Today’s post continues my wintry reviews, with some inspiration featuring the Pandora AW15 Red Robin charm! This may have been an Autumn 2015 piece, but it seems to be equally as suited to the winter season.
A common sight on snowy Christmas card designs, the robin is both a quintessential marker of the winter season and a motif that offers more versatility for use throughout the rest of the year. :D Read on for some close-up shots and some inspiration for both nature-themed and Christmas-themed bracelets!
The charm
One of the nice things about this charm is that the robin’s breast is a little more burgundy than red, offering something a little more subtle compared to all the bright red enamels of the other Christmas charms. The stock image is true to the charm’s actual colour when you see it in person, as well – it’s an exact match for the Spring 2015 Ladybug, if you have that one.
Now, this is a very chubby little charm. He is rather wide, and takes up a fair bit of space on a bracelet! I assume that this is to accommodate the pavé breast detailing. This gives him rather a cute look, if a little removed from the robins that you tend to actually see in the garden! He has little bird feet, with oxidised detailing to give them more depth – small details like these are a big part of why Pandora’s critter charms are so popular.
You can see more of these cute little details at the back of the charm, which is plain silver – the wings and tail feathers of the robin are very nicely sketched-out.
The only thing I don’t like is its CZ eyes. I feel like they look a little vacant and glassy, and I would much have preferred the usual plain silver oxidised detailing instead. Robins have those sweet beady black eyes, and the clear CZ seems a bit wrong. It’s not a deal-breaker or anything, just not to my personal taste.
Stylings
While this charm is a good option for any Christmas-themed bracelet you might like to do, it’s also just a nice natural charm. It did originally début with the Autumn 2015 Magnificent Kingdom collection after all, which celebrated the majesty of nature.
Consequently, my first bracelet styling for the Robin is a Secret Garden design. I don’t know if anyone read the book by Frances Hodgson Burnett or saw the film, but it is truly wonderful, and a robin plays a rather key role in it. Here, I’ve included some bright greens, little animals and floral pieces – to add to the sense of the ‘secret’ garden theme, I’ve added the Key to my Heart charm as well.
If you don’t want to build a whole bracelet around this design, you can do a stripped-down version on a leather bracelet. Here I’ve used the brown leather for a natural look, with the Wild Flowers murano.
Moving on to the Christmas theme, this is how I’ve used the Robin on my own Christmas bracelet! I have put him next to my pastel green Looking Glass murano to really enjoy the traditional green/red festive contrast. This bracelet is now complete – I’ll show it off properly in my upcoming dedicated Pandora Christmas 2015 reviews. :D
Conclusion
While there are details that I don’t love about this charm, overall its cute and chubby look totally won me over and I had to have it for my Christmas bracelet. :D It is great for festive red-and-green themes, or with most nature-themed bracelets, and its burgundy detailing means that it’s a little more versatile than traditional Christmas reds.
Going into December, I’ll be focusing the more explicitly festive charms from the Winter 2015 collection in the run-up to Christmas itself! I’ll also be looking at other design ideas for Christmas other than the one I’ve featured so far. :)
The Pandora Red Robin is $60 or £45. If you’re in the UK, you can purchase it along with the rest of the Pandora Winter collection from authorised retailer John Greed.
Have you bought this charm, or is it on your wish list?
I like the charm but ever since I found out that robins are extremely aggressive birds I don’t want to own one
I didn’t know that! They always seem like such sweet little birds, haha.
I had the exact feeling with the swan charm. Swan almost attacked us. The back of the robin is very pretty but from the front he just looks too overweight. and reminds me of KFC for some reason. Greta pics as usual though!
Thanks Judie! The charm is quite chubby, it takes up a lot of space on the bracelet.
yes, male robins attack each other and peck the other’s neck to cut the artery.
Yikes! D:
This charm is lovely it’s so detailed I was going to get it in the autumn for my Xmas bracelet but I never did. I think for now I will be getting more of the Xmas charms I will get. This one day. I’m really excited to see your Xmas design I can’t believe you’ve completed it lol.
Yes, it’s very sweet and a bit more of an usual choice for a Christmas bracelet as well! :) Aha, I know. I’m terrible! The plan was to be able to add to it each year… but that clearly hasn’t happened :P
Haha lol you will just have to make another one next year. My Xmas bracelet is getting quite full as well.
Oh boy! ;) There are just too many nice Christmas charms, haha.
I have a Xmas bracelet since 2010. What I’ve been doing is replacing a few charms each year.
Good idea! :) That may well be what I end up doing.
I love nature! Yay I’m glad you did a review on this sweet charm as I really love this charm. I put it on my nature bracelet and I also got it for my mom. Robins are a very common bird here and one of the cutest. <3
Oh good, I’m glad you like this one too! :D It is a really pretty natural charm – I might move it on to a nature-themed design once Christmas is over. Robins are very sweet to look at least, I didn’t know that they were aggressive as someone else pointed out haha.
So cute Ellie, I love all your designs but especially on your Christmas bracelet! I picked this charm up recently when my shop in shop had a special gift card promotion :-D I love the pave heart on front, you’re right it’s very similar in color to the ladybug and also the pave apple! I do think the oxidized silver detailing is just slightly better on the retired Happy Little Bird, but I still love them both. I had them both on a fall design I did recently along with a bird nest and some other fall critters, and I want to use it on a Valentine design as well. Maybe the Robin will look better as I wear it more, it’s definitely pretty shiny right now but I think because it is newer. I posted a pic of my Christmas bracelet and bangle for you to see on Facebook <3
Thanks Natalie! :D A special gift card promotion sounds nice, we never get any loyalty schemes here! I also prefer the detailing on the happy little bird, but the Robin was so just irresistible for the Christmas bracelet in the end. I do think some little black cubics might have been nice for the eyes.
Your Christmas bracelets are gorgeous! Very creative, too.
I think of a pudgy little robin redbreast as more of a spring charm than fall or winter, but I love this one, and she’s on my wish list. I love the styling on the brown leather bracelet, and your Secret Garden styling. My oldest daughter loved the book and movie, and now that you’ve said that, it makes me think of her when she was young.
Thanks Clair! The Secret Garden is one I read many, many times growing up and it’s one I remember with a lot of nostalgia. Studying literature, I feel like I should get a few book themes into my stylings, haha.
Ellie, putting this little red robin on a Xmas bracelet to represent a Xmas themed bird is a brilliant idea! ;);) I like this charm a lot mostly because it is full bodies and does seem to have a nice amount of detailing. I would love to see how it would look without all the pave and work detailing in the front like they did with the back, I think that would have been awesome especially because this charm is so large. Although the cz eyes don’t bother me I am glad you can overlook them enough to still thoroughly enjoy the little bird.
Hehe, yes it was – thanks for that! :P I like the full-bodied animal charms as well. You mean without the red-breast pavé detailing? It might have been nice with enamel detailing instead as well, don’t you think? Although that would make it less versatile I suppose going forward!
I know, I just don’t feel like the clear CZ works that well. I’d have liked black to be like a proper robin!
My husband brought this sweet little charm from Austria for me! Until I saw it with your Christmas beads, I didn’t think of putting it on my holiday bracelet though! I agree, the Robin is bright and happy! Thanks he will be joining my snowmen and mittens :)
Yay, he’ll look lovely with the mittens charm! :D It does go surprisingly well with holiday charms.
your review made me want this charm, especially since i have a pet parrot (lovebird!
Yay! They should make a parrot charm, that would be so much fun for a summer collection.
I’m just curious. Are robins a common sight in the UK this time of year? I’m near Chicago, and while we still have cardinals, sparrows and some other birds, these little guys have flown to warmer temperatures.
I’m also near Chicago and I was wondering the same. I mean we see them in Spring like 24/7
I never realised that there was a difference! They are seen all year round in the UK, but they do have a special significance here at Christmas. :)
The robins you see in the UK, that heavily feature on Christmas cards (and indeed in The Secret Garden) are European Robins (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_robin) which are not at all the same as American Robins (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_robin). Settlers from England missed their familiar robins so named the American birds “robins” as they had distinctive red breasts, though are not otherwise all that similar. Random fact for the day :-)
Thanks so much for those links Polly! I never knew there was a difference! I guess we have all inadvertently learnt something through this review, haha. American robins look really quite different – not so chubby and cheerful!
Yes, robins are seen in the UK all year round! :)
http://www.rspb.org.uk/discoverandenjoynature/discoverandlearn/birdguide/name/r/robin/
Here, a sighting of a robin signifies that spring has FINALLY arrived. We get some pretty harsh winters sometimes (nothing compared to our Canadian neighbors, though) and that first robin of the season is always a welcome sight!
Interestingly, Ellie, our robins even look different here. This is what ours look like. And though it says my area can have them year round, I’ve never seen one this time of year.
https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/american-robin
Ah, so that’s the opposite to English robins then! Ours are always on Christmas cards with snowy scenes, haha.
And your robins are much less cute/chubby looking than English robins! I guess the charm is better for representing our robins, seeing as it is so chunky itself. ;)
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/46/aa/f9/46aaf987fc363995e41ba391a797bbde.jpg
:-) I’m not into animal charms, so this one isn’t on my wish list. However, I like him on your Christmas bracelet and I’m looking forward to see you wearing it – or them? – during the Holidays.
Have a very HAPPY week :-)
Oh! I am not into animal charm also but I enjoy Ellie’s style for this little bird.
Thanks Michele! ^^
Thanks! :D I have one Christmas bracelet proper, but I also have a couple of Chamilia charms that I plan on adding to the Dainty Bow bangle, when it arrives!
Have a lovely week too and thanks for commenting!
Thank you for this review. I bought the red robin back in September, but hadn’t though of placing it on my Christmas bracelet (which I’m still tweaking), I’ll give it a try!
Oh good, I’m glad it inspired you to try the Robin with your Christmas bracelet! :D The nice thing about this charm is that, once Christmas is over, you can just add it to any other design really.
Lovely stylings! Truly, I adore all of them. Ellie, your brown leather bracelet reminds me of the red leather bracelet I returned. It looks similar in terms of tone. I definitely want to get the daisy spacers now, seeing how versatile they are. I have some floral charms and the ladybug charm, new olive green muranos are on my wistlist. It seems totally apt to add this Robin charm to the list to build a nature bracelet. I see more of the white dove in Christmas decorations here but it is indeed a clever idea to put him on the Christmas bracelet where he totally blends in. Can’t wait to see your December line ups!
Thanks Ariane! <3 There do seem to be some red leathers that are more brown in tone. I hope you find one that's a nice bright red soon!
Yes, that sounds great – I love the campaign picture at the top, which puts the Robin with the fascinating olive CZ beads. Adding the ladybird would be even better! I would have loved to have done a styling along those lines, but unfortunately I still haven't got hold of the olive bead. I hope you enjoy the upcoming Christmas reviews, too, and thanks for commenting! <3
American robins are harbingers of Spring, so my little guy is on my red Spring bracelet. I adore the Agniezka Holland film of The Secret Garden, however, and love seeing him on your new Christmas bracelet. British robins are cuter than the American bird, but I really like this charm regardless of which one it represents. Thank you for all of your wonderful inspirations!
Yes, that was the film I was thinking of – with Maggie Smith! I found it so magical as a child, along with the book too, and it just struck me as perfect inspiration for the robin charm. :) A Little Princess was another favourite of mine.
I’m glad you enjoyed it Angie, thanks for commenting! :D
He’s a lovely addition to your Christmas bracelet.
Thanks Lozzie! :D
Hi Ellie,
I find the Robin very sweetie, but when I think winter or christmas I see Cardinals, even if I leave in France and never see one in my country aha.
I have started to work just for the month, in a Pandora corner, I am so happy to touch everything !
Have a nice day ;)
Hi Isabelle!
Aw, I don’t think I have ever seen a cardinal. :D Robins are the ones I think of for Christmas, even though I do see them all year round.
Congrats on the Pandora job! That’s so exciting. I’d love to be able to do that, if only for a short time. It would be fun to help other people design their bracelets.
Have a lovely evening!
He is so adorable! I think your review has tempted me to buy another charm I wasn’t considering before haha! He might be a good addition to my nature bracelet. I have the ladybug on there too and that’s so cool that his coloring is the same…I love that shade of red! It has so much variance to it depending on the light, which definitely makes it more versatile.
I have to agree that I’m not crazy about the CZ eyes either. I think oxidized silver or a little black CZ might have looked a little more realistic. I always have to admire the rest of the detail though, the little feet are adorable! I also love how chubby he is; it reminds me of how birds puff up in the winter time to keep warm :)
I wish Pandora would do more varieties of birds. I’d love to see a parrot of some sort as a non-dangle. They could make great use of color and get away from the woodland birds a bit (as cute as they are :D)
Thanks for another great review!
Aha, I’m not sure whether I should apologise for that! ;) He would go really well with the ladybird charm. I don’t know why I didn’t add the ladybird to my garden design, I missed a trick there! As Natalie says, the pavé apple also matches them both perfectly.
It’s just that the clear CZ looks a bit vacant. :/ Black CZ have the potential to make his eyes look just like the cute black beady eyes that robins actually have, so clear CZ seems like an odd choice. The chubbiness originally put me off, but you’re right – robins can actually be very chubby in actuality, so it’s not an inaccurate detail, haha!
Yes, more birds would be lovely! We have had a lot of owls and swans up until now, but there is definitely more to explore. We did have the peacock as well, I suppose. A parrot would be so much fun, especially for summer!
I’m glad you enjoyed it, thank you for commenting! <3
Hi
I was really excited about the Robin when I first heard of that there would be such a charm. Robins remind me of my dad and I do have a garden themed bracelet. Robins are a frequent visitor in the spring and summer. However when I saw him in the store, I changed my mind. He is a little large. That’s one thing I find irritating about Pandora, the charms are not a consistent size. I was really disappointed in the small size of Eeyore and the Christmas puppy, but then the robin is kinda larger than I would like. From pictures I assumed the new Black Friday charm was large but it is not. It is small and elegant looking. I’m looking forward to your review of that one. Having said all that, the robin does look very cute on your Christmas bracelet. Thank you again for another great review.
Hi Janet! :) He is a bit on the chubby side, and looks slightly disproportionate to other charms, which is one of the reasons why I didn’t go for him initially. But that aspect grew on me, especially as English robins are quite chubby themselves. Eeyore and the Christmas Puppy are very small, and it irritates me a little that they charge the same amount for both that they would a regular sized charm. That hasn’t stopped me getting both though, haha, as I found both too cute to resist.
I’m looking forward to seeing the BF charm in person – it’s hard to get a grasp of how big it is exactly from the live images. I’m hoping it comes quickly from Canada as I’d like to review it in good time!
Thanks for commenting – I’m glad you enjoyed the review! <3
Hi Ellie!
I love red colour and the idea of the heart on this robin, but I think this little guy is not as delicate as in real life. I think they should’ve made him more like the bird dangle, to represent it right. Watching my Christmas bracelet, I can’t stop thinking that this robin could have eaten the cute Santa, with such a huge red belly! :-))
On the other hand, with your usual magic powers, in your styling proposals you made him look cuter and less chabby! The Secret Garden is a great idea! Next to flowers and butterflies, it seems like he’s in his natural environment! And I really liked that in your Christmas bracelet you put him next to the green murano and plain silver charms! That way he was turned into the Prince Charming of that particular side of the bracelet! Lucky him!
Thank you for another wonderful post Ellie! ♥♥♥
Hi Chrysa! Ahaha! And with everyone mentioning how aggressive robins are in real life, despite their cute appearance, perhaps the idea of him eating Santa is not so far off. ;) He is a bit hefty in person, and he does take up a bit more space on the bracelet than usual.
I’m glad you like the robin in terms of the stylings however! :) I like the idea of a Secret Garden bracelet, and I’m tempted to make one for real. I would like to get the fascinating olive beads still, and they would be great for that! We’ll see! ;)
Thanks for commenting Chrysa, I’m glad you enjoyed it! <3
I recently saw your review on the ladybug charm and I was planning to buy it in the spring. I have the robin and the pavé apple which I think would look cute with it. Do you think that the ladybug would be retired in North America? I’m really sad everytime the retirement list comes out. :(
The ladybug just came out last year, I doubt they would retire it already, especially given it’s in their new favored pave style ;-) The upcoming retirement list I saw did not include the new ladybug. I have the sparkling ladybug, red robin, and pave apple, they coordinate great together!
Are you talking about the My Xpressions list Natalie? I didn’t see it there either, although Jahndra did mention that Pandora may still add to it.
I can imagine how pretty they look together Natalie! A bracelet featuring all three and the fascinating olives as well would be so lovely.
Can someone send me a link?
myxpressions.net :) scroll down and there are two lists for the second half of 2015.
Oh you definitely should! Those three charms seem made to go together. :) The Asian pear would be nice as well. I would be surprised if the Ladybird was already up for retirement, as it came out so recently, but Pandora are getting increasingly ruthless with charms that don’t sell. We will have to wait and see for the list, I guess – but I don’t think the Ladybird will be on it, if I had to say one way or another.
Yes, I was talking about Jahndra’s list! I know it may not be official/final, but my guess would be sparkling ladybug and any newer pave is here to stay for awhile ;-)
Yes, I will have to do a bracelet with those 3 charms on there sometime! Your idea of green glass with it is great Ellie! I will definitely post it for you to see when I make it :-D
I would be surprised to see the little ladybug retiring for the US as well. As you say, it’s pave ;)
Yes please share it when you do! I’m considering doing something like that for spring this year :D
Love the red robin charm and love your beautiful bracelet. Could you tell me please what the hanging bird charm is called? I haven’t seen that one. :)
Thank you Toni! :D Do you mean the bird in the campaign image at the top? That is the Dove of Peace charm. It’s cute!
Thank you so much it is beautiful :)
You’re welcome!