Today’s post offers a full break down on Pandora Essence. I’ve just been to the store to have a look at the collection myself, and I’ve brought back some pictures and opinions to share with you! Additionally, I also have high resolution stock images, prices and details of materials.
The Basics: What is Essence?
First of all, it is important to stress that this is a completely new line: it is not compatible with any bracelets or charms that Pandora have produced before. The line will be a concept store exclusive until January 2014, when it will be available in shop-in-shops and independent jewellers also.
The Essence bracelet itself comes in sizes 16 cm to 21 cm. While it features the same snake chain design as the traditional Pandora bracelet, it is much smaller and more delicate. It also has the new spherical Pandora clasp instead of the traditional barrel clasp. All the charms are lined inside with silicone, allowing you to fix the charms in place on the chain. Consequently, the traditional Pandora threading system won’t apply to this bracelet.
All the charms are based on the same spherical design. Like the bracelet, they are lighter and more delicate than previous Pandora charm designs. Each charm expresses a core value, such as joy, faith or love.
Pricing, Materials and Images
Below, you can see the American and British prices for all the Essence charms, alongside their materials. Click to enlarge the image!
Hands on with Pandora Essence
Of course, I went straight down to my local store to see the new collection debut. The theme for Essence definitely seems to be black. Black catalogues and black displays made it stand out from the traditional white of the Pandora store. Our store had a selection of charms out on a counter for customers to touch and look at in person, which meant I had a great opportunity to get a close-up of the new beads. Our sales assistant was explaining that many people who came into the store didn’t seem to ‘get’ Essence, and so they were a bit apprehensive!
I didn’t get to take any pictures close-up of the collection, sadly. However, I did get to have a good play.
The Pandora Essence bracelet and charms are much, much smaller than the traditional line of bracelets. Handling the bracelet was almost like handling wire. The charms themselves do not move on the chain: the silicone lining works as promised, and you have to apply a little bit of force to get them to slide up.
I found that the bracelet itself was so slender that it wouldn’t make much of an impact without having a good few beads on it. It looked best with four or five beads on the chain, as you can see in the picture below.
Pandora.net
The Pandora website has also updated with a whole wealth of goodies related to Pandora Essence. Be sure to check out the new bracelet designer and design your own Essence bracelet. Here’s my ideal design:
My Comment
I find myself wondering how they will take this concept forwards: while there are any number of ‘moments’ that a charm could represent, how many values are Pandora going to be able to cover in Essence? I’m curious to know what future collections for the brand would look like, and if they will stick to its initial concept.
The language issue also occurs to me. The bracelet concept is based around key concepts, such as faith or respect, which are engraved on to the charms themselves. How well will they sell in non-English speaking territories? A word itself carries so many connotations and meanings to a native speaker: would it resonate as well with someone for whom English is not their first language? Will Pandora translate the charms, if the Essence line proves successful?
In any case, I’d love to hear from you – have you bought Essence, or seen it in person? What do you think of Pandora’s new range?
I’m not ‘in love’ just yet, I’m in love with my tradional Pandora bracelets and I am not planning to invest more money than I allready have.
I’m exactly the same; I waver on whether I’m a fan of the Essence concept or not, but ultimately I know that I’m never going to wear an Essence bracelet over my traditional Pandora bracelets. :)
Ellie
en France ne n’avons pas cette collection donc il mets difficile de juger mais j’aimerais bien les voir en vrai
It’s definitely difficult to tell whether you like Essence or not just from pictures – it’s surprisingly small in real life! I hope France gets Essence soon.
Ellie
Essence collection is light & lovely when paired with regular Pandora bracelet. I love my essence bracelet with Love, Health, Freedom & Balance. Appearance might be misleading but ii is great to have . & the charms are lovely.
It does look great when stacked, and I imagine the contrast with the traditional Pandora bracelet is very striking. Your bracelet sounds lovely – I’m often still quite tempted myself!
Since its launch, I’ve seen a number of Essence bracelet arrangements that I’ve really liked – I’m glad you’re enjoying yours! :)
I love this new collection. I confess that I never wore my original Pandora bracelet, just the charms singly on a necklace now and again. That “chunky” problem was big for me. The bracelet looked kind of silly without too many charms, and enough charms also then weighed a LOT! then there was the issue of covering the sections and I could just never really get into it…besides knowing I have several hundred dollars on my wrist whenever I’d look at it. It was just “too much” for me. This new collection appeals because I’m a bit minimalist in the jewelry department. I’m graduating from grad school and this is my “gift” I’ve chosen to commemorate the occasion with values I have gained through school and want to live into my new career. Lovely.
Hi Kate, sorry for the late reply – I managed to miss your comment!
I think you’re right, in that the Essence collection does offer something for those who like the concept of Pandora, but find the Moments bracelets too clunky or heavy. I’ll admit that I find my full bracelets a dead weight on my arm if I’ve not been wearing them for a few days! And I certainly wouldn’t want to add up how much each of my bracelets is worth. ;)
The new Essence collection offers something very customisable and individual but not as intensive as the traditional Pandora bracelet, perhaps. I’m still thinking about getting one myself.
In any case, I’m glad that you’ve managed to find the perfect bracelet for you – congratulations on your graduation! :)
Ellie
I have avoided buying the original bracelet for myself (but my daughters have them) as I didnt like the way the charms sagged at the bottom (not easy to wear working at a desk) and it looked very heavy.
I am about to buy the Esssence bracelet has improved everything I didnt like about the original one. I guess its whatever suits – I cant see people who like the original one buying this as well though.
Hi Lesley, I’m sorry that I missed this comment originally! I think you’re right, in that the Essence bracelet definitely offers a more elegant, streamlined aesthetic in comparison to the Moments bracelet, which is more of a typical charm bracelet. I quite like the contrast between the two – I like to stack a full Moments bracelet with the sleeker leather bracelets, for example, and I bet the effect would be as lovely with the Essence bracelet.
Ellie
I love the look of essence and feel it is a more mature look than the original which my daughter wears. However, I have read quite a few reviews saying the clasp is not very secure and a few people have lost them. Does anyone know if this issue has been resolved? Would like to know more before I purchase.
Hi Lynn, there have definitely been some issues with the Essence clasp, as you say. However, Pandora have since offered a statement saying that the clasp has been re-designed – I have seen pictures comparing the two different versions of the clasp, so I know this has happened. However, the problem remains that not all of the stores have been informed about this change or are up to date with the new bracelet clasps, so I’d double-check with your store as to whether they are aware of the issues with the Essence bracelet.
The other thing you can do is purchase a safety chain from another brand, if you’re comfortable with that – I have a post on the Thomas Sabo Karma safety chain here, for example:
http://morapandorablog.com/2014/04/19/update-on-issues-with-pandora-essence-bracelets/
Hope that helps! Let me know if you have any questions.
Ellie