Buying Pearls Abroad???

Many people have purchased pearls while on holiday as they can be a fun souvenir.
If you are planning to do this then we would recommend taking along a pearl strand that you know is good quality so that you can compare the new pearls to them. However, if you do not have any pearls then below are a few points to help you out.

A very easy way to tell if a pearl is genuine or not is to gently rub 2 pearls together.
Genuine pearls should feel slightly grainy, whereas imitation pearls will be perfectly smooth.

Now when it comes to buying pearls there are 6 key factors to consider.

Colour. There is no point in purchasing beautiful pearls if they won’t suit you! Stark white doesn’t look good on everyone! Try to look for the subtle over tones of pink, cream or blue.
Size. Big isn’t always better!
Shape. Irregular shaped pearls will best suit someone with prominent features, and for someone with very fine and regular features choose round pearls.

Surface perfection. A few marks give the pearls the hallmark of genuineness, but very blemished pearls have less value.
Thickness of nacre. If you roll a good quality pearl around your palm you should not be able to see any ‘dull’ areas. If you can spot some then the layers of nacre in that area are very few.

Lustre. Always choose the pearls with the deepest lustre within the budget set, if necessary compromising on size and blemishes within the pearls, as it is the lustre which will light up the wearer’s face and will therefore be most flattering. All the pearls we use in Coleman Douglas Pearls jewellery are individually chosen for their lustre. This is very important, as dull pearls however big will do nothing for their owner’s beauty, they will just look heavy to the eye.