Pandora

I have a confession - until recently I didn't own a Pandora bracelet. Shocking I know, for any self respecting jewellery blogger, but when I owned my own jewellers we stocked another brand of charm beads and I just never got round to buying one for myself, even though I have wanted a Pandora bracelet for a long time. So I was delighted when Joshua James Jewellers sent me a Pandora bracelet to review in the post.
If you love jewellery as much as me, you will know the Pandora name, or even own a bracelet yourself. Pandora was founded in 1982 in Copenhagen and is known for its designer rings, necklaces, watches and most famously the customisable charm bracelets, and it is now one of the biggest jewellery companies in the World.

Pandora bracelets tell a story. Your story. With hundreds of bead charms to choose from you are really spoilt for choice. Each charm slides over the Pandora bracelet to create a truly unique piece of jewellery, reflecting your interests, your background, your family and your personality.

Joshua James Jewellers

Joshua James Jewellers is an official Pandora stockist and is based in East Yorkshire. The are proud to be an independent retailer and a British brand and since opening they have won numerous awards, such as Retail Jeweller of the Year at the British Jewellers Association. If you do not live in Yorkshire, all their beautiful jewellery is available to buy online from their website www.joshuajamesjewellery.co.uk too.

How To Chose The Right Size Pandora Bracelet



The traditional Pandora bracelet is a snake style silver chain bracelet, so I will talk about this style of bracelet throughout, although you can also get leather bracelets and bangles as well.

The ideal size of Pandora bracelet is 2cm bigger than your wrist measurement. This will allow you to build up your bracelet with enough room, whilst ensuring it does not fall of your wrist in the early stages. In my personal experience this style of charm bead bracelet can 'relax' a little over time so it is useful to think of this when you buy a bracelet.

Also something to think about, is do you want a completely full bracelet or would prefer a bracelet half full or only with a few charms? Also do you prefer a bracelet to be loose on your wrist or do you prefer a tighter fit? 

Once you have decided what the long term goal with your Pandora bracelet is likely to be, then the fun starts! You get to chose your bracelet, and then...*drum roll*... dum dum dum... the charms.

The Charms

A full Pandora bracelet will usually hold 15 to 20 charms, spacers/clips or safety chains. Spacers and clips add extra interest to the bracelet, help space the charms out and can hold them in place. Charms come in a variety of designs including charms with sparkling cubic zirconia, Murano glass charms and dangly charms. In order to prevent charms falling off and keep the bracelet on the wrist in the unlikelihood of the clasp coming undone, safety chains can be used.

There are hundreds of charms to chose from and new charms are released every season.

Choosing charms for each milestone of life is a popular way to build your bracelet. Some people also like to choose charms that are simply pretty and go with a colour scheme as well. Most bracelets are a mix of both of these.

My Bracelet

I have decided I want to build a pretty bracelet to include blue charms as I wear a lot of blue, some personal charms to me, such as a Mum charm and travel charms too.  A new charm that has recently come out is the 'Sky Mosaic Pave' charm. This charm caught my eye as it is very pretty and sparkly made up of blue and white stones. The other charm that I really like is the 'Sparkling Palm Tree' charm. 

As you can see when the charms are put together they twinkle in the light and look really lovely on the bracelet.