They say "diamonds are a girl's best friend". In the case of Twinkles Jewellery, diamonds became one woman's livelihood.

Shirley Liew, the jewellery store's manager, considers diamonds and jewellery her passion.

She banked on what she knows about blings by parlaying it into a successful business.

Brunei is no stranger to jewellery shops. In fact, they can be found nearly everywhere, from department stores, to shop lots to whole units in shopping malls.

But that didn't stop Liew. Competition was a concern but she made it her business to know what she was getting into by doing her research.

"In this field it's very competitive, and you have to do a lot of research. It took me a few years to do that research, so when I was ready, I thought it was time to open a shop," she says.

The Twinkles Jewellery in Kiulap is close to four years old and differs from other jewellery stores which usually display rows and rows of chains, rings, earrings and so on.

At Twinkles, customers will find a range of intricate pieces that Liew says are "one of a kind".

"When talking about quantity, for instance, rings, we only have one piece of each, and we are not mass producers, because from our customer comments (we've learned) some stores have a few pieces of one ring, in different sizes, but we don't do that," says Liew, who adds that even if a jewellery is sold off, the design will not be repeated.

"We design our own jewellery and we do a lot of custom jewellery for our clients. Brunei is small and we find that people don't want to wear the same thing," says Liew.

"Of course there are some classic solitaire rings that we have, because these are items that you just can't get away from, no matter how you design, so there always has to be some classic items, but apart from them, we do a lot of our own designs and you won't find it even in other countries," she says.

Liew says that quality is an important part of her business, and her diamonds and coloured stones come from all around the world, with the diamonds originally from South Africa and cut to precision in Europe.

The jewellery sector in Brunei is considered quite "low key" compared with other industries, but still competition is tight.

But instead of worrying about competition, Twinkles Jewellery focuses on satisfying customers.

Liew says that she has a motto to "focus more on her customers and her business than her competitors", which she considers her "major achievement".

"We never really focus on the competition. We focus very much on customer satisfaction, and if they have good comments, and also, we focus on our design," she says.

But Twinkles doesn't completely ignore the market and its competitors.

"We also have to know the market, and what the other competitors are doing, because we try not to do the same thing, so that we can stand out and do something different, so that's how we try to stay alive in the competition," she says.

Surprisingly, Liew says that her motto and method of running her business, has allowed her to have very minimal difficulties.

"So far, things have gone very smoothly," she says.

"I don't see any (difficulty) that we have, and I can't think of any at the moment, but I think it is because we focus on moving forward.

"I have discussions with my team everyday. We never felt that we should be competing with other businesses," she says.

At the moment, Liew says that Twinkles Jewellery employs both local and foreign employees.

"We are always talking and always having discussions about what our customers want and need and what satisfies them so that is how we try to move forward, to be able to cater what we have to the design they like. That is very much how we survive," she says.

Liew credits Twinkles Jewellery's "steady, constant growth" to marketing and the promotions.

When Twinkles first started, Liew supported the business with marketing and promotions until the store saw a jump in performance.

Since then, although she has kept the promotions low-key, the store has been enjoying steady growth.

"There has never been a sharp increase or decrease in our performance, and it's been very consistent," she says.

From her experience, Twinkles Jewellery has never had a specific target market, mainly because the Brunei market is small.

"If you ask me which one sells better, it is difficult to say because there are a group of customers who like diamonds and coloured stones, so that's why it is pretty general.

"In Brunei, people want different things. In other countries, they can just sell (one item) alone, because they have the volume, but in Brunei, you really need to have a mixture of collections," she says.

As for the future of Twinkles, Liew says that expansion is a possibility, but adds she is happy with the existing set-up.

"It's not like a restaurant, where seats are limited. I think for the jewellery business, we serve them and we get what they want, and that's done, so I think we're quite happy now," she says.