It can! And you know what? If it does, it’s normal. Here’s the deal: Bronze contains copper. Copper naturally reacts with air, moisture, sweat, skincare products, and other elements it encounters throughout the day. That reaction is called oxidation, and sometimes it can leave a temporary greenish tint where the jewelry touches your skin. 

Whether or not your skin experiences a green tinge just depends on the pH of your skin! Some people experience it almost immediately. Others can wear bronze all day every day without seeing a trace of green. Your body chemistry, environment, how much you sweat, and what products are on your skin can all make a difference. Most important here is that the green tinge is harmless and washes off with soap and water.

P.S. If you’re bothered by your skin turning green but can’t put a finger on why, consider this your gentle nudge to dig into that feeling on a socioeconomic level. 

P.S.S. Want to learn more about bronze? Peep our Bronze is Better page to get the full dish.

That’s called oxidation! Because copper is an active metal, and in most bronze alloys, copper makes up a significant portion of bronze.

When bronze interacts with oxygen, moisture, sweat, and other environmental elements, the surface of the metal gradually changes. You might notice your jewelry becoming less shiny, developing a slightly darker or browner tone, or looking a little more aged and ancient.

That’s oxidation doing its oxidation thing. It is NOT an indication that your jewelry is low-quality or damaged. It’s just one of the characteristics of working with a raw metal.

Want to know more about oxidation? I’ve got a full post on it right here. 

The cool thing about bronze is that it isn’t a single recipe. It's a family of copper-based alloys, and the exact combination of metals can vary considerably depending on what the material is designed to do.

The yellow bronze we use in our jewelry is selected specifically for jewelry making. Its copper and zinc content creates the warm, bright yellow-gold appearance we love while giving us a durable metal that can stand up beautifully to everyday wear. 

Most importantly: our bronze is nickel-free.

If you want to get technical, bronze, silver, and gold are all “waterproof” to some degree. Will affect your jewerly over a whole lifetime? Maybe – but it’s unlikely it will cause damage. Go swim with your jewelry, take a shower, workout – live your life in the jewelry you love. At the end of the day, you can always polish it back up.

Because: copper! That metallic “penny” smell you might notice while wearing bronze is associated with reactions between the copper-containing metal and compounds on your skin. Some people will never notice it; others might be much more sensitive to metallic smells.

If you absolutely hate that penny smell, bronze might not be your metal (and that’s okay).

Yes! One million times yes. Our bronze and sterling silver jewelry is nickel-free. Nickel is one of the most common causes of metal-related contact allergies, which is why it's a metal we intentionally avoid.

Bronze does contain copper, and sterling silver also contains a small percentage of copper. Copper allergies are possible, although much less common.

If you have a known metal allergy or sensitivity, please take that into consideration before purchasing.

It’s much less common than with bronze, but it’s possible, too! Remember that alloy talk? Sterling silver isn't pure silver – it typically contains 92.5% silver and 7.5% other metals, commonly copper. That added metal makes sterling silver durable enough for jewelry, but it also means oxidation and skin discoloration can occasionally happen (pretty rare though).

Because bronze is kind of a badass. It’s also my personal Roman Empire.  It gives us the warm, yellow-gold appearance we love without requiring the price tag of solid gold – but the bigger reason we go to the mat for bronze is its durable and tough.

Gold and silver are relatively soft metals. Over decades of regular wear, they can develop scratches, dents, thinning, and other signs of use. Bronze is wildly durable and slow to wear down, which makes it especially well suited to the kind of jewelry we want to make. 

Wanna learn a little bit more about bronze? See our Bronze is Better page to get the full scoop.