You can read plenty about Akoya pearls, South Sea pearls, Tahitian pearls and freshwater pearls on the web. Everybody that sells them is keen to tell you about these common variants. Today we’re looking at some of the less common varieties of pearls, their features … and who will love them!

Conch Pearls - For Chic Chicks!

Conch pearls look quite different to the pearls we are used to - they do not have a lustrous nacre on the outside. However, they are still extremely valuable, because nobody has devised a method to culture them! All conch pearls are natural pearls, so if you’re looking into a conch pearl piece of jewelry, be prepared for your credit card to slink off, hoping you won’t notice him slip out the door.

Despite a lack of nacre, they can be extremely beautiful, with a ‘flame’ effect in the color.

Keshi Pearls - All Shine

Keshi pearls are the exact opposite of conch pearls - they are all nacre. They are formed as part of the culturing process, when the oyster rejects the implanted nucleus, but continues producing a pearl anyway. Keshi pearls used to be bargain pearls with a beautiful look - now they are much rarer since pearl farmers have begun reimplanting rejected nuclei. Therefore, you know the drill … they are more expensive!

They are extremely high-shine pearls, and beautiful on women who look to dress up and hit the town.

The most prized pearls are often the most unusual

Cortez Pearls

These are simply pearls from a particular type of mollusc - the Pinctada maximia, and Pteria Sterna, which live in the Gulf of California. Cortez pearls as an export for Mexico were once worth more than all the country’s other exports combined. They were fished almost to extinction, resulting in a ban on hunting the molluscs, however culturing technology has brought them back.

Cortez pearls have a gorgeous thick nacre and are reasonably large - and they are also the only pearl in the gem industry to completely qualify under the Fair Trade Gems protocols. Great for luxury loving yet eco-friendly women!

It wasn’t until the sixties that female fashion really started to gain a more casual edge. Before that, even in the twenties when off-the-shoulder dresses and floaty fabrics made fashion seem casual. But women still spent hours meticulously applying ‘natural look’ makeup, and fashion was still a thing for boutiques, not $2 shops. Ah, those were the days! ‘I feel faint, darling! Bring me my smelling salts! Oh …’ *falls into a ladylike repose*.

So we’re pretty happy that mid-century fashion is making a comeback, with lace tights, piping and pearls all on the agenda for this season. We have a look at how slick, smart and coiffed you can look with the combination…

Lace Tights

A great way to both flaunt sexy legs, and smooth over anything you don’t like about your pins. They don’t have to go with satin slips, chunky boots, overdone eyeliner and a dreary outlook on life - lace tights are a beautiful way to add a bit of verve to an office outfit.

Lace tights are coming back - Photo: Shecky's

Piping

For some of us, including me, piping never really went out of fashion. It was big in the 50s, and carried on, in different incarnations, into 60s fashion also. It’s a clean way to add detail to a piece, and oftentimes you can do it yourself, if you have a sewing machine and the guts to put a nice piece of clothing under the needle!

Piping is coming back too - Photo: Shecky's

Pearls

Pearls - Deliciously silky

Some styles of pearls have such a classical look - if you’re going for mid-century glam, you’ll be looking for mid-size strings of pearls, around 18″ long, in single strands and all one color, rather than multi-colored pieces. However, lavender and pink pearls are just as ladylike, glamorous and super-stylish as black and white. Pearl bracelets are a good choice - remember, you’re harking back to when women did nothing more strenuous than pick up the telephone, or tap on a keyboard for work. Ah, the life!

Your pearl gift will loom large in her life!

First of all, great job! You’ve had an awesome gift idea, and shown how sensible you are. Pearls are a long-lasting, personal and beautiful gift, and a great choice. Your second great idea was getting advice about buying them! If you know you want to buy pearls for your sweetheart, we’ll help you with where to start.

White and Black Pearls

Tahitian baroque pearls

If your female friend doesn’t currently own any pearl jewelry, either white or black pearls are a good place to start. The best color for her will depend on her complexion - you can check out our article on choosing the best pealr colors for different complexions for further help there.

By Body size

Petite pearls suit petite women, larger pearls suit taller or more solid women. Don’t think that you’ll be flattering her by buying the smallest possible pearl string for her, though … it will look out of place on her, and is likely not to get worn.

Types of jewelry

Pearl earrings are always a nice starter piece. If your lady leaves her earrings in when she goes to bed, pearl studs will be fine, as long as they are not too large. If you have a woman that changes her earrings as often as she eats, hoop earrings are a good choice.

Bracelets are good for women that don’t work with their hands (although this does include typists!), or are good as evening wear. If you’re looking for evening wear pearls, you’ll want higher quality ones, which brings us to another guideline!

Pearl Quality

Pearl quality is judged according to several different factors.

• Nacre - the thickness of the pearl’s outer shell. Nacres larger than 0.4mm are good quality.
• Surface - whether there are any imperfections on the surface. This will be judged light, moderate or severe.
• Luster - descriptions of luster vary, but common categories include good, very good, and excellent.
• Shape - Round pearls are valued more than off round pearls, however off round can be just as beautiful. Most ’round’ pearls are actually near round.
• Color - Pearls can be all different colors, and be the same value, as long as the color is consistent over the surface of the pearl.

Casual pearls are a gorgeous gift, and need not be as high quality as evening wear pearls. Check out pearl discounters online - don’t pay retail!

Your pearls WILL get dirty - whether you're conscious of it or not!

You almost won’t notice your pearl jewelry getting dirty - they are one of those gemstones that with a natural glow that it is hard to dampen. But you’ll definitely become painfully aware of the layers of you-know-what you were carrying around with you when you see how nicely they come up after a bit of spit and polish!

You’ll need a clean pair of pantyhose - they don’t have to be new, just clean, or a piece of fine voile. One of the best cleaning agents is a mild hair shampoo. Grab an organic brand, or at least one that says it has no petrochemicals - this will dissolve the stuff you don’t want, while keeping the stuff you do. A chamois, used for drying and buffing cars, is also useful … but you may want to keep one specifically for this purpose, and tell your husband to buy his own. A wooden ruler over the knuckles is a good deterrent … always worked on me as a child, anyway

The rest of the process is fairly self-explanatory - add the shampoo to a sink full of warm, not hot, water while it is running to create suds. Put the pearls inside the pantyhose and immerse in the water. Gently rub them through the cloth - one by one, starting at the clasp, is a good way to ensure each of your pearls gets individual attention. Repeat until they are shining like pearls again!

When you are finished, dry them with a towel to ensure any excess moisture is removed. You can also place them in a sealed bag with a couple of silica sachets (like the ones you get in pita bread and vitamin bottles sometimes), to drag the moisture away from the string inside the pearls. This will help prevent it rotting.

A couple of notes of caution:

• You really will want to use the gentlest shampoo you can. It is preferable to wash twice, that to accidentally wreck your pearl’s lustre.
• Be aware of how much stress you are putting on the string as you wash - try to minimize this.
• You may want to remove your pearls from the string to clean them every so often, to better clean the sides.

What sort of jewelry would you buy if you were unhindered by price? I bet your box would look quite a bit different to how it does now . Well, that’s the position celebrities find themselves in … but not only can they afford to buy whatever jewelry they like, they get given all sorts of cutting edge pieces to wear as a human advertisement.

But this post isn’t about why you should take acting classes - it’s about pearls! The classic look they create is a fave with so many celebs. We look at how you can copy celeb style, without having a million-dollar budget.

Ralph Lauren Long Pearl Necklace

Ralph Lauren Pearl Necklace ... or is it?!

We’re actually going to recommend pearls with a significant different difference to the celeb style ones in this case - because the Ralph Lauren number pictured actually features glass pearls! No, these aren’t pearls from the famed ‘Glass Sea’, or even with a hi-tech glass treating … they’re just glass baubles, pretty much :-). If you love the style, you can get the ‘real’ version at great prices - look for long pearl ropes, like the 36″ one pictured, and wrap them around your little brain-box.

Long Freshwater Pearl Rope

Mikimoto Million Dollar Pearls

Mikimoto Million Dollar Pearls - Are they worth it?

Sorry, we aren’t sure which celeb has the pleasure of wearing these … but Mikimoto, pearl-ophile extraordinaire, is really a celbrity in his own right.  No pearl has a diameter of less than 15mm, and all are AAA+ grade. While you won’t see a million dollar necklace for next to nicks, even on the net, you can get the next best thing - same quality and grade of pearls, same area, and only  a little smaller, as shown below, at about a 95% discount :-).

White South Sea Pearls

Michelle Obama’s Single String

Michelle Obama and her Pearlescent Personality

Michelle Obama’s signature string of pearls is not a budget-buster. They are the regular old freshwater variety, in keeping with the presidential family’s down to earth character. She usually wears larger diameter pearls, for a vintage chunky look - if you love Michelle Obama’s pearls, you’ll love this 9-10mm, 18” long freshwater pearl necklace.

Just Like Michelle Obama's Pearls

Pearls of the Bush

Sure, Pantone’s selection of 14-0848 Mimosa as the color of the year really just sounds like an excuse for a press release. Who cares whether it’s 14-0848, or 15-0939, really? Well, just take a look at the color before you make any cynical judgments!

Pantone's Color of the Year - Mimosa

If it looks familiar, it is because it is surprisingly similar to the color of Michelle Obama’s inauguration dress that caused so much controversy (a saddening event for people like myself who thought that a new President should be the focus of the day … but que sera ;-)). Pantone says that Mimosa embodies hope and reassurance in a climate of change … and coincidentally, that is just what we think the golden yellow of pearls can do! We look at our favourite golden pearl items, inspired by the colour of the year. All hail 14-0848!

We love the sunshine feeling that you get from golden pearls - they have the same subtlety and shine as that beautiful celestial body that brings us all light and hope … no, not Brad Pitt, the Sun! These golden pearl earrings are in the smaller size, making them a little more affordable - golden pearls are normally sourced from the South Sea, where the best quality pearls come from. You’ll save over 75% buying these ones, though.

Golden South Sea Pearl Necklace

Fancy paying $50,000 for a string of pearls? Really it isn’t much - one of Mikimoto’s latest creations went for $1,000,000. We don’t fancy paying that much - but we do love the idea of getting a $50,000, AAA grade, 11-13mm golden pearl string from the South Sea for only $11,000. The pearl color is light champagne, to celebrate getting such a bargain :-).

Presidential Grade Multicolored Pearls, including Golden colored

These presidential grades pearls are not only golden, but do incorporate the color of the year into their unique, elegant body. This necklace is of the smaller size pearls, and is well within the reach of the common gal … myself included! The 18 inch strand sits nice and high, for showing off purposes…

Plenty of pearl buying guides will tell you all about what region to buy pearls from, how much to spend, whether to get salt water or fresh water pearls … and will then leave you completely on your own when it comes to color, like a toddler looking at a sea of legs in a shopping center, but none of them belong to his Mom… We wouldn’t blame you for wailing at the top of your lungs!

Sure, pearl color choice is a personal decision. But what about when you’re buying for a gift for somebody … and they’re meant to be a “SURPRISE!!”. We give you some advice on which pearl colors will suit which people.

White Pearls - These look great with olive skin tones, and also with dark eyes and hair, like most Asian complexions. That doesn’t preclude everybody else though! Anybody that enjoys having a classical look will love white pearls. If you’re giving a pearl gift that will be designed for evening wear, white pearls are one of the best choices.

Black Pearls - Ironically, these look beautiful on both very pale people, and very dark African-American complexions. Black pearls are another traditional choice, and convey a little more luxury than do white pearls. Dark colors like black are also said to suit Scorpios and Sagittarians best.

Lavender Pearl Set

Lavender Pearls - Lavender, as a color, looks great with Oriental complexions, and also with standard white complexions with brunette hair. Lavender pearls say that you’re a unique, individualistic sort of person, but not necessarily bold and brash. Pastel colors like lavender are said to suit Cancers, Libras and Capricorns best.

Peach/Pink Pearl Earrings

Peach/Pink Pearls - Peach and pink pearls have a sweet, warm, childlike atmosphere. In fact, these are a great color of pearl to give if your gift is for a child. As with lavender pearls, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn gals are said to enjoy these pastel colors, and complexion wise, peach and pink suit Oriental and tanned, Caucasian complexions. They do tend to make pale blonde girls look a bit washed out, and are out of place on very dark skins.

Multicolored Pearl Necklace

Multicolored Pearls - Multicolored pearls say that you know what everyone else does - and you don’t want a bar of it! The elegance and simplicity of pearls gets its own funky, modern twist with multicoloured strands, and they are surprisingly cheap. Vibrant, varying colors like these are great on Gemini chicks ;-), and Aquarian girls will love the ‘I’m different to you!’ statement that they make. Brunette Caucasians, tanned Caucasians and chocolate brown girls look beautiful with multicoloured pearl strands.

Golden South Sea Pearls

Golden Pearls - Golden pearls make for a rich, classical look, even though the color is not a standard one for pearls. If you have a lady that likes to be different, but just a little bit, golden pearls are a great choice. Golden pearls suit most complexions, apart from pale blondes and Oriental skin tones. Gold is the traditional color of Leo, but suits Capricorns and Geminis just as well.

Fashion weeks are always a bit of hit and miss affair, for the common person like us. If your legs don’t end around your ears, you don’t have a makeup artist and haven’t spent hours perfecting a pout (not to mention, you don’t have a catwalk to wear the clothes on!), there sometimes isn’t much for you.

Paris Fashion Week this year is just over, with much the same results. We look at the styles we will be looking to incorporate into our wardrobes - and the ones we won’t!

Alexander McQueen Dress

This Alexander McQueen number was one of the most photographed at the show, it can be seen all over the web. A lovely mix of jewellery and fashion!

John Galianno's Feather Shoes

Louis Vuitton - aCOOLpulco !

John Galianno and Louis Vuitton had some big winners in foot wear - the exotic color of Louis Vuitton’s Acapulco-themed heels was only destroyed by the fact that you need to be able to balance on the pointes of your toes to wear them … but we look forward to slightly lower copies! We believe the feathered numbers are John Gallianno’s work but it is difficult to ell from the Spanish page they come from J. Great match for winter faux furs, though.

And now onto the ‘not’s …

All those ruffles just aren’t practical - not to mention, just aren’t cheap. An elegant shape and look, but better suited to the top of a wedding cake.

Fashion - but only for amputees

Only one point - where does your other arm go?

And maybe one more … how do you do it up?!

This Christian Dior and John Galianno collaboration is not quite a do-at-home job, is it?! Impressive, but again - for Fashion Week ONLY!!!

Pearl ropes - those long, flowing, silky pieces that only those not affected by the World War were able to wear at their height of fashion, in 1948, are on their way back into our jewelry boxes, hearts and minds!

Ashlee Simpson is helping re-popularize the pearl rope

1948 was a year of class and elegance, and pearls as well as diamonds enjoyed huge popularity (among those who could afford them, of course), back then. Pearl necklaces were the most popular form, and the several-strand pearl bib necklaces were popular at the beginning of the year. This eventually gave way to two opposite, but equally classy styles - the choker or collarette style of pearl necklace, and the pearl rope. These were usually teamed up with gloves with ruffled or feathered cuffs (divine!), a wicker basket bag, a small, close-fitting hat and fabric stoles. Enough to make any woman feel that she needed a cup of tea in her sitting room!

Michelle Obama's Pearl Rope at the Inaugural Ball

Pearl ropes are now coming back into fashion - Michelle Obama has helped put them back in the spotlight, with her layered pearl rope necklace at the Governor’s Ball at the White House recently, teamed up with a Peter Soronen with plenty of understated sparkle. Doesn’t Barack look so proud and happy in the picture?! Don’t you just want to fish Michelle out, and slip straight into that very classy get-up (with a presidential husband) ?

Pearl ropes are usually of 37 inches or longer, and even though they look like you might have to toss up between paying your mortgage this month, and buying one, they are actually quite inexpensive. Especially if you choose a strand with smaller diameter pearls (which are slimming anyway!). Black and white are equally beautiful, in my pearl-biased eyes!

54" Freshwater Pearl Rope

Pearl ropes are also an extremely versatile piece of jewelry - in fact, when you buy one, you can actually be buying three or four pieces of jewelry! You can have a jeweler insert several box clasps along the strand, allowing you to take the rope apart into bracelets, or several shorter necklaces.

So really, they are a bargain item! And no, the shiny pieces of plastic that sort of look a bit pearl-ish at the supermarket will not really do as evening wear .

Happy bridesmaids see-th I!

In the process of planning for your wedding, your usually rational thought processes are clouded by thoughts of traditional versus non-standard color schemes, bonbonniere, which flowers say what about you, and whether to let the DJ play ‘Time Warp’ during dancing. That is why many brides think it is actually easier to just give the same gift to every bridesmaid, than it is to pick individual ones. The trend towards getting the same gift for everybody is very quickly going the way of pink lace!

If you decide on getting the same gift for everybody, you need to take quite a few different tastes into account. If you are giving out earrings, does everyone have pierced ears? Will that non-drinking bridesmaid ever use the wine glasses you bought? Of course, buying different gifts does mean that you need to balance the value of one against another. However, as long as you spend similar amounts on everybody (and are lucky enough to have friends for whom the joy of your wedding day is more important than petty jealousy over someone else getting a better gift), there shouldn’t be any equality issues.

An easy to personalize gift - Makeup

You could:

• Buy makeup for all, but a different sort for every girl
• Get similar photo frames, each with a photo of you and her together
• Give them a hand in selecting the bridesmaid jewelry, and make that their gift
• Personalize a soap and lotion pack for everybody

One easy and modern way to solve the dilemma is to give a gift voucher. Those plain white envelopes with a storeperson’s writing, or a text-only email landing in your friend’s inbox are not very romantic or personal, so why not have the company that are making up your wedding invitations also create a personalized gift voucher? You can give this along with the ‘real thing’, or choose an online store like a jewelry store, or a bag or accessory store to deliver the gift vouchers by email, so your friends can save the pretty pictures you drew!

BelFiore Bridal also have some great tips for all of the tricky dilemmas that your friends will throw up for your wedding, as does Wedding Fanatic.