Today’s post brings my next review from the Pandora Autumn 2015 collection, with a closer look at the new Dragonfly Meadow openwork charm. This is another selection from Pandora’s Magnificent Kingdom set, which focuses on the majesty and beauty of the natural world. This one of my first must-haves from the new collection, and one of Pandora’s more delicate and intricate openwork offerings.
I was really inspired by the natural details of this charm, and so we have another rather floral review! ^^ This will probably be my one of my last reviews to focus on the Autumn 2015 collection’s natural themes before we get into some grittier Halloween stylings and, of course, some icy Winter designs!
The charm
This is another charm where the intricacy whimsical nature of the details really shines through; the charm’s most striking feature is its two pavé dragonflies, which are accentuated by little swirls to either side of them. The overall effect reminds me of a river bank, with flowers on the water and dragonflies skimming the surface.
The addition of a little dash of pavé creates a delicate effect, and seems perfect for representing the real life shimmer of a dragonfly’s wings.
However, the charm does not feature the pavé dragonflies all the way around it. There is also some lovely plain silver detailing, featuring a small flower with oxidised petals, and some fern leaves as well. The dragonflies nestle in among these details beautifully. The only reservation I have is that, while the effect is lovely close-up, the individual motifs are a bit hard to pick out from a distance, and the charm has the potential to look a little busy.
The Dragonfly Meadow is unthreaded, and features a small hallmark on the rim of the charm.
Styling
First up, I thought I would try this charm on my pink oxidised bracelet, which features a number of floral and natural charms. I think it fits in nicely, and goes well with Spring 2015 charms such as the Sparkling Ladybird or the Pink Petite Facets! :D I love clear pavé and pastel enamel together.
Next up, we have a styling based around the limited edition green leather bracelet from the Summer 2015 collection! The shimmering metallic green seemed perfect to represent the iridescent colours of the dragonfly’s wings, and just for a pretty nature-inspired bracelet. I’ve added the Floral Heart Padlock, which is great with the Dragonfly, and some teal-coloured charms to complement the green leather.
Finally, this is how I will actually be wearing my Dragonfly Meadow charm – with the purple double wrap bracelet, and the beautiful blue Butterfly Kisses murano.
I have been stacking this bracelet with my brown leather, which features the two new blush charms from the Autumn 2015 collection! Together, they sort of combine pretty spring pastels with more earthy autumn pinks and I have been really enjoying the combination.
Conclusion
Overall, this charm remains one of my favourites from the new Autumn 2015 collection. While it is pricey for what it is, it is well-made and the details are light and delicate. I am surprised, for example, that the Majestic Swan is cheaper in the UK than this one, seeing as the Majestic Swan is a nice solid silver, and this one is an openwork – and with fewer pavé stones. :S Nevertheless, the inclusion of the plain silver details works well to offset the sparkle from the pavé and, like the Majestic Swan, this means that the charm avoids the trap of looking overly blingy or glittery. Instead, it gives a hint of, say, a sparkle of reflected light on water, or simply the beauty of a dragonfly’s wings.
The Dragonfly Meadow is $65 USD or £55. If you’re in the UK, you can purchase it alongside the rest of the Pandora Autumn collection from authorised retailer John Greed.
Have you bought this charm, or is it on your wish list?
Pretty! I have the swan and the Fairy on my list :)
The Fairy and the Swan are my two of my other favourites from this collection! I loved their nature-themed charms, this time around. So pretty! :D
I’ve bought this beautiful charm. I’m reaaly in love with the details. For me he represent a sort of romantic and magical version of dragonfly. I especialy love the little dots that compose the body of the dragonfly and the design of leaves that reminds me to water coloring style.
I’ve try it as a “master piece” in center of a silver bracelet with juste to little facetted charm around and it’s really delicat and so chic :)
I completely agree with you – this charm is all about the beautiful details. I like your analogy with water colouring style, it is a very delicate and romantic charm. Happily I don’t think the pavé sparkle detracts from that effect either!
That sounds beautiful! It’s definitely worthy of being a centrepiece. Thanks for commenting Clémentine! :)
Wow this one is really pretty!
It is not in my must-haves for now but pretty sure it will be next up once the Christmas Puppy from the Winter 2015 release’s spot will free up on my list!
I like to limit myself ?
It is good to limit yourself! ;) I need someone to do the same for me, haha. I love the Christmas Puppy as well, and I already have a spot marked out for him on my bracelet :P
Bought it, love it~
Yay!
Beautiful Ellie! It looks great on your purple leather. Wonderful pictures and review as always!
Thank you so much Natalie! :) The purple leather is really versatile piece, it looks great with just about anything you care to put on it!
This charm is so lovely and so detailed I love your styling once again I also love the pic with the brown leather stacked. Did you know there a Pandora sale on achia on Thursday.
Thanks Nicola! I’m glad you like the leather bracelet stack, I’ve been wearing it a lot lately :D I didn’t know about Achica, no! That’s exciting, thanks for the heads up.
Hi ellie I have been on achica this morning and I have to say I am very disappointed I wish they had the silver lobster clasp on it own but they don’t I really want one of those for my Xmas bracelet. Have you seen anything you like on there.
Hey nicola, I thought it was pretty poor as well. I didn’t see anything I wanted which is probably a good thing ;)
I’ve bought this charm and love it. I love all the little detailing. I’ve got mine with the pink primrose meadow charms from the spring collection and the lace clips from the Autumn collection.
Sounds like a winning combination! :) I do really love pastel enamel and pavé, and the lace clips are gorgeous too. I’ll be reviewing them later on in the month I think!
Lovly review and even lovlier charm! I love the little flower and vine detailing on the other side, that is actually my favorite part! My fave is your stunning green bracelt, is that the cute Little hedgehog I see peeking through? ;)
Why thank you! ^^ Yes, I love the flower best as well. It’s such a sweet little detail. Aha, yes it is the little hedgehog… I like to get in such cute Pandora animals to the stylings where I can :P
Great review! I have loved this charm from when I first saw the preview pictures. I think it is very versitile and looks lovely on each of your designs. I’m defiantly going to buy it but want to buy it when they do the bow bangle promotion in Australia (hopefully with help from a friend!).
Thanks Hazel! It is definitely just as lovely as it looked in the previews, and the surprise detail of the silver flowers and vines just makes it even better. The bow bangle promo is definitely a great time to get it – although I’m thinking of maybe doing the US version of that promo instead of the Australian one, seeing as I should be able to get the Black Friday charm as part of the spend ;)
:-) all of them sooo pretty! :-)
Thanks! It’s such a nice charm! :)
Bought a lot of the autumn charms, this one happens to have a bit of dainty detail, love it.
Haha, I have ended up with quite a lot of the Autumn collection which is funny as I didn’t think I liked that much of it when the first previews came out ;) The Dragonfly is gorgeous and very dainty as you say!
I was yearning to read this review and what a surprise I was in for, Ellie. I really like the little floral detail on this charm, very befitting for the nature theme. I have the purple enamel Asian exclusive charm and the Sparkling Primrose on the way. Very tempted to get this dragonfly charm, the purple enamel daisy charm and the purple petite facet charm to make a purple themed floral/nature bracelet. I imagine a pink leather bracelet might pair well. I also like the simple spacers on your leather bracelet. They are classic enough to match with anything. Are they from Pandora too?
It is a lovely charm, and I think the sparkle of clear pavé always looks great with purple – so I love the sound of your purple nature-themed bracelet! :D The pink leather would also be nice, but the contrast between the darker purple and a little sparkle is just so pretty.
The spacers on my leather are Pandora, but they are retired. They are called the ‘Open Sky’ spacers, which is rather apt and lovely name. ^^ They’re possibly my favourite Pandora spacers, and like you say, they do go really beautifully with anything!
What a lovely name for the spacers! I wish Pandora makes more of such versatile spacers. I surely can do with some. ;)
Absolutely! There are so few plain silver spacers available at the moment!
Hopefully next year we will see more simple spacers. I managed to find the open sky spacers on Ebay but have had no experience verifying authenticity. I really like how versatile they are. Perhaps I will succumb!
I am not a fan of buying Pandora on eBay at all (so much turns out to be fake), so it’s tough finding retired pieces sometimes :( I hope you find some Open Sky spacers soon!
I am not confident of buying Pandora via Ebay too. Read about too much fakes. Perhaps I should just be patient and wait for Pandora to launch new ones instead.
I recently received a bead from a friend who bought from an eBay seller who has a good rep in Pandora FB circles – I am pretty convinced it is a fake. Consequently – I am swearing off any eBay purchases, as it just seems like nobody can be trusted and it isn’t worth the hassle. It’s worrying that these fake beads might be getting into circulation on the secondhand market as well :(
Oh dear! That’s really terrible and not to mention your friend’s kind intention and effort in buying it for you. You are right in that these beads are circulating all around. I guess it is safest to buy from Pandora stores instead.
Absolutely, it’s really disappointing. Some Facebook groups have rules that you can’t sell any charms that you bought from eBay, full-stop, which is a good thing I think!
Hi, personally I think the charm has a slightly high price tag because of the details put into it require a more intricate mold to produce them. I have seen this charm in person and it is absolutely beautiful, I love the roses on it and kind of wish they had an openwork of just those in Pandora rose.
Hi Stacey! Yes, that’s a very good point and one I hadn’t thought of. I was puzzled, but now that you say it, it probably does require a lot more attention and care to get those little details right. That’s such a lovely idea to have it in Pandora Rose as well. That would be beautiful!
As you may remember I fought to get this charm during the promotion lol. I love the detail on it.
I notice that you have the pink radiant hearts charm. No chance of doing a review of that one ? Thanks again for another great review.
Haha yes I remember! You prevailed ;) It is lovely, and I’m glad you were able to get yours!
Well-spotted! And happily enough the Radiant Hearts is, in fact, going to be my next review. I’ve already done the photography, and it just needs writing up. :)
Yay thanks so much. Can’t wait to read it :-)
Thanks Linda! It’ll be up next week!
One of my favorites from the Autumn collection. I love it with the green petite facets. So reminiscent of dragonflies dancing over a stream. Thanks for the review and the styling suggestions.
Yes, that’s exactly what I was going for with the green leather! :D When I was young, we went on holiday to a house in France that had a little stream running through the bottom of the garden. It was summer and there were so many dragonflies and this lovely charm really reminds me of that! Glad you enjoyed the review, and thank you for commenting! :)
Hi Ellie,
The dragonfly and me have a special story, every where I travel I search to see some. My best were in India who they was a hundred of red and blue in the same place… So my first purchase was the two tone and I have buy two off this new one. For the moment they are waiting with my fairies, the olive murano and two tone bracelet, I still waiting the “spark” for finish… Always a pleasure to read you ;)
Hi Isabelle! That’s lovely, I can imagine how beautiful it was to watch the dragonflies in India. That sounds just incredible. The two-tone dragonflies charm is absolutely gorgeous, and I’m hoping that one day I can find it on sale so that I can own it too! :D In the meantime, this lovely pavé version will do very nicely. Your two-tone bracelet sounds lovely… I hope you find that spark soon! ;) It’s a pleasure to read your comments, too, thank you for reading!
After seeing this charm on the green leather bracelet I have to have it! When I first saw in the preview, I didn’t really like it, but now I’m dying to have it on my leather bracelet. I love your brown leather bracelet! The combination of the autumn tones is just so beautiful. I always enjoy your review posts, and always get inspired by the ways you style the charms. Can you maybe review the ice crystal for the Winter collection?? Thx.
Hi Cindy! Thank you, I’m glad to hear that the dragonfly has won you over ^^ The brown leather is one of my favourite pieces to wear at the moment, especially as it’s autumn, so I’m pleased that you like that one too! :D
I don’t know for sure which Winter 2015 charms I’ll be getting yet, as I want to see them all in person but if I do get the ice crystal I will definitely write a review!
Thanks for reading and for your lovely comment, Cindy! <3
Hi Ellie!
I’m sure the number of Dragonflies sold worldwide has suddenly increased during the last days, after this review! It’s something in the way you present a charm that makes it immediately appealing! :-)
Though its price discouraged me from buying it, as it was unexpectedly pricey for an openwork (costs the same as the Swan here: 55€), I admit it’s gorgeous! I loved your pastel stylings- you brought a scent of spring in the middle of October! Pink and light green colours seem to be dragonfly’s natural environment!
I was thrilled to see you’ve chosen my favourite autumn colour combination in the way you’ll be wearing your charm! The mix of brown and dark blue/purple is so elegantly warm!
I’ve noticed the Radiant Hearts next to the Coffee Pot! This charm is absolutely classy! The more I see it, the closer we come! ;-) Is it different in colour compared to the murano? It looks brown in this picture, or is it a matter of light? I look forward to seeing your review on this one too!
Thank you for this wonderful post Ellie! I’ve enjoyed it so much! ♥♥♥
Hi Chrysa! Aha, thank you – I really really liked this charm and I’m glad that shone through here. :D It is pricey for what it is in terms of materials, I think, but as someone else pointed out, it is a lot more intricate when compared to some other pavé charms. It is actually more expensive than the Swan here, though, which does seem a bit off! Haha, I do think that this dragonfly seems a bit of a throwback to the Spring collection and all those lovely meadow floral charms… dragonflies just remind me of lovely flowers and sunny days, they don’t seem particularly autumnal to me! ^^
Really glad to hear that you like the leather bracelet stack :D I’ve been wearing it a lot lately and the colours look so pretty in this sunshine we’ve been having lately in England. Yes, the Radiant Hearts is a noticeably different shade to the murano – but it’s not really brown, I think that’s just the reflected light in the picture. It’s a lot more purple-y compared to my Blush Facets, which is really rosy in tone. I’m planning on reviewing it next so you can get a good look at the colour then and see what you think! ^^ I think it is rather classy in person, as you very aptly put it, and it again has that rather pretty vintage look. You’ll have to see what you think! ;)
Thanks so much for another lovely comment Chrysa! ♥♥♥
I’m so happy you chose to review this charm, I bought this one during the free charm promotion and do not regret it one bit! I’m surprised it’s priced similarly to the Swan in the UK, in Canada the Swan is $15 more. Wonder if it is a pricing error on their part? Regardless I don’t think you can go wrong buying either one. I did find the dragonfly meadow charm to be a little larger than some of my other charms so it’s something to keep in mind if your bracelet is close to being full. Looking forward to reading future reviews! Your bracelets are beautiful!
Yay, it’s good to hear that you love yours as well. :D Pricing is set by each region’s head office, so for whatever reason Pandora UK decided to price the Dragonfly at more than the Swan, whereas Pandora NA didn’t. There are sometimes discrepancies like that between regions, but in this case I’m not sure what the UK office’s thinking was on that though to be honest! ;)
That’s a good tip with the Dragonfly Meadow’s size and not one that I’d thought of myself, seeing as I was putting it on a leather. Thanks!
I’m so pleased that you enjoyed the review – thank you so much for reading and commenting! I hope you enjoy the next one. :D