Those who take their accessories seriously, particularly when it comes to handbags, will know that Valentino’s studded numbers are among the most coveted bags available. Imagine softer-than-soft leathers, clean shapes and details trimmed with flat square studs. So the news that the brand famous for their dresses in red, known as ‘Valentino red’, has taken styles from their classic Rockstud collection and made them exclusively in black should send many pulses racing. Designers Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli’s have cleverly tampered very little with their already winning formula of their Noir capsule collection. Switching styles to all black puts the emphasis on the quality of materials from python, crocodile and patent leather. Among the collection are pointed flats, Camden chic leather studded bracelets and totes.

Prices start at £535 for the Noir Rockstud sandal and the collection is available at Valentino’s Sloane Square boutique. valentino.com

The story of Babushka and the Three Kings, a grandmother who meets the wise men on their way to see baby Jesus, inspired jewellery designer Natasha Zinko to create a pair of earrings exclusively for Christmas. The fine jeweller’s designed her Ornament earrings to look like the star that Babushka was searching for on her way to see Christ. Zinko first began making jewellery for her husband and friends, a hobby that quickly developed into a career. She enrolled on a course at Central Saint Martins in jewellery design and has since pushed her line forward at breakneck speed, opening a store in Mayfair only a year ago. Zinko’s earrings are made from white and yellow diamonds, emeralds, rubylites and pearls in 18ct gold and cost £19,540. natashazinko.com

It’s a season for splendour and exuberance, and even jewels tell us seductive tales. Earrings speak louder than neckpieces and assume shapes that beckon you to look longer; be it Armenta’s surrealistic diamond and malachite eye-resembling earrings or Natasha Zinko’s spectacularly decadent memento mori of gold skeleton-shaped earrings complete with diamonds and pearls.

Rings look as though discovered from a Gatsby-era treasure box: from Amrapali’s glamorously geometric tanzanite, diamond and emerald rings to Solange Azagury-Partridge’s delectable art deco treats in the form of gold Real Heart and Hotlips rings. On the other hand, Pomellato’s Tabou and Bahia rose gold rings with blue London topaz and pink sapphires call up an even more fascinating time and place, inviting you to flamboyantly pile them on for a whisper of Sheherazade’s One Thousand and One Nights.

If you, however, are looking for the one and only, it is Armenta’s New World ring with central malachite and blue topaz stone, champagne diamonds and peacock tourmaline that can be your precious. If your heart is set on something a little more animated, the sensation of Amrapali’s blue sapphire and diamond-frosted white gold bracelet slithering around your wrist is sure to make your heart jump with joy with every move. But who needs a prince when you can have Annoushka’s brilliant diamond, ruby and green garnet-covered toad on your finger? You won’t have to kiss it; it will be your hand that will demand the kissing.