Our Story

The Story Behind
purepixxi

Maybe your daughter's ears swelled up after wearing a gift you thought was fine. Maybe you've stood in a store holding a pair of earrings, reading the label, and walked away with more questions than answers. Or maybe nothing has gone wrong yet, and you'd really like to keep it that way. Wherever you're starting from, you're in the right place.

S316L Surgical Steel Aunix™ 24K Pure Gold Nickel Release Not Detected UK Manufactured Lifetime Guarantee
Matt Westmore, Founder of purepixxi
Matt Westmore Founder, purepixxi
Founder Story

I knew exactly what was in those earrings.
That was the problem.

My name is Matt Westmore and I'm the founder of purepixxi. I didn't come into this industry from the outside. I grew up inside it. My family ran a fashion accessories business in South Africa, and from the age of seven, I was traveling with my parents on buying trips to Asia, sitting in supplier waiting rooms and sleeping on couches while deals were being made. By the time most people started their first job, I had already spent years watching how products are designed, manufactured, priced, and labeled long before they ever reach a store shelf.

On a personal level, I grew up watching my Dad's mother struggle for all of her later years with severe psoriasis, an autoimmune disease caused by years and years of toxic build up. I remember the discomfort, the frustration, the endless search for relief of unrelenting pain. When you see someone you love living in constant distress, you never forget it.

I started to understand that what we put on the body matters just as much as what we put in it, and that the reservoir effect is a reality and not just a medical theory.

Fast forward 20 years. After several months of a misdiagnosed pinched nerve, I woke up one morning three years ago with the complete loss of use of my right hand. It hung limply by my side and as a young new dad I was traumatized. Many visits to the hospital confirmed that I had developed a lifelong neurological autoimmune disease known as MMN, Multifocal Motor Neuropathy.

I know first-hand what it feels like when the body turns against something it can't tolerate. When your own system reacts, you realize how sensitive the human body really is, and how seemingly small triggers can create very real consequences. My daughter at this stage was one year old and I was no longer able to even help change her diaper.

These experiences shaped how I think about materials, chemicals, and everyday products. The body keeps score. When it can't cope with what it's exposed to, it reacts. That experienced reality sits at the very heart of purepixxi.

I had a beautiful daughter who would soon be wanting to wear earrings and I knew I had to find a way to protect her. I certainly wasn't willing to let her wear a jewelry brand that ignored what I had seen with my own eyes and felt in my own body. purepixxi exists today because I believe everyday products should work with the body, not against it.

Through my early life in the jewelry world, I have visited factories in China. I have seen the production lines, the materials handling, and the gap that can exist between what the jewelry looks like and what actually goes into the product. Once you've seen how the cake is made, it's impossible to unsee it. From that point on, the only direction that made sense was to stop asking what the fashion industry considered good enough and start asking what the medical world would consider safe enough to put on a child's skin every day.

My own daughter is still too young for earrings, but when the time comes, purepixxi is the only jewelry I would put on her. That's the most honest test I have of whether this brand has truly done what it set out to do.

This is for you: the mom who wants to make the right call for her daughter and just needs someone to be straight with her. Everything below explains what we found, what we built, and how purepixxi is different.

I know what's in those earrings. I've seen where they come from. That's why I couldn't sell anything less than this standard, and why I won't.

Matt Westmore — Founder, purepixxi
The purepixxi Philosophy

Three principles.
No exceptions.

Not values statements written for a wall. The working rules behind every material choice, every design, and every product on this site.

01 / Safety
Safety means S316L Surgical Steel and 24K. Nothing less.

Every purepixxi earring is made from S316L Surgical Steel and finished with Aunix™ 24K, pure 24 karat gold. These are the two materials with the strongest safety records for direct skin contact. We use them not because they're marketed as safe, but because the evidence actually supports that. Safety means a specific material and a specific standard. It can't just mean a label.

02 / Intelligence
The right information, so you can decide.

When you're buying jewelry for your daughter, you deserve to know exactly what it's made of. Not a vague category. Not a marketing term. The actual material and what it means for her skin. Our Materials Hub explains every material we use, why we chose it, and what any mom should understand before her daughter wears any jewelry, from us or from anywhere else.

03 / Purity
Not detected. Not just within limits.

The phrase nickel-safe gets used loosely all over this industry. A lot of the time it just means within EU regulatory limits, which still allows a measurable amount through. We publish the measurement instead: nickel release under EN 1811, not detected — below the level the test can measure. That matters because around one in five people in North America is affected by nickel allergy, and once skin is sensitized even small amounts can trigger a reaction.

The purepixxi Standard

Specific commitments.
Not general promises.

Principles only mean something when they translate into specifics you can actually check. Here's exactly what every purepixxi product is held to.

Materials
Nickel release: not detected. Tested and published.

Every purepixxi design uses two materials and no others. S316L Surgical Steel, the grade used for medical instruments and implants, chosen because it resists corrosion. And Aunix™ 24K, pure 24 karat gold applied directly onto that steel core. Nickel release measured under EN 1811: not detected, which is below what the test can measure and well under the regulatory limit. There's no undisclosed alloy layer anywhere in the construction.

Transparency
Two materials. Always named. Never vague.

We use S316L Surgical Steel and Aunix™ 24K, pure 24 karat gold. Both are listed on every single product page, in full. If a product doesn't carry that specification, it's not a purepixxi product.

Testing
Third-party tested. ASTM F2923 compliant.

All purepixxi products are tested against ASTM F2923, the US safety standard for children's jewelry. This covers nickel release, lead content, cadmium content, and surface finish safety. Testing is done by SGS, an independent laboratory.

Design
Earring backs designed for kids, not adults.

Kids' ears are smaller, more active, and more easily hurt by a snag. purepixxi earring backs are sized specifically for young and sensitive skin. Our unique pin notch keeps them secure through a full day, smooth enough to take off without catching skin.

Guarantee
Lifetime guarantee.

Every purepixxi earring carries a lifetime guarantee against craftsmanship defects and material failure. It doesn't cover loss or accidental damage. Email orders@purepixxi.com with your order number. You will receive our immediate attention.

Fit
Designed for young and sensitive skin.

We don't take adult jewelry and resize it. Every piece is built specifically for young and sensitive skin: light enough for all-day comfort, low-profile enough to avoid catching in hair and clothing, and sized to suit smaller, more delicate ear anatomy from the very start.

Why We Looked to Medicine

Fashion doesn't have a materials standard.
Medicine does.

The jewelry industry defines safety through marketing language and surface appearances. The medical industry defines it through material composition, manufacturing process, and outcomes you can actually test. When we were engineering purepixxi, we went with the second approach.

Surgical instruments and medical-grade tools have been made from S316L Surgical Steel for decades. The reason isn't cost. It's biocompatibility: the material is stable in contact with living tissue. That same property is exactly why it belongs next to your daughter's skin.

Having grown up in the jewelry industry, I have seen firsthand what conventional production looks like. My experience made the direction for purepixxi obvious. We needed a process built around medical standards. The four steps to the right are the result.

CNC Precision Milling
Each earring form is precision-cut from solid S316L Surgical Steel using computer numerical control milling. This removes casting imperfections and creates a smooth, uniform surface with far less of the micro-porosity where debris can collect.
Laser Forming
Joins and closures are fused by laser, not soldered. Solder typically contains lead, tin, or cadmium alloys. Laser forming adds nothing. The metal bonds to itself.
Aunix™ 24K Pure Gold
Where a gold finish is applied, it's Aunix™ 24K: pure 24 karat gold with no alloying metals, deposited onto the S316L Surgical Steel core by electrodeposition. It's a plating process, applied considerably thicker than the flash plating used on fashion jewelry.
Medical Sterilization
Every finished earring is sterilized using the same process used for surgical instruments before it's packaged. This isn't how the jewelry industry operates. It's the only way we do.
01 / CNC Milling
CNC Precision Milling

Each earring form is precision-cut from solid S316L Surgical Steel using computer numerical control milling. This removes casting imperfections and creates a smooth, uniform surface with far less of the micro-porosity where debris can collect.

02 / Laser Forming
Laser Forming

Joins and closures are fused by laser, not soldered. Solder typically contains lead, tin, or cadmium alloys. Laser forming adds nothing. The metal bonds to itself.

03 / Pure Gold
Aunix™ 24K Pure Gold

Where a gold finish is applied, it's Aunix™ 24K: pure 24 karat gold with no alloying metals, deposited onto the S316L Surgical Steel core by electrodeposition. It's a plating process, applied considerably thicker than the flash plating used on fashion jewelry.

04 / Sterilization
Medical Sterilization

Every finished earring is sterilized using the same process used for surgical instruments before it's packaged. This isn't how the jewelry industry operates. It's the only way we do.

Independently verified. ASTM F2923 / CPSIA compliant
Medical-grade standards only
Full material transparency
Questions We Hear Most

What moms ask us,
and what we tell them.

These are the questions we hear most before a first purchase. We answer all of them straight, because every mom who asks deserves a real answer, not just a reassurance.

Yes, with one stipulation. The piercing needs to be fully healed before switching to any new jewelry, which is usually 6 to 8 weeks for lobes. purepixxi earrings use S316L Surgical Steel, the same material the medical profession uses when operating on the human body. Every pair is sterilized before it ships. They're a solid choice for fully healed first piercings on young and sensitive skin.
Most reactions in kids come down to nickel. S316L Surgical Steel contains nickel, as almost all surgical steels do, but it resists corrosion and holds onto it: nickel release measured under EN 1811 was not detected. The 24K gold surface has no alloy in it at all. If her reactions were nickel-related, that's the trigger this removes. No earring can promise it will never cause a reaction in any individual, so buy one pair and send them back inside 30 days if they don't suit her.
Honestly, not much on its own. Hypoallergenic isn't a regulated term in the US. No federal agency defines or enforces it for jewelry. Any brand can put it on a label without doing a single test. At purepixxi we name the material: S316L Surgical Steel and Aunix™ 24K, pure 24 karat gold. You can look both of those up and verify exactly what they are.
Most children's jewelry in retail is made from plated base metals with a thin coat of silver or gold color on top. That coating wears through and what's underneath is often a nickel-containing alloy. purepixxi uses S316L Surgical Steel and Aunix™ 24K, pure 24 karat gold. There's no reactive base metal hiding anywhere in the construction.
purepixxi was founded by Matt Westmore, someone who grew up in a family fashion accessories business, spent his career in jewelry buying and brand-building, and has personally visited the factories that make the products most brands don't like to talk about. Every material decision, every manufacturing standard, and every commitment on this site is his. You can reach him directly at hello@purepixxi.com.
The purepixxi lifetime guarantee covers craftsmanship defects and material failure. It doesn't cover loss or accidental damage. To process a claim, just email hello@purepixxi.com with your order number and a quick description of what happened. We respond immediately. No forms. No runaround.
Yes. purepixxi is designed specifically for young and sensitive skin. Every piece is built for smaller ears: lighter weight, low profile, and earring backs that small fingers can actually manage. We don't start with an adult design and shrink it down. These pieces are made for this age from day one.
purepixxi earrings are manufactured in the UK at a fully automated, state-of-the-art facility. Not a single earring is touched by hand at any point in the production process. The standard of precision it operates to is closer to medical device manufacturing than conventional jewelry production. That's exactly where we want to be.

purepixxi is built for the child who deserves jewelry that actually does what it claims. Specific. Tested. Designed for life.

Purpose. Vision. Mission.

Why we built this.
What we're building toward.

Purpose
To create a new standard for children's jewelry where safety, quality, and beautiful design are never a trade-off.
Vision
To be the most trusted children's jewelry brand in the US, known for a standard of purity and quality that parents can always rely on.
Mission
To give moms the confidence to choose well and girls the jewelry they'll love wearing all day, every day.