I am starting off the week today with another Pandora SS18 preview, this time covering the Pandora Essence Spring 2018 release! This collection is only small, and the majority of pieces are Pandora Rose – so if you are a fan of the more traditional Essence ranges, you might not find what you’re looking for here. If you’re a big Pandora Rose fan, or after a more contemporary look, then this might be more your thing!
Traditionally, each Essence charm represents a given value – ‘love’, ‘hope’, ‘faith’, etc. However, this collection marks a deviation from that trend. Instead of specific qualities, these charms also have longer quotations attached to them. One of my initial queries regarding the Essence range concerned how Pandora would manage to keep adding new values, and we have seen a lot of values being recycled across collections, so I’m not overly surprised to see Pandora deviate from their original naming convention.
This collection will be available to purchase worldwide from 12 April – read on for a full preview!
Pandora Essence SS18 collection preview
There are only three silver pieces making their debut with this Essence launch. First, we have a Pandora Essence open bangle – one end of the bangle is plain silver, and the other has a CZ and Pandora branding. You’ll be able to purchase this for $65 USD.
Next, there’s a silver choker necklace, priced at $90 USD.
The only silver charm is a plain heart, with the inscription Follow your Heart. This is a pretty, neutral bead, and would fit in nicely with either older or newer style Essence beads. It will be sold for $35 USD.
And now for the Rose pieces! This Rose spacer, priced at $45 USD, also has Follow your Heart written on its side.
The Bonds of Love charm is very reminiscent of the Nature’s Radiance bead from the Autumn 2016 collection – it has Bonds of Love written on its side. It’s priced at $90 USD.
This plain Rose bead, RRP $55 USD, features a popular Pandora motif, with tree branches snaking round the charm. The slogan on this charm is Love makes a family.
The Hope charm offers a return to more traditional Pandora Essence values, and is priced at $55 USD.
I prefer this plain Rose dangle, which represents Appreciation. It’s priced at $45 USD.
Finally, we have a Rose Essence necklace, priced at $180 USD.
My Comment
My own preference in terms of Essence is for the older style beads and stones. I recently found the retired moonstone Balance charm on Rue La La and have added it to my very first Essence design. ^^
If I were to get any of these newer beads, I’d probably to want to start a new sort of design, perhaps on an Essence bangle. The exception to that is possibly the silver Follow Your Heart spacer, which I think would probably fit in with the older beads quite nicely.
What do you think of this latest Essence launch?
I was just about to cave and get an essence bangle but now I will wait for the open bangle as I prefer the shape on my wrist!! Thank you Ellie so much for the amazing insights. I’m sooooo looking forward to spring!!!
Oh lovely! :D I like the look of this one as well, but there aren’t any more Essence charms I want for the moment. My pleasure, glad you enjoyed the preview!
Hi Ellie!
I am sooooo happy to see the Rose Essence Necklace. The open bangle too. I was planning to purchase a couple of Essence bracelets; so the open bangle it is.
I like the Nature’s Radiance charm, and the silver solid heart. I have never seen the point in a spacer for an Essence Bracelet, so I probably won’t be getting any of those. Uh oh, another line in the sand… at least I didn’t say “never”.
I also find the bales of the dangles a little clunky. I know they are that wide because of the silicone core, but they just seem out of proportion to me. So no dangles. (More sand) I have been known to use a Moments charm or dangle on an Essence bracelet. I just put an Essence charm on either side to hold it in place.
My granddaughters will probably go wild for the choker.
All in all, good that there isn’t much here for me. I have quite the extensive list from Spring and Mothers Day already.
Thanks for the preview. It was quite timely, now I know to wait for the new bracelet.
Silly me. I was so excited by the preview that I forgot to comment on your bracelet! I love that you styled your balance with your passion. I also scooped up a balance up from Rue last time. It is on a bracelet with passion, faith, and hope. Love the way all these glow in the light.
Thanks, Deborah! The older Essence beads do have a beautiful luminescent quality to them. Such a nice richness of colour. I noticed just now, however, that there is a crack in my original Essence Love bead! Such a shame. :( I don’t wear them anywhere near as often as my regular bracelets and can’t remember smacking it or dropping it, so I don’t know how that has happened. Ah well, it will just make mine that little bit more unique! ;)
I’ve been trying to decide between the rose essence and rose moments bracelets for a while now. I’ve only had the beaded 80cm necklace and 1 beaded bracelet since the end of last year. I have to say I’m really loving them both. (Very different feel to my moments.) Now that there’s a necklace I may lean towards the essence. I wonder what length the necklace will be as I do find the 45cm a bit too long. I have the 42cm moments necklace and it’s the perfect length. I finally got the baby silver floating locket and it looks amazing but super simple on it. I can imagine the rose locket would look great with the rose essence necklace. Thanks for the update Ellie. It’s so good having time to plan.
The Essence necklace will be 45cm, I’m afraid, so you might find it a bit long! I’m glad you’re loving your Essence pieces though. They are such a light, nice alternative to the Moments bracelet – great if you want something a bit cleaner and daintier.
You are very welcome! Thank you for commenting :)
Hi Ellie thanks for the really nice preview… just wanted to know if charms can be added to the new essence open bangle ? I really love the new design.. Thanks to let me know. Have a nice day.
HI Christelle! Yes, you can add charms to it as far as I’m aware! :) Have a lovely day too and thanks for commenting!
Hi Ellie I’m not sure on these I like the open bangle but will have to see everything else in person.
Do we know what sizes the open bangle are going to be coming in? The 16cm was a bit too small and the 18cm a bit too big, so I’m hoping for a 17cm!
Size 16 in Essence is too big for me. I have two beaded bracelets, the last one waiting in my jewellery box to the store to be shortened. Pandora should really do something aboit sizes.
Waiting in my jewellery box for me to have some time to take it back to the store to be shortened.
Hi Marie, just a thought, have you tried wrapping any of the essence necklaces around your arm. I tried it with my beaded one the other day but it didn’t reach to clip together. It was however beautiful and the charms could be spaced around it. It would depend on your wrist size but since your wrist is tiny it might work.
Hhi Leanne. No, in fact I had not thought about it. Thank you for the idea!
It’s coming in four sizes: 16, 18, 20 and 22 cm – so I’m afraid there’s no in between size for you :(
Hi Nicola! There isn’t anything I have to have either, but I do always enjoy seeing the new pieces in person. The open bangle is pretty, and I’d consider it if more Essence beads came out that I liked!
Thank you for another preview. There isn’t anything here for me, that would go with my bracelet I already have started.
You’re welcome! I’m passing on these as well, which is a very good thing as I want so much from the Moments line!
I like the essence open bangle. I can imagine the Bond of love charm sitting elegantly on it alone or accompanied by another two rose charms. Those two are my pick from the collection.
That sounds very pretty! I like the bangle as well but would need a couple more Essence beads to come out that I liked before I invested in one.
Though I’m sad to see the Essence line obliterated by CZ, rose plating, and repetitious designs hiding the fact Pandora designers are out of ideas for the line, I’m glad to see the open bangle, and hope it will come in more sizes than 16, too big, and monstrous.
I like your Balance bead snap, it shows the color well, I think. I might grab it next time I see it on Rue.
not hiding* :-/
It’s actually quite a warm grey, as opposed to the stock image which looks quite cool. I don’t know whether this is just a variation in the stone, though. It’s very pretty in any case!
Essence line didn’t really go anywhere did it? I really like my two Essence bracelets and 8 original meaning charms but I won’t be investing any more money in Essence as Pandora lost interest in their original concept.
No, I think it has struggled to finds its groove somewhat. I do have a lot of affection for the original concept though and like you I’m fond of my older beads and bracelets. It will be interesting to see where it goes next.
Oh no! I’m still in an Essence mood and just yesterday I ordered three beads from the online shop! We have another promo running here till 14th March, 30% off selected items and 3×2 at the same time. There are several beads I have wanted for some time, so I kind of went overboard and ordered lapuslazuli, adventurine and dark blue cristal, sorry I don’t remember which values they represent. All of them were priced at about 34 € and I got one for free. At the moment they should be on their way to me.
Well, to the new pieces. I’m really surprised that I’m liking both Bonds of Love and Love makes a Family quite a lot. I will have to tale a look at them in store, though. Btw, is it me or does anybody else think that Pandora rose has an orangy hue?.
The rest of this release is not very interesting for me. I don’t like the choker, but because I’m not a fan of chokers as a rule. The dangles and spacers are dull and I’m not evenconsidering the new open bangle because I’m pretty sure it will be too big for me.
Anyway, I’m glad that they are giving Essence a push. It’s a beautiful line.
Looking forward to seeing these two charms in person and of course to reading your review on them (?) ??
Thank you for your post. You’ve made my Monday a bit brighter ?
The color is because Pandora Rose is mainly copper. All pink, rose, or red gold has copper, and the amount is told in the name, pink having the least amount of copper, then rose, then red.
It also has a different color than rose gold because the copper is mixed with silver and other metals, not gold. I actually like the color of the pandora rose.
Oh thank you Lola. I knew about the mixing. However I didn’t know there were different “degrees”. I’ll have to see how it looks on me, since I’m very pale and warm colours often clash against my skin. It depends on the mixing.
Marie, I’m sure it’ll look lovely. I’m very pale too, Swedish glow-in-the-dark pale — my darker Italian half doesn’t show at all, lol — and I wear copper and it looks great. My daughter has a lot of Pandora Rose and she’s very pale too; she stacks it with darker metals and it’s awesome. You’ll love it.
You can soften the look of the Rose by mixing it with silver. I have a couple of bracelets that are rose/silver staggered. They are quite beautiful that way because the Rose really stands out.
Yes, I had always thought of it myself for when (and if) I bought into rose because I love TT.
Excited about the rose gold Essence necklace, both follow your heart charms and the new open bangle. I have two rose gold Essence bracelets and like the dangles–maybe will get one for each. I’m glad Pandora is coming out with some really different beads for the Essence linw.
Perfect! I think it is interesting to see them diversifying and increasing their offering of Rose-Essence charms. However I do miss the original concept and the pretty gemstones and colours too.
I also wanted to that you, Ellie, because like so many others I appreciate these very early previews and your insights into everything new! Darn that spelling mistake–it was supposed to be ‘line’!
It’s my pleasure, Sandy! I appreciate reading everyone’s comments in much the same way, it’s great to be able to discuss things ahead of time. ^^
Can you tell I haven’t had enough coffee yet? That was supposed to be a Thank You!
Haha, I didn’t even notice that typo until you said! ?
I am really, really, like really sad that they are not continuing the way Essence was looking before. No natural stones, no pretty “names”… My Essence bracelets are JUST natural, nothing pavé or anything like these…
It is a shame! It’s nice to see something new for Essence but it would be good to keep putting out beads in the original style of charms, too. The natural stones are so pretty!
Thankyou Ellie for your great review :) I am glad to know that Pandora finally release an open bangle for the Essences collection. However the core of Essences bead is very small, would the lock be secure enough since they would be very small as well?
By the way, Pandora HK is teasing a new collection called “Pandora Shine”
http://m.pandora.net/en-hk/collections/pandora-shine-sneak-peek
(You have to login to the site to view the catalog). They used gold plating on silver instead of traditional 14k gold for the entire piece; to me it seems that Pandora has “sank” further with this collection, which is kind of disappointing. What do you think about this?
Hi Len! I don’t know the practicalities of this design yet as I’ve not seen it or tried it in person, but hopefully they will have made it completely safe to wear :)
I’m aware of the Pandora Shine launch but I’m embargoed from writing about it until launch day so will write up my thoughts more fully then :). I’m kind of torn on it to be honest – I can understand why 14kt gold collectors are upset and worried that this line devalues their solid gold pieces. In terms of Pandora as a brand, it’s just another departure from their original aesthetic and strategy. From a personal standpoint, I like the bumblebee designs very much and it’s nice that they’re accessible for me in a way that the 14kt gold pieces aren’t.
Hi everyone! I just wanted to say the #PandoraShine is due to 15th of March for those of us who live in Spain. I just saw some of the pictures in the official Pandora website as well as a video of the Italian designers explaining the meaning behind the Pandora Shine Collection in further detail. Apparently the pieces are made of sterling silver with a 18k gold overlay.
PD: Thanks Eli for the dedication to this blog. It always makes my day to read your take on Pandora charms and new ideas for styling a bracelet.
Hi Ella! Thanks for letting everyone know :) I would post about it but Pandora are keeping quite a strict control on how the collection is shared until launch day. I will write about it then!
And thank you! That’s wonderful to hear – I hope you continue to enjoy.
Hi Ellie,
Thanks for the Essence preview and for sharing your bracelet designs. They are lovely. I rather like the new open bangle. I’ve not given in to the Essence line as of yet. I do have one bracelet from a bracelet promo, but no charms. There’s always something I “need” from the Moments line more. Glad you were able to pick up the moonstone from Rue. It’s a lovely addition to the softer shades. I’ve always loved the mosaics as well as the pearls. Guess I need to get them soon before they’re gone.
I’ve seen the sneak peek video for the Pandora Shine. Love the little bee. Not sure if I’ll buy into the collection or not. Guess I’ll know more when I see it in person.
BTW, saw your latest bracelet with the Lucky Charm on Instagram. Love that you used the Wise Owl in your design. Hope the LC gets you those couple of days to work at home that you’re hoping for. Stay warm!
Hi Emily! I do know what you mean about the Moments range taking precedent over Essence. I find the MOments line a lot more collectable, much as I love my Essence beads – which is why I’ve stopped for the moment at a very sensible two Essence bracelets as opposed to… well, I won’t say how many Moments bracelets, but rest assured that it is quite a few more than that! ;)
Thanks Emily! I don’t usually do green but I do like those lucky charms. :D The LC did indeed work its magic and I was working from home yesterday and am again today! A good investment ;) ?
Is the rose follow your heart spacer also heart shaped?? Also what length is the necklace?? Super excited for the collection xx