Diamonds might be forever, but the price tag will usually take you “forever” to pay them off. Is that something that you want to do? Not necessarily. You need to make sure that your accessories don’t get so expensive that you’re afraid to walk out of the door in fear that you’re going to lose an earring or a necklace might break and leave you holding a very expensive — yet empty — bag. You need to always think about your future style and plan accordingly. Do you really want expensive pieces? Then you can have them. However, your style won’t evolve as fast as someone that can get their hands on costume jewelry.

Sure, there’s going to be a point where you want to always get the nicest stuff out there. But when you’re just starting out and you don’t have a lot of money to spend, there’s nothing wrong with getting costume jewelry. Some jewelry is actually made out of semi-precious gemstones, which means that it’s not as cheap as the obvious supermarket jewelry, but it’s not going to be so expensive you’re going to need to take out a second mortgage on your home.

The truth here is that you need to keep all things in perspective without just going out of control. Look at your budget — as unsexy as that sounds. Do you have the money to invest in quality jewelry? If so, then splurge. But if you know that you’re on a smaller budget than your fashionista friends, there’s no shame in cubic zirconia jewelry over diamonds. A lot of people that might claim to have diamonds may actually choose the CZ jewelry as well.

There are plenty of great online stores to get costume jewelry from, so don’t feel like you don’t have any options — go out there and see what will work for your fashion style!