Today brings my first review from the Pandora Winter 2017 collection, with a closer look at the stunning new enamel Wintry Delight bead! This was my ‘day one’ purchase, and I scooped it up as part of my haul for the Pandora UK Christmas ornament gift with purchase. ^^
I finished my midnight blue bracelet some time ago (pictured below), but I knew as soon as I saw this charm, that I would make it work in my collection one way or another. ^^
Read on for close-up shots and some wintry styling inspiration! ❄️
Pandora Wintry Delight Review
The Wintry Delight leapt out at me as a must-have as soon as I first saw the Winter 2017 sneak peeks. It’s a simple, yet wonderfully executed design. The deep blue of the enamel offers a vibrant, yet elegant splash of colour without the expense of the other pave or CZ-based beads. The contrast of the polished silver snowflakes against the deep blue is just beautiful.
The colour is not quite as solid in person as it appears in the stock image; in the charm that I have, the swirls in the enamel are much more apparent and less subtle.
The charm can look quite dark in some lights. When the sunlight really catches it, however, the swirls of enamel become apparent, highlighting both the glitter in the enamel and the shininess of the silver snowflakes. The finish is very glassy and reflective.
The charm is threaded, and hallmarked on one side. It feels nice and solid to hold.
Styling
This charm looks stunning with the other new deep blue Winter charms, particularly the Dazzling Snowflake in navy. The styling below is my favourite of the new campaign images! However, I’m trying to be a bit more selective with my new Pandora purchases, and the Dazzling Snowflake charm is £70 here in the UK, which is nothing to sneeze at.
I’ve been working on a powder blue bracelet on an oxidised chain, combining some older periwinkle blue muranos with classic silver beads. I decided, however, that the light blue glass didn’t bring enough colour to the design. The deep blue of the Wintry Delight definitely adds a bit of oomph and gifts the design a lot more interest. If you wanted to do this properly, you could add another deep blue charm from the Winter 2017 collection to each section and I’m sure the end result would be stunning!
I have decided against this, however – I’m actually going to add some Pandora Rose pieces to give this bracelet a bit more warmth and colour. I’ll post a picture when that’s ready! ^^
Instead, I’m going to keep it simple. My Wintry Delight charm is going on the Unique as you are LE bangle from last year.
The shape of the snowflake on the bangle’s clasp is very similar to those in the charm, and they’re a really lovely match. I can stack it with my periwinkle blue design, or with the midnight blue bracelet I already have. ^^
Conclusion
It’s no surprise to me that this charm is one of the most popular new beads of the release, offering subtle yet vibrant colour, pretty snowflake detailing and a lower price point. ❄️ It didn’t disappoint in person – it’s well made, and absolutely gorgeous whether part of a bracelet design or as a stand alone bead. It might not be as exciting as a new character bead, but it’s really lovely nonetheless.
The Wintry Delight is £40 or $50 USD.
What do you think of this charm? Is it on your wish list?
The Wintry Delight charm is lovely!
I really enjoy seeing your charms and bracelets, they give me ideas on how to style mine!
Take care,
Danielle
Thanks so much Danielle! Glad to hear that the pics are useful! :)
Hi Ellie
What a wonderful and helpful review which confirms this bead being on my Christmas wish list. I love this vibrant blue and intend to combine it with the icy blue snowflake design from a few Christmas’ ago but placing it on a new open bangle. This bead suggests to me midnight starry skies and Christmas Eve, just magical and is Pandora at its very best :)
Hi Elizabeth! Thank you! ? I could not agree with you more, this kind of thing is definitely the best of new Pandora! Lovely use of colour without going over the top. That sounds like a perfect combo, too – it has such a deep and dramatic colour, it can definitely be a focal piece on a little bangle design. <3
Lovely review Ellie. I always enjoy reading them and seeing your different stylings.
This is a lovely charm and it looks lovely on your bangle. Like you say it would go so well, with a lot of the charms from the winter collection.
Thanks so much, Sarah! :) It can definitely hold its own, but it does look beautiful with other winter blues, both from this year and previous ones.
I love this bead! I’ve put Mickey Mouse in between a couple of them as my ‘excited about going to WDW for Christmas’ bracelet. The craftsmanship is really wonderful, I think!
Oh, perfect! I hadn’t thought of that, but it does go beautifully with the navy blue Mickey Disney Parks beads. The Sorcerer’s Hat would be a great match for this, and the Fantasia. Thanks for commenting Martha! :D
Lovely charm.
Agreed!
I made an Elvis Blue Christmas bangle and the Wintery Delight is the first one I picked out. Have several more of the new blues on it also. The ice murono is gorgeous!
Sounds gorgeous! The new Ice Drops murano is on my list too :D It’s going to match with the other two periwinkle blue muranos on the bracelet I photographed above too, hopefully!
I really like this charm but having a limited budget, I try to buy charms that I can use all year round … this is unthinkable to wear in the summer :). If you can buy it do not hesitate is rich in nuances inside.
I totally understand that! I never used to buy Christmas charms in bright reds for the same reason. A lot of the older plain silver designs are more versatile like that :)
I absolutely love this charm. Unfortunately right now my Country’s economy is taking a nose dive and we can not even get us to buy so it will have to wait.
Ellie your midnight blue bracelet is gorgeous. I love the dark blue charms myself. If you put this on that bracelet would you wear it through out the year? I would be tempted to. I am asking because I have some blue snowflake charms that I want to put on my blue bracelet. Although we don’t have Seasons like you do. We just have wet and dry season. lol
Hoping to catch a really good Rue La La sale so maybe I can justify getting some new charms. I don’t mind that they may be old as long as I like them. :-)
I understand you, I live in Italy, a country that has a strong regression, salaries have not increased since 2009 while the assets have risen.It is difficult for me to buy charms, I try to save as much as possible.I did a theme bracelet ” snowflakes “taking advantage of the discounts of a Pandora outlet, I only need the Star to put in the center of the bracelet. It will be my gift for Christmas. I use this bracelet, which has 5 ice charms in total, only in autumn and winter. For the new year I plan to buy 3 Asian charms, if I find some good person who can help me. Good Christmas to you (can I know where you live?)
Hi, Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean.
I hope you find your Asian charms Lena! :)
Ah, I’m really sorry to hear that Victoria! :( I hope Rue throw a really good Black Friday sale that you can indulge in a little. I buy more old charms than new at the moment, I dip in and out of the newer collections ^^
Thank you very much! :D I would definitely wear it at any point during the year. I think the festive Christmas reds are harder to style during the year, but navy blue is not just for winter. Snowflakes are pretty at any time of the year! To be honest, our seasons in the UK have pretty much been just cloudy this year ^^
Of course it’s on my list ?? It’s really gourgeous!
Yay! :D
This was my “day one” purchase as well. Very pretty and love the depth of the blue enamel. oh happy day! :*)
I know, it’s just stunning! I love looking at all the dark blue displays in store at the moment :)
Ellie,
Out of all your posts the charm reviews are my favourite. Please understand that I am ever so grateful for your seasonal previews & promo posts. It is so nice to see what inspires you. I love your creative flare and often try to emulate that in my own designs. That being said, my first picks were the orbit & galaxy beads from the winter collection. I felt they were a year round options and went with my celestial themed bracelet . Howrever, upon seeing both your midnight bracelet and the unique as you are Bangle I am rethinking the Winter Delight! Last year I started a frosty winter wonderland design for a January and I was thinking the droplets Murano would go with some of my older charms but a Winter Delight Bead could add that pop of colour as a focal bead. If Pandora is paying attention they should be sending you a royalty cheque!!
Cheers!
Lisa K
Hi Lisa! Thank you :D the reviews are where I get to do something a bit more creative, so that’s really lovely to hear! :)The Orbit and Galaxy are also lovely choices, and I do keep admiring all the new deep blue charms in store displays at the moment! But yes, you should definitely think about the Wintry Delight ^^ it’s my favourite of the new winter charms! You could go for both the droplets murano and the wintry delight, they’d look lovely together!
Thanks for commenting, Lisa, you are always a pleasure to read! ^^
Hi Ellie,
The Wintry Delight is a lovely charm and definitely on my list. I so enjoyed your review and a look at your midnight blue bracelet. The WD looks great on the LE snowflake bangle from last year. I ended up with three of the bangles last year and wore them stacked. You’ve given me a great idea to use these bangles and add the vibrant blues for this year! It’s also a nice bonus that it matches the Starry Sky charms from last Winter. I really like the Dazzling Snowflake in blue, but it’s pricey at $90 here in the US. I’m trying to talk myself out of getting it and maybe go for the Christmas Night snow globe. I’d like to have the emerald green Radiant Hearts. I love the color and it’s so different to anything I have in my collection, but again, pricey. Then there’s the gorgeous Pandora Rose. I’ll be working on the Winter release long into the new year!
Thanks for the lovely review and for sharing your beautiful bracelet designs. I always look forward to them.
Hope your weekend is great!
Hi Emily, yay, I’m so glad you enjoyed it – thank you! I think that bangle stack would be absolutely stunning – you should definitely try it out! Three of them together would work beautifully – you could wear a focal blue on each. ^^ The Dazzling Snowflake is one of my favourites from this launch as well, but I just can’t justify the £70 for it, as I don’t really have anywhere to put it. I could put it with a spacer with the Wintry Delight on my bangle, but I quite like the simplicity of the bangle with just the WD on it as it is. It’s really nice to hear that there’s so much you like from this collection!
Thanks for commenting Emily – I hope you had a lovely weekend as well! Have fun deciding which winter charms to get, I’ll look forward to hearing what you chose! ^^
Hi Ellie,
I forgot to say in my first comment that is agree the use of silver without the pave makes the wintery Delight a most elegant charm. The silver sparkles next to the blue and I am glad Pandora layed off the pave and kept this simple. I hope the new Pandora designer is paying attention. This charm has an Audrey Hepburn elegance! Acfually, Jackie Kennedy loved enamel bracelets so I guess she comes to mind too when I see such an elegant design.
Cheers!
Lisa K
Hi Lisa! I know, I wish they’d do more in this sort of style. It works so well! The new Valentine’s collection seems like CZ intensive, but I’m holding off on judgement until we see more of what’s coming next year :) they have included a few more affordable plain silver options lately, I’ve noticed.
Great review, Ellie! I will definitely be getting this charm as part of Canada’s Black Friday promotion. I plan to also get the ice drops murano, so now I just have to pick a third Charm. There are way too many options for me in the new release, lol.
Excellent plan! The Ice Drops murano is also on my hit list ^^ But I cannot make up my mind which promos to do, and what to get in them! I agree, there are too many opportunities to spend too much money, haha. :D
Hi Ellie!
The Wintry Delight charm is stunning. I love that you are using it on the snowflake bracelet as a stack. I had also noticed that the pattern coordinated beautifully with the clasp on that bracelet. I think it would work on an open bangle too.
I am thinking of doing a second bracelet since I love all the blues in the Winter Collection. I thought of using the Glacial Beauty in the center. Then an orbit, wintry delight, the new snow globe, and the nature’s radiance. The bright star clips would complete the look. I would use some bright silver charms and spacers in between to break up the Blue. My design is still a work in progress; I have until Black Friday to decide. My feeling was I could pull the snowflake and snow globe off and wear the rest all year long. I could change out the Glacial Beauty for a radiant heart.
What do you think? I hate to do another seasonal bracelet, but I think I can make this work year round use.
The translucent enamel technique that Pandora is using is so beautiful. It catches the light so well.
Thanks for the review. I always look forward to seeing your designs.
Hi Deborah! Yes, definitely – the colour is so rich and elegant, it would look beautiful on the open bangle, especially framed with silver stoppers. :D The enamelwork is gorgeous, as you say – the glitter adds to the play of colour without being cheap or distracting. Pandora has come a long way in their techniques, so it would be nice to see it applied more often for this sort of charm. ^^
Sounds wonderful, Deborah! I don’t see any reason why you wouldn’t be able to wear that all year round – I know that Pandora plays up the darker blues in the winter, but there’s nothing that says that navy has to make you think of a particular season. :) Especially if you just swap in the snow globe bead when it actually is winter. I was about to say, you could add a few dashes of plain silver here and there to space out the blues and let each blue charm stand out its fullest, but then I read on and you came to that yourself. I think that the Glacial Beauty is definitely an all-rounder – there’s nothing that overtly snowflakey or wintry about it, so you could keep that as a focal point. It’s such a lovely charm.
Thanks for commenting, Deborah, I’m glad you enjoyed the review! :)
Greetings Ms. Ellie, The way you describe The Wintery Delight charm reigns supreme! I will get that charm for sure!!!!
Yay, I’m glad to hear that you’re convinced ❄️
I like it even more from your pics than the stock image. It has more dimension. I love the charm but am also being selective and would rather get some all-year-round charms from my wishlist if I were to buy any.
Very sensible! :) I am trying to be more selective overall, but there was no way I was going to resist this one. It’s one of my favourites they’ve done this year. ^^
Btw, wonderful review, as usual ☺
Thank you, Marie! ?
Btw, wonderful review, as usual ?
I love Wintry Delight!! It is on my wishlist with the similarly colored Christmas night, orbit and galaxy charms. It has been quite a while since I’ve found so many beads that I’ve liked from one collection. So many of the previous collections have seemed too repetitive in design and overly blingy for me, which was certainly good for the wallet. I did recently order the Rockette charm and ornament from BeCharming, as the latter is limited. This bead was a bit high for me on bling factor, but when Pandora tied it to the Rockettes, I couldn’t resist. ?
Lovely choices! I’m so pleased to hear that there’s so much you like in this collection. I think it’s been a particularly strong one again this year :) for me, it is still similar in design to those from previous years, but the individual charms are really well executed and the use of colour is particularly pretty this time around.
My Rockettes charm arrived in the post this weekend, and it is stunning! I’ll review it soon :D it is quite sparkly, but I think it works.
I was thinking about getting the Orbit bead to replace my pave Follow the Stars bead on my Vintage Night Sky bracelet, but now I’m thinking I’ll get Wintry Delight instead. I like this bead better, so I’ll probably get it instead of Orbit! The dark blue enamel is pretty and will look nicer than a pave bead on my bracelet.
I prefer this one to the Orbit as well, although both are lovely! They both deliver that same hit of pretty blue, so it’s up to you which design you prefer I guess. ^^
I was thinking that the beautiful wintry delight charm would go well on my blue themed bangle that has the midnight blue fizzle Murano, the majestic swan, the folklore Murano, the blue butterfly Murano and a vintage butterfly. Somehow I think it would go well near the swan and midnight blue Murano so that the swan could look like swimming in blue and frosty water! I also have two clips on this bangle, one being like leaves.
Sounds like a stunning, and rather unusual design! Love the idea of a swan swimming in the deep blue water. <3