How do you show a customer you really care about what you do? I've asked myself this question more times than I can count. Saying it is easy. Every brand says it. I wanted to show it.
Unlike a necklace, a belly ring lives inside your body, not on your skin. It's with you always, when you sleep, at the gym, or sitting at a desk all day. It's no surprise the two questions I hear most are "Will it fit?" and "Is it safe for my body?"
Caring shows in every detail. The fit, you can see and feel. That's what the Piercing Concierge® is for. But what your jewelry is made of? That stays a mystery, unless we prove it.
As of October 1, 2026, all our jewelry is tested in-house with laboratory-grade X-ray fluorescence (XRF) right before it ships.
What is Tested & Certified?
Tested & Certified is Jolie Co's in-house metal testing program. All our jewelry is XRF tested right before it ships, and each item comes with its own certificate.
It takes the mystery out of what you're wearing. You don't have to trust a stamp or a line on a product page anymore.
It means putting your navel ring in without a second thought. If your skin is sensitive, you know what's touching it. If it's a gift, it arrives with proof it was made right. That's the confidence I want every one of you to have.
Why do we test every piece?
I wanted you to have results for the jewelry you'll actually wear. So we test each finished piece before it leaves our studio.
Here's something you probably didn't realize. Making jewelry takes a lot of steps and a lot of tools. Casting, soldering, setting, polishing. Any of them can introduce traces of other metals. Testing your finished jewelry gives us another opportunity to catch them.
We were already obsessive about this. We prefer to polish with the most sophisticated all-natural compounds rather than abrasive-impregnated tools that can shed particles or transfer unwanted residues onto the jewelry. It's one less thing that could end up on your jewelry. And we work under a microscope from start to finish. You can't see what you're doing with small jewelry any other way. But that's a topic for another post, I promise.
How does XRF testing work?
XRF (X-ray fluorescence) shows which metals are in your jewelry, and how much of each. I know, it sounds technical. It's actually pretty simple. A small beam of X-rays hits the surface of your jewelry. Each metal sends back its own signal, like a fingerprint.
No scratches. No marks. Nothing. It works at the surface, so we can test the finished jewelry you'll actually wear. Before we clean it, of course 😉
And it's precise. Our equipment measures down to parts per million. It reliably picks up traces of contaminants like cadmium at 100 parts per million and above. That's 0.01%, or one part in 10,000, and it's the legal limit for cadmium in jewelry in the European Union. Our alloys are formulated without cadmium, so it isn't something we expect to find. We check anyway.
The same goes for nickel, the one I get asked about most. Our yellow, rose and palladium white gold are made with premium North American alloys and pure gold from the most reputable sources, all without nickel. It's also why we're so particular about our tools and compounds.
XRF shows how much nickel is in the spots we test. It doesn't measure how much could come out as you wear your jewelry. That's a release test, and it's more common for metals that contain nickel, like implant-grade surgical steel. Anything under 100 parts per million passes.
To put all of this in perspective, just imagine 14k gold as a crowd of 10,000 people at a concert. Gold would fill 5,850 seats (the best ones, of course). Other alloy metals, such as copper, silver and zinc, would fill the remaining 4,150. At 100 parts per million, an element like nickel or cadmium would represent just one person in that entire crowd. Even with a slight variance, that's how small this is.
What can't the certificate promise?
I'm going to be straight with you. Your certificate shows exactly what your jewelry is made of. But it can't promise how your body will react to it. Reactions to 14k gold are rare, but they can happen. Many people with sensitive skin or a sensitive piercing prefer 18k gold or platinum. The Association of Professional Piercers calls platinum "extremely inert and excellent for wear in body piercings." Text me through the Piercing Concierge® and we'll figure it out together.
There's another kind of change you may notice in the jewelry itself. Everyone's skin chemistry is different. Metals like copper in a gold alloy can react with sweat, causing tarnish or discoloring on the jewelry's surface. Lotions and soaps can also leave a light film or buildup. This can happen even with solid gold and doesn't mean the alloy was mixed improperly. It's one more reason to keep your jewelry clean with regular, gentle care.
If that ever happens, a light surface clean usually does it. If not, a simple polish brings it right back.
What makes jewelry safe for a piercing?
The Association of Professional Piercers sets solid 14k gold, nickel- and cadmium-free, as the minimum for a fresh piercing. Nickel is the most common metal allergy. Cadmium is toxic and has no place in jewelry worn inside the body. Our 14k white gold is nickel-free, alloyed with a high percentage of palladium, a platinum-family metal. And now your certificate shows it.
The Association also calls for a smooth, mirror-polished finish. Here's why. As a navel piercing heals, new tissue forms right against your jewelry. Any scratch, cast mark, pit or stamp gives it something to grow into, and when your jewelry moves, that tissue can tear. A true mirror finish gives it nothing to hold on to. Ours is polished at 20× magnification to an even, deep mirror finish. We don't stamp the bar either. Our mark is a beautiful 3D raised signature, cast into the basket that holds the stone, well outside your piercing.
And fit matters just as much. If you've read my post on the perfect fit, you know this one is personal for me. The Association notes that jewelry that's too small can lead to swelling and embedding, and jewelry that's too large can catch and cause trauma. A belly ring takes pressure and friction all day. Your navel presses into it when you sit, bend or twist. If the bar is too short, it pushes into your piercing. If it's too long, it slides up and down, rotates, or sticks out and catches.
Every navel is different, and that's what Jolie Co's Piercing Concierge® is all about. It goes beyond choosing the right bar length. Let me tell you, we make sure your jewelry is fitted to you in ways you might not expect. We might angle a stone so it sits well within your navel, or so it faces up. If your piercing channel, the fistula, has enlarged over time, we can custom fit the top so it wears comfortably and doesn't embed. It's complimentary.
What does the certificate show?
Your certificate is matched to your order and provided for each item. It confirms your stamp. If your belly ring is stamped 14k, your certificate shows the purity of the gold, so you know it's real 14k gold. That's 58.5% pure gold. 18k is 75%, and platinum 950 is 95% platinum. Nickel and other known allergens, plus toxic metals like cadmium, get a clear pass or fail.
Buy with confidence
No one asked us to test every order. We took it on ourselves. For me, this is personal, and I sure hope you can see it in this program.
Caring is easy to say. This is how we show it.
Alyssa Jolie, Founder of Jolie Co
Alyssa is a member of the Women's Jewelry Association, and Jolie Co is a member of the Canadian Jewellers Association.
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