Japan Trip Purchase Pictures (and Yssie’s paradise bracelet) — Current Pearl Collection

[mamong]

It is true, what our eyes/heart like do not always agree with what our skin like. If we’re lucky, the discordance may translate into nice pop/contrast vs yummy blend between your pearls/gems and your skin; in this case we can’t go wrong with any choice made. However some of us may also find that what our eyes like, give tonnes of age and or sickly looking instead of radiance and rejuvenating. We should therefore choose what best for our skin tone when purchasing necklaces/earrings/brooches.

We should therefore always bear in mind that when we ask online opinions between different pearls to choose, the votes only reflect the distribution of personal preferences and the majority vote does not always what is best for us.

Nothing beats in person purchase and if we want to purchase online, it is preferable to know what’s best for us by visiting different stores and comparing different pearls first.

 

[NY_Resonant]

This thought intrigues me.

Structural colors of pearls - PMC

The luster is the most important characteristic of pearls, whose colors depend on periodic structures of aragonite crystal layers and conchiolin sheets. We here propose an optical model for analyzing the structural colors of pearls that includes the ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

In this paper (which is oft-referenced by subsequent papers, and whose authors have written other papers on similar topics - so I trust it) - iridescence is modelled using the pearl’s nucleus as a light source and each aragonite tablet as a diffracting unit. And the pearl’s overall iridescence is the calculation of interference created by thousands of microns-thick layers of aragonite all scattering the light “emitted” by the nucleus.

So ignoring bleaching and pinking, if a pearl’s colour is created by conchiolin absorbing some wavelengths, and that conchiolin sits between every layer of aragonite, then a darker conchiolin layer is going to absorb more wavelengths… Leading to the quick and dirty conclusion that a “whiter” pearl doesn’t just show more iridescence, it actually iridesces more strongly than a darker-bodied pearl with identical nacre structure in the same lighting environment…

… Ignoring the surface diffraction component of iridescence, ignoring tablet edge effects, ignoring conchiolin matrixing, ignoring genetic colour expression (Tahitians)…

Okay, well, lots on this list



I can see that being true. No clue how to go about proving it, but for me, based on what I see in my own pearls, I can see this being the case.



Yeah. We talk about this with diamonds. A colourless diamond vs. a near-colourless on different skin colours. Why not pearls too.



If I say a pearl “pops” I mean exactly what you’re saying here, that there’s high contrast between the pearl and whatever I’m comparing it to. Which is usually skin, or hair maybe. Rarely clothes.

I know this isn’t addressed to me but I will say that I can’t even define the word “glow”! Some combination of iridescence and muted contrast? To me south sea pearls “glow”, and high-gloss-luster high-contrast-luster mirror-like pearls don’t. But that’s a handwavey assessment that most people who read this could find problems with.



I’m really curious to hear where your inflection point is on environmental darkness and pearl body tone preference. Like - what amount of ambient brightness causes your eyes to shift preferences. I’m really curious if I see the same thing actually, I’ll find out soon, I’ve got my pearls ready to go for my ever-darkening evening

This thought intrigues me.

Structural colors of pearls - PMC

The luster is the most important characteristic of pearls, whose colors depend on periodic structures of aragonite crystal layers and conchiolin sheets. We here propose an optical model for analyzing the structural colors of pearls that includes the ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

In this paper (which is oft-referenced by subsequent papers, and whose authors have written other papers on similar topics - so I trust it) - iridescence is modelled using the pearl’s nucleus as a light source and each aragonite tablet as a diffracting unit. And the pearl’s overall iridescence is the calculation of interference created by thousands of microns-thick layers of aragonite all scattering the light “emitted” by the nucleus.

So ignoring bleaching and pinking, if a pearl’s colour is created by conchiolin absorbing some wavelengths, and that conchiolin sits between every layer of aragonite, then a darker conchiolin layer is going to absorb more wavelengths… Leading to the quick and dirty conclusion that a “whiter” pearl doesn’t just show more iridescence, it actually iridesces more strongly than a darker-bodied pearl with identical nacre structure in the same lighting environment…

… Ignoring the surface diffraction component of iridescence, ignoring tablet edge effects, ignoring conchiolin matrixing, ignoring genetic colour expression (Tahitians)…

Okay, well, lots on this list



I can see that being true. No clue how to go about proving it, but for me, based on what I see in my own pearls, I can see this being the case.



Yeah. We talk about this with diamonds. A colourless diamond vs. a near-colourless on different skin colours. Why not pearls too.



If I say a pearl “pops” I mean exactly what you’re saying here, that there’s high contrast between the pearl and whatever I’m comparing it to. Which is usually skin, or hair maybe. Rarely clothes.

I know this isn’t addressed to me but I will say that I can’t even define the word “glow”! Some combination of iridescence and muted contrast? To me south sea pearls “glow”, and high-gloss-luster high-contrast-luster mirror-like pearls don’t. But that’s a handwavey assessment that most people who read this could find problems with.



I’m really curious to hear where your inflection point is on environmental darkness and pearl body tone preference. Like - what amount of ambient brightness causes your eyes to shift preferences. I’m really curious if I see the same thing actually, I’ll find out soon, I’ve got my pearls ready to go for my ever-darkening evening

I made an attempt to catch on camera the difference in Pearl contrast appearance to the eye based on environmental factors such as level of brightness in the room.

The NW light bodied strand is on the outside in the following pictures:

Bright Pictures that seem to show inner strand has slightly darker blacks:






Dimmer room pictures showing outer NW strand has darker blacks:

 

[icy_jade]

Don’t use a white paper towel. Use a grey background. T-shirt or anything is fine. Most cams will default background white color to grey and that darkens your pics or throws off the color

 

[NY_Resonant]

Don’t use a white paper towel. Use a grey background. T-shirt or anything is fine. Most cams will default background white color to grey and that darkens your pics or throws off the color

Sure!

Bright:






Dim:

 

[NY_Resonant]

Now for some bright pictures with different background contrast under the pearls to show just how different they can look against different colors.

Look at how much easier it is to tell when pearl colors are not a perfect match when on black background!

 

[icy_jade]

I should be clearer. Light grey background, shaded natural light if you can:

Photographing my pearls

Hisano showed me a picture of the white metallic that Angela took under natural light. This allowed you to see the metallic luster better. Too bad there is not picture of color pearls taken by a professional photographer for us to compare. That's interesting because PP also sent me picture of...

www.pricescope.com

 

[Calla-lilies]

Thanks for sharing these pictures! Both sets of pearls are absolutely gorgeous!!

 

[yssie]

Spotlighting is fantastic for highlighting differences in colour between pearls

I think the lighting convo is starting to convolve a couple of factors though - the bright examples are also under stronger spotlights and the dim examples are in diffuse lighting, so both different lighting types and different intensities. In the shade beside a window on a bright day vs. these same diffuse dim lighting examples would be a more 1-1 mapping that’d be easier for us to follow along with It can be a bit tricky to maintain relative orientation of camera/pearl/light direction - my go-to is using some hardback books as props to help create lighting directionality.

 

[NY_Resonant]

Spotlighting is fantastic for highlighting differences in colour between pearls

I think the lighting convo is starting to convolve a couple of factors though - the bright examples are also under stronger spotlights and the dim examples are in diffuse lighting, so both different lighting types and different intensities. In the shade beside a window on a bright day vs. these same diffuse dim lighting examples would be a more 1-1 mapping that’d be easier for us to follow along with

Wish I could generate those kinds of controlled lighting environments but i’ll see what I can do once we get a bright day. Very cloudy today!

I was also wishing I had some kind of dimmer light to use that would allow me to control the environment properly but not available. Starting to quickly exceed my photography skillset here!

 

[yssie]

Your neighbours will get to enjoy watching you twirl in staccato round and round in front of a window for a half hour or so

Let me link a thread that explains the orientation thing a bit more. Edit: Actually, let me move those posts to another thread and then I’ll link that one to avoid also linking the tangents in the original.

 

[NY_Resonant]

I should be clearer. Light grey background, shaded natural light if you can:

Photographing my pearls

Hisano showed me a picture of the white metallic that Angela took under natural light. This allowed you to see the metallic luster better. Too bad there is not picture of color pearls taken by a professional photographer for us to compare. That's interesting because PP also sent me picture of...

www.pricescope.com

Very cloudy day so I was able to do it with natural “shaded” light.

 

[yssie]

Very cloudy day so I was able to do it with natural “shaded” light.

Got to be honest, your NW looks more contrasty and brighter in all photos to me!

Here's the orientation stuff I'd posted about earlier!

Pearl Grading Resource

Wouldn't there be two drill holes on some gem grade pearls? If they are strung on a necklace vs. being set on a post? And a silly question, but would a pearl with lack-luster but free of blemishes be considered gem grade? And does shape impact "gem grade"? For instance, would an off round with...

www.pricescope.com

 

[NY_Resonant]

Got to be honest, your NW looks more contrasty and brighter in all photos to me!

Here's the orientation stuff I'd posted about earlier!

Pearl Grading Resource

Wouldn't there be two drill holes on some gem grade pearls? If they are strung on a necklace vs. being set on a post? And a silly question, but would a pearl with lack-luster but free of blemishes be considered gem grade? And does shape impact "gem grade"? For instance, would an off round with...

www.pricescope.com

Yea, the NW is *significantly* brighter visually. When walking home at night outside in streets of NYC, it looked like translucent glowy white balls around my fiancee’s neck.

The NW strand definitely wins on contrast in RL compared to the gem contrast takahashi strand. The amount it wins by does vary depending on lighting conditions and depending on background — on a white table the already white pearls benefit less from the white reflection than the darker body gem contrast strand for example.

Not surprised it wins on contrast though, at Takahashi’s office the only strand with a bit more contrast to my eyes in their current inventory was the Granpearl strand.

Kan must have held back his laughter many times as I approached the table with the strands many times from various angles and when I started viewing it with my zoomed-in phone as I was eliminating strands from consideration…

Extremely pleased with the NW purchase from Takahashi.

The gem contrast strand is also very beautiful — don’t get me wrong. At 56% of the cost I paid for the NW, it is a great deal.

I DO plan to make a few tweaks to that strand as I restring it though. Adding knots and a longer clasp will allow me to remove 3-4 pearls with the most flaws completely. I can also move the pearls around a bit to smooth out the color tone variations. All minor improvements around the edges that nobody but Yysie would probably notice — haha.

 

[CircularBrilliant]

I absolutely love the level of knowledge and thoughtful discussion about pearls here on PS! I've been thinking about this issue of body color preferences for a while now, and am finally ready to weigh in with where I fall.

My skintone is light-medium, neutral-to-slightly warm/olive. Pictured on my hand are (in order from smallest to largest pearl): (1) akoya from takahashi (that I believe, based on comparison, to stand up to miki AAAs); (2) paspaley harvest WSS; (3) regular paspaley WSS:


This picture was taken in natural light. On my skin, I think even if the pearls were all the same size, the regular paspaley would still be the one that "pops" the most and draws the eye, despite being less lustrous than the other two, because the very blue-white color contrasts the most strongly with my skin. But upon a closer look, it's clear the other two are more lustrous and have more "glow," and are frankly higher-quality pearls.

It would probably (definitely, lol) be more rational for me to just save the money and go for the pearls that pop more on my skin, but I really love the stronger luster that it seems like you can only get with darker-bodied pearls--I enjoy playing with and admiring my jewelry, and just get a bigger thrill out of looking at the mirror-like reflection of my more pinked pearls (and I think that they still look nice on me ). As @yssie and I recently discussed, it appears "mind-clean" is very much a thing for me with pearls! This won't be true for everyone, though, and I think these types of discussions are so great for helping people decide for themselves what they find more important.

 

[lovedogs]

I absolutely love the level of knowledge and thoughtful discussion about pearls here on PS! I've been thinking about this issue of body color preferences for a while now, and am finally ready to weigh in with where I fall.

My skintone is light-medium, neutral-to-slightly warm/olive. Pictured on my hand are (in order from smallest to largest pearl): (1) akoya from takahashi (that I believe, based on comparison, to stand up to miki AAAs); (2) paspaley harvest WSS; (3) regular paspaley WSS:


This picture was taken in natural light. On my skin, I think even if the pearls were all the same size, the regular paspaley would still be the one that "pops" the most and draws the eye, despite being less lustrous than the other two, because the very blue-white color contrasts the most strongly with my skin. But upon a closer look, it's clear the other two are more lustrous and have more "glow," and are frankly higher-quality pearls.

It would probably (definitely, lol) be more rational for me to just save the money and go for the pearls that pop more on my skin, but I really love the stronger luster that it seems like you can only get with darker-bodied pearls--I enjoy playing with and admiring my jewelry, and just get a bigger thrill out of looking at the mirror-like reflection of my more pinked pearls (and I think that they still look nice on me ). As @yssie and I recently discussed, it appears "mind-clean" is very much a thing for me with pearls! This won't be true for everyone, though, and I think these types of discussions are so great for helping people decide for themselves what they find more important.

Ooooo those pearls are gorgeous. The biggest one is honestly glorious. Then again, all 3 are amazing, but the color and tone of the biggest one is incredible.

Edit. I think we have similar coloring as I'm also light / neutral with olive undertones, so this pic is helpful for imagining what pink vs blue tones would do on me

 

[CircularBrilliant]

Ooooo those pearls are gorgeous. The biggest one is honestly glorious. Then again, all 3 are amazing, but the color and tone of the biggest one is incredible.

Edit. I think we have similar coloring as I'm also light / neutral with olive undertones, so this pic is helpful for imagining what pink vs blue tones would do on me

I do really love the big one, too! It's a gorgeous bright blue-white orb, and so fun to wear

I had been trying for the longest time to figure out why it looked so good on, despite not being as lustrous as the other two when compared side-by-side, and it was thanks to threads like this that I finally realized it was because of how it plays off my skin!

 

[lovedogs]

I do really love the big one, too! It's a gorgeous bright blue-white orb, and so fun to wear

I had been trying for the longest time to figure out why it looked so good on, despite not being as lustrous as the other two when compared side-by-side, and it was thanks to threads like this that I finally realized it was because of how it plays off my skin!

Seriously it's amazing. I need to ask if @pearlzaustralia has any "blue white orbs" lol

 

[NY_Resonant]

I do really love the big one, too! It's a gorgeous bright blue-white orb, and so fun to wear

I had been trying for the longest time to figure out why it looked so good on, despite not being as lustrous as the other two when compared side-by-side, and it was thanks to threads like this that I finally realized it was because of how it plays off my skin!

I love the akoya and the regular Paspaley on you the most but they are all gorgeous. The pink akoya plays off your skin with more contrast, in my personal opinion, than the “creamier” harvest paspaley?

Have you tried natural white Akoya? They might give you the best combination of white contrast with your skin WITH more pearl-level contrast than WSS… smaller but also a heck more affordable for a necklace/bracelet.

My NW glows quite similarly in style with some WSS i’ve seen at mikimoto.

 

[CircularBrilliant]

I love the akoya and the regular Paspaley on you the most but they are all gorgeous. The pink akoya plays off your skin with more contrast, in my personal opinion, than the “creamier” harvest paspaley?

Have you tried natural white Akoya? They might give you the best combination of white contrast with your skin WITH more pearl-level contrast than WSS… smaller but also a heck more affordable for a necklace/bracelet.

My NW glows quite similarly in style with some WSS i’ve seen at mikimoto.

Your new strand is so gorgeous!!! As much as I love WSS, my favorite pearls are still strongly pinked + blue orient akoyas--you just cannot beat that luster! I haven't tried (or even seen IRL!) a natural white before, but I would be open to it if I could find something without any green or peachy tones. That's good to know about your comparison to miki WSS since Paspaley supplies them, so I have a good idea of what yours probably looks like--I would love to try on something like that one day. For me, though, I will probably always prioritize a pearl that is more lustrous over a pearl with more color contrast to my skin, provided the more lustrous pearl still looks good on me--I just get a huge kick out of seeing my face with crisp clarity in my pearls lol. Side-by-side, it's very clear why my earring WSSs were selected to be harvest pearls, while the big necklace pearl was only regular (but still gorgeous!) stock--the harvest pearls stood up to "gem" grade Moline akoyas!

 

[NY_Resonant]

Your new strand is so gorgeous!!! As much as I love WSS, my favorite pearls are still strongly pinked + blue orient akoyas--you just cannot beat that luster! I haven't tried (or even seen IRL!) a natural white before, but I would be open to it if I could find something without any green or peachy tones. That's good to know about your comparison to miki WSS since Paspaley supplies them, so I have a good idea of what yours probably looks like--I would love to try on something like that one day. For me, though, I will probably always prioritize a pearl that is more lustrous over a pearl with more color contrast to my skin, provided the more lustrous pearl still looks good on me--I just get a huge kick out of seeing my face with crisp clarity in my pearls lol. Side-by-side, it's very clear why my earring WSSs were selected to be harvest pearls, while the big necklace pearl was only regular (but still gorgeous!) stock--the harvest pearls stood up to "gem" grade Moline akoyas!

I definitely understand and agree about the pearl level luster being absolutely critical!! Otherwise you just have a white glass ball.

I’m very adverse to the green tone showing on pearls. I’ve heard NW often suffers from that — thankfully my NW strand does not show that way and the overtone is more pink/silvery-blue/teal. So it might be worth trying for you?

With regards to luster-contrast, take a look at these pictures, the left strand is miki AA, NW, NW, then AAA miki.

 

[mamong]

I absolutely love the level of knowledge and thoughtful discussion about pearls here on PS! I've been thinking about this issue of body color preferences for a while now, and am finally ready to weigh in with where I fall.

My skintone is light-medium, neutral-to-slightly warm/olive. Pictured on my hand are (in order from smallest to largest pearl): (1) akoya from takahashi (that I believe, based on comparison, to stand up to miki AAAs); (2) paspaley harvest WSS; (3) regular paspaley WSS:


This picture was taken in natural light. On my skin, I think even if the pearls were all the same size, the regular paspaley would still be the one that "pops" the most and draws the eye, despite being less lustrous than the other two, because the very blue-white color contrasts the most strongly with my skin. But upon a closer look, it's clear the other two are more lustrous and have more "glow," and are frankly higher-quality pearls.

It would probably (definitely, lol) be more rational for me to just save the money and go for the pearls that pop more on my skin, but I really love the stronger luster that it seems like you can only get with darker-bodied pearls--I enjoy playing with and admiring my jewelry, and just get a bigger thrill out of looking at the mirror-like reflection of my more pinked pearls (and I think that they still look nice on me . As @yssie and I recently discussed, it appears "mind-clean" is very much a thing for me with pearls! This won't be true for everyone, though, and I think these types of discussions are so great for helping people decide for themselves what they find more important.

Great pearls! My eyes prefer the akoya which blends really well with your skin tone and the harvest paspaley which pops nicely with nice contrast with your skin tone.

 

[CircularBrilliant]

I definitely understand and agree about the pearl level luster being absolutely critical!! Otherwise you just have a white glass ball.

I’m very adverse to the green tone showing on pearls. I’ve heard NW often suffers from that — thankfully my NW strand does not show that way and the overtone is more pink/silvery-blue/teal. So it might be worth trying for you?

With regards to luster-contrast, take a look at these pictures, the left strand is miki AA, NW, NW, then AAA miki.

I cannot tell you how much I (and I'm sure everyone else reading these threads) appreciate the time you took to post so many helpful pictures and share your thoughts! And I do totally hear what you're saying about the possibilities of natural whites and the balance that can be struck with those. I recognize it's a bit irrational of me, but I just can't get over personally preferring the crisp reflections (both in terms of sharpness and depths of colors) in darker-bodied pearls over the brightness/skin contrast pop of lighter-bodied pearls. I generally only look at my pearl earrings/necklaces when I'm playing with my jewelry, so I lean towards what pleases me to admire (in the hand) over what might more attract another person's eye (when worn).

 

[NY_Resonant]

I cannot tell you how much I (and I'm sure everyone else reading these threads) appreciate the time you took to post so many helpful pictures and share your thoughts! And I do totally hear what you're saying about the possibilities of natural whites and the balance that can be struck with those. I recognize it's a bit irrational of me, but I just can't get over personally preferring the crisp reflections (both in terms of sharpness and depths of colors) in darker-bodied pearls over the brightness/skin contrast pop of lighter-bodied pearls. I generally only look at my pearl earrings/necklaces when I'm playing with my jewelry, so I lean towards what pleases me to admire (in the hand) over what might more attract another person's eye (when worn).

Oh, I totally get it. My custom project right now is to take my mother’s darker bodied pink necklace (Gem luster with minor flaw from Takahashi) and upgrade it in both contrast/luster and surface quality (Gloss/Luster). The goal being a darker+more contrasty strand than my NW which honestly won‘t be that easy to achieve.

I guess my point in my prior post was that NW akoya can be *very* contrasty. I saw over 8 tennyo pinked darker bodied necklaces at Takahashi and 4-5 gem luster with flaw strands — the NW was more contrasty than them all. At Miki, it beat the AA and was slightly behind the AAA on contrast to my eyes.

My *guess* is you need to be talking dark-bodied AAA/Granpearl certified type necklaces before you start getting to contrast levels that exceed what NW can achieve.

My darker-bodied pink akoya project:
1) Buy the most contrasty gem luster with minor flaws I could find from Takahashi
2) Take a top quality category earring from Takahashi (Which I selected for contrast among multiple options) and compare Pearl by Pearl against the necklace. I did this step and got 21-23 pearls that are equally contrasty (Most have less perfect surfaces but that’s fine with necklaces and I already eliminated 4 that were contrasty but surfaces bothered me too much).
3) Order 20 custom matched-to-necklace pearls from Takahashi at the “best they can do” or “tip top gem” category. Similar to what @yssie did for her amazing bracelet. This step is in process and will take *awhile* before they find the pearls — Yssie had to wait months. These pearls will be 8.65mm-9mm, so I won’t need to have them near the clasp.
4) Then I take roughly 43+ pearls and assemble the final necklace myself, sorting by size, color, contrast, etc.
5) I will use the remaining 20+ pearls from original necklace that didn’t quite make the cut to make a beautiful bracelet.

 

[CircularBrilliant]

Oh, I totally get it. My custom project right now is to take my mother’s darker bodied pink necklace (Gem luster with minor flaw from Takahashi) and upgrade it in both contrast/luster and surface quality (Gloss/Luster). The goal being a darker+more contrasty strand than my NW which honestly won‘t be that easy to achieve.

I guess my point in my prior post was that NW akoya can be *very* contrasty. I saw over 8 tennyo pinked darker bodied necklaces at Takahashi and 4-5 gem luster with flaw strands — the NW was more contrasty than them all. At Miki, it beat the AA and was slightly behind the AAA on contrast to my eyes.

My *guess* is you need to be talking dark-bodied AAA/Granpearl certified type necklaces before you start getting to contrast levels that exceed what NW can achieve.

My darker-bodied pink akoya project:
1) Buy the most contrasty gem luster with minor flaws I could find from Takahashi
2) Take a top quality category earring from Takahashi (Which I selected for contrast among multiple options) and compare Pearl by Pearl against the necklace. I did this step and got 21-23 pearls that are equally contrasty (Most have less perfect surfaces but that’s fine with necklaces and I already eliminated 4 that were contrasty but surfaces bothered me too much).
3) Order 20 custom matched-to-necklace pearls from Takahashi at the “best they can do” or “tip top gem” category. Similar to what @yssie did for her amazing bracelet. This step is in process and will take *awhile* before they find the pearls — Yssie had to wait months. These pearls will be 8.65mm-9mm, so I won’t need to have them near the clasp.
4) Then I take roughly 43+ pearls and assemble the final necklace myself, sorting by size, color, contrast, etc.
5) I will use the remaining 20+ pearls from original necklace that didn’t quite make the cut to make a beautiful bracelet.

Omg this sounds amazing, and all the more special for the journey! I suppose my wallet is fortunate that I only do earrings and pendants for pearls--bracelets and rings won't work with my level of clumsiness, and I just don't feel the desire (yet?) for a strand Given that studs are relatively budget-friendly, I am totally up for trying out a nice natural white pair if I come across one that avoids green/peach like your strand!

 

[NY_Resonant]

Omg this sounds amazing, and all the more special for the journey! I suppose my wallet is fortunate that I only do earrings and pendants for pearls--bracelets and rings won't work with my level of clumsiness, and I just don't feel the desire (yet?) for a strand Given that studs are relatively budget-friendly, I am totally up for trying out a nice natural white pair if I come across one that avoids green/peach like your strand!

You could place a custom stud pair request with those characteristics with Takahashi and they can show you one when they find it? One idea anyhow! You can always pass if you don’t like the picture when they get it

 

[Cinders]

The depth of information in this thread is stunning. I greatly appreciate everyone sharing everything you've all learned in your comprehensive studies!

I see everything you're saying about the NW pearls, @NY_Resonant and they are gorgeous!! I'm wondering if NW might be the best color for me. I've been having a bit of difficulty finding the right color to go with my skin tone. Unfortunately, I have absolutely nowhere to even find NW pearls near me so I can't see for myself.
Also, aside from lots of PP freshwater pearls, I only have a handful of akoyas from Takahashi and Cees. Objectively, I'd say the best pair I have are fairly pink from Takahashi but they do not look good on me. They are really beautiful but they just get lost(?) because of my coloring(?). Does that even make sense? @yssie , any advice? I'm, evidently, quite pink. How do I even shop for the right colors?

Since pinking is so prevalent & preferred for akoyas I'm not really sure where to go from here. (Given the fact that I do not have the option to see good pearls in person without ordering them.) I know peachy or yellow-ish pearls are even worse with my skin than pinks but for different reasons.

My pearls from Cees are blue/gray and I really love those but sometimes things call for white pearls. I'm quite drawn to the silvery look of Mikimoto pearls in pictures but I love the true white of the NW shown in this thread.

Ugh, I'm sorry for this massive post & the threadjack! I'm just so impressed by the incredible insightfulness and serious studies done by everyone participating in this thread---you are all amazing!

 

[NY_Resonant]

The depth of information in this thread is stunning. I greatly appreciate everyone sharing everything you've all learned in your comprehensive studies!

I see everything you're saying about the NW pearls, @NY_Resonant and they are gorgeous!! I'm wondering if NW might be the best color for me. I've been having a bit of difficulty finding the right color to go with my skin tone. Unfortunately, I have absolutely nowhere to even find NW pearls near me so I can't see for myself.
Also, aside from lots of PP freshwater pearls, I only have a handful of akoyas from Takahashi and Cees. Objectively, I'd say the best pair I have are fairly pink from Takahashi but they do not look good on me. They are really beautiful but they just get lost(?) because of my coloring(?). Does that even make sense? @yssie , any advice? I'm, evidently, quite pink. How do I even shop for the right colors?

Since pinking is so prevalent & preferred for akoyas I'm not really sure where to go from here. (Given the fact that I do not have the option to see good pearls in person without ordering them.) I know peachy or yellow-ish pearls are even worse with my skin than pinks but for different reasons.

My pearls from Cees are blue/gray and I really love those but sometimes things call for white pearls. I'm quite drawn to the silvery look of Mikimoto pearls in pictures but I love the true white of the NW shown in this thread.

Ugh, I'm sorry for this massive post & the threadjack! I'm just so impressed by the incredible insightfulness and serious studies done by everyone participating in this thread---you are all amazing!

I totally understand the feeling of a pink pearl blending into the skin and losing a bit of itself. It can make the necklace feel “warm” when next to some skin types is how i’d put it?

You mentioned PP. They have a great return policy. They sell NW products (Lower quality than possible from Japan sources from what I hear). Maybe you can buy a NW earring from them to test how much you like it and return if not a good fit? That way you’d know if NW is something you love.

 

[Cinders]

I totally understand the feeling of a pink pearl blending into the skin and losing a bit of itself. It can make the necklace feel “warm” when next to some skin types is how i’d put it?

You mentioned PP. They have a great return policy. They sell NW products (Lower quality than possible from Japan sources from what I hear). Maybe you can buy a NW earring from them to test how much you like it and return if not a good fit? That way you’d know if NW is something you love.

Thank you for the suggestion. Would you say that the color of NW is fairly consistent across the board? I assumed there would be quite a wide range of colors because they are natural. (My knowledge of pearls is largely 'academic' from my studies at PSU Pearl Forum.)

BTW, your picture of the pearls on the black background was great to show the differences found even within excellent strands.

 

[Tartansparkles]

I find the issue of skin tone V colour of pearl challenging too. Where I live there is one jeweler that carries a small range of Mikimoto but that's it. I would love if there was a resource where we could see different pearls on different skin tones, a bit like the way make up companies do with foundation.

 

[NY_Resonant]

Thank you for the suggestion. Would you say that the color of NW is fairly consistent across the board? I assumed there would be quite a wide range of colors because they are natural. (My knowledge of pearls is largely 'academic' from my studies at PSU Pearl Forum.)

BTW, your picture of the pearls on the black background was great to show the differences found even within excellent strands.

Well, NW refers to Natural White so the pearl BODY on that will be very white. There are other type of “natural” akoyas with various colors.

The pictures I posted on a black background exaggerated the pearl overtones significantly from what you can see in real life…. In person the pearls match each other very well with slight variations in shade/tone: But those pictures DO highlight some of the various overtones possible on a NW.

Natural white, because they lack that pinkish body, tend to show GREEN more than a pink pearl if they have a strong green overtone. My personal preference is to stay FAR away from green overtones on NW.

If I was you, i’d ask the vendor to show you a NW with a dominant silvery-blue or pink overtone with no significant green.