I'm Obsessed With Multiple Ear Piercings—These Are My Fave Combinations

My obsession with piercings started young, at the tender age of 11 when I begged my mum to take me to Claire's Accessories for my very first. She resisted until I turned 13, and since then I've gone to add 10 more to my ears—and one in my nose. Because of the multiple piercings in place, I've become somewhat obsessed with how to style them up. I've spent many an hour searching Pinterest for girls stacking and layering their gold hoops, I constantly save Instagram images for inspiration for silver-upon-silver studs adorning ears, and I'm often bugging friends for their favourite jewellery brands that I might not know yet. Multiple piercings are well and truly a regular thing now, but sometimes knowing the best combinations and layering ideas can still feel a little complicated.

Before we get onto the image inspiration, I spoke to a piercing expert at the London-based Sacred Gold salon, about how best to layer your ear jewellery. Nicole told me that it all depends on the shape of your ear (something I'll admit, I've never taken into account) and how you like to combine your pieces: "It's all about balance, and speaking to your piercer is the best option as normally I can see 'natural' placings for piercings after chatting with them for a little while," she says. Nicole loves stacking collections of mini shapes like tiny moons and stars with modern sleek shapes or choosing a single standout piece with pops of colour along with simple hoop stacks. 

And make sure you look after your piercings too, keep them clean using sterile saline solution and make sure you don't agitate them during the healing process by keeping your hands well and truly away from your new piercing. 

Right, now it's on to the earring inspiration—keep scrolling to see some of my favourite combinations and shop some jewellery. 

If you like simple layering

A purist at heart? We love how Klaudia has layered two lobe piercings with a simple hoop—unfortunately, these Cult of Youth hoops are sold out now, but the brand has tons more on its website, and we've placed an alterative below. Just buy two sets of one earring and you're good to go! 

If you're a fan of a statement earring

This is how you dress an ear when you have work at 9 a.m. but a fancy dinner at 9 p.m. Stack multiple huggie earrings so they sit tightly on your ear then add a statement earring in your lobe piercing. 

If you haven't actually got multiple ear piercings

Want to add more piercings to your roster but don't want an actual piercing? Try a cuff like the below. They look great and you're not left with a hole when you're over it! We love how Nnenna has layered a chunky hoop with a dainty star cuff. 

if you want to layer for every day

Every day doesn't mean you need to leave your ears as bare as possible. Copy Alyssa and opt for a simple hoop earring for your first hole, combined with simple thinner stacking hoops and a stud.

if you want to go all out with stacking

If you look closely you can see that Courtney has at least seven piercings in one ear. Mix and match hoops and studs in both your lobe and cartilage piercings and don't be afraid to overload them—it looks cool, trust us!

Up next, turns out there are seven types of piercings celebrities love.