Merry Christmas Eve everyone – today I’m getting in the festive mood with a review of the limited edition Pandora Black Friday charm for 2015! This is Pandora’s fifth North-American exclusive charm released in celebration of Black Friday, and it features a rather pretty pavé snow globe design.
This review is something of a Christmas miracle, haha, seeing as my Black Friday charm has been MIA in the post for a few weeks – however, it finally decided to show up on my doorstep on Christmas Eve! I was rather over-excited to finally receive this one and so I spent some time today putting together this review. Read on for some close-up shots and the usual styling inspiration!
The charm
The Wonderland charm is a lovely pavé snow globe design, set with clear pavé cubic zirconia. Cut-out into the charm are a pretty fir tree and a snowman silhouette. The overall effect is rather magical and Christmassy, but without being too cartoony like some of the other red enamel charms. The bottom of the globe is pearlescent enamel – which would match really beautifully with the new Abundance of Love pieces, too!
The charm’s design is quite sizeable, and it’s nicely sturdy to look at, but it’s actually quite light due to the pavé detailing. It’s an openwork charm, and slides on and off your bracelet without needing to be threaded on.
Those who read my original preview of this Black Friday charm will remember that, alongside this one, there were also images of a plain silver opalescent version of the charm. Unfortunately this charm has been revealed to be a prototype and will not see an official release. :( It’s a shame, as I can just imagine how beautiful the opalescent crystals would have been – the shimmer would have been perfect to represent falling snow!
However, this version of the charm does have a rather gorgeous gold snowflake on the top. My ideal charm would probably be a combination of the two charms – the opalescent crystals with the gold snowflake on top! ;)
Black Friday charms traditionally have the date inscribed somewhere on them, and the date is nice and clear on the base of the charm.
This year’s Black Friday charm came with a slightly fancier box than usual! ^^ It’s square in shape, with a pretty pearlescent finish that matches the charm itself. I do love how Pandora NA manage to make all their limited edition releases feel extra special – the boxes themselves are very collectible.
Stylings
The clear pavé detailing is wonderfully versatile and there are any number of great combinations you could put together for this bead. The Christmassy design is not too overt either, and you can easily get away with wearing this one all year round.
Nevertheless, my first styling is a more elegant Christmas bangle design. I love the combination of white murano glass and yellow gold, and you don’t need many beads at all for it to look pulled together and lovely!
Another favourite combination of mine is purple and clear pavé – this is a great combination for rich wintry designs. A few white murano beads help to lighten the overall look, and add a little softness as well.
I’m not entirely sure how I will be wearing my Black Friday charm in the long-term, but for now I have added it to my midnight-themed bracelet! It looks great with the Disney Cinderella’s Pumpkin Coach charm, which features a similarly delicate mix of two-tone and clear pavé detailing.
Conclusion
While I am still regretful about the opalescent plain silver version of this charm, the two-tone version is very pretty in real life. The clear pavé still provides plenty of sparkle, and the gold snowflake adds a lot of richness. Nevertheless, it would be nice to see Pandora steer away from the pavé detailing next year, if only to do something a little different!
The limited edition Wonderland charm costs $75 USD or $85 CAD, and is exclusive to North America.
Did you decide to get this year’s Black Friday charm? If so, how are you wearing it?
I put mine on my Christmas bracelet :) I just love it.
I love mine too! I’m going to have to experiment with more stylings. These were done very quickly haha. ;) I would have put mine with my Christmas design, but it doesn’t have any other two tone on it. If they’d released the plain silver version, maybe!
Do you still have the promotion available to get the free bracelet?
I don’t know where you are based, but all the free bracelet promotions that I’m aware of are finished for now. Also, just in case – I don’t represent Pandora in anyway, I am just an overly-enthusiastic blogger :)
so cute! I hope you have a great holiday! I’m on vacation for two more weeks. It’s great here! I do think that the opalescent crystal version looks more realistic, but I don’t think those crystals would look good with gold. I did like this version better than the other one. speaking of snow globesI actually just got one today. ??? I love time of the year even if it isn’t very white for me. :)
You too, I hope you’re enjoying your vacation! :D I don’t know, I think the opalescent crystals are quite nice and warm in tone – which might have looked nice with the gold. I guess we’ll never know now haha. I’m glad you like the version they made best anyway!
Aw, that’s nice! I don’t think I have an actual snow globe, haha. I probably have charms of a lot of objects that I don’t actually own, come to think of it. ;)
Hi Ellie i love this charm I really like your midnight themed bracelet and also the purple theme. When I saw both styles of the charm I did wish that one would be Black Friday and the other would be for the rest of the world but unfortunately not. Ellie I hope you have a lovely Christmas are you hoping for any Pandora lol.
Hi Nicola! Thanks so much, I don’t feel like this photo shows off the midnight theme to its best advantage but I just didn’t have time to take another one. I literally had like an hour to do the whole review haha but I was determined to get it out before Christmas! ^^ It would have been so great to have two versions of the BF charm, especially as I think us outside of America always feel a bit left out, haha.
Have a wonderful Christmas too Nicola! My OH has suggested that I might get one or two items of Pandora under the tree tomorrow, so we shall see ;) Are you hoping for anything? ^^
Aww bless you I absolutely love your blog so all your hard work is very much appreciated. I would really like a silver necklace the one like the moment bracelet but as a necklace lol.
Haha thank you so much Nicola! That is lovely to hear. I do appreciate all your comments!
Ah, very nice! Did you get one? :)
This charm looks better in your pictures, then it did in the stock image. It’s a shame they never released the opalescent version, as I would have bought that one.
I think it looks great on your midnight themed bracelet, it matches well with cinderellas pumpkin coach.
Have a great Christmas Ellie.
I’d have picked the opalescent version over this one if I’m honest, but this version is still nice nevertheless! It does look really good with the Pumpkin Coach, they have very similar looks. :D
Have a lovely Christmas too Sarah! Thanks for commenting. <3
Merry X’mas Ellie, I just back from Las Vegas and Grand Canyon, it was fun. I got two cz dice Las Vegas exclusive from Pandora concept store. ( the retired one is without cz ). I got my first Alex & Ani bangle Las Vegas exclusive as a souvenir from Venetian Hotel. I love my free 2015 BF Wonderland more than first saw it in the showcase.
Merry Christmas Michele! That does sound fun, I’d love to go to Las Vegas some day. :D Sounds like you scooped some fun pieces, there are also some other exclusive LV Pandora charms you can get there in some of the stores I think. But the Dice is the most exciting I’m sure! :)
The Wonderland charm is definitely nicer in person than the stock image. It’s more delicate. I was waiting for my Wonderland for about a month and it didn’t disappoint at all when it finally made it here, so I think that says something about it! ^^
It is perfect match with the Cinderalla Pumpkin Coach on my bracelet, the gold touch on both top look very festive.
Yes they look lovely together! I don’t know if I’ll keep it there in the long-run, but it certainly looks very nice for now. :D
This charm appears to tiny but so dainty and detailed at the same time. See told ya u would see it before the years end! I’m glad u enjoy this charm and although we all hoped for the silver version I thjnk this one is a nice Bf charm after all. And ur right maybe they wil release the silver one next year seeing how much talk and fuss everyone made of it. This charm looks very nice on the bracelet with the two tone tree although I think it works best on the bracelet with the double purple muranos ( purple is one of my two fave colors!!) I think it looks best with the purple muranos mainly because u have it with that other lovely snowflake charm and they are such a nice pair ( is that snowflake charm the bf charm frlm a couple years back?) <3
Aha, yes, you were right! I really wasn’t expecting it to make it before Christmas anymore, but it’s nice that the post office obviously made a big effort to get as many parcels as possible out today. :D
Wouldn’t that be nice, if they released the silver version as a little bonus next year? I can’t see them doing it but we can dream ;) Yes, the other little snowflake is the 2013 BF charm! It’s one of my favourites, as well. I have that one on a bracelet with purple charms (you can see it in that big picture of my whole collection). The Midnight one does look nice as well, you just can’t see the sparkles very well in this picture. I didn’t have time to take a better one unfortunately!
Thanks so much for commenting Alex, have a lovely Christmas!
I’m going to put mine on a bangle with the new christmas tree, which is similar in style, and the wishes disney charm which has similar looking starlike fireworks…I like the bf charm a lot.
Sounds perfect! I like the idea of putting it with the Wishes charm – that would be nice and different. My other idea for the BF charm is to get the navy leather to put it on, as I think the contrast between the dark blue and the pavé ought to be rather pretty.
Wow this charm is so pretty!!! Do you know when Pandora stops selling the Black Friday charm?
they sell it until there aren’t any left (while stocks last)
Thanks Cindy!
It’s sold while stocks last – but they make it in pretty large quantities, so it’s often still available for a few months after its release date. :)
Merry Christmas Ellie! I’m so glad that you finally received your LE Wonderland charm. It really is a stunning piece and I was so pleased to get mine as well! Your designs are beautiful! I love the charm on your bangle with the two toned Christmas tree and the white “fizzle” muranos. So very elegant! Wonderland also looks lovely on your midnight bracelet with Cinderella’s coach. What a great idea! :D
Merry Christmas to you too, Carol! :D Thanks, I was so so pleasantly surprised when it turned up yesterday. I had resigned myself to a post-Christmas review, which wasn’t what I had wanted at all. ^^ I’m very pleased that you like the stylings – I am debating whether to keep it on the midnight bracelet or whether to put in on the navy blue leather, perhaps with some other sparkly pieces. In any case, I’m glad you got yours and love it too! Thanks for commenting, I hope you had a lovely day today. <3
Merry Christmas Ellie =D
The Midnight theme is exactly how I’ve got mine on! =D Snap! It must have been so exciting for it to arrive on Christmas Eve, how timely! I hope you receive lots of Pandora presents under the tree when you wake up ^^. Have a lovely day, will bug you soon =P.
Suzy xxx
Happy Christmas to you too Suzy! :D Haha, great minds think alike and all that! The clear pavé does look so great with the darker midnight muranos. It was very exciting for it to arrive on Christmas Eve – it seemed like serendipity, even if it did mean that I had to scramble to get the review out in time for Christmas haha.
I did receive some Pandora today, which I will show you in a post going out later. :) Hope you got some lovely things as well and that you enjoyed your day xxx
Merry Christmas Ellie!
I’m so excited for you that you got your charm today, I know how it is to look everyday at the mail to see if a charm has come :-D Your stylings look great, I think my favorite of these is the bangle with the 2 tone tree and sleigh on it, those are 2 of my favorite Christmas charms!
Happy Christmas to you too Natalie! I hope you’re enjoying your day. :D
Thank you!! Normally I’m not too fussed about timely charm post, but I did very much want to review this one before Christmas. I’ve been keeping my fingers crossed for it to arrive every day, but I had given up hope a little. So it was a very nice surprise :D The two-tone bangle design is nice, but unfortunately I have all my white muranos on other bracelet designs that I love, so I have had to dismantle it for now haha. The two-tone tree is beautiful!
Hi Ellie. I’m so glad you got your charm before Christmas! I think it would have lost some of its “specialness” if you got it after Christmas. You’ll probably always remember it arrived on Christmas Eve!
The charm looks great with the two tone tree and sleigh. The gold snowflake adds so much to the charm, just like the gold star looks so wonderful on top of the tree. With this charm, the pave detailing as snow makes the pave a desired feature! Generally, many of us are tired of the pave, but it’s a great feature to this charm. And then the pearlescent base is another nice touch.
Have a wonderful Christmas tomorrow! (Wow, you have a few Christmas bracelet options this year!) Bye :)
Hi Judy! Thank you – that is exactly how I felt about the charm and it being special. ^^ It arriving just in the nick of time on Christmas Eve was kind of perfect really, in the end, haha.
Thanks, I did like it with those two-tone beads! Unfortunately my white muranos are spoken for and settled on other bracelets, so the bangle had to be dismantled. ^^ The gold snowflake and the tree’s gold star do look nice together, now that you mention it! Yes, there is a great level of pavé fatigue in the Pandora community I think, which is why I think it would probably be good to try something else for Black Friday next year. Lovely as this charm is!
I hope you are having a wonderful Christmas too! It’s been lovely here. I wore both my Christmas bracelets, haha, and felt very festive doing so. ;) Thanks for commenting! <3
Merry Christmas Ellie! The black Friday charm looks great with Cinderella’s coach. I don’t know if you’ve seen this year’s live action version of Cinderella, but at the end of the movie it is snowing so the snow globe does fit Cinderella’s theme. :)
Merry Christmas Stephanie! :D I have seen Cinderella, but I had forgotten about the snow. I’m leaning towards keeping the BF charm on the midnight bracelet right now, so that is even better! <3
Ellie,
A huge Merry Christmas to you & yours. The turkey is cooking & thought I’d reply to the holiday emails from friends & family. Your post came up & just had to check it out. So glad your snow globe charm arrived. I know that many have been lamenting the opalescent version but I can’t help but wonder if they dropped it because they had previously put out an enamel snow globe a year or so ago. I didn’t buy it so I can’t remember the release date.
I whole heartedly agree they over due the pave. However my preference is still the version they released. The gold snow flake really cinched it for me. Something that I noticed about this charm is the way it sits on my bracelet, it tends to right side up whether it is in my bangle, barrel clasp or necklace. Not sure if that is deliberate in the design or just how it turned out. So many of my heavier charms tend to flip.
Lastly, your photos & designs are top notch. I plan to copy your ideas on to my own bracelet. They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Your midnight design is particularly striking. While I do not indulge in the Disney charms, just not my thing I have to say the pumpkin carriage & snow globe look fabulous.
Well, back to the Turkey & family.
Cheers!
Lisa K
Hi Lisa! A very Merry Christmas to you too, I hope you are having a wonderful day! <3 That is a good point- I hadn't thought how similar the opalescent version one is in appearance & colour to the original white enamel snow globe. I can't help but think how much nicer the opalescent pavé is than the enamel snow globe though! :P
I haven't been able to wear mine enough yet to test its flippiness (a term I may coin!), but it's encouraging to hear that yours is staying put. I expect the silver enamel base helps with that, it must be heavier than the pavé part of the charm :D
Thank you so much! They were done very much on the hop, haha, but I am glad you like them. Imitation is a very good form of flattery, and I'd be very pleased if you used any of the ideas :D I like to go for the Disney pieces that aren't too bright or cartoony… my favourites are the Pumpkin Coach, the muranos, and that lovely little Eeyore charm. He's one of my favourite Pandora charms period, haha!
Thanks for commenting Lisa – enjoy your day! <3
☆Merry ☆Christmas ☆Ellie!!!
My very best wishes to you and all you loved ones! I hope you had a great time today! We had a wonderful day with lots of friends and relatives at home, and muuuuuch food!!!
I was really happy to see this morning that your BF charm made it to your wrist on Christmas Eve! :-) And what a great styling once again and in such a hurry Supergirl! I loved the mini two tone and white combination, really White Christmas (although here we reached 20 degrees today!) The Royal Purple styling is gorgeous and elegant too, but as usual I adored the Midnight design! The golden details on top of both central charms is the best part! Do you intend to put the last year’s ornament pendants back there after Christmas? And what about the carousel? Where has it moved?
Any Pandora treasures under the tree? :-) My other Pandora bag had the Blush Radiant Hearts, present from my brother and sister in law! They told me they chose the most beautiful pink charm to announce me I’m going to be an aunt next June, as they’re expecting a baby girl!!! This news was the best Christmas present ever! I’m soooooo excited and happy!
Thank you for the lovely review Ellie! Really kind of you to find time to make it in such a festive day! ♥♥♥
Merry Christmas to you too Chrysa :D I like these stars! ;) ☆☆☆
We had an absolutely lovely day today, and it was so nice for us all to be together again. I’m so pleased that you had a nice day too, although if you have eaten anything like as much as we have, I’m sympathetic, too! ;)
Thanks Chrysa! :D It was very exciting to find that it had finally arrived yesterday. I’m really pleased that you like the midnight design, I am inclining towards keeping the BF charm there now. No, I don’t think I’ll move the ornament pendants back – they were a bit awkward to wear on that bracelet, as there are two other quite heavy dangles on it already (the cinderella castle and the Ballerina). They work better on the Christmas bracelet, which only has the Sparkling Bow to go with them! :) The Carousel (you have a very good memory! :o) will potentially move to a new two-tone design I’m working on, which will feature lots of Pandora’s classic two-tone designs. 20 degrees celsius? Goodness, that’s not very Christmassy weather! It has been unseasonably warm here as well, but not quite so much!
Yep, I had two lovely Pandora pieces waiting for me this year :D I’m including a picture of them in my next post. That is such wonderful news about your brother – congratulations, aunty-to-be! ^^ And now you will always treasure your Radiant Hearts charm – what a lovely way to tell you about your upcoming niece! <3
Thanks so much for commenting, Chrysa – I'm glad you've had such a nice day!
:-) Merry Christmas to you!
This charm is very pretty and definitely one I’d wear.
I guess next year I have to make sure I’m in the US when they do the Black Friday sale ;-)
Happy Holidays :-)
Merry Christmas to you too! <3 I hope you've enjoyed your day. Haha, that sounds like a plan! I'd love to go the US some day – and it would be good to time it for when a great Pandora promo is on. ;)
Thanks for commenting, happy holidays to you too!
This charm looks so good, I prefer it to the other version which they did not release. Does it really not flip over like Lisa said? I’m quite interested to acquire this charm but if it flips that would be the deal breaker for me. I enjoy seeing this charm as the centrepiece together with the white muranos the best!
I have not found my BF charm to flip very much, but I’m wearing it on that midnight bracelet theme for now, which is quite full. Plus, the bracelet itself is new and stiff, so the charm is held quite tight to my wrist. So I don’t know if it would flip on a looser chain :)
Glad to hear you’re a fan of the version they released though! It is prettier in person.