Today’s post brings my first review from the Pandora Summer 2017 collection, with a closer look at the Mint Glitter muranos! These were a day one purchase for me, with their gorgeous sea colour and sand-like glitter. No matter what you might think about Pandora’s changing style in relation to other charms, I think that their murano glass is an area in which they consistently show innovation, quality and real creativity.
The sun has finally, finally come out here in the UK, and so it seemed perfect timing to do this summery little review. Read on for some close-up shots and minty styling inspiration! <3
Pandora Mint Glitter Murano Review
The murano is called the ‘Mint Glitter’, but I’d definitely say that the colour has quite a lot of blue in it – more than I think you’d expect from ‘mint’! It’s such a stunning colour, though. It works particularly well with the golden glitter, as it instantly puts you in mind of tropical beaches. The colours work so well together. In addition to the darker gold glitter, there is also some lighter shimmer in the glass, which really set off the whole effect – you can just see it to the left of the murano in this picture:
As is usual with the murano glass beads (which are handmade), the Glitter muranos vary a lot. The stock image, for example, shows mainly lighter glitter. Both of my muranos tend to have darker, deeper patches of gold (which I prefer), rather than the iridescent, all-over shimmer of the stock image murano. The muranos in store were also different in size: I picked out two chubbier ones, as I think they always show off the designs and offer a greater pop of colour!
The glass itself is clear; all the colour is wrapped around the core. The beautiful bubbles are spread through the glass itself, however. The murano features the smaller Pandora silver core, allowing you to see more of the glass design and appreciate all those lovely threads of gold.
Styling
As many people have noted, the glitter in the muranos is really reminiscent of golden sand – combined with the rich jewel-like colour, it immediately made me want to revisit an Arabian Nights styling. :D For this, I combined the mint with some lovely pastel purples, and added the Camel, the Arabian Coffee Pot, the Twinkling Night clip and the Hope Chest as my themed beads. The pink sapphires in the Double Heart clips remind me of treasure, too, while their hint of gold adds a dash of warmth.
Next, I decided to bring out both the gold and the teal in the murano with a two-tone ocean-themed bracelet; the mother-of-pearl in the pendant (one of my absolute favourites) reminds me of seashells. The Open Sky spacers are other favourites of mine – I chose them for the idea of clear blue sky above the water, or wind whipping past as you’re sailing.
My next styling comes as a result of a number of questions I had over whether the Glitter muranos look good with the Pandora Rose collection. My answer is an emphatic ‘yes’ in the case of both the pink and the mint glitter beads! Both the pink and the mint colours complement the rose gold shade well, while the threads of gold look coppery when paired with the pinker metal. This bangle design shows off the mint with a Pandora Rose clip – I don’t have the pink Glitter muranos to show you with the Rose, but I saw some very nice combinations in store.
Finally, this is how I have actually been wearing my muranos. If you followed my blog in the run-up to the Summer 2017 launch, you’ll know that there was a fair amount of handwringing from me, as I didn’t know whether these muranos would lean more green or blue in person. I wanted them to match with my green Tinker Bell beads.
As it turns out, they do lean quite blue – I wasn’t sure that they would work with my green beads, but they were just so lovely that I bought them anyway! I knew that I had to have them in my collection, one way or another. ?
After a little bit of rearranging, I found an arrangement that worked for me. :D The Tinker Bell beads do look lovely with the Mint Glitter beads, while the Folklore muranos contain both green and blue in them, which helps to pull the whole thing together. I’ve since added the Happy Little Bird in the gap between the Daisy clip and the murano to finish it all off!
Conclusion
This charm is just as nice as the stock image promised; the combination of the blue-green and the golden glitter is perfect for summer, but also subtle enough to be worn all year round. If I had to pick just one bead from this collection, the Mint Glitter would be it. :D Having said that, I’m actually quite tempted to go back for the same design in pink, which is also really lovely. :D
The Pandora Mint Glitter murano is $45 USD or £35.
Have you bought this charm, or is it on your wish list?
Ohmygosh, these new muranos are so beautiful!!! I love all of your stylings with these!! May I please ask you a question? In your first picture (the Arabian Nights styling), what is the purple murano you have chosen there? Is it the Rapunzel murano? The golden shimmers in these teal murano beads almost look like tiger stripes in some of your pictures! I will be sure to go stop in store and see these new mint and pink muranos in person now! Thank you so much for your amazing and thorough review! :)
It is the light purple shimmer murano.
Thanks Lisa!
As Lisa says, that bead is the light purple shimmer murano ? it’s a beauty! The Rapunzel is more of a red-toned purple than this one. Love your description of the shimmer in the mint murano as being like tiger stripes, I love that idea!
Sadly too big for me. Muranos and my wrists are totally incompatible but when I saw them in the boutique I fell inmediately for them. They´re soooooooo gorgeus!<3
Aw, they might fit better if you went for a bigger chain perhaps?
Oh, nooooo!. Just a matter of proportions!
Though maybe I should try them on with my new bangle. Shape plays an importante role in how charms sit.
I have a small wrist and I placed the gorgeous sand murano by itself on the new open bangle bracelet with the round silver ends. Gorgeous! I also love the turquoise & teal muranos on it with two simple shells on either side. So if you reallyl love, use it this way.
Meant to say the mint glitter but we also call it sand.
Hi Ellie,
I love these Mint Muranos & purchased two because the work with so many colour combinations look rich. I agree they are stunning with the rose gold. I am currently wearing them on my new open Bangle with a light pink Murano with white flowers. It is an older pink charm and I wish I could remember the name any way I have two small gold spacers on either side that really pick up the gold in the Mint Muranos.
I share your view that this is a very versitile charm and can play off the green or blue themes. I like the new Arabian Nights theme although I think it could also work with the midnight effervescent if you don’t mind the sharp colour contrast. I apologize for spelling errors I am typing on my phone.
Cheers!
Lisa K
Hi Lisa! Oh definitely, when I was putting together stylings for this review, it was actually hard to narrow down which I wanted to put into the finished article. ^^ Hmm, I’m curious about which murano you mean now – is it a really old one? I have quite a soft spot for the older floral glass, even though it might not technically be up to the quality of the designs they put out these days!
Thanks for commenting! <3
Greetings Ms. Ellie, I just love the Mint Murano Charm. It’s a beautiful color for not only the summer, but for the Fall season as well.
Absolutely! I have it on my green forest bracelet which is very autumnal in tone, so I completely agree with you.
Love this murano, got one for myself . Absolutely gorgeous and it goes nicely opposite the Elsa murano on my bracelet. Your styling with the two tone is my favourite.
Thanks, I can see how the Elsa brings out the blue in it. It does look so good with two-tone as well; I almost want to rearrange my green bracelet to add a couple of two-tone beads, but I was so pleased to have it finished that I think I’ll lave it haha.
I love them but they will have to wait due to my summer sale spend — which has stared to arrive :) I do always seem to be behind with releases but these are definitely for me – just not yet
Ah, sales spending is definitely a good one to prioritise :) these will be around for a while I bet!
Hi Ellie,
Thanks for another wonderful post.
It is an absolutely gorgeous bead. Bought two for my two tone bracelet and it looks greate
Hi Ella, you’re welcome – glad to hear you love these too! Thanks for commenting. :D
I had seem a few insta photos of these muranos with the Pandora gold charms. That is a stunning combo but out of my budget sadly. I like your bracelet with multicoloured murano and the tinkerbelle charm – Nice colour combo.
Ah, I’m so glad you like the Tinkerbell combo after all my angsting about it, haha. Thanks Lozzie!
I love this murano, it is the only one i have from the summer collection. It is now on my summer beach bracelet, looking perfect next to the teal seahorse! In the shop i looked at the pink one too, as most of my bracelets are pink, and I am going to get that one next, it’s just gorgeous!
So far, I just have this one, the Sunny Doll and the open bangle. But I’m so tempted by the pink one as well, and the white orchid. All my Pandora resolutions are slipping, haha :)
Wonderful post.On a different note the Disney store has individual Dumbo and Alice in a teacup charms for sale this morning. I imagine they will go fast.
I saw that! I was amazed to see them still there today, as it happens.
Hello Ellie,
The review is lovely and the styling are great as usual :-)
I could not resist either and I bought two of these gorgeous muranos.
They found their way to my sea bracelet with the tropical starfish and shell pendant. And they are a really good match with the mix blue leather bracelet I received for my birthday.
I have some more ideas for styling but I did not find time yet to sit and rearrange my bracelets and charms. I really hope to do it next weekend.
These murano are stunning and I am totally in love with them ;-)
Have a nice monday and a nice week
Take care !
Hi Valerie! Thank you, glad to hear the muranos pulled you in as well ^^ Sounds like a very pretty styling you’ve put together, too! Enjoy rearranging your beads this weekend; I’ve had a super long and stressful week at work, and my sales purchases arrived this week, so I will be doing the same! Have a lovely weekend, and thanks for commenting!
Hi Ellie
i was wondering where did you find that turtle bead and the shell with the pearl in it?
Shell with the Pearl was on Rue La La in the last boutique. I don’t think it sold out, so maybe in the next one…
Any place I can get the retired turtle?
Yes, it’s there again today! :)
Hi Margaret,
I got the shell with the pearl from Rue La La (it’s in the sale today – have a look at my post about it!). The turtle is a much older Pandora bead that I got in the sales a couple of years ago. :)
Yes I saw the sale and I am having trouble deciding which beads to get. I see people selling the turtle bead on eBay but it is so hard to tell true authentic pandora from pics
#dyingforturtle
Can someone email me pics of there turtle bead looking for one on eBay what to know where the markings are maarave@aol.com
Hi Ellie,
What a lovely review of the Mint Glitter murano! I got two of these along with the Glacier-Blue Radiant Hearts during the Spend/Save Event and I love them!
Your Tinker Bell bracelet is beautiful and the Mint Glitter works well with the Folklore muranos. Thank you for sharing your designs…I like them all, but was most surprised by the mix of purples with the mint. It’s gorgeous. Never would have thought to put those colors together. Your creative stylings are always such an inspiration.
I did get the Pink Glitter murano as well and plan to use it on my rose gold bangle. It’s lovely, too. In fact, I plan to pick up another one soon. I love the way the glitter appears to be rose gold inside the pink murano. IMHO, Pandora should have used the Pink Glitter for the rose core murano coming out with the A/W collection. It would have been perfect. Guess Pandora were going for more sparkle with the Pink Shimmer bead.
Thanks again for this lovely review. Looking forward to more!
I love my glitter murano I ordered online so I didn’t get a super fat one. I found mine to be a lighter pink than depicted in the images on this blog but you know the murano scan very.
They definitely vary! I found that the Pink Field of Flowers murano from earlier in the year ran from quite light to quite dark in the stores I went to. It’s always a bit risky ordering online!
Hi Emily! Oh, such good choices. I was tempted by that new Radiant Hearts colour and the SA was doing her best to talk me into it, but I don’t have anywhere to put one right now. But they are lovely!
I agree with you re the pink glitter and Rose! The pink glitter is much warm in tone than the pink shimmer, which is more cool toned, so I think it would go really nicely with the Rose. Maybe for a future collection!
So glad that you like my bracelet combination, after all my handwringing in the lead up to buying this murano haha. It looks so much better in person, too, when you’ve got sunlight showing off all the colours. You can’t go far wrong with this charm :) and it’s nice to have a design that deviates a little from the usual!
Thanks for commenting Emily! <3 Will be working on more reviews soon!
I absolutely love your mint glitter with the folklore! I would like to think I would have thought of that, but I probably wouldn’t have. Great idea! A single Murano looks great with the new open bangle, so they will be my next purchase.
Thanks for the review. I agree with you that the darker gold ones are the prettiest!
The pink one will look better with the rose I think. It almost looks like rose gold inside. Optical illusion maybe, but it works!
Aw, thank you! It was a combination I was hoping would work but as you know I really wasn’t sure before I actually saw the muranos in person. Really glad to hear you think it looks nice! :)
The pink ones are next on my hit list, I think ? I got the pink pave bracelet in the US sale, so I’d like some more pink murano glass to go with it!
Hi Ellie great review ilove all the styling and your finished design bracelet.
Yay, thank you! :D It’s a very easy bead to style as it’s just so pretty.
These were my day 1 purchase too I where them each side of the new starfish dangle on my two tone bangle with gold silicone clip each side. These have been my only Pandora purchase for quite a while.
That should be wear!!!
Sounds beautiful! Two-tone and this murano is such a winning combination. <3
:-) They’re intriquing, but I’m still not sure I like them enough to buy them.
Thanks for sharing and have a very HAPPY week :-)
You should give them another look over, they’re gorgeous <3 have a lovely weekend!
I was wondering what type of essence bracelets people have? I was in the store the other day I wanted to get one of the ball ones but the sales lady said that she has seen those come in for more repairs and brakes will know more on a frequent basis
I replied to you on the last post, but I’ll paste the reply here for you too. :-)
I have all the Essence bracelets but the snake chain, two of each the beaded and the bangle, plus I have multiple single and double Essence strand bracelets in grey and black. I wear two of my double strands everyday with one bead on each strand, and they’re in perfect condition. I haven’t worn the silver Essence with beads on for a very long time. The Essence beads just don’t look good on silver to me, but the silver Essence beads look excellent on the black strands. My beaded bracelets tend to kink on the clasp end. This kinking was much worse when I had a couple of beads on them. Without beads, the kink happens less often, and they’re perfect with Pandora leather or fabric bracelets. I often wear the beaded bracelets with the colored multi-strings; the silver beading weaving through the colored strings looks really nice.
i am sorry i must have missed that replya that sounds wonderful thanks for sharing.
I think I have replied to you on the other post as well – but just in case: I just have the snake chain bracelet, one in silver and one in two-tone. I haven’t gone for the beaded one as it seems quite similar to my Tiffany beaded bracelet so I’m not sure there’s much point in me having both!
Hi, Ellie! These look so pretty with gold that I am tempted to invest! Somebody hold me back!
Aha! This is definitely the wrong place to ask for a Pandora intervention ?
Pandora murano is improving, I like it. I like to put two murano in each bracelet.
I think my maximum is five! But I always have at least one :)
My maximum is eight, but that is the bracelet with all my destination dangles. It works with those.
I know these aren’t as green as you were hoping, but I think they look perfect with the Tinkerbell beads. They could look amazing with a Neverland theme. I don’t know if you have a mermaid charm, but any ocean charms with your new Muranos (for the sea around the island), the Tinker Bell ones, your treasure chest, a tree, and some stars might be a nice design.
Ah, that’s such a lovely idea! I will have to see if I can put together something along those lines for a future review. I love the idea of a Neverland design. It would be fun to see more Peter Pan designs!
Hi Ellie! Your Mint Glitter muranos are gorgeous! My favorite styling is your lovely combination with the MOP pendant and the Open Sky spacers! Gorgeous Pandora classics! Just out of curiosity, have the Open Sky spacers appeared on Rue la la? I need some simple spacers for my nautical bracelet and these would be perfect! I recently purchased my second Mint Glitter murano and I am so pleased with them! I also purchased the Tropical Starfish and Sea Shell dangle! Such a lovely collection! I probably will participate in the leather promo as well! I would also like the White Orchid dangle and the Bright Mint enamel bangle!??
Hi Carol! Thank you, the Open Sky spacers are so pretty. :D I have a feeling that they have been on Rue La La, but I couldn’t say for sure! They certainly aren’t there today. :( You picked some pretty pieces from the latest launch – I also want to go back for the White Orchid, but I think the charm rather than the dangle. I already have the pink Orchid dangle so I’d like something a bit different! <3 Thanks for commenting!
Of all the recent Pandora releases this is my favourite bead and I keep seeing it all over Instagram. I really like the little bubbles and of course, the glitter. The ones you chose are just lovely!
I know, it definitely seems the most popular of the summer collection – there was never any doubt in my mind that this was the one I had to get. :D Thanks Martha!
Off track… my local jeweller did a pre-sale for vip today. I was lucky that they wanted to get rid of some non retiring charms. I bought the star murano,pink cupcake and tinkerbell dress for 30% off. Apart from that i also bought the pink present and bow safety chain. I’m so broke but will still take a look at pandora online.
Oh, amazing! I wonder why they wanted rid of the Tinkerbell dress. I’d have thought that would be popular! Lovely haul.
Hiya,
Great review and lovely stylings as usual! Love your tinkerbell bracelet and I think the mint Murano fits in beautifully especially with the folklore charm :-)
I definitely plan to get this charm and the pink one too, they are just too lovely to miss out on but I will have to wait a couple of months I think as my bank account is still recovering from the sales!
In terms of styling I’d love to try the pink glitter Murano on my new oxidised bracelet – not sure how it would look but I’m sure I’ll have fun playing around!
Hope you’re enjoying the hot weather!
Hi Kerry! Thank you, I’m so pleased to hear that – it looks nicer in person, too, I think :) I hear you about needing to recover from the sales, though! I’ve spent so much, but I’ve got my mitts on some really great pieces so I don’t mind waiting a little bit to buy some more of the newer beads. I don’t want anything from Pre-Autumn, luckily, so I won’t be tempted there too!
Yes, definitely try the pink with the oxidised bracelet! I love soft colours against the darker chain. I think that would look great!
The hot weather got a bit much for me earlier in the week, haha, but it’s pleasantly sunny now <3 Hope you have a lovely weekend!
These are neat muranos since sometimes they look green and sometimes they look blue. I think that makes them more versatile. Although Pandora cranks out lots of button style and pave beads, I’m glad they create neat muranos, as many of us love muranos. I love my pair of lilac Field of Flowers muranos as much as you love your pair of Mint Glitter muranos!
They do, I think they’re actually pretty consistent in colour, it’s just that different lightings bring them out differently. Sometimes they look almost Tiffany blue!
Completely agree with you. No matter what you think of the other beads, their murano glass is almost always on top form <3 I love my Field of Flowers muranos from earlier in the year too! I think the lilac is my favourite, as well. Thanks for commenting Judy!
Hi Ellie!
Thanks for the review and the creative stylings! Originally I intended to buy this bead later in the year, as I had a very careful plan for the free leather bracelet promotion last week, but when I saw it up close in the store I had to rearrange my purchases and get that amazing Murano! I selected one with slightly subtler but rich gold glitter and I am wearing it on the champagne leather bracelet together with the starfish, the ocean life and the seahorse. It’s a stunning charm! It reminds me of blue-green seas with golden sand beaches! In the fall I will definitely try it paired with a purple Murano though. Great idea, Ellie!
Take care,
Victoria
Hi Victoria! You are welcome. :D Aha, that sounds like a very familiar story to me, too. All my careful Pandora spending plans used to go out of the window whenever I went into store. I used to have one right nearby me when I was at uni, so all my careful spending plans would be instantly forgotten as soon as I went in and saw the new cherry blossom pieces or fairytale beads or what have you. Love the sound of it on the champagne bracelet, just right for summer!
Thanks for commenting, and enjoy your new purchases!