Opinions wanted: what colour of pearls should I buy first?

[MakingTheGrade]

Wow, your ombré strand is gorgeous! I agree that none of your necklaces look dated. I find the black pearls super edgy and this is definitely enticing me to go in that direction. I especially love how you’ve worn your necklace in your leather jacket pic, with just a hint of white.

I think tin cups as a style work for me just fine when the pearls are round/slightly off round. It definitely gives me a good idea of something to play around with.

One of my favorite things about pearls is the playing around! Getting supplies to knot or wire is relatively super cheap compared to setting a gem and you can play around with a lot of looks!

I’ve gotten my Tahitians from CMW pearls and they often have good prices if you’re ok with circles and slightly off round for tin cups. You can get a necklace and have plenty of pearls to play around with.

Edison’s are also a great idea if you like large! Though large pearls can be tough on a tin cup due to the chains being thin.

 

[AllAboardTheBlingTrain]

One of my favorite things about pearls is the playing around! Getting supplies to knot or wire is relatively super cheap compared to setting a gem and you can play around with a lot of looks!

I’ve gotten my Tahitians from CMW pearls and they often have good prices if you’re ok with circles and slightly off round for tin cups. You can get a necklace and have plenty of pearls to play around with.

Edison’s are also a great idea if you like large! Though large pearls can be tough on a tin cup due to the chains being thin.

Unfortunately buying online internationally for me is not really possible, because of customs etc issues. So I will have to buy them locally, and I’ll have to see what I can find. But I’ll keep this in mind.

 

[AuntKiki]

For me jeans are dressing up and I wear pearls a lot! As long as I’m not wearing gym shoes I’ll wear a tin cup style necklace, even with leggings. I wear a tin cup bracelet 24/7. I only wear my triple strand with dress clothes. Get some costume to try it. They’re not as formal as you’d think.

 

[lissyflo]

@lissyflo: Oh I totally didn't mean to offend, sorry! Was just writing out my thoughts but I think I inadvertently insulted the whole board.

I’m pretty sure none of us are actually offended! It’s a good reminder that everything is relative

Make sure you come back with plenty of pictures once you’ve decided!

 

[dk168]

I’m pretty sure none of us are actually offended! It’s a good reminder that everything is relative

Make sure you come back with plenty of pictures once you’ve decided!

When I was in my mid 30s, my mum said I should not have children anymore as I was too old and the chances of complications would significantly increase, etc. etc...

That's from my own mother, and over 20 years ago!!!

I worked with youngsters in their 20s/early 30s as in 20+ years younger than me, and when we talked about 80s being the best decade for music, they referred parties with 80s music as cheese nights as they are cheesy! Talk about being made to feel old by the younger generation!!!

DK

 

[AllAboardTheBlingTrain]

For me jeans are dressing up and I wear pearls a lot! As long as I’m not wearing gym shoes I’ll wear a tin cup style necklace, even with leggings. I wear a tin cup bracelet 24/7. I only wear my triple strand with dress clothes. Get some costume to try it. They’re not as formal as you’d think.

You have a good point. I think I’m unconsciously equating pearls with the level of formality befitting a meeting with the queen. It’s funny because most people would consider diamonds as formal but I don’t. I would wear my ering (3ct+ in a double halo) all day every day once I get it in my hot little hands. But somehow the ideal of a Pearl around my neck makes me think of afternoon tea with royalty.

 

[AllAboardTheBlingTrain]

I’m pretty sure none of us are actually offended! It’s a good reminder that everything is relative

Make sure you come back with plenty of pictures once you’ve decided!

Deciding will take a while! I might test the waters with a pendant first to see if I will actually wear pearls or not or perhaps earrings, my favourite form of jewelry.

 

[Pearlescence]

If you are going to test the water with earrings then 8mm or 9mm white rounds or buttons (cheaper option) are always wearable with anything and also always flattering. They are perhaps the ultimate pearl classic

 

[AllAboardTheBlingTrain]

If you are going to test the water with earrings then 8mm or 9mm white rounds or buttons (cheaper option) are always wearable with anything and also always flattering. They are perhaps the ultimate pearl classic

Thank you for the tip! I’ll check them out - try them on my ears and see how I feel

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

You have a good point. I think I’m unconsciously equating pearls with the level of formality befitting a meeting with the queen. It’s funny because most people would consider diamonds as formal but I don’t. I would wear my ering (3ct+ in a double halo) all day every day once I get it in my hot little hands. But somehow the ideal of a Pearl around my neck makes me think of afternoon tea with royalty.

Well the Queen does love her pearls
She was on the news two nights ago and the luster was out of this world

btw i wear pearls with sneakers

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

Deciding will take a while! I might test the waters with a pendant first to see if I will actually wear pearls or not or perhaps earrings, my favourite form of jewelry.

So i woke up with this on my news feed - i think my phone spies on me
Now don't look at the price or quality, just the style

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

I was just thinking
so will have to rush to get to work now

But as a very uneducated pearl buyer i took for ever to buy my first white strand (....the mall jewler)
I didn't know about luster saddly
i was just all about size

i didn't want anything bigger than my inherited strand of mum's
But its all part of the journey i guess

Now those pearls have been relegated to being strung with a costume jewlery cameo because they are not nice enough for anything elce !

You will make a much wiser purchase @AllAboardTheBlingTrain

 

[yssie]

I’m mid thirties so right on schedule to start wanting pearls

I don't have advice on colour. That's just so personal. Well, I will say that as someone with dark hair and brown skin, my light coloured pearls get a lot more wear than my Tahitians. And for someone who likes necklaces (I'm not that person) I could see a long white rope being a very versatile and long-lived piece... Okay, I guess I said two things rather than zero

The one thing I do want to comment on is buying fakes or cheap freshies to judge wearability. I love fakes/cheapies for "I know I want WSS studs but I can't decide between 10-11mm and 11-12mm", or "I know I want a long rope and I can't decide on 50" or 54". Basically... I like to use them to hone in on a finally final, based on aesthetic and comfort, once I've made the decision to buy X variety of pearl to adorn Y body part. But for a woman who isn't sure what variety of pearl she wants, or if she even actually wants pearls... Fakes and cheapies don't help. Because neither gives you any idea what great pearls are all about, and it's really really hard to fall in love with #meh.

Sounds like you're located outside the US? Do you have a bigger brand location near you that you could visit? Best way to decide what type of pearls you want is to see and try on as many high-quality specimens as you can!

 

[michellechan2211]

(Edit to add that I'm also in my late 20s)

I mean, i echo those that say you should pick whatever you like! My first strand is a colorful tahitian tin cup, which i still wear and enjoy, given how easy it is to dress up and down.

(I still don't have a classic white strand)

 

[AllAboardTheBlingTrain]

So i woke up with this on my news feed - i think my phone spies on me
Now don't look at the price or quality, just the style

This half-pearl, half metal thing is so cool! I love that!! It also made me think of this style I’ve seen often where it’s like pearls strung with metal pendants.

Oh. Im an idiot. I do technically have some white pearls in an Indian style, and they’re seed pearls so I don’t count those. I wear them often with Indian clothes but maybe I’ll start wearing them with westerns and see how I feel about the look! (You can Google satlada or panchlada to get an idea of what I mean).

 

[AllAboardTheBlingTrain]

I’m mid thirties so right on schedule to start wanting pearls

I don't have advice on colour. That's just so personal. Well, I will say that as someone with dark hair and brown skin, my light coloured pearls get a lot more wear than my Tahitians. And for someone who likes necklaces (I'm not that person) I could see a long white rope being a very versatile and long-lived piece... Okay, I guess I said two things rather than zero

The one thing I do want to comment on is buying fakes or cheap freshies to judge wearability. I love fakes/cheapies for "I know I want WSS studs but I can't decide between 10-11mm and 11-12mm", or "I know I want a long rope and I can't decide on 50" or 54". Basically... I like to use them to hone in on a finally final, based on aesthetic and comfort, once I've made the decision to buy X variety of pearl to adorn Y body part. But for a woman who isn't sure what variety of pearl she wants, or if she even actually wants pearls... Fakes and cheapies don't help. Because neither gives you any idea what great pearls are all about, and it's really really hard to fall in love with #meh.

Sounds like you're located outside the US? Do you have a bigger brand location near you that you could visit? Best way to decide what type of pearls you want is to see and try on as many high-quality specimens as you can!

Hahaha I will be careful with how I choose my words next time. Every single person to pick up on that one sentence and tease me about it has made me laugh and cringe at myself in equal measure.

You’re the Pearl queen, yssie, so feel free to weigh in as much as you like!!

In terms of colour, I have dark hair and a fairly “easygoing” complexion that goes with pretty much any colour. I’ve mostly experimented only with metal colour, and both WG and YG stand out in a good way. RG looks good, but tends to blend a little, so I have very little RG jewelry because I wear it only when I want that kind of blend-in look. I’ve seen black pearls in person only once so far and they popped against my skin, so I know the colour works for me.

I haven’t really considered a long rope much, because I think those would only look nice on me if the individual Pearl sizes were small (I’m kind of petite, and I have a baroque pearl tin cup strand - the pearls are quite plentiful - which I rarely wear because, aside from not liking the organic shape, I find the length is too long and the pearls too big to suit me at that length. If I wear it, it’s usually doubled or tripled which feels more height appropriate). I don’t really like small pearls, but there’s a time and place for everything I suppose

About the only thing I know is that I don’t like Akoyas that much because I’ve been to a Mikimoto and was like “eh” they’re pretty but not big enough. I liked some of the pearl and diamond combos (as pendants or earrings, I think I wouldn’t mind akoyas in those applications) but the strands and simple studs didn’t do much for me. Pearl studs look kind of funny on me anyway. I’d need a drop, but I can get a pearl drop for my diamond studs, or get a drop earring done. I need to try WSS studs to see whether it’s all pearl studs or just the akoyas.

My mom has some beautiful SS pearl strands, I like what she has, so that’s how I settled on south sea strands but perhaps I associate them with her and so think they’re meant for older women? The person who sourced her pearls has some beautiful ones. The level of quality of her pearls works for me. They’re lustrous but have some slight blemishes. They’re not as good as yours of course, but she also didn’t spend as much on them

 

[yssie]

Luster/“metallic-ness” is 99.999% of what matters most!! So if you’ve seen WSS in-person and you like them, seems like that checks all your boxes

Pearl strands can be really versatile. You can hide clasps inside pearls to allow seamless extension and shortening, you can add brooches for dramatic flair, you can stack strands for bold, bolder, boldest So let me ask you this: When you picture your mothers’ strands, is there anything specific that you want to change about them to suit you better?

Whatever you buy - get an extra couple pearls and stash ‘em Never know when you might need replacements and matching after the fact is really hard.

 

[AllAboardTheBlingTrain]

Luster/“metallic-ness” is 99.999% of what matters most!! So if you’ve seen WSS in-person and you like them, seems like that checks all your boxes

Pearl strands can be really versatile. You can hide clasps inside pearls to allow seamless extension and shortening, you can add brooches for dramatic flair, you can stack strands for bold, bolder, boldest So let me ask you this: When you picture your mothers’ strands, is there anything specific that you want to change about them to suit you better?

Whatever you buy - get an extra couple pearls and stash ‘em Never know when you might need replacements and matching after the fact is really hard.

About the only thing I would change about her strands is that a) I would like slightly better matching (her WSS is great, but the GSS has one or two pearls that are the wrong overtone or the wrong shade - she can’t notice it but I can); and b) none of them can clasp into each other, so they can’t be worn together. They are also all the same length, so I would like to vary my strand sizes so if I wanted, I could stack.

Extra pearls is a great idea! My mom got extra pearls but then she turned them into matching earrings instead. She gets a lot of wear out of them, but they’re not really serving the original purpose

Also, knowledge question, Tahitians are not the same thing as SS pearls right? But they achieve similar sizes? And akoyas can be extremely lustrous and “sharp” but they’re smaller?

 

[yssie]

About the only thing I would change about her strands is that a) I would like slightly better matching (her WSS is great, but the GSS has one or two pearls that are the wrong overtone or the wrong shade - she can’t notice it but I can); and b) none of them can clasp into each other, so they can’t be worn together. They are also all the same length, so I would like to vary my strand sizes so if I wanted, I could stack.

Extra pearls is a great idea! My mom got extra pearls but then she turned them into matching earrings instead. She gets a lot of wear out of them, but they’re not really serving the original purpose

Also, knowledge question, Tahitians are not the same thing as SS pearls right? But they achieve similar sizes? And akoyas can be extremely lustrous and “sharp” but they’re smaller?

Extra pearls half drilled for earrings is perfect, enjoy them and cannibalize only if needed

Mikimoto calls Tahitians “black south sea”, but they’re different oysters. Both white and gold “south sea pearls come from Pinctada maxima. Tahitians come from Pinctada margaritifera.

GSS are an absolute nightmare to match. They’re the worst, IMO. If “excellent matching” is really important to you - you might consider skipping gold south sea. Or at least starting with other pearl types. WSS and Tahitians are pretty beastly to match superbly too… White akoya are a breeze by comparison! But it really depends on how “well matched” you need these pearls to be. Everyone compromises at different places. If you have access to whoever sourced your mother’s WSS strands, since you *know* you’d be happy with them that’s where I’d start in your shoes!!

 

[Sprinkles&Stones]

Sorry to be a dummy, but what’s a tin cup?

 

[rinni]

Sorry to be a dummy, but what’s a tin cup?

Basically pearl stations on a metal chain. Think diamonds by the yard but with pearls.

 

[Sprinkles&Stones]

Basically pearl stations on a metal chain. Think diamonds by the yard but with pearls.

Ohhh that’s gorgeous! I always wondered what that was called! Thank you

 

[AllAboardTheBlingTrain]

Extra pearls half drilled for earrings is perfect, enjoy them and cannibalize only if needed

Mikimoto calls Tahitians “black south sea”, but they’re different oysters. Both white and gold “south sea pearls come from Pinctada maxima. Tahitians come from Pinctada margaritifera.

GSS are an absolute nightmare to match. They’re the worst, IMO. If “excellent matching” is really important to you - you might consider skipping gold south sea. Or at least starting with other pearl types. WSS and Tahitians are pretty beastly to match superbly too… White akoya are a breeze by comparison! But it really depends on how “well matched” you need these pearls to be. Everyone compromises at different places. If you have access to whoever sourced your mother’s WSS strands, since you *know* you’d be happy with them that’s where I’d start in your shoes!!

Her WSS aren’t perfectly matched either, but it’s not as glaring. I don’t think I need them to be supremely well matched, but reasonably well matching is good. Or, if there are stones that stick out as not well matched, it’s fine if they’re at the back of the neck since they won’t be seen.

I think I’ll perhaps just ask my mom to reach out to her contact and ask them if they have any Tahitian/WSS strands I can try! And then take it from there thanks for the help yssie!!

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

This half-pearl, half metal thing is so cool! I love that!! It also made me think of this style I’ve seen often where it’s like pearls strung with metal pendants.

Oh. Im an idiot. I do technically have some white pearls in an Indian style, and they’re seed pearls so I don’t count those. I wear them often with Indian clothes but maybe I’ll start wearing them with westerns and see how I feel about the look! (You can Google satlada or panchlada to get an idea of what I mean).

We need to see these !!!
But i will go google

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

You know certain Kevin Costner movies are really hard to track down
I saw tin cup when it came out but field of dreams was sold out last time i tried and i have never seen Bull Duram
Off topic
Kind of

 

[AllAboardTheBlingTrain]

We need to see these !!!
But i will go google

I don’t have mine with me, since I only wear it in India. I did some online stalking to find as close of a pic that I could, though.



This is really similar to the one I have, though in this, the central “pendant” is shaped like a flower, and mine is more like a circle. You can see why you don’t think of pearls when you see this though! It doesn’t take the place of a pearl necklace.

Also, as an aside, these are quite “reasonably” priced for being what they are. This is a panchlada (5 line) necklace, and it’s a good thing to have in the wardrobe because you can wear it a lot, it’s dressy and dramatic, but it won’t bankrupt you.

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

I don’t have mine with me, since I only wear it in India. I did some online stalking to find as close of a pic that I could, though.



This is really similar to the one I have, though in this, the central “pendant” is shaped like a flower, and mine is more like a circle. You can see why you don’t think of pearls when you see this though! It doesn’t take the place of a pearl necklace.

Also, as an aside, these are quite “reasonably” priced for being what they are. This is a panchlada (5 line) necklace, and it’s a good thing to have in the wardrobe because you can wear it a lot, it’s dressy and dramatic, but it won’t bankrupt you.

Absolutely beautiful
These need to catch on here
you know who i can see wearing one of these very well .


Camilla, the dutchess of Cornwall

Is it ok for a non Indian ladies to wear one of these outside India or would we get in trouble for cultural misappropriation ?

 

[AllAboardTheBlingTrain]

Absolutely beautiful
These need to catch on here
you know who i can see wearing one of these very well .


Camilla, the dutchess of Cornwall

Is it ok for a non Indian ladies to wear one of these outside India or would we get in trouble for cultural misappropriation ?

Personally I feel like it’s absolutely fine for non Indian ladies to wear, even outside of India. Anything that doesn’t invoke religious symbolism for me is fair game - culture should be shared! The necklace is just a necklace, and is one of those necklaces that actually wouldn’t look too much or out of place on western wear. I say you rock it

And if you’re really serious about getting one, a nice faux version would run you something like US$150-250. They come in teenlada (3 line) and satlada (7 line) versions too. A ‘real’ one will obviously vary depending on price of various factors but the one pictured would probably run you ~US$4.5-5k.

 

[bright&shiny]

I wore a lovely short double strand of baroque pearls interspersed with gold beads all through my 20s. With that said, I bought a really fun necklace from Kojima Pearls recently (a new to me vendor that I read about in the pearl forum). They have a lot of beautiful, fun, less traditional pearls. I never wore my dark pearls much at all when I was younger or now (less young).

 

[AllAboardTheBlingTrain]

I wore a lovely short double strand of baroque pearls interspersed with gold beads all through my 20s. With that said, I bought a really fun necklace from Kojima Pearls recently (a new to me vendor that I read about in the pearl forum). They have a lot of beautiful, fun, less traditional pearls. I never wore my dark pearls much at all when I was younger or now (less young).

I actually have a baroque pearl necklace I received as a gift a while ago which I used to wear! But over time I feel like I don’t like how the organic shapes look on me.

I’ll check out Kojima as well, for inspiration if nothing else. I spoke to my mom yesterday and she will ask her source for Tahitians (perhaps I will go for slightly off-round instead of perfect rounds for cost effectiveness). Will take them some time to source since they aren’t very popular where my mom lives. I think I need to see them on me to decide once and for all