Another "I spent my paypal balance at FutureFashionista" thread

[LGK]

Elana's gotta love us and our collective Tahitian weakness here. I just spent a good chunk of my "jewelry" fund on her site, after contemplating endless antique diamond earrings over the past few months, and finally realizing that it was probably stupid to get any since you can't see my ears under my bushy hair anyway, and that my long hair tends to grease up earrings instantly anyway (mm yum). So, I caved on two Tahitian strands at FF instead. And everyone is totally right- she is SUCH a sweetheart! I didn't realize there was a special PS code on my first order, and she actually applied it *for* me- without me even asking for it until after she'd already gone and done that for me. Now *that* is customer service!

So, I've got two strands on the way. First is a button shaped sorta baroque strand- circled, but rounder looking than most baroques. Vivid peacock, high lustre. Looks like it'll go really well with my PP baroque strand, which is multicolored. The PP strand was (after Elana discounted it for me!) slightly more expensive, if I remember right. I will be curious which is the one I prefer. In the pics, Elana's strand looks a bit nicer, but it's hard to say in pictures with pearls.

The second one I couldn't resist. It's the pigeon grey purple round strand. I eyeballed it for about a day. I finally realized that someone had mangled the picture editing on her website- I thought some of the pearls were irregular shaped, but actually, the edges had gotten deleted in some tragic photoshopping accident. It's actually round. It looks like it'll be a silvery body color with a hint of blue/purple overtone. I hope the purple is noticeable in person. I don't have any round Tahitian strands- I am definitely excited. PP's were a bit out of my price range. I love that Elana has some lower price rounds with a pretty interesting selection of color. (I'm most attracted to color/orient/lustre in pearls, with blemishes and roundness not being nearly as important... and it looks like that's what FF selects for mostly, at least that's my guess. PP looks like they are more stringent with roundness and blemishes, which makes them pricier... least thats my guess!)

Anyway. Both strands are the same size, 8.2 x 10.7mm. And I'm cursing the fact that Monday is a non mail day!

This is the descrip of the pigeon grey purple strand:

8.2 x 10.7mm Pigeon Gray Purple OvertoneTahitian Pearl Strand


Rare Fancy Color steel gray Tahitian cultured pearls with a dramatic, sultry pigeon gray-- deep navy-ocean blue with purple overtones.
Pearl Luster: Very High
Pearl surface: Minimal Blemishes, Excellent crisp luster.

This is the descrip of the baroque strand:


8.1 x 10.7mm Off Round- Button Shape with light circle- vivid Peacock color Tahitian cultured pearl strand. High Luster... beautiful depth of color and thick nacre. Minimal blemishes.

I can't get the pics small enough to post. They're like 300KB even at like 300x200. Bah. I guess I'll link to the listings for now, sorry!

Pigeon grey purple strand

Baroque peacock strand

 

[that_someone_special]

1)

I looked at those strands too and I''m SO glad a PSer got them as well

2) I''m short on time, so this post will be quick...

3) What I''ve been doing with the images is bringing them into photoshop, reduce "Image Size" to 70%, and then save as. When you hit save as, a box will come up and you can pick the quality of the picture basically, just slide it to the left (but watch the picture to see how degraded it gets) and it''ll show you to the right how many KB it is at the different levels of "quality". Hope that helps.

 

[that_someone_special]

Here is the first strand for everyone to see:

 

[that_someone_special]

and the second one

 

[DiaDiva]

LGK, welcome to the FF club! Elana''s the best!

 

[cushioncutnut]

Elana is the best! Those are both so gorgeous! I have to admit, from what I see in the pictures, I like the less expensive strand........but they are both truly gorgeous!! Are you going to keep the strands the same length? Please take a few "family shots" with your PP strand.

I really like the diamond cut ball clasp on the one strand too!!!

 

[gardengloves]

welcome to the club! this is very addicting.

I looked at those strands too, just wow, so glad you got them

 

[LGK]

Swedish bean, thanks so much for fixing the pics for me. Photoshop is MIA at the moment- my disk was eaten by the mess of files in my office so my new laptop doesn't have it, and I haven't caved and bought a new one yet, lol. And for some reason Irfanview just wasn't working on those photos.

Anyway, yeah. I'll be agitating all week til they come! I may well like the baroque one more too. I usually like irregular shapes like keshi and baroque a bit more when it comes to wearing them. I love round pearls too but they don't always get equal neck time.

I am not sure what length they'll end up- I'll need to play with them a bit to see how they fit with my other necklaces. I almost always restring pearls, especially baroque strands where they're more individual- that way I can put my favorites up front. I'm thinking the baroque one I may shorten to 16 or so, because it's the smaller of the two strands I have... I think the other one is something like 13mm at the center, and it's 18 in. The round grey one I hope will work with my blue-lavender freshwater strand, which is... 17 in I think. We'll see if they do play well together, and if so which wants to be the longest.

I often layer pearls so I'm definitely excited to have two baroque Tahitian strands finally. I had been layering it with a $5 rice shaped freshwater strand, dyed peacock, which oddly was pretty decent looking and the color and shape matched pretty well.... of course the $5 strand really didn't have any lustre to speak of though. Still, it'll be much better to have it with another nice Tahitian strand finally.

I may shorten both to just a bit less than choker length too. I prefer shorter necklaces usually.

Whyyyyy doesn't it surprise me that y'all recognize these?

I think we've cleaned Elana out pretty good this month collectively!

Oh! And I did a fun swap with one of the antique dealers at the mall I work at. She bought a vintage Akoya strand for her grandaughter, which needed restringing. And she gave me the lovely filigree clasp in exchange for restringing it for her. So I have a lovely clasp I can use with one of these, it's much more detailed and prettier than the modern ones, though it's the same shape. Sterling if I remember. I am always hunting for good antique clasps. I don't really like the new ones- especially the high polish ball style. I destroy those. (I was *cursing* those Akoyas though- they were like 2 or 3mm or something at the ends and took about four episodes of Heroes on Netflix to finish!)

 

[MeowMeow]

Oooh the ones with the green tinge are the most beautiful! Now I REALLY want to get some from her!

 

[oddoneout]

Wow those are beautiful. I really like the colour.

 

[LGK]

I got a click n ship from Elana today! *agitates impatiently* Can't to see the new shiny things!

 

[cushioncutnut]

It is so hard to be patient! I hope you have them by Saturday!!!

 

[LGK]

Guess what I got in the mail today!!!

The baroque one is to *die* for. Ohmigod it's yummy! The lustre is so beautiful. Perfect sharp reflection in each pearl. The orient, color and overtone is amazing too. The pearls are primarily emerald with strong peacock purple overtones, and there's a few pure teal and a few pure aubergine ones, but mostly they're all similar gorgeous emerald/peacock. The overcast sky today was just perfect for ogling them outside, so I spent my lunch hour on the roof playing with my pearls, lol.

Comparing them to my Pearl Paradise strand, which was over $100 more than my Future Fashionista strand:

The PP strand is huge- I'd completely forgotten how big it was- I guess the center pearl is something like 14mm across lengthwise, possibly larger. So the FF strand is much smaller. (They look great together

) The lustre on the FF strand is head and shoulders above the PP one. So is the color and orient. The PP strand has a few drop dead amazing pearls on it- four large ones that are two-tone light silver and strikingly iridescent deep purple- but it also has a good number of really not so interesting pearls that have very little iridescence/orient at all. The FF strand is more uniform in general appearance, which is exactly what the descriptions of both strands would indicate... the PP one was supposed to be multicolor and the FF wasn't. The FF strand is barely circled, and the pearls are a lot rounder. In fact it looks more like a round strand when worn alone, rather than baroque. The FF strand is also barely blemished. The PP strand is lightly blemished. Oh, and the PP strand is very very carefully matched- each pearl has a matched opposing pearl on the other side of the necklace, which is really cool, especially since they're otherwise a very diverse lot. The FF strand is not like that- the pearls all go beautifully together as a whole but they don't match from side to side.

They're both beautiful but Elana's is the one I prefer- the lucious lustre and beautiful iridescence is really more striking than sheer size. Comparing them in terms of which was a better buy is a bit apples-to-oranges, I guess, since the PP strand is so much larger and wasn't *that* much more, but I like the FF strand more in terms of my preference. In general they look really great together and will definitely be worn together a lot.

The pigeon grey purple strand is quite pretty. It's significantly bigger than the listed size, at least I'm pretty sure I'm not imagining it- the two strands were listed as the same size but the round one dwarfs the baroque one. The center pearl looks like 13mm to me (someone ganked my measuring gauge from the front desk the other day so I can't say for sure

). They're pretty round and well matched. The lustre is similar to the Pearl Paradise baroque strand I was describing above- nice, but not top notch. Definitely noticeably less lustrous than the baroque strand. They are mostly just grey- a bare hint of purple and green and blue in the right light, but in most lights a pretty steel greengrey. The orient is very subtle. They are the most blemished strand of all three. I realized that round simply doesn't enchant me- baroque is just more "me", I just like the irregular look more. (DH does too actually.) I'd much rather have intense gorgeous lustre and color over roundness. So, the pigeon grey ones are going back. Don't get me wrong- they're a *fabulous* strand for the price. And my god they're huge! It's definitely a great deal for a very round, very large strand. Those just aren't my pearl priorities, y'know?

So. Of course I couldn't, you know, just *return* them and not re-spend it, right?

That'd be... just wrong! So, I got the Nancy Pelosi style Tahitian/South Sea strand instead. I may restring it and use the large center South Sea for a pendant. Depends on what I decide when I see it. I know, I know... horrible!

I will try to get some pics up with my camera phone.

The baroque strand is going to be restrung shorter, so it can nest inside the larger Pearl Paradise strand. I might make the extra pearls into dangle earrings with some swarovskis for my mom.

 

[gardengloves]

gotta post pics of the Pelosi South Sea, Tahitian, golden strand. Kiddos for getting this strand! I am so in love with this, it''s fabulous. Next on my list.

 

[that_someone_special]

That pelosi strand

I''m glad most of your order worked out! Dying for pictures

I don''t have any perfect round tahitians, but I also love their irregular shape as well.. they''re so fun!!

Thanks for sharing LGK!

 

[RockHugger]

Very pretty!!! I LOVE the purple ones!!

 

[LGK]

OK I''m trying to get my cruddy pics small enough to post! Closest to my fingers is the Pearl Paradise strand, followed by the semi-baroque strand from Elana, and finally the round pigeon grey one.

 

[LGK]

This is another. The PP strand is off center- the biggest, more intersting pearls are not showing.

 

[LGK]

The PP strand is centered better in this one.

 

[LGK]

They're in a different arrangement here. First the PP strand, then the pigeon grey one, then finally the baroque one. The round strand is off center here.

 

[cushioncutnut]

The FF strand is gorgeous...I see beautiful emerald green with rainbow orient coming through!! What a gorgeous luster!!! I think you made an excellent choice exchanging the rounder gray strand for the multi-colour Nancy Pelosi strand!! It is StUNNING!!!!!

 

[MeowMeow]

Thank you for all your pictures!! They are beautiful!! When you bought from Elana how long did they take to show up? I notice from my emails with her that she is super attentive and I''m defenitely looking forward to getting some from her for gaduation!!

 

[LGK]

Date: 2/25/2010 9:51:56 PM
Author: MeowMeow
Thank you for all your pictures!! They are beautiful!! When you bought from Elana how long did they take to show up? I notice from my emails with her that she is super attentive and I'm defenitely looking forward to getting some from her for gaduation!!

I think it took like 12 days from the date I purchased them to arrive at my doorstep, and if I remember they were coming across most of the US. She click n shipped me (like, printed the label and USPS emailed the tracking # to me) and then it was a couple days before she actually dropped the package off at the PO. Pretty great turn around time considering we've been buying her out pretty hard

I get the feeling it's a fairly small company, maybe close to a one-woman show, which I love supporting- especially when she has such a great product and such great customer service. Her email replying time is extremely quick even when it's after the sale, which is awesome. Some companies are all chatty when you're working on an order, then drop off the face of the planet afterwards. Plus her return policy is quite reasonable- no restocking fee.

I love Pearl Paradise's stuff, but I really love that Elana has some lower end but still quite lovely pieces with more pictures and a fuller description. And I swear that pigeon grey strand is way bigger than it was listed at!

OK done burbling (for now) about how awesome FF is!

I am so irritated with myself for losing my good camera in our move 6 months ago. I hate breaking down and buying a new one but my camera phone kinda sucks. It really does none of the strands of pearls justice.

 

[HHPmom]

Congrats on your new purchase. Elana''s strand is much more lustrous than the PP strand. I think you did really well. So glad to hear you switched the other strand for the Pelosi. I would do the same.

 

[LGK]

Sooooo, it turns out some lucky person nabbed the Pelosi strand about 10 minutes before I tried to

But! Elana has another strand that will be easy to turn into a similar style of necklace, which she said had even better lustre, and she''s letting me pick the mix of other pearls that goes on it. The strand we''re starting with looks to be a large, teal/silver baroque strand.

She has this one gorgeous fuschia/aubergine drop pearl that I just loved the look of, and a bunch of other neat ones. Yay! I think the plan is, she''s sending me a number of pearls to play with and I will string it myself and send back the extras. I think that will be even cooler in the end.

I''ll try to post the pics of the new strand.

 

[LGK]

A box of yummy things! I will probably go for a few white SS ones, no gold SS, and some of the teals and the gorgeous aubergine drop. And that lovely peacocky one that's just to the left of the white one in the bottom corner.

Elana really is a total sweetheart. I kind of think this necklace is gonna come out at least as nice as the other one.

 

[LGK]

Closeup of some of the really cool ones.

 

[cushioncutnut]

How can you say no to having a necklace put together that may be even more fantastic than the one that was scarfed out from underneath you? OOOh look at those gorgeous pearls! This is going to turn out fantastic I am sure!!

 

[HHPmom]

Date: 2/27/2010 9:37:06 PM
Author: LittleGreyKitten
Closeup of some of the really cool ones.

I like these 4.

It''s great she sends you extra pearls to play with. Knowing how to knot has its advantage. PP let me do that a few times and I sent back those I don''t use. I like your idea of not using gold SS because the rest of the pearls are in the "cool" color group. I guess it evolves and isn''t a Pelosi style anymore. Can''t wait to see the finished product.

 

[that_someone_special]

Jeez, how lucky are you?! That worked out for sure! I''m really excited for you

Those 4 pearls are just marvelous