My first foray into Hanadama and Madama :-)

[yssie]

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

 

[acaw2015]

Lovely!

 

[baby nurse]

These are absolutely dreamy! Well done

 

[mrs-b]

Aaaaaand there we have it! As with everything - the very best of anything is almost always fabulous. I LOVE the natural white Hanadamas - I think they're riveting. And the pink undertone on yours is particularly pretty.

And @yssie - your bracelet....oh, lady!! Those colors are mesmerizing on your skin! Congratulations on a fabulous addition to your already gorgeous collection!

 

[bright ice]

Outstanding @yssie! They are both stunning pieces and fit your bauble collection perfectly!
Watch out because pearls are "Addictive".

 

[marymm]

Sooo pretty! Akoyas are really my favorite I think, and stunning lustrous pearls like yssie's are the reason why!

 

[baby monster]

These look great on you! What's the mm size of the studs?

 

[canuk-gal]

HI:

Gorgeous!

cheers--Sharon

 

[Gloria27]

Stunning! never seen pearls that colour before!

 

[yssie]

Thanks so much @acaw2015, @baby nurse, @canuk-gal!!

@mrs-b - You are spot on! I thought I had experienced the "best" of pearls already - and perhaps I had, of that one particular flavour, but it was hopelessly ignorant to write off the wealth of other flavours! I've already started plotting a 50"+ rope of these natural white beauties. Oh, the possibilities...


@bright ice - Thank you! Yes, they definitely are addictive - I can see myself diving into this rabbit hole I've spent the last few evenings going through all ~150 pages of the "What are you wearing today" thread, and there's just so much to dream about! I'd love a waist-length strand

Thank you @baby monster! The studs are 9.1mm - exactly the same size as my diamonds, but I think the pearl spheres look much bigger on the ears!

@Gloria27 Thank you 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!

 

[PintoBean]

I didn't want to click on this thread for a reason... my wallet

I'm obsessed with the pearls of the bracelet!

 

[bright ice]

Thank you 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!

@yssie do you know if the other half of the strand was going to be available? I believe I’ll inquire about it. I’d love to have one!

 

[yssie]

@PintoBean...
About that wallet thing...
So...
Y'know how you trawl the Van Cleef website basically daily... you make a list of things you want... you stare at that list so often that you start to lose track of the little pricing section in the corner...
Then you walk into Tiffany one day and ~oh my goodness their works are so reasonably priced~...
The costs of pearls compared to diamonds...
Just sayin'...
... ...

 

[yssie]

@bright ice I do believe Erin mentioned that they would sell it in one of our hundred-ish email exchanges. I haven't seen it listed on the site but sure couldn't hurt to ask!

I don't have any of my own photos of both strands unfortunately, but here are the two I was sent. The first is of the full strand prior to separation, second is of the two bracelet shorts. Pearls are 8-8.5mm, nacre thickness 0.5mm on both and I wound up choosing the one on the left (563350). I truly would have been perfectly thrilled with either bracelet.

 

[bright ice]

@bright ice I do believe Erin mentioned that they would sell it in one of our hundred-ish email exchanges. I haven't seen it listed on the site but sure couldn't hurt to ask!

I don't have any of my own photos of both strands unfortunately, but here are the two I was sent. The first is of the full strand prior to separation, second is of the two bracelet shorts. Pearls are 8-8.5mm, nacre thickness 0.5mm on both and I wound up choosing the one on the left (563350). I truly would have been perfectly thrilled with either bracelet.

Thank you @yssie for that information!
I’ll contact Alexandra tomorrow as she’s working on another project with me at this time.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Absolutely gorgeous, Yssie!!! I love the 9mm studs on you, and the Madama bracelet is crazy beautiful! I’d have to buy something to wear them with , but I’d love to have a long strand of those, too! I am pretty much with @mrs-b that “the best” is always worth it! I will say, though, for a long strand, I don’t think I’d pay for natural white since yours have pink overtone anyway. That would make a long strand more doable! I just bought two white freshwater strands to try out to see if I wear them and also to experiment with length. One is 38” and the other is 42”. I love long strands!

 

[yssie]

Absolutely gorgeous, Yssie!!! I love the 9mm studs on you, and the Madama bracelet is crazy beautiful! I’d have to buy something to wear them with , but I’d love to have a long strand of those, too! I am pretty much with @mrs-b that “the best” is always worth it! I will say, though, for a long strand, I don’t think I’d pay for natural white since yours have pink overtone anyway. That would make a long strand more doable! I just bought two white freshwater strands to try out to see if I wear them and also to experiment with length. One is 38” and the other is 42”. I love long strands!

Oh, I have your thread earmarked and several of your photos saved to my folder of inspirations DS!!

I think I'm just too attached to the notion of "sets". There's nothing sensible about a long rope of natural white Hanadamas:
1. I intend to abuse it - I'll be knotting it, doubling- and tripling- it up, it'll probably spend a non-trivial amount of time tied to purse handles... freshwater nacre is a much more practical choice.
2. There's really no chance whatsoever of finding enough unexpectedly-pink untreated Hanadama-quality pearls to make a strand that long. If I want a visual match and I'm set on akoyas I'd be much better off with regular ol' pinked Hanadamas.
3. This project will probably cost a fortune...

But - but - natural white Hanadama is the only "matching" choice!!
I'm sitting on my fingers for now. We're about to start a kitchen renovation and I suspect the experience will... hone my ability to compromise.

 

[Babyblue033]

Aaaaaand there we have it! As with everything - the very best of anything is almost always fabulous. I LOVE the natural white Hanadamas - I think they're riveting. And the pink undertone on yours is particularly pretty.

From the photos, I think these studs are particularly nice, even for the very best. I recently had the pleasure of seeing a Hanadamas necklace (not natural), and while they were beautiful, they didn't WOW me the way I expected them to. I got the sense that even within the same level grade there's just so much variation, you're bound to get some that are much nicer than others. From the looks of it, these are those special ones. I'm seriously drooling over those gorgeous studs

 

[yssie]

You’re definitely right about there being a shocking amount of variation within the Hanadama grade @Babyblue033!

I had three 9-9.5mm natural white Handama stud pairs shipped out. The difference in lustre and orient was clear through all lighting environments - all were beautiful, but this pair (which was the pair Erin had selected for me) was visibly more vibrant and dynamic than the other two.

I unfortunately have very few photos of the pieces I didn’t keep 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.




One thing I learnt is that nacre thickness and visual lustre and orient don’t necessarily scale together. Mine have 0.5mm nacre thickness per the report, and had noticeably sharper lustre and more colour play than a 0.55mm nacre pair. I was very surprised as I’d fully expected a 1-1 correlation!

 

[Crystal_Dreams]

Wow! Congratz on your gorgeous new pearls Yssie!

You have amazing taste as always.

Pearls are funny in terms of how the look in the box vs on skin... I too had an amazingly rainbow looking strand of tahitians. Sadly, once on ME, they looked like nothing but a strand made up of little black drops of poo

I’m having some serious pearl envy with your gorgeous new additions... I always look at my natural white hanadama earrings in the box (mine are 7.5mm) and think hmm they’re so small... but then I put them on and the lustre makes them look huge on my ears somehow.

Still- I wouldn’t say no to 9-9.5mm hanadamas

And your madamas... wow! I have blue baroque’s akoya pearls and I’ve love the crazy orient, but the blues don’t work quite as well on my skin as the white pearls... they look AMAZING on you though!

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Well, you have the perfect image there of what you’re natural white strand would look like compared to your studs. I think you could use either type and be matching!

I didn’t even want to refer you to my thread because of my endless deliberation. I think my ideal would be collection quality from American Pearl as they have a little thicker nacre and basically are the highest quality Akoyas. And you can get the white pearls with rose overtone.
http://www.americanpearl.com/75x8mmcolqua.html

However, I am not fond of the prices for long strands! Lol! Their AAAs are supposedly equal to high end Hanadamas and Mikimoto, though.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

I haven’t even bought from AP yet, so I am not exactly pushing them, but I am impressed that their clasps and other mountings have the option of 18k gold and some have platinum as an option. I just think the finest pearls deserve the finest quality metals. The PP ones are great for their fresh waters and lower quality Akoyas, but that was one thing that turned me off on their Hanadamas.

 

[icy_jade]

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".

...

S'pose I'm more of a 'pearls person' than I thought, just had to find the right types of pearls

My first strand of t’s were also cherries and same reaction but luckily I had better luck later. Do give Tahitians a chance. Top quality Tahitians are endlessly fascinating... I mean, there’s a reason why I’ve never dipped into akoyas even though I’ve access to literally the top quality ones in my part of the world...

And welcome to the pearl family! It’s hard to stop at one isn’t it?