Today is Mothering Sunday here in the UK, and to celebrate I’m reviewing the limited edition Pandora Mother’s Day charm for 2016, the two-tone Bound by Love charm. 😀 I’m sure there are many lucky mothers around the country who have received this charm, or others from Pandora’s latest collection. ^^
This charm was released early in the UK to coincide with our Mothering Sunday – it will be released in most countries in April. In the meantime, you can get a sneak peek at this charm through this review! ^^
Pandora Bound by Love Review
Yes, this is yet another heart charm from Pandora that I’m reviewing – but it seems like hearts make up the bulk of what Pandora have released so far this year. However, the striking thing about this particular one is the 14kt gold bow detailing, which is gorgeous in person. The openwork design really allows each bow to stand out, as well.
However, I would have much preferred something other than pavé detailing around the edges of the heart. I am quite fussy about putting gold and pavé together, and I think this charm would have looked nicer with some ornate oxidised detailing (like the Filled with Romance) around the edges instead.
Nevertheless, this wasn’t a deal-breaker for me with this charm. The gold bows are very striking in person, and the pavé fades mostly into the background of the design. (Btw, that’s a yellow rose you can see in the background. I was using it as a background to some of the pictures and then discarded most of them – I liked this one so kept it in!)
It’s another 2D-style heart; the sides are smooth and plain, with a gold bow on each. It’s an openwork, so you can see the chain through the bow design when you put it on your bracelet.
It’s a limited edition charm, and will be sold while stocks last. This has become something of a tradition from Pandora for Mother’s Day, and this charm follows a series of two-tone Mother’s Day limited edition pieces: the Bear my Heart in 2013, the Vintage Heart in 2014 and the Always in my Heart in 2015. I have the first two, but gave the 2015 edition a miss as I wasn’t keen on the design or the script.
Styling
I have reviewed a lot of hearts so far this year, or so it seems – so I wanted to do something a bit more creative with this review! There’s a fair bit of excitement for the Alice in Wonderland charms coming out this season, so I thought I’d do a Queen of Hearts / Alice-themed bracelet to start with!
I had to go with what I had already in my collection, so this design and its Alice motifs are inevitably a little abstract. The Heart Beat pink enamel heart charm is perfect for the Queen of Hearts, and the Bound by Love and 2015 Club charm complement it well – the two-tone bow and silver crown detailing add to the sense of royalty, too!
The Teapot, Celebration Cake and Tea Cup charms represent the Mad Hatter’s tea party (the Celebration Cake also towers over the other charms and in this context works quite well in terms of things being topsy-turvy sizes in the Alice world – plus it has another big heart on top!) and the Easter Bunny is the closest I could come to the White Rabbit. The Butterfly Kisses also indirectly represent the caterpillar and simply the vibrant colours of the world in Alice. Finally, I bracketed the whole design with the moonstone cabochon spacers – to represent the whole thing being a dream at the end. ^^
Next, we have two designs from my own collection. I asked people in a previous post whether they thought this charm would look nice on my two-tone bracelet, which has no pavé on it so far. Opinion was pretty evenly split, not giving me much to go on, haha.
It was nice, but I am still fighting a desire to hold on to that really classic, pavé-free feel that the bracelet had before. So the other possibility is to add it to this bracelet design, which you’ve seen a lot of in recent reviews. The gold makes a nice complement to the Cinderella blues and it seems fitting to have a dash of opulence for my centrepiece.
You’ll also notice my rather lovely Vienna Opera Ball charm on this bracelet – obviously it will need another dangle on the other side to balance it out, although I haven’t decided what yet!
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Conclusion
The limited edition aspect of the charm doesn’t particularly add to its desirability for me, as its design is a bit too generic to make it feel truly collectable. Nevertheless, it is another nice, pretty heart design from Pandora, and there’s a good amount of gold in it, too.
The Bound by Love charm is £70 in the UK. If you’re in the UK, you can buy it alongside the rest of the Pandora Mother’s Day collection from authorised retailer John Greed.
Are you a fan of this design? Have you purchased it, or is on your wish list?
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