I have been in Europe alot since April.

The trends in Italy, France and Spain seem to be gold,  gold,  gold, and genuine stones. The faux stuff is out, as are chunky stones. It usually takes a year or two for the european trneds to hit the U.S.. 

My dad just bought me a Cartier circle necklace and while I was at the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale today, circle pendants and earrings seem to be all the rage.  I saw it mentioned in previous posts, but never thought about it until today.

Natural gemstones have always been around, but I agree that they have been more prominent these days.  Crystal is always here, but glass beads haven't shown their faces lately... I'm going to the bead store to buy more dainty chain... ;-)

I miss the smileys. =(
 

 I was quite surprised by your comment that "It usually takes a year or two for the european trneds to hit the U.S.. ".........but i'll believe that........

However the complete beauty of gold Jewelry is in its design and nowadays people prefer White Gold........so i would believe that mimicking eurpean fashion would not necassarily work here...