In this blog I want to share some awesome places where you can find great jewelry at fair prices and some tips on how to best to balance out your belly dance look with jewelry. Whether tribal or oriental, these tips and links will help both.

You may think you are adorned, but when it comes to belly dance, the more the better, and often a bracelet and necklace is simply not enough when  I go shows and am examining how dancers are putting their looks together.

1. Create a Thick Cuff of Bracelets/Bracelet Visually For Each Arm

One bracelet on one arm looks very weak on stage. A nice chunky rhinestone cuff, a metal cuff or at least 10 rows of bangles or thin bracelets should be the minimum when adorning your wrists. What works on the street in normal life, will NOT work for stage.

Source: a fav place of mine for rhinestone cuffs on the cheap is Glamour Goddess These are cheap so don’t expect perfection here, but great if your on a budget.

She has several styles to choose form and all within the $2-$20 range for most items. Shipping is quick and they are here in the U.S.

2. Arm Wraps!

In addition, adding a nice rhinestone arm wrap or arm bands to complete the balance from lower to upper arm will bolster the effect when on stage. In general, for belly dancers, the longer and thinner your arms, the more jewelry you will need to help break up the long expanse of limbs. The picture here by Konstanze Winkler show you how these look.

Source: if you need rhinestone wraps, Stellar Advantage: http://www.stellaradvantage.com/contact-us.html just got a new shipment of probably the highest quality rhinestone arm wraps I have seen for the price. The stones literally won’t snag and are only $15.

Source: If you have longer arms like me though, you will need the extra long arm wraps which can get for $35 from Deniz Kamar. I bought hers 2 years ago for my MBC competition and haven’t stopped using them since. Visually, it made all the difference with my crazy long arms.

3. Make a Statement With Your Necklace!

Yes, you might have a well adorned costume, and all sorts of jewelry on your arms, but you are still not done yet, no matter how soft and delicate your costume, ignore the normal rules and get a large statement necklace to complete your look. 9 times out of ten this is the biggest mistake I see with dancers.

Just because you already feel adorned doesn’t mean your look is finished. The large expanse of skin in the neckline and collar bone needs to be filled in with something, and it can’t be just a thin regular necklace, it just won’t be strong enough for stage! I promise you!

Source: One really great place that I LOVE LOVE LOVE for stage worthy jewelry is Shinysparklythings.com. They have big, amazing pieces for both tribal and oriental style dancers. For $35-$100 you can get mega sparkle, and just one big necklace is a necessary investment as you can wear it over and over again. I have 3 from her, and 3 years later I am still wearing them for gigs, shoots, and when I was competing. The picture shown here by A & I Studio I am wearing one of the necklaces I got form the site.

4. Legs Please…

Got elastic, some extra Swarovski sew on’s or Hotfix laying around? Well get to getting and make yourself some leg bands if you have long legs you want to adorn. No vendors I know that have this locally but with some love, make your own and bling out your legs.

Hope these tips and sources help you plan your next show look. Look your best, have fun with this belly dance jewelry, and complete your look.