not well-versed in the piercing world, you probably don’t know where to start.

The Shop By Piercing section breaks down jewelry styles by the piercings that they can decorate, which will make your job much easier. If you’re looking for a specific style (which we talk about in detail a bit later in this article), then you can Shop By Style. If you head there, just be sure that you know what styles your loved one’s piercing can allow.

In the Shop By Piercing section, simply find the piercing that you want to buy jewelry for, click on the collection, and start browsing.

Pro tip: If you’re unsure of current trends, use the Sort filter on the right of the page to list the jewelry by bestselling pieces so that you can see what others are buying, too.

Step Two

Once you’ve chosen the jewelry that you want to purchase and you’ve clicked on it, you’ll see that you’ll have a number of choices to make on the right side of the page, including metal color, gauge, and length or diameter of the jewelry.

Metal Color: Choose whether you want white, yellow, or rose 14k gold. (This is up to your personal preference.)

Gauge: The thickness of the bar that goes through your jewelry. (Learn more about this below.)

Length/Diameter: As you can probably guess, this refers to the length of the jewelry or the diameter of the hoop. (Learn more about this below.)

To choose the proper jewelry, you’re going to have to do some digging to determine the correct sizing options. (It’s not much different than if you decided to buy your loved one some clothes instead.)

Step Three

Purchase the jewelry!

See? It wasn’t that hard. No need to get intimidated by the prospect of buying beautiful body jewelry for a loved one online.

How To Pick Out The Proper Style

Depending on the type of piercing that your loved one has, they might be able to wear a wide variety of styles, making your job a little bit more difficult.

Here are the common body jewelry styles and which piercings they can be worn in.

Cartilage Studs

These are simple studs that are fitted with a bead at the back that you screw in to secure the jewelry.

Flat Back Studs

Nearly the same as cartilage studs, these have a flat backing rather than a bead end. This provides a flusher fit and makes it more suitable for piercings in tighter areas.

Suitable piercings:

• Most cartilage piercings
• Lobe piercings
• Lip piercings
• Some nostril piercings

Traditional Earrings

We have many beautiful and unique standard lobe earrings that look stunning on their own or can complete the look to any ear stack (aka ear party).

Nose Studs

These dainty jewelry pieces peek out of nostril piercings. They are categorized by their prong types.

L-shape: As the name implies, this prong is shaped like an L.

Bone: This prong has a small bulbous end that’s slightly larger than the gauge of the piercing, which secures the jewelry in place.

Twist: This prong style is in a spiral shape and is twisted into the piercing in order to secure the jewelry.

Hoop: You can't go wrong with this classic nose piercing style.

Industrial Barbells

Similar to a straight barbell, industrial barbells consist of a straight bar with two bead ends. These are typically a bit longer because they go through two piercings. Suitable piercings:

• Industrial piercings

Belly Rings

Like hoops, belly rings also come in a few different styles.

Non-Dangle: These are similar to curved barbells, but they typically have a larger ball or charm at the bottom where the jewelry decorates the belly button itself.

Dangle: These are similar to non-dangle, but they usually have a longer charm that dangles from the belly button.

Reverse dangle: Like the dangle belly ring, this style has a longer charm coming from the jewelry, but this charm dangles from the top rather than the bottom.

Suitable piercings:

• Navel piercings

Hoops

Hoops might seem self-explanatory, but there are quite a few hoop options to choose from. These usually depend upon the aesthetic that the wearer prefers as well as how easy the hoop styles are to insert and remove.

Clickers: These have a hinged section that opens to allow the user to insert or remove the jewelry.

Segment: These have a section that completely comes out of the hoop.

Seam Ring: These have a small gap that can be gently pulled apart for insertion. (These offer a sleek look, but many are unable to change these out without piercer assistance.)

Captive bead rings: These have a bead that you can remove to insert the hoop, then snap back into place to secure the jewelry.

Suitable piercings:

• Some cartilage piercings
• Some lip piercings
• Nostril piercings
• Septum piercings
• Eyebrow piercings
• Navel piercings
• Nipple piercings

Straight Barbells

These comprise a straight bar with two bead ends to hold the jewelry in place.

Suitable piercings:

• Tongue piercings
• Nipple piercings
• Some cartilage piercings
• Surface piercings

Curved Barbells

These are characterized by a slightly curved barbell with beads at either end to hold the jewelry in place.

Suitable piercings:

• Septum piercings
• Some cartilage piercings\ Rook piercings \ Daith piercing
• Nipple piercings
• Eyebrow piercings
• Some lip piercings

Circular Barbells

Also referred to as a horseshoe barbell, the barbell on these body jewelry pieces is curved into a circular shape—almost like a horseshoe—with beads on either end to keep the jewelry in place.

Suitable piercings:

• Some cartilage piercings
• Nostril piercings
• Septum piercings
• Some lip piercings
• Eyebrow piercings
• Belly button piercings
• Nipple piercings

Piercing Jewelry Accessories

When you’ve cultivated a stunning body jewelry collection, but you’d like to add something a little more without buying entirely new body jewelry pieces, then add-ons and accessories are the way to go.

Tips For Figuring Out The Preferred Style

Those who are pierced usually develop their preferred style for a number of reasons.

• They like the way it looks.
• It fits comfortably.
• It’s easy to insert.

The best style really depends upon the person (and whether or not their piercing can accept a certain style). The good news is that there are some ways that you can figure out the styles to shop for without letting them know what you’re up to.

• If they have multiple pieces of body jewelry, check to see which style they have the most of. That’s likely the style that they prefer.
• Keep an eye out to see how often they change their jewelry. If they change it often, then they’re likely to prefer styles that are easier to insert and remove on their own, like clicker and captive bead ring hoop styles.
• Try to subtly ask them about their jewelry and why they chose it. Luckily, many people are curious about body piercings, so asking about your loved one’s jewelry might not be out of the ordinary for them. This way, you can also try to see if there have been styles that they want to try, but they simply haven’t shopped for the jewelry yet.

How To Pick Out The Proper Size

When it comes to body jewelry, there are two types of sizes that you need to pay attention to: the gauge and the length/diameter of the jewelry.

The gauge refers to the thickness of the bar that goes through the piercing.

The length refers to the length of the barbell for non-hoop jewelry.

The diameter refers to the size of the hoop, including circular barbells.

Tips For Figuring Out The Jewelry Size Surreptitiously

Sneakiness is the name of the game when it comes to putting together any surprise. The same goes for your loved one’s body jewelry.

Since it’s nearly impossible to eyeball the size of a body jewelry piece, you’ll need to do some sleuthing to ensure that you order the proper jewelry. Here are some ideas to help you out.

• Bring one of their body jewelry pieces to a local piercer. The piercer will be able to measure the jewelry and provide size specs.
• If you’re unable to get hold of a jewelry piece, obtain a picture of the piercing and show it to a piercer. Many piercings have standard gauges, and the piercer will possess an expert eye to give you an educated guess about the sizing options.
• Check out our sizing chart to get an idea of what each size option looks like.
• Contact us to talk about sizing, and we’ll see what we can do to help you out.
• If you ordered the wrong size, you can send it back to us to get it altered for a small fee, so no worries!

Create The Perfect Piece Of Body Jewelry

Psst… Did you know that we make all of our piercing jewelry in-house? Our team of expert designers and craftsmen can work with you to design the perfect piece of body jewelry. Whether you already have something in mind or you want something completely unique, we can create the perfect body jewelry piece just for you.

Just be sure to contact us well ahead of time to ensure that your gift arrives on time. These orders can take a while to reach perfection.

Get A Gift Card

When in doubt, you can always get a FreshTrends e-gift card and let your loved one choose their jewelry for themselves. It might not be as fun as opening up a piece of body jewelry, but it will ensure that they get a jewelry piece that they’ll adore for years to come.

If your loved one is a bit picky, or you have no idea where to start, a gift card is a great way to show that you care while allowing them to choose the perfect gift for themselves.

It's easy. Just add the amount that you want to give to your FreshTrends cart, provide the giftee's email, and the virtual gift card will be sent right to their inbox.