Plain gold or onyx, a stone or a pearl, how wide a bead to wear and how the cord slides
Start with plain 14K gold, or gold beads strung with black onyx. Those two were about three in four of the bracelets bought in the year, and they shrug off daily wear. For color, a stone or a cultured pearl sits between the gold beads instead. Then pick the width. Take 8 mm to be seen, or a finer strand to sit quietly by a watch. Nearly every one adjusts to the wrist.
Gold or onyx: a plain 14K gold bead bracelet, or gold and black onyx beads
Take gold and onyx for the bracelet you wear every day. Every gold bead here is 14K, and not one listing calls itself plated or filled. The bracelet bought most in the year is all gold, diamond-cut beads on a black cord that flash as the wrist turns. Most of the other gold strands set polished black onyx between the beads, a hard quartz that takes knocks in stride. The ladies' onyx and gold strand is the slim one, at 4.2 mm. The listings print light weights, under three grams on most.
Stone beads: tiger eye, turquoise, malachite, green agate and garnet bead bracelets
Pick tiger eye for color that takes daily wear as well as the gold does. It is a quartz with a band of light that rolls across the bead as it turns, and the brown strand sold most among the stone bracelets in the year. A red tiger eye strand sits beside it. Green agate and garnet are tough enough for every day. Turquoise and malachite are softer, so keep them from the sink and the gym bag. Most stone strands are 8 mm, with a turquoise and a malachite at 4 mm.
Pearl and gold: a cultured pearl or black pearl bead bracelet
Choose a pearl strand for a softer look or a gift. Both string 6 mm cultured pearls with 14K gold beads on a black cord that slides closed. One adds an 8 mm pearl in the middle. On the black pearl strand the color runs from purple to black, so each differs a little. Pearl is the most delicate bead here. Put it on after perfume and lotion, and take it off before anything else at night.
Bead width: 4 mm, 6 mm or 8 mm beads for a man's or a woman's wrist
Go 8 mm for a man's wrist or a bracelet that has to show. It was the bead on about six in ten of the bracelets bought in the year, gold, onyx and stone alike. The 6 mm pearls sit in between, and 4 mm reads as a fine line on a slim wrist. Nearly all of these sit in our men's listings, a few in the women's, but the width decides the look more than the listing. To stack, pair one 8 mm strand with a finer one, or wear beads beside a watch, and hold to one stone color.
Sliding cord: how an adjustable gold bead bracelet fits and closes
Most of these bracelets need no wrist size. Thirteen of the 14 say they adjust. Ten close on a sliding cord, clasp or closure. Slip it over the hand, draw the ends until the beads rest snug, and ease them apart to take it off. Three say adjustable without saying how, among them the onyx strand bought second most in the year, so ask in the live chat first. The ladies' 4.2 mm strand names no closure, and no listing prints a length.