It’s almost time for the Pandora Autumn 2018 launch on Thursday, but today I’m harking back to Spring 2018 for the final time with a round-up of charm reviews! I absolutely loved this year’s Spring collection, and ended up acquiring a lot of the new pieces – so much so that I didn’t get around to reviewing them all!
To rectify that, I thought I’d post pictures and thoughts on all my leftover Spring beads, and then showcase my Pandora Spring 2018 bracelet designs at the end!
Pandora Spring 2018 charm reviews
We begin with the sweetly oxidised Spring Bird House charm – this wasn’t a bead that I originally intended on getting, but seeing it in other people’s designs really won me over. The openwork design works well here, and the bead still has both weight and character – the little bird is very sweet, and it’s a nice little charm to have perched amongst other Pandora floral charms.
They’ve conveyed the dark texture of the wood very well with the use of oxidised grooves on the silver, which set off the little silver bird on its perch so nicely. Pandora have in recent years opted for very shiny, unoxidised pieces, so to see them embrace this as a form of detailing again is really nice.
In true Pandora fashion, there are hidden hearts within this design – the little bird’s perch is carved into a heart silhouette. I for one really like this traditional in Pandora charms – I feel like it’s part of the brand’s charm, and I don’t find it distracting in the way that I do their quotes and messages.
I still find the message on the back of the charm – Sweet home – a bit unnecessary. The only other thing to note is that it is quite large and angular, so it’s not the easiest to style.
Moving on, the little bird alights this time on the delightful Enchanted Teacup. One of the things I liked most about the Pandora Spring 2018 was the repetition of the bird motif, a pretty recurring thread among the different charms. The teacup itself has beautifully ornate detailing around the cup, but my favourite detail is the adorable little spoon!
The pink enamel of the teacup varies between charms – some are a delicate, soft shade, and some are bright, vibrant pink, which works less well. As some have commented, people don’t drink pink tea, and they certainly don’t drink bright pink tea! On this basis, it’s worth picking out this bead in person.
You might be able to spot in this picture that the bail is unthreaded – it will slide on and off your bracelet like an openwork.
To complement the tea cup, we have the adorable teapot! This time, you’ll find the bird sitting above the spout, set off by the sweet pretty floral details on the top of the bead.
The branding on the side of the teapot again is not something I much care for – I think it adds an incongruous contemporary touch to a very prettily antique design. The hallmarks on my teapot are also quite extensive (as you saw in the picture above), with a ‘P2’ marking alongside the ALE mark, and again I think they are noticeable enough in person to detract from the charm.
The other thing to say about this charm is that it’s really big! You definitely need to think about how to style based on it as it really dwarves other beads, and I think it would have been just that bit closer to perfect if they’d made it a little more delicate in size.
The Cute Mouse is a design that I think perfectly balances size and detail. It has the cute additional detail of an articulated tail – so sweet! It’s quite compact and petite, and easy to pair up with other beads.
However, I was chatting to someone on Facebook about this charm and they pointed out an unfortunate side effect of the design. Look at it head on… and it sort of looks like an alien! ? I was able to ‘unsee’ this and to love the little mouse nevertheless, but it does make me laugh looking at it every now and again!
My final item is my very first Pandora petite – the Ladybug. I’ve not bought a floating locket or any other petites previously (I’m just not quite sure that they are my style), and if there had been a regular charm version of this bead, I suspect I’d have bought that. However, there isn’t, and I just loved the combination of the pretty purple enamel and the oxidised spots in the design of this ladybug bead. It’s just so eye-catching and pretty.
In person, the contrast between the ladybird and the purple isn’t quite as striking, but it’s so cute nevertheless. I’ve put him in the Floating Locket charm and styled him amongst my other Spring charms. But I think he might look at his best in one of the bigger lockets, with other floral or spring-like petites around him – the cherry blossom flower, or the Shine bee – to bring out his sweet colour and detailing. I also feel like the branding of the Floating Locket distract from his cuteness a little!
I was surprised by quite how ‘petite’ it was in person, however! Here’s a shot of with the Cute Mouse and Locket, to put it in perspective. It really is just a teeny tiny little bit of silver, and it feels very loseable! I’m glad that it’s shut up tight on my locket on my bracelet. I bought mine in the US promo back in March, where it retails for $15 USD and was covered by the deal, but I don’t think I’d have paid a full £15 GBP for it. I’d wait for an offer or sale of some kind, for this one.
Styling
I tried to balance the bigger Enchanted Tea Pot charm by putting it opposite the Floral Brilliance openwork, which is a rather large decorative piece, and by placing it near a taller murano glass bead. A lot of the older Pandora nature beads look stunning with this collection, and I went hunting the old Lady Bird and Butterfly charms for this purpose!
The white Polka Dot muranos might seem like an odd choice, but I really like them and managed to score a used pair at a reasonable price. I wanted something quite neutral to complement the softer pastel purples, and the modern white Pandora muranos all have quite a lot of shine/vibrance on them – these older white beads are more muted, and softer, and I think go quite cosily with the teatime beads.
Finally, as a little bonus, here’s one final Spring 2018 piece that didn’t make it on to the previous bracelet design. The ornate detailing of the Enchanted Heart safety chain struck me as perfect for my Victorian oxidised floral design – its pretty heart curlicues complement the old style Birthday Blooms rather perfectly.
Here’s a shot of it from the front (albeit minus the safety chain):
Conclusion
For a few seasons, it has felt like my major purchases from Pandora Spring collections have been mostly decorative murano beads, and it’s so nice to have a whole little host of characters and critters to review from them again! Enchanted tea parties, little woodland creatures – it’s all very up my street and I’ve had such Spring 2013 vibes picking my favourites from this collection. The only note I’d make is that I think the sizing of some of the beads makes them harder to style. It strikes me as a balance between giving a design enough room to do its detail justice and making it easy to combine with other beads on a bracelet, and I’m not sure that all these beads always strike that balance perfectly.
You can see my previous Spring 2018 reviews here:-
Have you got everything you wanted from the Spring collection? Are you planning on styling any of it with the new Autumn beads?
Very beautful bracelets. I picked up the teapot earlier and loved it! It’s currently sitting with the hearts clips from the enchanted collection. I’m planning on adding the unicorn to that bracelet. The US is apparently getting a Labor Day sale – 25% two items or more. I need a few things from past collections for a Disney bracelet. And I’m planning on getting the Snow White collection and Pinocchio. ;)
Just saw the exclusions on the sale and it excludes the fall releases, Disney and Shine. ;(. Guess I won’t be taking part in the sale after all.
I just checked the exclusions at the bottom of my promotional email. It does not exclude Disney. ???
Thank you! :D Good idea to put the Teapot with those clips, as they’re both quite big pieces!
Hi Ellie,
I echo your love of the Spring Collection. After buying the snail I snagged the mouse, love the articulating take. It is the field mouse in my spring garden theme. It is the house mouse ( don’t want a real one) in my home sweet home design. Ok now I cannot unsee the alien head in the mouse!
The teapot is one I bought to represent the afternoon teas with my mother in law. It is kind of like her, she is a big personality and commands attention. I know that may aound unkind but I assure you it is not, she would be the first to admit it. I am waiting on the cup & saucer with light ebamel. For now I am content with the mouse in a tea cup Be Mine.
Your designs are lovely. I don’t have the older butterfly but I do have the older ladybug and the red ladybug Murano that I have been wearing in my garden theme.
Thanks for putting out this post. I am trying to hold on to the summer moments as long as possible. The stores are featuring fall decor & products but I won’t switch to my fall harvest motifs until Sep.
Cheers!
Lisa K
Hi Lisa! Aha, oh no! I’m sorry for making you see the alien in the mouse haha. I’m glad you enjoyed the review, it’s sort of a motley collection of reviews I was planning to do before I stopped blogging earlier in the year, and I thought they should probably see the light of day :)
Thank you!
I have a couple of openworks flower charms that are larger and always been hard to style. The retired pandora gift bag is another larger one. And the new o. Maybe putting all the larger ones together on a looser bracelet would be the way to go. Or scattered throughout like people do with the glass ones as they are over sized in my opinion and as pretty as they are I’ve never gotten into them. Thanks for the review Ellie. I do love the bird house, tea pot and cup but unfortunately I haven’t recovered from the retired sales. I am however very excited to buy my daughter’s birthday present in the next couple of days. There’s lots to love in the new collection. It will be hard to only buy one thing.
Gutted not to see any photos of mouse bottoms, lol ;-).
I got the Murano with the bees and flowers, so beautiful, they are on my purple bracelet but now I want the bracelet with the flower clasp and the hanging ladybird instead of the pave heart one that is currently my purple bracelet; I’m hoping that we get that same promo that America has just had where you can have any bracelet you want ;-), I have my £100 spend all planned out ready, the matching safety chain and a couple of others that I need to complete everything. Received a nice haul of 7 sale charms this morning from the £20 off promo and I’m expecting another 7 sale charms to arrive tomorrow from using hubby’s name for the promo, lol ;-), but I’d still want to get 2 bracelets (money willing) in any bracelet promo we might get as I won’t have any room if I don’t, lol ;-). Did I ever mention that I stopped smoking 19 years ago and still spend my ciggy money on jewellery treats? Just swapped one addiction for another but at least jewellery collecting isn’t bad for my health, well, at least I don’t think it is, lol :-).
Congratulations on quitting smoking!
Congrats! I agree with you on the fact that jewellery doesn’t do any harm to your health. And a Pandora charm is much prettier than a cigarrette, lol!
Congratulations on quitting smoking! At the price of cigarettes these days, you can support a “healthy” Pandora habit. ?
Thanks, everyone :-D.
Deborah, I know, I used to spend a tenner a week but I don’t think I’d have much change from £50 nowadays, I don’t know how anyone manages to afford it at all :-O. I’ve said a few times that I should increase my jewellery budget, lol ;-).
Hi Ellie!
Your bracelets are lovely, and as usual, thoughtfully styled. I still have not gotten the teapot and teacup. I did however purchase the alien mouse and the snail. (Are alien mouse bottoms different from the ones here on Earth?) I added them to a bracelet featuring the older pink enamel rose charms and clips. The center charm is the button heart charm with pink enamel. The pink sweet sentiments bows and the older clear whimsical lights are featured. The center clips are the pink enamel cherry blossoms. The dangles are the large rose pendant, the unicorn, the serene lotus, and the pink CZ open heart. I wanted to use the teapot and teacup here, like having tea in the garden, but ran out of room! It’s so cute like it is that I don’t want to change it.
The lady “bug” bracelet I have described before. I pursued a purple motif for that one. The spring purple flowers, the older leaves and the butterfly gardens, the new dragonfly meadow. The dark purple shimmers were perfect with all that.
The enchanted heart clips ended up on a mini design with the light blue swirled glass and the shorter enchanted tassel.
All in all a lovely spring collection. But as you said, a little more difficult to style. I have the spring birdhouse, but have yet to get the look I’m going for with that one. I like the idea of balancing it with the larger teapot. Thank you for the inspiration! I’m toying with a caged bird set free style with some of the regal locks and keys from the Autumn collection. We’ll see how that works out.
Thanks for “backing up” for a bit to show us your thoughts and styles from the Spring Collection. As always, I end up freshly inspired and armed with ideas for my next visit to the store.
Your post reminds me how much I liked the ladybird bracelet when I tried it on in store. Oh dear another item to add to my wish list. I haven’t seen those muranos before. Nice styling as always. I do like the teapot and teacup although I would have to add the cake slice too. Love afternoon teas on special occasions.
Hi Ellie,
Your bracelet is lovely. I bought everything you did and a lot more except for the murano’s. A favourite of my is the blue ripples charm.
I styled the snail, mouse and dreamy dragonfly along with some other cute animals on a bracelet.
The theapot and cup i styled with the cakeslice dangel of the mothersday release and some older charms on a teaparty bracelet.
The birdhouse charm i’m going to combine with the old birdhouse charm(wich i finaly was able to get my hands on) and the new birdhouse charm wich will be released tomorrow on a birdie/autumn style.
Thanks for the lovely post and i’m looking foreward to tomorrow some seriously shopping will take place then.
With the last 2 birdhouse charms i mean birdcage charms ?
Hi Ellie, I love your bracelets, both of them! Unfortunately, I agree with you on the teapot “huge” size ☹. In fact, it’s still on my wish list, while I’m trying to figure out how to style it ?. Same with the lovely bird house. At first sight I decided against it, bc it’s so bulky but now I’m having second thoughts. I’m a bit tired of missing out on charms I like for the same reason. Muranos too big, teapot too big, birdhouse too big, wrists too small. Well, last Spring I couldn’t hold it any longer and got a couple of the mint green muranos from last summer (I had been literally dying for them for almost a year) to go with my acqua RH. And, know what? They don’t look like monsters on my wrist at all! So, I just need to play a bit at the store trying to balance the teapot and the birdhouse. And maybe the bee murano and the other pink one with the purple clouds (reminds me of cotton sugar). Nevertheless I find smaller beads not only more comfortable to wear but also more elegant. But Pandora seem to be on a phase of doing things big, so I might as well go with it instead of against it! The tea cup is adorable, too. As for the tea being pink, well I decided that it was a raspberry infusion, lol! ?
All in all, it’s been a nice collection and as I said there are pieces I still want from it. Now, I’m determined to focus on the autumm realease. I’m looking forward to it! Roll on time!
Forgot to mention that I got the blue ripples, which I absolutely love and the blue dangle heart to go with them and the the blue swirls but has gone to live on a chain instead. And one more thing, for the upcomming monthly 10 € off promo my mall offers I’m planning to add the take-away coffee as a reminder of my holiday in London. Never, ever had I had so many coffees to go in my hand! Whether capuccinos or flat whites, I seem to have been turning to coffein to keep me going the whole time, lol! I got over my momentarily addiction as soon as I arrived home and could have a good rest. Btw, for English ladies living in Oxfordshire and interested in old retired charms: they have the all silver with a touch of 14k gold at the Pandora store in Oxford. For £19. I’m still regretting leaving it behind but I’m not the kind of person who does unplanned things ? (I may have a problem there).
The old silver with a touch of 14 gold MUFFIN
That’s a cute charm. I have it with the old TT teapot on my hobby bracelet.
I agree, it’s super cute but my holiday is over, so going back to Oxford for a bead would be a bit weird ( even for Pandora collectors) ?. Now I can only pass the info, so that any interested lady in the area can have it.
This is a lovely review, reminds me how much I liked the Spring collection! I went to buy one charm but of course walked out with both the Enchanted Garden Murano and the Mother and Baby bird dangle because they were both so lovely I couldn’t leave either behind! I agree about the size problem, I did like the teapot but in person it looked out of step on the bracelet I wanted to use it on. I haven’t entirely ruled it out though, especially if it came up in the sales in a year or so. It would be nice to start a new bracelet on a larger scale to cater for charms I like but which take up a bit more space, like the teapot and the birdhouse. I could also put on it the lovely filigree heart clips that came out in the summer, but were just too large for what I had in mind at the time.
I got the two blue ripples charms with the American promo and I got the mesh bracelet. Then I went online and got the enchanted heart tassel charm the blue swirls bead and the ear cuff in silver along with the black double leather bracelet for the promo. I really like the blue ripples glass beads as they are the same size as the charms. The ear cuff seems to fit me perfectly and stays on. I also got my mother the enchanted. Attire bead with the clear crystal and little dragonfly motif.