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[ofhedgehogsandpumpkins]

Grocery outfit~

I represent the lion's share of our self-esteem, apparently, and I plan to enjoy every second of it! Nearly a year on HRT, and I love our progression. I'm excited to grow old in this body of ours with the ones I love~

[morapandora]

It’s now just under two weeks until the official launch of the Pandora Summer 2017 collection, and so today I’m getting in the mood with gorgeous HQ pictures of all the new charms & jewellery, pricing, and some detailed commentary. I also have a few extra live shots to share! As I write this, it is tipping it down with rain here in England, but the summery jewellery should help me focus on the sunny weather that will hopefully be coming our way soon (touch wood)!

Pandora’s Summer collection for this year features some tropical aqua blues and oceanic-themed beads, plus a couple of wild cards in the form of some rather brightly coloured enamel button charms (if you read on, you’ll see what I mean!). There are also a couple of Japanese-inspired beads, which are some of my favourite designs of the year, and beautiful beautiful glass beads!

The collection is officially due out on the 1st June. For live shots, please take a look at my post here. Otherwise, read on for a full preview!

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Pandora Summer 2017 Charm Jewellery Preview

The Sunny Doll, I am told, is set to be an Asian exclusive for the Summer 2017 collection, retailing at $89 SGD. It’s inspired by Japanese teruterubozu, which are little good luck dolls, designed to bring good weather. Such a cute idea for a charm!

The other charm drawing on Japanese culture in this collection is the Koinobori murano, another favourite of mine. This got released early in Asian countries back in April, but its official global release is the 1st June. I hear that the UK won’t be receiving this one, however. 😦

Thankfully, the next two murano glass offerings should be seeing a global release. The Mint Glitter murano is my favourite of these, featuring a deep mint base, studded with sandy gold dusts and little bubbles in the glass. For me, the whole effect is just stunning, and I’m so hoping that it’ll look good with my Tinker Bell charms from the most recent Disney collection.

The Pink Glitter also looks lovely, although for me, going by the stock image, the gold dust doesn’t stand out as much against the pink background. It’ll be interesting to see how striking the effect is in person. ❤ I’d like to put this one with some brown/cinnamon-y beads – not that there are many of those these days! The Glitter mutants will be $45 USD each.

Next up, we have three new Orchid charms. They brought out the original fuchsia dangle back in Summer 2015, but this bead will now also be available in white, which might be a bit easier to style than the brighter pink of the original. It’s $45 USD.

They’ve also redesigned it as a regular charm as well as a dangle, which will be available in both the original fuchsia and in white for $50 USD:

These are very pretty, and would add a touch of femininity to a bolder summer design, I think – however, my bracelet with the original Orchid on it is finished and I don’t have any room for these new ones!

The following two beads have proven slightly controversial. They’re bold, bright and beachy, and have divided collectors a little: some think they’re fun and a bit different, others find them garish. Admittedly, it’s hard to imagine how you’d fit these in with a classic bracelet design, and I can see them looking better styled with maybe just one or two other beads on a little leather bracelet design, or on a bangle. Something fun and casual that you’ll dig out for the summer months, if not for your all-year-round bracelet. The Tropical Sunset will be $70 USD.

The Summer Fun is $65 USD, and has the inscription Live in the sunshine. I think my main problem is that the way the cocktail glass is positioned underneath the sunglasses makes it look a bit like lips to me! 😦

The Tropical Flamingo, priced at $85 USD, is in a similar button style, but with a slightly softer pave effect. I actually quite like this one – it’s fun and bright, but I think it would be much easier to style with some of the other beads in the collection. Some teal muranos, the new Radiant Hearts, some really classic silvers (maybe the original Dolphin, the Mermaid, or the Ocean Breeze openwork), and it would be lovely. Or, pop it on its own on a blue/green leather bracelet!

The Ocean Life openwork is retailing for $75 USD. I have to say that I really like the shade of aqua-blue they’ve gone for with many of the beads in this collection, even if I won’t be indulging.

This new colour of the Radiant Hearts is another of my favourites from this launch. What a beautiful colour – like Caribbean ocean preserved in a charm. Unfortunately I don’t have anywhere for this charm to go, and it’s a bit pricey ($80 USD) just to get on a whim. But it is lovely!

The creatively named Tropical Starfish & Seashell is another pretty aqua bead, although it would be nice to have just kept the pave to the starfish rather than the charm’s bail as well. It will be $55 USD.

For that reason, I think I prefer the Tropical Starfish pendant, which features a traditional silver bail. ❤ It’s $50 USD.

Next up, we have new Mosaic versions of the Shining Elegance silicone clips, retailing at $45 USD. Of these, I think I like the pink version best – it would have been nice to have one in the same aqua shade as the other beads!

And, finally for charms, two new colours of the original Cosmic Stars clips, which have been given a summery tropical makeover. ^^

They’re retailing for $70 USD each.

To go alongside the charms, we have two limited edition summer leather bracelets, as has become traditional! These are mixed colour, with spherical clasps and, thankfully, threads. I didn’t much get on with last year’s summer leathers, which had smooth ends, as you had to put a clip on the end of the bracelet to stop the charms flying off when you took the bracelet off! They’ll be retailing for $50 USD.

The Floating Locket series will be getting a new set of Petites, with a tropical shell, fish and palm tree.

Other jewellery

Funnily enough, there’s a really limited selection of accompanying jewellery for the Summer 2017 collection. Usually we have a few rings at least, but I’ve not been given any other pictures since my initial preview.

The Tropical Starfish earrings will be $55 USD.

The White Orchid earrings will be $45 USD.

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Pandora Summer 2017 Live Shots

As I mentioned in a previous post, Pandora stores in the US & Canada often receive the new collections a little ahead of their official release date – sure enough, the jewellery has started to filtering into North American stores. Thanks to the kind permission of Lady G Forty, we have these lovely live shots to peruse:

Image by Lady G Forty – please do not reproduce without permission 🙂

You’ll notice that the white leather bracelet that was originally coming out for Mother’s Day is included with the Summer pieces:

Image by Lady G Forty – please do not reproduce without permission 🙂

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Image by Lady G Forty

Image by Lady G Forty

Image by Lady G Forty

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My Comment

This is a very pretty Summer release, I think, with a beautiful use of colour; I absolutely cannot wait to see the Glitter muranos in person.  I like that the two Asian beads don’t have any superfluous sparkle. The Sunny Doll will definitely be on my wishlist, and the red Koinobori murano is another temptation, if I can work out where it’s going in my collection! Pandora’s glasswork improves year by year! However, as ever, what’s missing for me are the plain silver character beads to make it perfect. I know I’m like a broken record, but it’s what strikes me about each new collection at the moment. My style, and that of many others I suspect, is to mix decorative vibrant colour beads with plain-silver interesting character beads. I’m relying on sales to pick up older silver beads, and that’s keeping me going, but it’s a little sad not to see so many new ones. The sparkly charms are also so expensive!

The oceanic aqua beads are always so pretty, but they’re very similar to what has gone before and so they’re not must-haves for me, really. The bright enamel buttons are not at all my cup of tea, but I’m surprisingly drawn to the pave Tropical Flamingo. Every now and then, one of those sparkly buttons just grabs me! I think it would look lovely with the new Radiant Hearts charm. But they’re a bit pricey for me, so I’ll just stick with my muranos and Sunny Doll I think!

What do you think of this collection? Will you be purchasing something?

It's just under two weeks until the Pandora Summer 2017 launch and, as is traditional, today I have an HQ preview with lots of lovely pics! It's now just under two weeks until the official launch of the Pandora Summer 2017 collection, and so today I'm getting in the mood with gorgeous HQ pictures of all the new charms & jewellery, pricing, and some detailed commentary.

[ofhedgehogsandpumpkins]

Hehehehe

I am too powerful

These ones actually fit which is good because we're like 6'4"

Socks by Sock Dreams! Really really good socks!!!