New Arrivals at Carla Pearls – Dangling Pearl Earrings

The Carla Pearls online pearl jewellery store has introduced a number of new items in time for Christmas, including a few very beautiful dangling style pearl earrings which would make fantastic Christmas party adornments.

Bridgette Bardot dangling pearl earrings

Bridgette Barlot is a lovely long dangling pair of earrings with simple and chic design. With perfectly round 8mm hand-picked freshwater pearls fitted onto high quality rhodium plated sterling silver base (with one mosaic zirconia stone), Bridgette Bardot is elegant. Single pearl earrings must use very high quality pearls as the pearl must stand up to the ‘scrutiny’ alone, rather than being in a strand pearl necklace for example, where surface flaws can be hidden with stringing on both sides. For this reason all the dangling design pearl earrings from Carla Pearls use AAA rated pearls only to ensure the top quality. The pearls used in Bridgette Bardot earrings are of very thick nacre and stunning lustre: snow white freshwater pearls with a a gentle silver overtone.

Another fantastic new product in store is ‘Diana Dors’, gorgeous triple pearl dangling pearl earrings fitted onto delicate rhodium plated silver chain and zirconia base. ‘Diana Dors’ has a more fun and extravagant in style than ‘Bridgette Bardot’ while both are excellent soiree style jewellery.

Diana Dors dangling pearl earrings

Dangling pearl earrings are best worn without necklaces – if the style you are looking for is elegance without being over the top. A low neck evening dress of your favourite colour and a pair of white dangling pearl earrings, with hair either pulled back or down, would really make you stand out from the crowd. If you prefer to have a full pearl jewellery set, then consider pearl ear studs with matching pearl necklace or pearl pendant. If well chosen, short pearl earrings such as ‘Loretta Young‘ would work like a charm with a pearl pendant or pearl necklace as well.

Nita Naldi’s pearl creations – la suite

Nita Naldi with multi strand pearl adornments (Pic 1)

Let’s continue with our journey of exploration with Nita Naldi and her amazing creativity with pearl jewellery. The 1920′s sensation in silent films and the then ultimate representation of the image ‘femme’ fatale expresses herself madly and deeply through her way of wearing pearls. She is never conventional. Pearls as simple necklace or earrings seemed to be just too boring for her. She would wear pearls in ways like no one else would, and leaves with her audience and impression like no other actor would.

Nita Naldi poses with long pearl ropes (Pic 2)

In this classic photo of hers (Pic 1), she combines a multi strand rich pearl necklace with a multi strand head band, with her hair fully wrapped up so the full focus of the look is on pearls and her outstanding facial features. This look is unusual yet still discrete, breaking the rules just a little, leaving enough for one to pounder.

In the post card pose in Pic 2, Nita uses a kind of ‘free style’ creativity with her signature super long pearl ropes. She wraps herself around the neck, around the wrist, and in her hair all the way across, with a creative colourful dress so that the colours contrast with the pure white of the pearls, bringing out this expression of free spirit combined with a love for beauty. She looked like a lady ran away from her royal family roots who wants to create a life of her own, defiant of tradition yet fully aware of how to capture her suitors.

Nita Naldi 1925 Pose (Pic 3)

Moving on  to this probably her most famous picture, Nita uses gorgeous long pearl ropes as a free style necklace, but the most impressive is how she entangles a double strand pearl rope in her hair and around her throat. There’s a trace of desperate beauty in this creation. She doesn’t just ‘wear’ pearls, she entangles and struggles with them, almost choking herself with this beautiful pearl rope. Love and hate, possession and obsession, all seem to come into one pose, one frame, and become eternal, interblend with that unforgettable look of hers in this picture that was full of hope and despair, freeze in time.

Nita Naldi’s free style pearl creation certainly isn’t for everyone. It is not convention, not high street, not styles that others would happily follow. However her styles are those who make statement in her time, of breaking away from traditions and rules to fully express oneself, no matter how daring it might seem. Nita Naldi was a feminist who also happened to be a woman that countless men would dream to be with and her expressions of freedom has greatly influenced women of her time.

Vilma Banky and her sassy pearl creativity

Vilma with classic pearl necklace (Pic1)

Vilma with Classic Pearl Necklace (Pic2)

The beautiful Hungarian born Hollywood sensation Vilma Banky is extremely versatile with her styles. She would follow conventions. She would also break all the rules. As an actress for silent movies, she had to be very visually expressive to capture the audience, and one of her favourite choices of adornment was pearls. Pearls are a fantastic gemstone that defines both femininity, classiness, elegance, as well as sexiness and wildness. Pearl jewellery is a great choice for someone like Vilma who needs all of these traits for her characters.

She is often seen with a classic single strand pearl necklace of 8mm high quality pearls. This most classic design of pearl necklace is incredibly flexible in style, featured with Vilma wearing formal style outfit with a gorgeous jacket (right), or poses in the super sexy photo with practically nothing but the pearl necklace and a big lilly flower. She certainly knows how to capture the attention of all kinds of men!

Vilma with treble strand long pearl necklace (Pic 3)

Now let’s meet the ‘sassy’ Vilma.With a generous, daring long treble strand pearl necklace and large pearl earrings, she projects a mature, elegant and almost dominant ‘femme fatale’ image. The three strands of pearls around her neck are adjusted to be pricess (18 inch), matinee (25inch) and opera (36 inch), offering the rich and luxurious look.

Back then in 1920′s, most of the pearl jewellery designs were quite conventional, and not many people appreciate any other shape than round. However Vilma has chosen this creative design pearls necklace (Pic 4) with a combination of tiny round pearls and large coin pearls, and naughtily biting the necklace as she poses. Nowadays such a design might seem ‘easy’, but 90 years ago, it was very creative indeed.

Vilma and a creative pearl necklace design (Pic 4)

Vilma with pearl hat (Pic 5)

Now who says pearls must be worn as necklaces and earrings? Vilma pushes the boundary even further. Why not wear hundreds of pearls on a hat, with three strands hanging around her visage creating this odd but incredibly rich and sexy look? Who would be able to forget a look like that? She makes one think of a loyalty who has gone mad with genius creativity. Sometimes she looks vulnerable, sometimes mature, sometimes sexy and sometimes out of this world. This is Vilma, one of Hollywood’s real legend from the time of silent films.

Pearls – always the perfect choice as wedding jewellery

Girls all take a moment or two to choose our jewelry in the morning, picking carefully from her treasure box. The bigger the occasion, the more consideration she gives to the choice, now what occasion can be bigger than her wedding! If she is one of those sassy brides, probably creative designer wedding jewellery is what she should seek for. However if she is a girl with a more discrete dressing style, pearl wedding jewellery is probably ideal. As the eternal symbol of purity, beauty and elegance, pearls has always been the most popular choice as wedding jewellery.

Handmade wedding jewellery is another interesting option. Some girls want everything on the special day to be authentic, and prefer to have as many things hand-made as possible. Some even go as far as making their own wedding cakes! Indeed, the Big Day isn’t just a pleasure for the bride, she has to work really hard on preparation, in order to ensure that everything is perfect for her.
Back to pearl wedding jewellery, brides’ most popular choice for the Big Day. There are several key styles that you can choose from, and this is largely pre-set by the style of your wedding dress. If you’ve chosen a simple, classy design, with perhaps silk fabric and not much embroidery or lace, then a classic single, double, or treble strand pearl necklace would be best. For earrings, single ‘solitaire’ pearl earrings or ear studs. On the other hand, if your wedding dress is with lace and lots of adornments, perhaps you can tune down the jewellery to simpler designs for a nice balance – a pearl pendant with a good design, perhaps. There are countless styles possible  - in fact probably the headache comes from too many choices! Our advice is, as long as the whole outfit looks in harmony, it is good. If you are not too confident with your own picks, try and consult a style specialist for the Big Day.

Production of cultured freshwater pearl: An Asian review

The history of pearl culturing originates in Asia. Countries like India, China and Indonesia etc. are the countries where the use of pearl started much eatrlier than other nations. Among those countries India and China are the two countries where the pearl hunting started as early as 206 BC during the periods of Han Dynasty in China. Indian pearl hunting was much older even than the Chinese one. With the expansion of the Aryan kingdom nearly around 1000 BC ago, the use of pearl was there in India. Even Alexander invaded India in 326 BC only to acquire those precious gold and pearl items present with the Indian kings at that time. Even today from Indian Gulf of Mannar to Seram pearl farm in Indonesia, Asia has a large base of both natural as well as cultured pearls. Like the bases for natural pearl Asia also possesses a large base of cultured pearls. From cultured seawater pearl to cultured freshwater pearl Asia has all to its production bag. The trend of cultured freshwater pearl started from Asia itself. It was started by Japan. Japan cultivated whole freshwater pearl in the Lake Biwa by using the Biwa pearl mussels. The Biwa pearl mussel scientifically known as Hyriopsis schlegeli was so successful in producing freshwater pearl that even today they are known or referred simply as Biwa. Though Japan introduced this trend of cultured freshwater pearl, it does not hold the number one position in producing cultured freshwater pearl anymore. China is the top country in the production of cultured freshwater pearl with a yearly commercial production of 1500 tons. China now uses three different varieties of Hyriopsis to maintain this number one position. These are Hyriopsis Schlegeli, Hyriopsis cumingii and heterosis from different mussels.

The formation of a pearl takes place inside the mussel. A mollusk with hard shell produces the natural pearl naturally when some foreign irritating microscopic element enters into the mantle folds of the mollusk. The mollusk releases some strata of nacre to obstruct the growth of that foreign microscopic particle inside the shell. And a pearl is ultimately formed by these gradual layers of nacre primarily released to block that foreign particle. In case of a cultured freshwater pearl grafting method is used. Here a technician inserts some foreign particle into the mollusk with the smallest possible incision mostly on the upper valve. Then the mollusk reacts naturally to that particle and forms the pearl, the cultured pearl. Mostly a single freshwater mollusk was used to produce 50 peals. And the species used was Cristaria Plicata. But with the lesser number of grafting the quality of each pearl derived was better than a 50 grafting pearl. So, sustaining with this species was getting tougher from the commercial angle. Keeping this in view China shifted to another species of mussel named Hyriopsis Cumingii, which was a grand success in the cultured pearl industry history and led China to its number one position.

Jewellery with Freshwater Pearl and Seawater Pearl – The difference

With the advancement of science and technology, almost everything has its two versions. One is the costly original version and the next one is either the nearest possible alternate or an imitated version. And when it comes to the pearl jewellery, you would be experiencing more than two versions of pearls present in the market. The first type is the original natural pearl, the pearl found deep inside sea beds. Since these pearls are found in sea, so are also known as seawater pearls. Then there are cultured pearls with almost same qualities except some inner formation and thickness of the luster. Since these cultured pearls are farmed in freshwater so are known as cultured freshwater pearl. There is also an availability of imitation pearls with faux zirconium coating and other materials. They are the lowest quality pearls widely used in cheaper imitated jewelleries. So, the first thing that differentiates freshwater pearl jewellery from seawater pearl one is simply the type of pearl used. And second immediate difference is the price tag associated with it. The jewellery made of seawater pearl would definitely cost you more than the other one with cultured freshwater pearl. Then there would be difference among the cultured and natural freshwater pearled jewelleries.

The main difference among seawater and freshwater pearl is the formation of the pearl that takes place inside the pearl producing mussel. A shelled mollusk naturally produces the pearl when some irritating microscopic particle gets trapped within the mollusk’s mantle folds. The mollusk secretes some layers of nacre to block that microscopic particle totally. These gradual layers of nacre in turn form a pearl. But a cultured freshwater pearl or any other cultured pearl is produced by using grafting method. The process of grafting starts with choosing a suitable donor mussel and cutting a strip of tissue from the mantle. The strip of tissue derived is then cut into squares of 3 mm. These squares are then inserted by the technicians into mussels with the smallest possible incisions on the upper valves. In this way the freshwater pearl is cultured for mostly commercial purposes. Mostly the cultivation of freshwater pearl is rooted in China and Japan. China and Japan together comprises to be the largest producer of freshwater pearl worldwide. Almost eighty three percent of cultured freshwater pearls come from China and Japan.

So, whether it is a natural freshwater pearl or a cultured freshwater pearl, it always differs from seawater pearl from the point of formation. This difference ultimately brings the difference in quality of the jewelleries where they are used. This difference in quality leads to the difference in price tags. So, when you are in the market searching for any fresh water pearl jewellery, be sure that a jewellery where natural freshwater is used would cost you a little higher than the jewellery made of cultured freshwater pearl. And obviously the seawater pearled jewellery would be costlier than any type of freshwater pearled jewellery.

Is Freshwater Pearl ‘fresh’?

What would you prefer – a fresh rose or a fake one? Definitely you would go for the fresh one. A fresh rose has a more subtle look and comes with its natural fragrance. Likewise, you might ask yourself ‘what is freshwater pearl fresh?’ Yes, this might be the question if you really do not know anything about pearl as a gemstone. A freshwater pearl is called so as because it is either found naturally or harvested in freshwater, as opposed to sea salt water. Cultured freshwater pearls are the most common type of pearl found on the pearl jewellery market and are grown in freshwater oysters. This kind of pearl is appreciated thanks to its affordable prices and excellent quality. Freshwater pearl can give you the proper lustre and quality that you generally want for a special gift. Regardless of the occasion for which you purchase this freshwater pearl item, it is there to deliver the charm and grace. Do also consider the rating of the pearls: A to AAA, with AAA standing for the best quality ones. If you have a limited budget, even A+ rating pearls would be reasonable choices as long as they look nice on photos and are sold by an established jewellery retailer or online store. A good choice of pearl jewellery online store would be Carla Pearls, which offers very good quality pearls at reasonable prices.

Although colours have nothing to do with real ‘freshness’ of the pearls, they do add to the look. Lighter colours do give a ‘fresher look’ to the jewellery and are suitable for any happy occasions from a night out to a friendly get-together. Dark colours such as deep blue or black in pearls however, brings you a more formal and mysterious atmosphere. These colours are great choices to accompany evening dresses, for formal occasions.

Next thing to gauge the freshness is the shape. Though pearls are widely available in almost all the shapes and sizes, yet the most classic choices are usually round or baroque shapes. The coin pearls are also great for a fresh look. These give a more fresh look than others ones as they allow the lustre to be better appreciated. Pear or stick shaped ones fits best for earrings. You can always find these types of round or near round shapes of freshwater pearls with almost all the online stores of good repute like Carla Pearls.

The next thing to determine the freshness of freshwater pearl as gift is to look at the surface and the lustre. A good quality pearl is always more shiny than less good ones. If you look at them closely you could also get a feel of the thickness of the nacre – the thicker the better as it would be more enduring with the environment. And it also comes with a blemish free smooth overtone on the surface. You can easily find out these two factors with naked eyes. You really need to be put your heart in the selection of the jewellery to make your lady smile. For example the first wedding anniversary is the most ‘fresh’ one to celebrate, so why not choose a freshwater pearl jewellery item? You can never go wrong with pearls: they are a ‘must-have’ for a lady with great taste and go beautifully with almost anything. The lustre of a good strand of pearls could last a lifetime.

Pearl Bracelets

Close your eyes and imagine yourself wearing pearl jewellery. What do you see? You might be dreaming of wearing a pearl necklaces or a pair of earrings. But have you ever dreamt of wearing a bracelet? No. It is because among all the jewelleries, bracelet is one that is discovered very late as a fashion statement and hence it comes into our minds less quickly. But ever since Stone Age, human beings have been wearing various ornaments around their wrists made of bones, animal skins or wood. Bracelet or a simple lining of an animal skin around the wrist to mark something was there among our ancestors. But it was a very casual thing. Even today in most of the countries a bracelet somehow is considered to be a casual style jewellery. Till late 70s it was not in the scene of bridal jewellery. Gradually it found its position among formal dressing in big occasions. By 90s almost one in nine people in UK wore a bracelet. Bracelet even made its way into bridal jewellery. And now it’s an essential element of bridal jewellery regardless of whether you use platinum diamond studded jewellery or traditional pearl jewellery.

Bracelet now plays an important role in wedding jewellery. From traditional pearl jewellery arrangements to an elegant platinum based jewellery set, bracelet is there in the scene. Earlier bracelet under pearl jewellery section was made only of white natural pearls. Along with the passage of time more affordable cultured pearl came into the picture. Colours also started to varied, from the original white-only to black, dark blue, pink, purple and golden, etc. With these changes in the pearl jewellery industry bracelet and its designs also evolved accordingly. Just have a look at the range of pearl bracelets available at Carla Pearls. You will find varieties from a luxurious looking multi strand pink pearl bracelet to amazing combinations of black pearls and gemstones. Again the use of other stones and gems like amethyst, jade, citrine, turquoise with pearls are abundantly available in the market. But for a special occasion like a wedding, a bracelet made of white round freshwater pearls is an absolute classic. Platinum, gold and silver bracelets are also available in the market. Zirconia bracelets are also available on the market. The zirconia bracelets come in a wide range of prices from $15 to $ 200. Depending on your budget you can choose anyone from them. In comparison to this, pearl bracelets are relatively costly. A simple ‘Blue Candy’ pearl and gemstone bracelet from Carla Pearls made of round white freshwater pearls with oval blue turquoise available would cost about £50, however as natural stones, such a bracelet would last you a lifetime, whereas zirconias with plated base that come at a lower cost would soon start to lose colour. Other variants are also available in the Carla Pearls online store where the combination of different coloured and shaped pearls is showcased. For example one beautiful bracelet you would come across while having a look at their collection is named ‘Miss Coco’. It is a beautiful combination of oval black pearls with rectangular agate stones and brown crystal. This piece is very elegant and classy, suitable for chic occasions, with an evening dress.

How to choose freshwater pearls – Layman’s guide for men looking to buy a lovely gift for their loved one

'Parfum' pearl and gemstone necklace

So, it’s your first wedding anniversary and traditionally freshwater pearl jewellery is a great choice of gift to your beloved one. Choosing jewellery for the girlfriend or wife could be an intimidating and confusing process for a man. You don’t need to worry about it because it also happens to men in their 50s when they have to celebrate the 30^th wedding anniversary called the ‘pearl anniversary’, as pearl jewellery is the most natural choice for this special occasion. However you do not need to worry: there are a lot of guidance information available on the internet as well as a wide range of choices both in retail shops and in online pearl jewellery stores. From natural seawater pearl to imitation shell pearls you can select anything according to your budget line. For most people the best choice is freshwater pearl, as it is much more affordable than saltwater (sea) pearls with little difference, while being much nicer than imitation (faux) pearls. Cultured freshwater pearl is found all over the world with different price range. This difference in price is there because of the monopoly in production of freshwater pearl. The production of cultured freshwater pearl started from Lake Biwa in Japan, as Japan was the first country to invent pearl culturing technique. But due to various environmental as well as practical issues the production of cultured freshwater pearls in Japan gradually decreased and finally Japan lost the number one position in cultured freshwater pearl production to China. China came into the picture later but has become the number one nation in production of cultured freshwater pearl. Japan has moved on to differentiating itself through producing larger size pearls, usually those more than 8mm. Currently 73% of the cultured freshwater pearl worldwide come from China alone. The US also produces a good number of cultured pearls. So, first step to finding best quality cultured freshwater pearl is to check its origin.

Authentic pearls (including sea water pearl and freshwater pearl) come in many different shapes as they are naturally grown inside oysters. The classic choices of shape are round or baroque, although other shapes like off-round, button, treadrop, pear, stick, coin and oval are also available. This allows a great variety in the pearl jewellery industry. Noticing the shape of pearls is the second step towards finding something great for your loved one: consider the normal dressing style of your girlfriend or wife – does she like elegant, classy and formal dressing, or something more daring and creative? While round and baroque pearls look great with classy outfits; the other more creative shapes such as coin, stick or teardrop would suit those with a differentiating taste nicely. Sometimes a fashion designer pearl jewellery that combines pearls and other gemstones would also be a great choice.

White is the most usual colour for all the naturally formed seawater pearls. Also the majority of the freshwater pearl naturally comes in white or beige. In rare occasions, black coloured pearl is also found naturally, however these often come with a multi-colour overtone (the reflex on the surface of the pearl). The latest pearl culturing techniques allow people to add artificial colouring to the oyster that are growing pearls, fully integrating the colours into the pearls. Colours like pink, blue, brown, purple and even a green are available on the market. The colours that are ‘fed’ to oysters usually come in more subtle shapes while pearls dyed after being formed could have much brighter colours. There is little difference in quality between these two colouring techniques so you do not need to worry too much. Just consider the colour that suits her the best. If you want to make double sure of the quailty, you can try and scrpe the surface of the pearl with a little force. A trace of powder will appear and after you wipe it away, the surface of an authentic pearl would stay completely untouched. This brings us through the third step of our guide.

'Claire' freshwater pearl bracelet

There is one more factor helping in choosing an appropriate cultured freshwater pearl, and this is the grade that is being given to pearls according to their quality. Pearls differ from one another with the grading system of A, AA and AAA. AAA represents the finest of quality and A represents a quality of lowest degree. Sometimes markings like A+ or AA+ are using to offer more subtle differentiation; however if a retailer marks his pearls as ‘AAAA’ or ‘AAA+’, it would be regarded as lack of taste and a sign of dishonesty by his competitors in the pearl industry as he would seem to be trying to trick his customers into believing that his products are the best. There should be no difference between pearls with a triple-A rating as their surfaces must be all intact.

Finally, before you buy from a high street or online retailer, have a search around the internet for customer reviews. Reference from other buyers are always of great help. In this aspect, online jewellery stores might have more review information on the internet than high street retailers. Always compare the prices before you buy. Hope you have a great special occasion!

How to shop for best pearl jewellery?

There are abundant options that you can find in the market when it comes to purchasing jewellery and it can be a little confusing at times to decide what to buy.   For ladies who love a sort of classic elegance, pearl jewellery is definitely the best choice. Pearl jewellery has always been considered the most precious and long-lasting form of jewellery.  These naturally grown gems have a timeless beauty and never go out of fashion.  Families pass on pearl jewellery from generation to generation.  Pearl jewellery can match with almost everything: be it office outfit, evening dress, sexy party outfit or even a formal and elegant dress for going to church, you can always find the place for beautiful pearl jewellery.  The flexibility in style of pearl jewellery and makes it something special and keeps it on the top list of jewellery adored by ladies.

Women with great fashion sense love to wear pearls jewellery.  Even those mornings where you ran out of ideas of what to choose from your jewellery box, pearl jewellery can always be a simple and never-failing choice. No outfit can look wrong with pearl jewellery as their subtle and natural lustre really match with everything.

Pearl jewellery is adored for its flexibility in style and today you can find pearl jewellery available in a great variety of colours, shapes and designs.  You can choose classic round single strand pearl jewellery or you can also go for the latest designer or fashion pearl necklaces with created with great taste and audacity, accompanied with silver, diamonds or other gemstones like amethyst, smoky quartz or heliodors.  The cost of the pearl jewellery depends on its quality rating the design you choose.  There are also natural or cultured pearls jewellery at your choice although the latter come at a fraction of the price of natural pearls. You can decide what kind of pearl jewellery to go for according to your budget and whether you are looking merely for accessories or a form of investment as well.  Pearls jewellery come in 4 types of natural colours without artificial adding: black, white, light pink and light purple. A variety of other colours such as blue, brown, bright pink and purple etc. can be “nurtured” into oysters through adding colours.  A search on the internet will help you establish an idea of prices for pearl jewellery.  There are many websites selling pearl jewellery but it is important that you purchase them from the websites run by established and trusted companies.

Carla pearl jewellery is among the few top websites out there that offer all types and all styles of pearl jewellery, suitable for weddings, formal dinners, get-together with friends, fun nights out or just an ordinary lovely day.  Pearl jewellery collections at Carla Pearls come with both conservative elegancy or daring sexy design. Whatever your style is, you can always find something that suits you beautifully with Carla Pearls. The website also gives the most detailed information on each item, what are the accompanying gemstones, the size, length, quality rating of the pearls, etc. Great quality photos are offered on each piece of pearl jewellery, showing you a clear view of what you are buying as well as explaining different ways to wear them (for example a pearl necklace with creative style).

So if you are hunting for a piece of authentic pearls jewellery with great quality and exquisite design, you will find the right one at Carla Pearls.