Help me pick the more colorful strand of the two!

[icy_jade]

It’s a tough one.

If I tell you to buy the bigger one now, do you immediately get a sinking feeling in your tummy and try justify why the smaller one is better? If so, then maybe the smaller one is it. And vice versa.

Or, if you are forcing yourself to get either, then pass it on and look around longer. The strand that will make your heart sing is out there.

 

[whimsicism]

I like how the bigger pearls look on you!

If you're not entirely convinced by the pearls that you've seen, it may be best to continue looking rather than settle for a strand that you're not entirely happy with. The worst kind of regret is spending money on a "good enough piece", only to not have the funds when you eventually find "THE piece".

 

[Pinkmartini87]

@yssie Thank you for your pearls of wisdom (sorry, could not resist!). I think I’m just being difficult (unrealistic?) in that I’m not thrilled by the colors themselves (or if the body colors are just too dark).

I think I prefer more pastel and/or secondary colors rather than primary colors. When I look at these strands I see what I call the stoplight colors (red, yellow, green mostly). Case in point re my dislike of primary colors, I don’t like rubies much (shocker!) because they are simply too “red” for me, and I prefer lighter emeralds with a touch of blue than the pure duck-green shade (lucky for my wallet!), same with sapphires (I like a little purple in the blue; I don’t go for the royal blue color).

I’m not sure how feasible honestly my color preference are in Tahitians (they DO tend to come in these more common primary color shades).

 

[Pinkmartini87]

@icy_jade Thanks for thinking this through with me. I think I’m not as excited as I should be, so I think I’ll pass.

@whimsicism Thanks! These are nice but they don’t make my heart sing. I think I’ll wait for the right ones to come along.

 

[Crystal_Dreams]

Lighter shades while being brightly coloured are rare in tahitians. I imagine a full strand of them would be rarer still.

I say this because these colours are also my preference and I have been searching! Although I have several that meet that requirement, they have not been easy to find… and that’s just individual pearls (not matched in size or lustre for a strand!)

 

[Pinkmartini87]

Lighter shades while being brightly coloured are rare in tahitians. I imagine a full strand of them would be rarer still.

I say this because these colours are also my preference and I have been searching! Although I have several that meet that requirement, they have not been easy to find… and that’s just individual pearls (not matched in size or lustre for a strand!)

Good luck on your search!

 

[yssie]

I’m not sure I understand your colour preferences @Pinkmartini87 - can you maybe highlight what you like and don’t like on this colour wheel?

 

[Pinkmartini87]

I’m not sure I understand your colour preferences @Pinkmartini87 - can you maybe highlight what you like and don’t like on this colour wheel?

@yssie Sure! I like what I call “in-between shades” (NOT a technical term but for me it’s sort of like bluish-purple, or greenish-blue):



I found a terrible stock color wheel online—I like tertiary colors (do I sound crazy???).

 

[icy_jade]

Hmm so like my pastel strand then?

Post in thread 'My pearls from Hong Kong'
https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/my-pearls-from-hong-kong.191675/post-3495942

I actually love them as intensely colored as they come which is why my favs are now my super peacock strands

 

[yssie]

Ah.
Tahitians always err grey - you never get those bright primaries your preferences hop over anyway! So no need for concern there.
“Pastel” inherently means “colour’s less saturated”.

@yssie Sure! I like what I call “in-between shades” (NOT a technical term but for me it’s sort of like bluish-purple, or greenish-blue):



I found a terrible stock color wheel online—I like tertiary colors (do I sound crazy???).

So this photo looks amazing. The pearls look vibrant, vivid, and saturated, with bright halos of soap bubble colour. This photo is totally unrealistic for how this strand will look IRL outside an ideal lighting environment. And honestly, I think the other strands would look a lot like this if they were in this lighting environment.
Allllll down to lighting.
Can you send them this photo and ask them to photograph the other strands in this exact location? Or, if they have this strand still, can they photograph them together?



Tahitians are confusing shifty things. I love them now, but I remember being completely unimpressed at first. Their behaviour is really hard to document in photos.

 

[yssie]

Edit - returned vs. Takahashi, for easier comparison. Returned - vast majority of the brights are green peacocks, so if you don’t love green I see why this strand wasn’t to your tastes…

 

[whimsicism]

@yssie Thank you for your pearls of wisdom (sorry, could not resist!). I think I’m just being difficult (unrealistic?) in that I’m not thrilled by the colors themselves (or if the body colors are just too dark).

I think I prefer more pastel and/or secondary colors rather than primary colors. When I look at these strands I see what I call the stoplight colors (red, yellow, green mostly). Case in point re my dislike of primary colors, I don’t like rubies much (shocker!) because they are simply too “red” for me, and I prefer lighter emeralds with a touch of blue than the pure duck-green shade (lucky for my wallet!), same with sapphires (I like a little purple in the blue; I don’t go for the royal blue color).

I’m not sure how feasible honestly my color preference are in Tahitians (they DO tend to come in these more common primary color shades).

Your description reminds me of some pearls that CMW pearl referred to as "epic pastel", which they have auctioned off some time ago. Here a link to their Instagram post about the bracelet (I recall seeing a full strand with similar colours at some point, but could not find a photo online): https://www.instagram.com/p/CMwJe3tFP8m/

If that colour palette is to your taste, perhaps it might be worth reaching out to them to ask if they are able to source something in similar colours for you?

 

[Pinkmartini87]

@icy_jade, @yssie, and @whimsicism Thank you all for all your help!

I remember being wowed by Fiji pearls—how bright and intense the colors are, and how unusual the colors are. Maybe I just need to save my $$$ towards a Fiji stand one day!

 

[lovedogs]

Saw this today and thought of this thread

Login • Instagram

Welcome back to Instagram. Sign in to check out what your friends, family & interests have been capturing & sharing around the world.

www.instagram.com

 

[Crystal_Dreams]

I haven’t bought from this vendor but thought of your thread when I saw this

 

[yssie]

I haven’t bought from this vendor but thought of your thread when I saw this

I covet... I covet...

 

[dmz]

Btw my inspiration strand is one owned by a Pser here (apologies I don’t remember the member, hope it’s ok I share photos of that strand because it’s so stunning!):

Hi @Pinkmartini87

I hope you don't mind me replying to an old thread. Did you ever end up finding something you liked?

Way back when, I remember trying to describe the contrasting light/dark pattern that I was looking for. Or at least trying to describe it. (My pearl vocabulary is decidedly lacking.) But a good trick I found was to edit a photo and slide the colour saturation all the way down. Once you aren't distracted by the colours, it's a lot easier to see the dark/light pattern.

I also notice that the pearls you're looking at now (or, at least when you posted this) are a lot more round and uniform in shape. I do wonder if that makes the task more difficult. As a bit of an anecdote: when I was going back and forth with Pearl Paradise to put this together, there was one pearl that felt like it didn't belong in the strand, and I nearly asked them to swap it out. I'm glad I didn't though. It still sticks out to me as different, but it's just the right amount of different to be interesting.

 

[Pinkmartini87]

Hi @Pinkmartini87

I hope you don't mind me replying to an old thread. Did you ever end up finding something you liked?

Way back when, I remember trying to describe the contrasting light/dark pattern that I was looking for. Or at least trying to describe it. (My pearl vocabulary is decidedly lacking.) But a good trick I found was to edit a photo and slide the colour saturation all the way down. Once you aren't distracted by the colours, it's a lot easier to see the dark/light pattern.

I also notice that the pearls you're looking at now (or, at least when you posted this) are a lot more round and uniform in shape. I do wonder if that makes the task more difficult. As a bit of an anecdote: when I was going back and forth with Pearl Paradise to put this together, there was one pearl that felt like it didn't belong in the strand, and I nearly asked them to swap it out. I'm glad I didn't though. It still sticks out to me as different, but it's just the right amount of different to be interesting.

@dmz Many thanks for taking the time to circle back and check, and for your advice!

No, I tried several strands but none were quite colorful enough unfortunately! Part of me wonders if the COVID pandemic put a bit of a damper on the supply, since my budget is quite flexible and I am definitely ok also with a variety of shapes.

The closest I got was the Pearl Paradise off round strand but the predominant tone leaned overall green, and was not nearly as varied/beautiful as yours IHMO, thus I returned it in the end.

Enjoy your amazing, lovely strand (and if 1/million chance you ever decided to part with it—although I can’t see why since it looks so great on you!— I hope it’s not terribly rude to mention that I would just love a chance to be able to purchase it!)

 

[pearlsngems]

@dmz, that's a great tip about reducing saturation in order to better discern the light/dark pattern!

I trust your wife is getting much enjoyment out of that very special strand you gave her!

 

[dmz]

Enjoy your amazing, lovely strand (and if 1/million chance you ever decided to part with it—although I can’t see why since it looks so great on you!— I hope it’s not terribly rude to mention that I would just love a chance to be able to purchase it!)

I don't think she'd willingly give it up

Many thanks for taking the time to circle back and check, and for your advice!

It was random luck. I don't stick my head in here all that often. Typically, just when I'm looking for a gift. Mother's Day is fast approaching, and I need to figure something out. (Her first year as a mom.)

No, I tried several strands but none were quite colorful enough unfortunately!

I hope you find something! As has been mentioned many times, lighting makes a huge difference. That outside photo was on an overcast day -- so the sky is essentially a big light box. In direct sunlight, you loose a lot of the colour. But the contrast between the darker and lighter pearls still shows through.

 

[dmz]

I trust your wife is getting much enjoyment out of that very special strand you gave her!

Definitely. And she appreciated the back story too!

 

[yssie]

Um. If dmz’s wife ever gives that strand up - look out folks there’s an Yssie-shaped bull coming through this china shop. That’s all I’m gonna say about that

 

[cmwpearls]

I'm pretty sure I recognise the vendor from those photos.

Can they send you a photo of both strands side by side? We can't compare those two photos as-is.

A) The white balance is different
B) The second photo is much more exposed - frankly, it's overexposed

I know (B) because I've taken a ton of photos like this and I recognize it right away! But here's the concrete tip-off - all I've done in the attached is copy the bottom left portions of both photos - and I whited out over the pearls themselves, leaving just the shadows.
Ignoring that the right photo reads more blue - see how the shadows that the pearls make in the left photo (Strand #1) are much more black than the shadows that the pearls make in the right photo (Strand #2)? The difference in lighting/exposure that creates THAT shadow darkness disparity also alters how "pastel" or "deep" the pearls look, how "warm" or "cool" the pearls look, and how strongly overtones show up.

Getting both strands in one photo is the easiest way to eliminate this differential.




FWIW - Strand #2 won't look anything like that IRL. It's an unrealistic photo - the colours will all be darker and more muted.

Oh - and I'm definitely not an expert. Just a photog hobbyist - which comes in unexpectedly handy sometimes LOL.

There is a difference in the white balance between these pictures. If you look through our shop, you will see that older products have different pictures, we have been testing and upgrading our camera gear and also changing the photographer. It's hard to find time to manage old images, we have over a thousand products and we keep uploading new products all the time.

I don't think she'd willingly give it up



It was random luck. I don't stick my head in here all that often. Typically, just when I'm looking for a gift. Mother's Day is fast approaching, and I need to figure something out. (Her first year as a mom.)



I hope you find something! As has been mentioned many times, lighting makes a huge difference. That outside photo was on an overcast day -- so the sky is essentially a big light box. In direct sunlight, you loose a lot of the colour. But the contrast between the darker and lighter pearls still shows through.

You can always ask for a picture or video that was taken in natural sunlight and with a mobile phone if you want. For us, we use a box & Flashes for consistency, we can't always rely on the sun, the weather changes every day.

Um. If dmz’s wife ever gives that strand up - look out folks there’s an Yssie-shaped bull coming through this china shop. That’s all I’m gonna say about that

I am a Tahitian living in hong kong/china and i am good at rodeo.