If you've reacted to "hypoallergenic" jewelry before — green skin, itchy lobes, swelling — you're not imagining it. The word has no legal definition. Any brand can put it on the box. Most cheap plated pieces marketed as hypoallergenic still leach nickel. The fix isn't a label, it's a material.
Here's what actually matters when you have sensitive skin or known metal allergies, and how to read jewelry like someone who's actually been through it.
Why most jewelry reacts with skin
The vast majority of fashion jewelry has a base metal of brass or zinc alloy plated with a microscopic gold layer. Both base metals contain nickel — typically 5 to 15% by weight. Even a freshly-plated piece releases trace nickel through tiny pores in the plating layer. As the plating wears down, nickel exposure increases. The European Nickel Directive sets a release limit of 0.5 µg/cm²/week for jewelry touching the skin, but enforcement on imported cheap pieces is minimal.
An estimated 17% of women and 3% of men have a nickel allergy. For them, even brief contact with nickel-releasing jewelry causes contact dermatitis — itching, redness, sometimes blistering. The "green skin" stain is a separate but related issue: it's copper salts forming when copper in the alloy reacts with sweat. Both problems trace back to cheap base metals.
The materials that actually work
Four genuinely hypoallergenic options exist:
- Solid 18K or 22K gold — the gold content is high enough that the alloying metals (which usually include copper) are too dilute to react. Expensive: £200-800 per piece.
- Platinum — basically inert. Won't react with anything. £300-1500 per piece.
- Titanium — used in body piercings. Inert, light, strong. Limited jewelry styling options.
- 316L surgical stainless steel — the alloy used in surgical implants and orthopedic pins. Nickel is present in the alloy but bound tightly into the crystal structure so it doesn't leach. Releases well under the EU's nickel limit even after years of wear.
OLYMP'D pieces are all 316L surgical stainless steel under either 18K PVD gold or brushed silver finish. We get DMs every week from customers who can finally wear earrings again after years of nickel sensitivity — most often around the second-piercing studs that used to itch within an hour.
The PVD gold layer matters too
Standard "gold plating" is a 0.05 micron electroplated layer that wears off in months. Even when it's intact, sweat penetrates the porous surface to reach the base metal underneath. That's why plated jewelry causes reactions even when the surface still looks shiny.
OLYMP'D's 18K PVD gold finish is 0.3 to 1 micron thick — six to twenty times thicker than electroplating — and applied via vacuum vapour deposition so the gold layer molecularly bonds with the steel surface. It's the same process used on luxury watch cases. No pores, no flaking, no contact between sweat and base metal. Read more about 316L surgical steel and PVD gold.
How to test for yourself
If you've been burned by "hypoallergenic" claims before, here's what we tell sensitive-skin customers to do:
- Start with an earring — the lobe is the most sensitive contact point and reacts within hours, so you'll know fast.
- Wear it through one shower and one workout — that's the real stress test. Sweat + water + 24 hours is what cheap plating fails.
- If your skin stays clear and the finish stays gold, you've got real surgical steel + real PVD.
Every OLYMP'D piece is backed by our 30-day returns policy, so if it doesn't work for your skin, send it back. See Returns & Exchanges for the process. Pierced earrings are final-sale for hygiene reasons — start with a ring, bracelet, or necklace if you're testing.
What to avoid
- Anything just labeled "stainless steel" without specifying 316L — that's usually 304 or even lower-grade steel with higher nickel release
- "Gold-plated" or "gold-filled" pieces under £40 — the plating is too thin to protect against base-metal exposure
- "Sterling silver" if you react to copper — sterling is 92.5% silver and 7.5% copper, which causes the same green-skin issue for some people
- Anything that smells metallic out of the box — that's a tell for cheap base metals
Browse pieces built for sensitive skin in the full OLYMP'D edit, or start with the Most Wanted bestsellers — every single piece is 316L surgical steel core with either 18K PVD gold or brushed silver, hypoallergenic for the long term and backed by our Lifetime Colour Guarantee.