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I’ve always been fascinated by how much a finish can change the personality of a piece. Give me the exact same design in matte and shiny finishes, and suddenly they can feel like two completely different pieces of jewelry. At CMD, you’ll see both finishes throughout my designs, often mixed with different metals, shapes and textures, and many of our sterling silver and solid 14k gold pieces can be made with your preferred finish.
Choosing matte or shiny is less about following a rule and more about deciding how you want your jewelry to look, catch the light and evolve as you wear it. I definitely have a personal favorite, but there really isn’t a right answer.
The easiest way to understand the difference is to look at the same metal with both finishes. A matte surface diffuses light and creates a softer, more understated appearance, while a shiny finish reflects light and has a brighter, more mirror-like quality. The metal and design may be exactly the same, but changing the surface can completely change the personality of the piece.
Our shiny finish is a high-polish, reflective surface. If you look closely at a shiny cuff, you may even be able to see your reflection in it. It catches more light and tends to have a brighter, slightly dressier appearance than our softer matte finish. We create that surface using a polishing wheel in our production studio.
Our matte finish is softer and non-reflective, with more of a satin-like appearance. Rather than bouncing light back at you, it diffuses light across the surface of the metal. For our sterling silver jewelry, we create that distinctive CMD texture using a rotary tumbler with a slightly abrasive ceramic medium and water.
I studied Industrial Design in Virginia Tech’s Architecture program, which is where I really began exploring materials as a product designer. I became fascinated by the way you could transform the personality of an object without changing its fundamental form, simply by changing its surface and finishing details.
One of my favorite projects was a light sconce I created from bent aluminum. As I worked through the finishing details, I sanded the metal in circular motions with high-grit sandpaper to create a soft, matte-like texture. The resulting glow was non-reflective and modern, and it completely changed the feeling of the material. That project stayed with me because it showed me how dramatically sheen, texture and reflectivity can influence the way we experience a design.
Matte is my personal favorite and has been part of the CMD aesthetic for years. I love its soft modernity and the way it allows the shape and architecture of a piece to do the talking without a lot of reflection competing for attention. It has an understated quality that works especially well with the clean lines and geometric forms I tend to gravitate toward.
That said, plenty of people want their jewelry to shine, and I completely understand why. A polished finish has an entirely different energy. It catches the light, draws the eye and can make even a very minimal design feel a little louder.
There are certain designs that I personally love in a shiny finish because the reflection emphasizes their architecture. Pieces like the Framework Ring, Diabolique Ring, the Doctor Funk Ring and the shiny-as-heck Norwood Earrings really come alive when they’re polished. I especially love wearing the Norwoods when I’m hitting the dance floor because between the movement, jingle-jangle and reflective surface, they’re impossible to ignore.
One important distinction is our Everyday 14k gold-fill jewelry. Those components come with a shiny finish because mattifying gold-fill can remove some of the gold layer and eventually expose the brass core underneath. That means the finish options available for a piece can depend on how it is constructed, not just the look you prefer.
Mixing finishes has always been one of my favorite parts of designing jewelry. A shiny surface next to a matte one creates contrast even when both pieces are made from the same metal. Add mixed metals, oxidized silver or different shapes to the equation and you can build a ring or bracelet stack with even more dimension.
You also don’t have to commit to one finish across your entire jewelry collection. Some pieces may feel more like you in matte while others come alive with a little reflection. That contrast is part of what makes a stack feel personal instead of overly matched.
This is important to understand before choosing either finish: jewelry is meant to be worn, and its surface is going to evolve with you. Matte pieces can gradually become shinier in the places that receive the most friction, while highly polished pieces can develop scratches and soften toward a more matte appearance over time.
How quickly that happens depends on your skin chemistry, how often you wear the piece, what it comes into contact with and how you care for it. Some people want their jewelry refinished regularly. Others, myself included, enjoy watching the surface evolve naturally. I tend to say: let them do their thing! Those changes are part of what happens when jewelry becomes part of your actual life.
If you want to maintain the finish you started with, we offer both matte finishing cloths and shiny finishing cloths in our Jewelry Care & Accessories collection.
Before reaching for either one, though, I always recommend starting with Dawn soap. Lotions, oils and all of the other potions we put on our bodies can build up on jewelry and make the surface look duller than it actually is. A good cleaning may be all your piece needs.
Think about what you’re naturally drawn to. If you love something softer, modern and understated, matte may feel more like you. If you want your jewelry to reflect light and make its presence known, shiny might be the better fit. You can also mix the two, which creates another layer of contrast when you’re building a stack or combining pieces.
I love that finish gives us another way to make a design personal. The metal may be the same and the shape may be the same, but changing that final surface can completely alter how a piece feels on your body. Choose the one you love, wear the hell out of it and don’t worry too much when it begins showing evidence of a life well lived.
xo,
Colleen
© Colleen Mauer Designs. All rights reserved.
Published: October 1, 2024
Updated: August 25, 2026
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