Happy Halloween everyone! ? Today I am combining a little spooky inspiration with a review of the one of my favourite new Pandora Autumn 2016 beads: the Charming Owls!
Last year, I did a whole post on styling your charms for Halloween, showing off my own Pandora Halloween leather bracelet. However, Pandora have not released anything new again, despite the requests of many collectors, so I don’t really have any changes to that bracelet to show you. :( What I thought I’d do instead is to review this rather cute little bead from the Autumn 2016 collection, and give both the review and the charm itself a little seasonal spooky twist with some Halloween styling inspiration at the end!
Read on for some close-up shots and styling inspiration! <3
Pandora Charming Owls Review
Plain silver, full-bodied animal charms like this one are a rare and rather treasured sight from Pandora these days; often new animal beads will have pave or animal, or only feature the animal’s head in a rather cartoonish style. While this can be cute, it’s so nice to see some animals in a more classic style; the Charming Owls in particular is a bead that makes wonderful use of oxidised detailing. It is so shiny in person, and the contrast between that and the generous amount of oxidised detail is lovely.
The charm feels nicely like an older Pandora bead; it may be on the small side, but it feels solid, with a threaded core and a lot of detail. Some people have found the eyes a little creepy on this bead, but I don’t get that feeling with this charm at all! The eyes are hooded and nicely shaded, and the overall effect is rather sweet, I think.
Of course, for the purpose of Halloween bracelet styling – if you find their eyes creepy, it’s all to the good! They can just be an undead pair of Charming Owls…
It also has those traditional little Pandora details that really make their character beads for me – the owls’ feet are nicely defined, as are the mother owl’s tail feathers. The ALE mark is discreetly tucked beneath the charm, so as not to detract from the design.
The back of the charm is realistic in style, made up of tiny feathers. (In terms of Halloween bonus points, the feathers also kind of look like brains from some angles…!)
Stylings
First up, this is how I’m actually styling the Charming Owls: they’re going on my Flower Garden bracelet. This bracelet is almost finished; it’s a slightly unusual styling for me, as I’ve put all my murano glass in the centre section only. This is what I love about the threadless bracelet – it offers total flexibility in terms of spacing and sectioning off the bracelet. I would struggle to fit in all that glass on a regular 19cm bracelet!
This bracelet is almost finished; I’m waiting on a silver leaves openwork that I got in the most recent Rue sale, and I might add the Forest Trinity pendant to it as well!
And now for some Halloween inspiration! Owl motifs are great for Halloween designs; while these owls are a bit on the cute side when you take them on their own, it’s amazing how much fun some of these cutesier beads can add to a Halloween-themed bracelet. My original Halloween bracelet features the adorable Curious Cat bead from last year’s Pre-Autumn collection, and in practice it blends in beautifully with the other spookier beads.
On the same basis, I’ve put the Charming Owls with the retired Pumpkin and Ghost, along with the Curious Cat, who stands in very nicely as a witch’s familiar. Orange, purple and black murano beads add to the overall effect!
The black leather bracelet is a great one to choose for Halloween, as it’s very versatile and you can easily just put other charms on it to wear during the rest of the year.
Conclusion
This bead is one of my absolute favourites from the latest collection; it kind of combines the best of old and new Pandora. It’s plain-silver, full-bodied and offers lots of cute little touches, but it also incorporates a realism of detail and a beautifully stylised approach that reflects how sophisticated Pandora’s designs can be these days. The Owls would make a charming addition to your Halloween bracelet, or any other design you might like to add them to! ^^
The Charming Owls bead is $35 USD or £30. If you’re in the UK, you can buy this charm, along with the rest of Pandora Autumn 2016 collection, from authorised retailer John Greed.
Have you bought this bead, or is it on your wish list? Have you put together any Halloween designs this year?
I bought this owl charm when it first came out it is so cute and very well detailed.i have a bangle with a charm to represent all my loved ones this charm represents my late mother as she was owl crazy and she called herself a wise old bird.i love ur halloween bracelet i agree it does look great on there.im thinking of getting the black leather bracelet 2 put my floating heart locket on.
What a lovely meaning you’ve given the Owl bead, that sounds just perfect. :) The Floating Heart Locket would look great on a black leather bracelet – that’s the great thing about the black leather, it’s so easy to wear and striking with even just the one bead on it.
I too have cobbled together a Halloween bracelet on the black leather. I placed two ghosts and two jack-o-lanterns with the black faceted and coral murano beads. It goes ghost, orange bead, pumpkin, black bead, ghost, orange bead, pumpkin. I used the black mystic floral clips on each side. Simple and spooky. Happy Halloween!
Ah, sounds amazing! The Mystic Floral clips would be perfect – I never thought of that, but they have the ideal Gothic romance kind of vibe going on. Happy Halloween to you too! <3
The Charming Owls is one of my favorite charms from Pandora right now. I love what you did with it on the different bracelets. I was wondering…if you don’t have the threadless bracelet full, will the silicone clips work to hold everything in place? I don’t like when the charms move around.
I don’t have the threadless bracelet, but I’ve used the silicone clips on the bangles and leather bracelets, and they work perfectly! I, like you, don’t like when charms slide around, and another thing I have done is buy the clear rubber stoppers from Amazon or eBay, put these on the bracelet, and put any Pandora clip over top of these.
Thanks for the info,Joanne. I appreciate it.
The clear stoppers are also a good shout – and much more affordable than the Pandora silicone-lined clips, too! :) Pandora also offer rubber inserts to put inside the clips, although you have to pay for them I think.
Hi Jean! Yes, the silicone clips will absolutely keep everything in place. They’re so handy in that way – if you just want to fill up the middle of the bracelet, you can just section it off with the clips and they’ll keep it like that. As Joanne says, the clips are also great with the bangles and leather bracelets! I really want them to release more designs.
Hi Ellie,
This is one of my very favorites of this fall along with the opulent heart. I fell in love with it as well. Sometimes it is hard to stick to a bracelet theme or design when you see new releases. I’m working on a disney princess and this totally does not go. Maybe an excuse to start another bracelet lol
Hi Ashley! Aha, another bracelet is always the solution ;) I am always getting tempted into starting a new design – it can be hard to resist! Luckily for me this bead fitted well with my Flower Garden bracelet. ^^
It did. It went along perfectly. I’m still trying to design mine. I don’t want it to be fully obvious it’s disney. Some muranos some crowns and other silver pieces. Hadn’t really decided. You have a knack for designing these things.
Aha, thank you! :) I can understand you not wanting to go full-on Disney for your bracelet, I’ve mixed a lot of my Disney beads in with other bracelet designs. If you avoid the bold red and black beads, then you should be okay though – what you say sounds really nice!
I adore my Charming Owls.
Me too! ^^
Aw I love my little owls, I especially like that they are mother and baby! Your Halloween designs are so clever Ellie! I think the owls are too cute to be properly scary – like little kids dressed up for trick or treating! But they look so good on your flower garden murano bracelet, I have only just got a flower garden murano after wanting one for ages, and I am really pleased with it. I can see what you neant about each one being different, I had a choice of 5 and each one had quite a different look. I think I would like another now I have seen how nice yours looks with one on each side. And as they are so individual it would feel like having two different charms. Thanks for the great themed review!
They are very sweet! And not scary at all, as you say – I mainly just wanted an excuse to do something for Halloween, and owls are the only charm I have to review that even vaguely fits with that haha. I like my Halloween decorations and stylings to be a bit cutesier rather than actually scary ^^
Oh absolutely, the Flower Garden muranos are just stunning – the thing I like about the variation between them is that I haven’t seen a ‘bad’ one yet. They’re all pretty, in their different ways! You should definitely consider another one ^^ Glad you enjoyed the review, and thanks for commenting!
Hi Ellie. I love all three of your stylings. I agree with you that the black leather bracelet makes for a perfect Halloween design. I currently have a mini Halloween design on my black leather with the Ghost, Jack-o-lantern, Cozy Cat, and Orange Candy Stripe Murano. This year, I added the Dark Purple Shinmer Murano. I wish Pandora would release more Halloween charms, but I’ve lost hope on this haha.
Hi Joanne, thanks! :D Sounds like the perfect Halloween bracelet. I just saw the Dark Purple Shimmer in someone’s design on Instagram and it looked so stunning – I bet it looks great on your bracelet, too. I have kind of lost hope in terms of Pandora & new Halloween beads, too, but I’ll keep making plaintive blog posts about it every year just in case they change their minds at some point haha!
Hi Ellie this charm is so cute and fits perfectly on your flower garden bracelet.
Hi Nicola! Thank you :D it’s a very cute charm, I’m glad you think it works on my bracelet!
I really wish Pandora would do more Halloween charms, I would scoop them up. I have the pumpkin and need to get my hands on the retired ghost. They need to make a sugar skull bead and a witches hat would be fun too or little potion bottles
Absolutely! A witch’s hat or broomstick would be so fun, or the one I’d love them to make is a cobweb openwork – or murano glass with cobweb patterns in. That would be lovely!
Yes a shimmering black murano with silver cobweb design would be cool. I also think the new star murano in this winter collection might work as well. I found the retired ghost and purchased that tonight. Happy Halloween to me!
Oh well done on finding the ghost! That’s one of my favourites of the classic Pandora beads – it’s Halloweeny but so cute at the same time.
I adore the owls and Miss Hedgehog, too, so your Flower Garden murano bracelet really appeals to me. I get very cranky each summer when I discover that Pandora has slighted Halloween once again. I have the green-eyed Wise Owl charm on my Pandora Halloween bracelet but I’ll leave it there and find another home for my Charming Owls. I think they deserve a prettier floral bracelet similar to the one yours have. Thanks for the inspiration!
Yay, thank you! <3 The owls do look best with some pretty floral, delicate beads - my Halloween styling is just a temporary home for them.
I don't hold out much hope that Pandora will ever come back to Halloween, but you never know! The older ones always seemed so popular, I don't get it :(
Hi Ellie,
Lovley little post. This owl charm is adorable and top of my list for pandora charms I need. I never thought much of adding them to a Halloween bracelet as they are not very spookey. None the less it is a wonderful
Classic charm and looks great on both of the above designs. Funny cuz from the back the Owls remind me a bit of the older style hedgehog <3
Hi Alex! Thanks :D it is not a spooky charm at all, really, but none of Pandora’s newer beads are – we have to make do with what we have lol! Glad you liked the bracelets <3 it was lovely to hear from you, thanks for commenting!
Hi Ellie,
The charming owl looks great in all your designs. I love the silver animal charms, I like to design some of my bracelets to tell a story & animal charms make that doable.
As much as I would like to see Pandora release a few more Halloween designs something tells me they have decided to defer to other brands such as Chamilia & Ohm to name a few for Halloween charms. i think they are missing a real opportunity, they create Disney charms so why not Harry Potter, they could double for Halloween. Perhaps Christmas is a bigger market for them.
I will continue to mix & match my a Pandora as best I can with orange, black, purples and the three silver Halloween charms, however like last year I have added a few Halloween themed charms from other brands. Halloween is one of my favorite days to share with friends & co-workers.
Thanks Ellie for this post.
P.S.
My Fairytale Fish arrived. It is gorgeous! Came quicker than expected. The original tags, receipts & packaging were included. My first package ever from Russia! I can’t wait to style this charm!
Cheers!
Lisa K
Hi Lisa!
Christmas, Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day are undoubtedly much bigger markets for Pandora, as people are much more likely to buy gifts on those occasions, but people still love Halloween too! I’m sure a couple of cute little Halloween beads would go down really well, so I don’t really understand it. The only thing I can think of is that they just don’t think that it fits with their softer, feminine aesthetic. :S I don’t blame you for dipping into other brands to flesh out your Halloween bracelet!
Oh yay, so glad your Fish arrived! <3 I knew you would love it, it's just as pretty in person. You will have to let me know how you style it in the end! Thanks for commenting!
I love your flower bracelet design. Me too have my owl on my enchanted forest theme bracelet opposite the pave swan with the olive muranos but with wildflower muranos instead of the flower garden one. They look nice together.
Thank you! <3 That design of yours sounds just perfect. I love the Wild Flower muranos, too! The Peacock bead would be nice with the charms you mention, too.
I was very tempted to get the peacock and forest trinity at rue sale. But i have no room for more charms
Fair enough! ^^ I got the Forest Trinity, I love the little peridot stone
Hi Ellie
I love the Charming Owls charm the best from the recent Pandora releases, so I requested for one for my birthday from my co-workers. I don’t find it small at all, it looks to me one of the bigger Pandora charms. I wear it with my autumn bracelet, lots of green, red and orange glass, with silvers such as flowers, pine cone and this charm. It looks right at home there too.
I love how you styled the owls with the first bracelet!
Your Autumn bracelet sounds really lovely!
Hi Bebe, it’s one of my favourites from the Autumn collection too! It’s probably just pipped by the Fairytale Fish though ^^
Really glad you liked my Flower Garden bracelet, thank you! I agree with Debbie, your autumn bracelet sounds gorgeous <3
I love pandora so much that I applied for a seasonal part time job there, I actually had an interview. Just waiting to hear back.
Ooh that’s exciting! I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you!
Thank you Ellie for the well wishes. We will see how it all turns out lol my hubby thinks it may be dangerous if I were to ever get a pandora discount.
Lol! He should just tot up how much you’d save on each charm and look at it that way haha.
The charming owls bead is so cute. I don’t have it yet, but will definitely be getting it. I actually don’t have many silver animal beads, so it will be nice to get one. I think the eyes are just fine. The mother owl is just resting and looks quite peaceful and content.
I don’t have a problem with the eyes, either – I love your idea of the mother owl having kind of lazy, content eyes. That’s just the kind of vibe I get from it, too!
Oh Ellie, I love owls, and this charm is amazing, is one of my favorites, I asked a friend to bought me this in the US because I didn’t want to wait for it!! I don’t have a Halloween theme, but your flower design is lovely!! :) I hope that maybe in a future Pandora would make a Christmas owl charm, like the bear, the dog and the kitten!! ;)
Aw, it’s a very good choice from the new collection! I love it too, the detailing on it is just so gorgeous. A Christmas owl would be adorable and so funny! There are so many animal charms I would love them to make in general. I’m still holding out for an otter some day, although they don’t seem to make anything other than the obvious these days :'(
Hi Ellie!
This little charm is simply amazing with all the details and oxidation. The full bodied animals always make my list. I don’t find the eyes creepy at all…just sleepy. It looks lovely on your Flower Garden bracelet and perfectly fitting for your Halloween bracelet. I haven’t purchased this adorable charm yet, but I plan to add it to my collection of animals. I believe I’ve spotted the White Rabbit on your Flower Garden bracelet. (Another charm on my list!) Is this a permanent home for him?
Thanks for the review. Always enjoy seeing your designs.
Hi Emily!
Yes, that is indeed the White Rabbit on my Flower Garden bracelet – and yes, he does live there permanently. ^^ I think he goes nicely with Miss Hedgehog, they add a little bit of a fantasy element amongst all the flowers. Just a little hint of fairytale!
Glad to hear you love this owl bead too! Sleepy is the perfect way to describe the eyes. It is a gorgeous bead, I’m so pleased that Pandora do come out with ones like this still from time to time. Thanks for commenting, Emily!
Hi everyone any idea where I can get retired Halloween beads and muranos?
Also instead of doing the owl above how about the one with the green eyes?