Bejewelled

I hardly ever buy jewellery -- most of the time I forget to wear them. But lately I've been wanting to wear jewellery, and getting frustrated by the fact that I didn't have anything to match my outfits. So when I went to the jewellery fair, I let myself go wild.
 
The fair organisers did a fantastic job. I went several times, and each time I marvelled that I experienced no lag there whatsoever. I mean, no lag beyond the normal sort that I'd experience anywhere else in SL. That was unbelievable! I had my graphics on the lowest possible settings, but still, it was incredible. Of course, this is one of those times when it pays to be in a weird time zone: each time I went, there were never more than 6 avatars within a 96m range! (Or so claimed my MystiTool.)
 
I noticed something weird though -- with my graphics on Low, it seemed to make some of the textures screwy. I bought a bangle, then put it on to see how it looked like (if it looked good, I planned to buy more from the same jeweller), and the texture on it didn't look anything like the vendor ad. Then I tried it with my normal graphics settings on High, and it turned a great deal more normal-looking:
 
 

Click picture for larger image
 
 
I have no idea why this would be or what caused it, but I noticed the same thing happening with one or two other pieces. Anybody have any ideas?
 
The other thing I realised was, jewellers seem to love full bright settings. Why? It doesn't really affect me as I tend to walk around in midday all the time, but I hate the thought that I'm standing out like a Christmas tree to other people who happen to be viewing me at night. And most jewellery, I've found, is no-mod -- the items have resize scripts instead -- which means I can't turn off the full bright setting. Grrr.
 
 

 
 
All three items of jewellery -- the necklace and bangles -- are full bright! From three different jewellers! Sheesh! And this is something you're unaware of when purchasing, because it's hardly ever mentioned in the vendor ad. It's almost impossible to avoid purchasing full bright jewellery unless you already know that particular jeweller has a penchant for making their items full bright.
 
Here's the same picture, in daytime lighting:
 
 

 
 
I also realised that sometimes it's really hard to tell what the item is going to look like on you. I bought a few pieces that I discovered I didn't really like when I tried them on later. One example is this bangle. It comes with texture change options, but I'm not very satisfied with any of the textures (clockwise from top left: silver - gold - golden - metal - copper - wood). They all look artificial, ESPECIALLY the golden one, and the gold doesn't look like any gold I've ever seen. The silver, although I can see some shading on the texture, just isn't "shiny" enough -- it's lacking a certain something and looks more grey than silver, especially from a distance. Probably the best of all the six would be the copper version. I'm very disappointed, especially because I like the pattern of the bangle very much :(
 
 

Click picture for larger image
 
 
Of all the three pieces I'm wearing in the above pictures, the one I was most pleased with was the necklace. It fit well, falls nicely, looks great. I really, really, really like it. Even though the pendant has glow. *sighs*
 
 

 
 
Jewellery:
Right bangle: CentoPallini Gem Bracelet Opale
Left bangle: FS Jewelry Hera Bracelet
Necklace: J and W Jewelers LesLey Collection Necklace
 
Others:
Hair: Frangipani Designs Eva - Teak [no longer available]
Skin: Rockberry Uma Group Gift - Natural
Glasses: PrimOptic - Stilo
Tattoo: Garden of Ku Dragonfly Forest - faded
Top: Oriental Life Summer Feels Wee - Sprinkling Ocean [50% sale right now! Store closes Sept 30!]
Jeans: Zaara Jeans - Indigo