Upcoming Carla Pearls wedding series...

Exciting news: Carla Pearls is developing a new series of wedding pearl jewellery. Our designer Sandy has already started sketching down some models through inspiration of some very beautiful wedding gowns - you will definitely find a piece of our wedding pearl jewellery that is made to be with your wedding gown!

Oh right - people have asked me what do I do anyway.. I (the Pearl Fariy) am the marketing director of Carla Jewellery UK Ltd and i'm a real jewellery frenzy - pearls are one of my favorite kind of gemstones!!

Sandy is our beloved designer who has been in the profession for over 10 years. She specialises in pearls, gemstones and silver jewellery.

New items will start being updated on our website www.carlapearls.co.uk in a couple of weeks. Can't wait!!

Pearl Dyes

A friend asked me about colouring of the pearls the other day so I thought I'd share on my blog about dyeing of pearl jewellery. This is a rather complicated topic as there are many ways to either nurture cultured pearls with colour tones or dyeing them after they are "born". I'll outline the simple basics here quickly for you:

There are three types of pearl colours that can be nurtured within oysters: white, lilac pink and purple. Other colours such as green, blue, chocolate, yellow etc. are achieve through "feeding" colours to oysters while they are growing pearls, so that the colour is fully integrated into the pearl layers. Coloured pearls, as long as authentic, can also pass the "scratching" test without losing any colour. (Scratching test is where you scratch the surface of a pearl with a sharp object to create a trace of powder; after wiping away the powder an authentic pearl's surface will stay as if untouched).

Carla Pearls offer an range of pearl jewellery that are either with natural, nurtured or dyed colour pearls. Dyeing does not affect the pearl's quality rating.

Claire - good for weddings and a lot of other days...

Claire is simple and beautiful. A classic double strand freshwater pearl necklace, adopting very good quality (AA+) pearl beads and a sterling silver slide clasp. The pearls are round or near-round, with excellent lustre and cream overtone and minimal surface imperfections.

One thing I really like about double strand pearl jewellery is that it is more flexible in style: you can either wear them as a classic double strand pearl necklace, or twist them a few times to create a different look. This also helps you to adjust the length of the pearl necklace - twist them loose to wear them at the princess length, or tighter to form a choker.

V.S.

Claire is an ideal piece of wedding jewellery. It has both a luxurious touch when worn twisted, or a simple and chic look when worn with two separate strands. Decide which style goes best with your wedding gown!!

...and of course such a classic pearl necklace isn't only for weddings. As it is not too famboyant, you would find it great to fit with a lot of occasions: dinner parties, birthdays, first date second date third date ... xth date..;-)

To learn more about Claire pearl necklace please click here.

Enjoy shopping at Carla Pearls! - and have a great day.

Lengths of pearl necklaces

It could be a little confusing sometimes to hear words like "choker", "princess" and "matinee" in descriptions of pearl necklaces. Unlike necklaces of other material/gemstones, pearl necklaces have special vocabulary dedicated to each range of lengths. While most other necklaces are simply referred to by their physical measurement, pearl necklaces are named by how low they hang when worn around the neck. Pearl Fairy would like to remind you in this post of these terms:

A collar, measuring 10 to 13 inches or 25 to 33 cm in length, sits directly against the throat and does not hang down the neck at all; collars are often made up of multiple pearl strands.

Pearl chokers, measuring 14 to 16 inches or 35 to 41 cm in length, nestle just at the base of the neck.

Princess length pearl necklaces, measuring 17 to 19 inches or 43 to 48 cm in length, comes down to or just below the collarbone.

Matinee length, measuring 20 to 24 inches or 50 to 60 cm in length, falls just above the breasts.

Opera length, measuring 28 to 35 inches or 70 to 90 cm in length, will be long enough to reach the breastbone or sternum of the wearer.

Pearl rope, measuring more than 45 inches or 115 cm in length, is any length that falls down farther than an opera.

The Carla Pearls TM collection offers us a complete range of pearl necklace lengths. Carla Classic pearl necklaces come in lengths of collar, choker and princess (10 to 19 inches) and Carla Fashion Pearl Necklaces vary between choker length and pearl rope length (14 – 45 inches).

Cleopatra and the Pearls

A pearl necklace in the family safe is probably something adored by everyone and passed on from generation to generation. Pearl has always been the symbol of elegance, purity and wealth, a God given gemstone grown and hidden in a creature from the ocean.

The Egyptian Queen Cleopatra is one of the most fascinating women in our history. The inventor of make-up is also said to have an amazing number of pearl jewellery that worth absolute fortunes in her collection. Back in the days when cultured pearls did not exist, pearls needed to be discovered in the oysters - finding one is like winning a lottery, let alone an actually good one. That is why pearls were historically the most expensive gemstone among all kinds.

Here's a story when queen Cleopatra wagered Marc Antony that she could give the most expensive dinner in history, in order to convince Rome that Egypt possessed a heritage and wealth that put it above conquest. The Roman reclined as the queen sat with an empty plate and a goblet of wine (or vinegar). She crushed one of a pair of large pearl earrings, dissolved it in the liquid, then drank it down. Astonished, Antony declined his dinner—the matching pearl earring—and admitted she had won.

Pliny, the world's first gemmologist, writes in his famous Natural History that the two pearls were worth an estimated 60 million sesterces, or 1,875,000 ounces of fine silver ($9,375,000 with silver at $5/ounce).

Shell pearls - introducing "Annie" necklace

Shell pearls are becoming more and more popular these days. They have similar lustre and touch as freshwater pearls but can come with more flexible sizes and colours. Carla Pearls offers a few shell pearl jewelleries along its adored freshwater pearl & gemstone collections.

Annie is definitely a piece of shell pearl necklace that nicely complements the rest of the Carla pearl jewellery collection. With its generously sized 11-12mm pearls with a subtly colourful overtone, the Annie pearl necklace is both trendy and elegant. It would be an excellent birthday gift or anniversary gift - ladies with great tastes will definitely adore it. Annie would also suit beautifully a bride who seeks a somewhat audacious style in her wedding jewellery.

White Gypsophila

Most "scattered" style pearl jewellery tend to use baroque or off-round pearls with less good lustre for cost considerations. NOT the White Gypsophila from Carla's wedding jewellery collection - every single pearl in this piece is rated AAA quality. They are standard oval shape, excellent lustre with practically no surface damage (impressive considering nobody can control how a pearl grows inside an oyster shell, these pearls have gone through some very serious selecting process) and come in a beautiful cream overtone.

It is simply perfect - whether you look at it from afar, or very close: even the smallest 3mm pearl beads at the back are flawless. This pearl necklace is at a classy choker length - loosely surrounds your neck with its lovely collection of its 3 - 7 mm pearls.

This is really the best wedding jewellery for the pearl-loving brides. Perfect pearls, perfect wedding gown, perfect mariage :-) God I wish i had a boyfriend..grrr

Oh gypsophila...I personally think this is the best type of flower to accompany a rose - what do you think??

Oh jeeze almost forgot: if you like it go check it out here. Have fun shopping!

Aïsha, Aïsha, regardes moi...

Aïsha is one of my favorite French songs (you can find it on Youtube) and so is this set of pearl & gemstone necklace & earrings dedicated to the lady in the song. It is elegant, chic and mysterious: a combination of cream disc pearls, gold-plated beads and stick-shaped smoky quartz. A gold-plated Japanese magnet clasp makes the necklace very easy to put on - very useful especially when no one is around to help! The necklace is of a popular princess length (18" or 46 cm) that hangs beautifully below your neck. The earrings are fitted with 9ct gold hooks.

The pearls in this parure are beige coloured disc pearls with excellent lustre and a beautiful cream overtone...The subtleness of the style of this set will never go out of date.

How to distinguish real pearls from faux pearls?

A good strand of real pearl jewellery always becomes something that the whole family (at least female members of the family!) adore and something that's passed on from the mother to the daughter. Pearls are many girls' best friend;-) Howadays with more and more imitation pearls merging on the market, it would be useful to have a few tricks to tell the real pearls from faux pearls.

A real pearl means a pearl that has either been naturally formed or cultured within an oyster shell, namely sea pearls/natural pearls or freshwater pearls/cultured pearls. A faux pearl is generally understood to mean any sort of pearl that is made of something other than true nacre, be it plastic, glass, or resin.

It is relatively easy to distinguish real pearls from faux pearls. Real pearls generally heavier than faux pearls. They are cold to the touch and quickly adapt to the body’s temperature when you wear them – this is a similar quality in all natural gemstones.

Pearl Fairy's Tip: Rub a pearl against your teeth – a real one feels rough (as if there's sand inside) whereas a faux pearl feels smooth. If you have a strand of pearls, you may also rub two of them against each other with a little force. Look carefully: on real pearls a trace of powder will appear on the surface. Wipe away the powder and the lustre is back to exactly the same as before. Faux pearls will feel completely smooth and will not create any trace of powder; and if you rub them too hard, the surface will be damaged and cannot be restored (so don't!).

Faux pearls are usually completely regular and uniform in colour. Real pearls are always somewhat irregular: even AAA quality real pearls that look perfectly round and very smooth in lustre are not 100% immaculate if you examine them carefully enough – as these are creations of nature. Nowadays some faux pearls are also made to be irregular in order to seem more like real pearls, but they are still distinguishable through touching and rubbing.

Important question: how would I know if it is real pearls when I'm shopping online? Here are Pearl Fairy's tips:

1. try and buy from established sellers like amazon (as they check their sellers seriously), bobijou, absolutepearls or Carla Pearls, etc. - big pearl suppliers are trust worthy and you know where to find them!

2. read the product specs: honest supplier always put down a lot of information on the pearls, whether they are natural, freshwater or shell pearls (we'll discover what are shell pearls later).

3. the price always tells you something: a typical freshwater princess length single strand necklace with round pearls (i.e. the most classic and popular kind) typically costs between £40 - £100 or more, depending on the rating (and yes we'll discover ratings in a later chapter). Anything less than £40 should be in irregular shapes on the photos (this means they are of a modest quality and the price could be for real pearls); if they look perfectly round and are sold for a price lower than £40, then they are very likely to be faux pearls.

4. make sure the seller offers good returns policies - if the seller offers good returns policy then it is probably an honest seller.

5. ask around: see if any of your friends have shopped for pearls online and are satisfied with the product. Reference is always an extra guarantee!

6. google for pearl sellers reviews - see what the internet folks say about a seller!

For Happy Brides - Carla Magic: Wedding

Carla Magic is a series of pearl necklaces creation by Carla Pearls that can be worn in many creative ways. "Carla Magic: Wedding" is the piece that is dedicated to happy brides. Made with two 32 inch (92cm) opera pearl strands and a 925 silver oval clasp, you can wear it in so many ways that you'd think you own many different sets of pearl jewelleries.

Twist the two strands together and link the ends with the silver oval clasp to create an elegant collar length necklace - twist them tighter or looser to adjust length and match with the style of your wedding dress...

Or go to a fancy dinner party wearing one strand loosely as an opera necklace and the other strand around your wrist as a matching bracelet. (Don't lose the silver clasp if you don't use it! Put it some place safe - like in the black velvet box that comes with the pearls;-))

How about making them a trendy double strand princess length necklace with a matching bracelet?

Or wear them as a creative treble strand set and adjust the lengths to match your dress.

Would you fancy a timeless gorgeousness and elegance à la Audrey Hepburn?

...own it, and you will love it on your wedding day, and love it every single day after that!

"Carla Magic: Wedding" is made with pearls that are rated at AA - very good lustre with a warm cream overtone. Pearl size is 6-7 mm and they are very round. It comes at a very good price considering that a classic single strand freshwater pearl choker length necklace typically costs between 60 - 90 pounds: "Carla Magic: Wedding" is effectively more than four pearl chokers strands added together, accompanied with a 925 silver oval clasp and it is offered to you at less than 200 pounds.