The first thing I check is the back, the little butterfly or lever that closes it, because that's where huggies live or die. If it's stiff enough that you need two hands and a mirror every single morning, it'll sit in a drawer by week three. A good one closes with one hand, by feel, while you're still looking for your keys.
Where they fall down is if you're after proper drama. These sit close to the lobe by design, so if you want movement, swing, something that catches the light when you turn your head, a huggie isn't that earring. They're also not the most forgiving on stretched or larger piercings, because the hoop needs to hug the lobe to earn the name, and a gap just looks like a mistake rather than a style choice. And if you've got multiple piercings stacked up one lobe, cheap huggies can get fiddly to put in without catching the one above.
Gold tone, whatever the actual metal underneath, is the easiest finish to live with. It goes with everything from a plain t-shirt to a proper jumper, doesn't need matching to anything else you're wearing, and hides a bit of everyday wear better than silver does. Silver's lovely but shows tarnish and scratches faster, so it wants more looking after than most of us are going to give a pair of earrings. A soft gold has got me through years of not thinking about my earrings at all, which is exactly the point of them.
Size is the bit people get wrong. Huggies are usually sold by diameter in millimetres, and the temptation is to go small because it looks dainty on the model. On an actual ear, too small can look like you're wearing a stud that's had an accident. I'd go for something that sits just past the lobe, visible from the front without swallowing the whole ear. If you've got a smaller lobe, anything much over about twelve millimetres starts looking like it's wearing you rather than the other way round. Try it on and turn your head properly, not just a glance in the little shop mirror, because some sit forward and poke rather than hugging flat.
On an ordinary day these go in and get forgotten, under hair, under a hood, through a full day of a jumper going on and off over my head without once catching. That's the actual job. Does it close with one hand, sit flat against the lobe, and still look like something when I catch it in a shop window, not just in good light at home?
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