Pandora; Queen Bee Charm

This is my 3rd charm. I just couldn't wait to get this one!! In my last post on my "I Love You" charm, I love mentioned that I love two tone charms, silver with a bit of gold detail, so this bee charm for me was a must! . This is a smiley little bee with a 14ct gold crown (which I think is such a cute idea), and she has little legs, arms and antenae which I think make her so cute, and of course her stripes which is detailed by oxidising, and she has a shaped pointed (but a rounded point) bum to make it look like she has a sting. . She looks so sweet and happy with her little crown on! I guess there isn't really any deep or significant meaning as to why I bought this charm, however she just makes me smile when I look at her and her cheery little face, and she is just so cute!! If only real bees were that cute, I probably wouldn't dislike them as much!!

Pandora; I Love You Charm

This is the second charm I got. I got this off my boyfriend for Valentine's Day! . This is a silver charm with a 14ct gold cute little heart on one side, and on the other 3 sides it has I, Love & You. This is a really cute charm, and I love the two-tone charms. . More than anything this means a lot to me as it reminds me of my boyfriend and how sweet he is, and it reminds me I'm loved andthat he is a special person to me. It always makes me feel better to look at it while he is away, as it feels like I have something of him with me always! . Best Valentine's present ever! It will be with me forever :] . This retails at £60, so it is a little dearer but it has both gold and silver. He is naughty and spent too much on me just for valentines!! But it is a beautiful charm, and I really love it!

Pandora; Buddha Charm

I am a Pandora collector. I have only really started since Christmas! Anyway I thought I would do posts on my individual charms. . Pandora Charms are so cute, unique and really individual, I love them! . This one is my little Buddha, it was my first charm and he is really special to me. I am a firm believer in karma, and living a good life to be a good person, and I am not necessarily Buddhist, however I like what the Buddhas stand for and the peaceful nature of the religion. . Therefore, to me this charm is a way of carrying that way of thinking around with me, so if I ever get angry or have a negative way of thinking, and I see my little Buddha smiling back at me, it helps be to step back and to not be so rash with my actions. I know it's just a little silver charm, but it's what it symbolizes! . In terms of the charm, it is a really cute and has a lot of detail on him from his little toes, his clothes, his smiley little face, and also his moobs and big belly! it has oxidized detail on the charm as a form of shading! . I bought this for £23 before the price went up to £30... so don't tell me this little guy isn't lucky! :D

Pandora- Fabulous or a Rip Off

The photo is my own, so naturally as you can guess, I love my Pandora! I got a bracelet off my friend and so I was very excited to get started! She bought the bracelet from Florida, and it cost her £25/$40, while here in the UK they were £55/$88!! UK Pandora is over double the price it is in the USA! And for the UK fans it just got a whole lot worse, as tax has been risen by 2.5% which seems to have given them an excuse to raise their prices by silly amounts that exceed the 2.5% inflation! The £23 charms are now £30, the safety chain I wanted was £75 and it is now £100. I feel like they are taking advantage of the tax situation, that and their growing popularity. So with all these high end prices you can expect a high end service, right? Well no! My bracelet broke, and I was truly heartbroken. The screw that you put the charms over, and put a clip on to separate the charms, came away from the bracelet and was just sliding around. So I went to Pandora, and because it was a gift I didn't have a receipt, so I was prepared to pay for them to fix it, however they didn't even offer me that. They pretty much said that even though it was a Pandora bracelet, if I didn't buy it from that particular store then they wouldn't do anything. Very nice customer service. So I went to a jewelers that have resized a few rings for me and have done it very well, they also sell Pandora, so I thought they would be able to fix it for me, and they wouldn't charge me a huge amount. They did better then that, they exchanged my bracelet because Pandora does free repairs so they could take my bracelet and get it fixed and then sell it, and that would replace the bracelet they gave me. So I not only got a new bracelet then and there, I didn't pay a penny! Now that is high end customer service that I should have received from Pandora. It's like when they have your money they no longer care whether the product lasts or not! So why do people like Pandora, when they whop the prices up but don't have customer service to match? I think their charms are beautiful, the detail is fabulous, and the metal is good quality. They have a lovely range of charms, and it really could be classed as an investment. It is also nice to get an expensive piece of jewelery that is personal to you, but also one that family and friends can add to, so it is very sentimental. So is the sentimental nature, and quality of their jewelery worth the huge price hikes? My personal thoughts are that although I received bad customer service, and their price hikes are ridiculous, my bracelet means a lot to me, it is very sentimental and personal to me, so I will grudgingly carry on buying the charms, however not nearly as many as I would have with the previous prices! Leave a comment with your thoughts :]