Real. Every piece on this page is solid 14k gold, yellow or white, and the title says so; nothing here is plated, gold-tone or gold-filled. Read for one detail: most of the labret and Monroe studs are a solid 14k gold top on a flexible Bioplast post, and the title says Bioplast when that is the case. The captive hoops are gold all the way through.

Bioplast is a flexible, inert medical-grade plastic. The post through your lip and the flat disc against your gums are Bioplast; the gem-set gold top pushes onto the front. For a lip piercing that matters twice: the disc that rests on your teeth and gums is soft plastic instead of metal, and the post flexes when you talk and eat. Piercers often recommend exactly this for labrets and Monroes. You replace the post, not the gold, if it ever wears.

Lips run 16G and 14G, with posts of 5/16 inch (8mm) for most healed lips and 3/8 inch (10mm) for a fuller lip or a piercing still settling. Captive hoops for a labret run 3/8 to 1/2 inch inside diameter so they clear the lip without pressing. Match the gauge and length you wear now; both are on every product page.

A red, irritated lip piercing is usually a nickel reaction, and solid yellow 14k gold has none; white-gold alloys vary by piece, so nickel-sensitive skin chooses yellow or asks first. The Bioplast-post studs keep metal out of the piercing entirely. Lips heal faster than most piercings, 6 to 8 weeks for a labret and 2 to 3 months for a Monroe or Medusa, but the starter your piercer placed stays until you are cleared to swap.

Labret studs are the everyday pick for labret, Monroe and Medusa piercings: a flat disc inside, a gem outside, nothing to catch. A captive hoop is the statement for a healed side labret; it needs enough diameter to clear the lip, and in gold you ease it open just enough to seat the bead and never twist it, because repeated bending works gold brittle.

You pay for gold by weight and for stones set by hand rather than glued; the gold-top studs keep the price down because the gold is only where you see it, while a solid gold captive carries a full hoop of metal. Most pieces here are made to order in our own gold department in Buffalo, New York, so some ship a little slower than steel. Gold is priced as gold: buy-one-get-two promotions do not apply to 14k, and the price you see is the price.