- Joined
- Aug 14, 2009
- Messages
- 27,486
I've never thought of myself as a 'pearls person'. I dipped my toe into Tahitians a few years ago and had Pearl Paradise cherry-pick a short strand of cherries, and was rather disappointed when I saw them in-person - they weren't nearly as colourful in my day-to-day lighting environments as I'd expected from photos, and they looked steely and lifeless against my skin.
"And if the cream of the crop doesn't inspire me, well, I guess this just isn't my gemstone".
I've been wanting a 'nice' pair of white pearl studs for daily wear. I remembered @mrs-b recommending natural white Hanadamas from Pearl Paradise in one of her threads, and I knew lustre would be a priority for me as it had been for her, so I decided to make that my starting point. To be honest I wasn't expecting to be visually captivated, given that neither the Tahitians of yesteryear nor my current selection of Freshadamas held any particular intrigue, but I did love the idea of wholly-untreated (albeit cultured) pearls and felt the mind-clean aspect would be worth the premium...
Oh, I was so very wrong!!
Erin at Pearl Paradise was wonderfully helpful and patient 
she shipped three pairs out to me to look at. I'd read several warnings about variation in quality within the Hanadama designation, but I must say I was still very surprised by the differences in lustre and orient in those three pairs! The pearls she'd originally recommended were the easy choice, and her comment that this duo in particular had some of the strongest pink orient she'd ever seen from non-pinked pearls was the coup de foudre 
They're sharp metallic soap-bubbles... I can see details of my facial features reflected in their surfaces. I didn't know pearls like this existed outside Mikimoto showrooms. My photos don't do them justice at all - pearls newbie I'm afraid!
Too many late nights on the pearl forum led to assuaging another new need: Pearl Paradise was able to source an 8.0-8.5mm Madama strand to split to create a bracelet. My priorities were again lustre and orient, and I was willing to sacrifice strength of body colour as necessary; the blues in my strand definitely have more grey than my friend's natural blue baroques but the pinks and purples they show in sunlight are mesmerizing
And to my eyes they're somehow more vibrant on my skin! I know that this colour in a dress or a faceted semi-transparent gemstone just wouldn't work on me... these pearls unabashedly defy presumptions 
S'pose I'm more of a 'pearls person' than I thought, just had to find the right types of pearls
"And if the cream of the crop doesn't inspire me, well, I guess this just isn't my gemstone".
I've been wanting a 'nice' pair of white pearl studs for daily wear. I remembered @mrs-b recommending natural white Hanadamas from Pearl Paradise in one of her threads, and I knew lustre would be a priority for me as it had been for her, so I decided to make that my starting point. To be honest I wasn't expecting to be visually captivated, given that neither the Tahitians of yesteryear nor my current selection of Freshadamas held any particular intrigue, but I did love the idea of wholly-untreated (albeit cultured) pearls and felt the mind-clean aspect would be worth the premium...
Oh, I was so very wrong!!
Erin at Pearl Paradise was wonderfully helpful and patient she shipped three pairs out to me to look at. I'd read several warnings about variation in quality within the Hanadama designation, but I must say I was still very surprised by the differences in lustre and orient in those three pairs! The pearls she'd originally recommended were the easy choice, and her comment that this duo in particular had some of the strongest pink orient she'd ever seen from non-pinked pearls was the coup de foudre They're sharp metallic soap-bubbles... I can see details of my facial features reflected in their surfaces. I didn't know pearls like this existed outside Mikimoto showrooms. My photos don't do them justice at all - pearls newbie I'm afraid!
Too many late nights on the pearl forum led to assuaging another new need: Pearl Paradise was able to source an 8.0-8.5mm Madama strand to split to create a bracelet. My priorities were again lustre and orient, and I was willing to sacrifice strength of body colour as necessary; the blues in my strand definitely have more grey than my friend's natural blue baroques but the pinks and purples they show in sunlight are mesmerizing
And to my eyes they're somehow more vibrant on my skin! I know that this colour in a dress or a faceted semi-transparent gemstone just wouldn't work on me... these pearls unabashedly defy presumptions S'pose I'm more of a 'pearls person' than I thought, just had to find the right types of pearls
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I'm honestly really surprised by how much I like the Madamas on me! It's not typically a colour I'd reach for. The strand that PP's suppliers selected had some pearls that were more blue and some pearls that had stronger orient. I thought the two bracelets that splitting that strand yielded reflected those nuances - I expected to prefer the more blue-bodied bracelet, but on seeing them in-person I was drawn to the more iridescent one - goodness, both were unbelievably beautiful though! 
but here’s a really quick iPhone snap (in the middle of unpacking, ignore the background mess!!) of two of the three stud pairs. Mine are on the bottom. The difference is vaguely visible here, I think... it was so much more pronounced in-person.
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