Give by habit, not by occasion.
Who they are decides what to give.

She dresses plainly and lets a single object do the talking. The gift is a piece with enough form to stand alone. The silver-toned collar with overlapping disc clusters ($62) is a slim rigid band with two stacks of matte discs mirrored at the open ends. Nothing else on the neckline is needed, or wanted. If she leans warm, the brass collar with concentric ring pendants ($42) does the same job in gold, one hammered ring inside one wire ring, hanging from a collar that sits close to the neck. We wrote about the case for wearing one thing if you want to understand her better.

You know her by her closet. Give her more color, in a form she cannot already have. The red wood disc collar ($56) is dozens of strands of small matte discs twisted into one dense curve, a saturated lacquer red that reads as a single shape from any angle. The teal version ($56) is the cool answer to the same idea. For a smaller gift, the kantha patchwork bead hoops ($22) put a full ring of fabric-wrapped beads on the ear, each bead a different print, so no two pairs match.

She means she does not wear heavy, shiny or fussy jewelry. Small, light and a little odd is the way in. The rippled silver rectangle drops ($18) are a soft rectangle just over an inch tall with a surface that breaks light into patches. They sit close to the jaw and weigh almost nothing. The stacked aqua bubble drops ($56) are two handblown glass spheres on a gold-filled threader wire, made in the USA, clear as soap film. And a cuff asks nothing of the ears at all: the hammered brass cuff with a red painted band ($30) is two flat planes of color on one wrist.

Give her silver with more work in it than she is used to. Hill tribe silver from Laos is hand-formed from metal that runs 94 to 98% pure, and the detail shows it. The coiled spiral diamond drops ($118) are a diamond built from rows of tight silver coils, about an inch across, sitting near the jawline. The stamped butterfly earrings ($88) carry their whole pattern in hand-stamped grooves that hold the dark of the finish. Both are earrings for someone who looks closely. If she asks what the purity means, hill tribe silver versus sterling explains the numbers.

The curved silver band with an etched triangle border ($88) sits between a signet and a cigar band: a broad sterling face that catches light flat, and one edge cut into a row of small notches that break it up. It comes in sizes 9 through 12, so find out the size before you order. For the wrist, the rope-spiral sterling cuff ($168) is a slender band wrapped in a spiraling twist, open at the back, made in Thailand. It is the most expensive piece on this list and the one most likely to be worn every day.

She has enough jewelry. What she does not have is a face on her finger. The sideways face ring in antiqued pewter ($18) is a sculpted profile turned on its side across a shard-shaped plate, closed eye and all. Its sibling, the sculpted face ring in matte gold ($18), abstracts the features into ridges and hollows. Larger, and stranger, is the elephant head pendant on leather cord ($54), four inches of sculpted silver-tone hanging low at the throat. The architectural bar-and-crescent earrings ($28) look more like small buildings than drops. These are gifts for someone who will be asked "where did you get that?" and enjoy answering.

More is her method. Give her something that plays well with what she already wears. The pebble bead stretch bracelet with a rectangular plate ($48) is a wide band of irregular silver beads stopped by one smooth plate, and it disappears into a stack or anchors one. The braided cord bracelet with hill tribe silver beads ($68) is slim enough to sit between heavier pieces. The pierced copper lattice cuff ($28) adds a warm rose tone and a lot of surface. Around the neck, the speckled glass bead rope ($32) is 64 inches of continuous strand that wraps two or three times and comes in five colors. Our guide to stacking bracelets without the mess is worth reading before you wrap it.

• Under $30: rippled silver drops ($18), either face ring ($18), kantha hoops ($22), architectural earrings ($28), copper lattice cuff ($28).
• $30 to $60: hammered brass cuff ($30), glass bead rope ($32), brass ring collar ($42), pebble stretch bracelet ($48), elephant pendant ($54), red or teal wood collar ($56), aqua bubble drops ($56).
• $60 and up: disc-cluster collar ($62), braided silver-bead bracelet ($68), stamped butterfly earrings ($88), curved band ring ($88), coiled spiral drops ($118), rope-spiral cuff ($168).

Shipping within the USA is free from $75, so two pieces from the first band travel together for nothing. Every listing states the material, the measurements and the origin, so you can check a size or a metal before you decide. And if it is wrong, 30 days is long enough for her to say so.