1st Entrepreneur Speed Networking Event

I hosted my 1st Entrepreneur Speed Networking event this past Saturday and it was absolutely amazing. There were people from all professions and backgrounds. Each Entrepreneur was given 4 minutes to meet with one another and discuss their profession/business/services. We had a live raffle compliments of Dawn Forenzo (Minx Artist) as well as great food and drinks. Judge Helena was one of the many people who joined in on the networking. Thanks to all of the people who showed up and showed out! I will be doing a separate post to give my readers a glance at all of the people who attended and their services. Again, thanks to all who supported and I look forward to the next event in June. Special thanks to my Mom and friends Charmaine, Lamar and Jasmine for being right there with me.

Muff Mouthing Off: Are Those Real?

I received a call from my sister in law yesterday and she asked how someone could tell if pearls were real or fake. I have two different sets of fresh cultured water pearls. My mom and her mom (my grandmother) are heavy into pearls. I was able to give my sister in law the information she needed to determine whether she had real or fake pearls and I will share that same info with you. There are several ways you can find out if you've been dooped.

Tooth Test
Rub the pearls lightly along the biting edge of your upper front teeth. If they feel gritty or sandy, they are real pearls. If they feel smooth, they are probably imitations.

Friction Test
Take two pearls then lightly rub one against the other. If they feel gritty or sandy, they are real pearls. If they feel smooth, they are not real.

Surface Magnification
Magnify the surfaces of the pearls with a magnifier. If they look grainy, the beads are imitation pearls. If they look scaly, maze-like, they are real pearls

Flaw Test
Examine the pearls for flaws. If they appear flawless and unnatural perfection, they might be imitation.

Matching Test
Observe the whole pearl jewelry piece, their shape, luster, size, and color. Imitations can perfectly match while real pearls tend to be variations.

Overtone Test
Imitation is lack of overtone. Real pearls have various overtones.

Drilled-Hole Test
The pearl nacre coating is thicker than the coating of imitations. Therefore, you may find a clear dividing line between the nacre and nucleus from the real pearl's drilled-hole.