[robinc]

I am a new member. This all started because I wanted a pair of larger earrings to go with a small strand of Akoyas I inherited. So I decided to do a bit of research, which may have been a mistake . I had no idea what varieties of pearl lovelies were out there.

I still haven't selected my earrings.

But now I've discovered Tahitians and SSPs.

I was thinking about either a single round Tahitian on a chain, like this
http://www.pearlparadise.com/detail.aspx?ID=123
plus some matching earrings, or maybe a strand of Baroque Tahitians with matching earrings. (Or both, eventually .)

However, I am blonde (natural, but enhanced ) and very fair-- blue eyes and lots of freckles. Do you think that most Tahitians would be overwhelming? I've seen some lighter, silver-colored Tahitians posted on this site, but haven't seen them on any of the commerical sites I've visited. But perhaps those would be better for me?

All opinions and advice welcome!

--Robin

[aerinha]

I am very pale, porcelain to be exact, and while I'm naturally a brunette and look fine that way, I have gone golden blonde and am not deep auburn red with green/blue eyes and the pearls I look best in are very dark tahitians with green overtones, which is funny because I look vile in green unless my hair is red. I have gray tahitians with rose and green overtones and they don't look nearly as nice on me as the really dark ones. Hope that helps.

[purepearls]

Tahitians are my favorite pearls and I am naturally blonde. While my skin is quite olive, I feel Tahitians pearls look lovely on fair skin! I have a Tahitian baroque necklace that has gorgeous peacock overtones and it looks perfect on my fair, blue-eyed, blonde sister.

I think a pearl with an aqua overtone would look beautiful on fair skin!

[Casey.R]

I almost posted a pic but I'm too shy and the photo didn't do the pearls justice anyway cause it's too far away. I'm pretty fair skinned though and they don't clash with my complexion at all.

[GemGeek]

Robin,

If you look good in white gold, you should look good in the silver/platinum color Tahitians. Personally, they are my favorite.

Use the search feature at the left to look for silver tahitians. If you call the pearl companies that come up, they can personally select silver tahitians from their stock, if that is what you fancy.

Or go shopping and see what's out in jewelry stores. You can find out for sure what color you like best. You may find that black Tahitian pearls with colored overtones don't look black at all

You may end up with each color anyway! Especially if you keep hanging around here...

Cheers,
Blaire

[Ashley]

Ok, my own two cents:

I also am blonde and fair skinned- I have a touch of red undertones to my skin, and the black Tahitians just don't do much for me unfortunately... It's really too bad as I think they're just GORGEOUS and so exotic looking!

I find that the tones that really flatter me the most and are more versatile with my wardrobe are Chocolates, Bronze tones and Silvery-Blues/Aquas usually look best on me. They aren't so dark that they optically minimize on my neck. But then, I can't wear the Golden South Sea pearls, either- yellow is not my color either

Definitely shop around and try on as many pearls as you can to see which tones flatter you the best!

[xeresana]

I have baroque Tahitians with a dark body color and peacock overtones and I think they look lovely on me. (Naturally blonde and pale.) I also have some Cook Island keishi pearls with strong overtones that are really lovely. They're one of my favorite strands to wear.

[robinc]

Thanks so much, y'all!

If there's a consensus here, I guess it's that I really need to try on some pearls! I doubt I'll get much of a selection at nearby B&M stores, though. Still, even a strand or two would give me SOME idea!

--Robin C.

[robinc]

The followup:

We needed to go to "the city" today to pick up an ottoman I had special ordered ages ago (and kinda forgotten about ).

While there, I went to a fairly upscale B&M jeweler to look at Tahitians "in person." They had three strands of Mikis in three different overtones, luckily enough!

The ones that, by FAR, looked the best with my coloring were the ones with the silver overtone. So, after I order my Akoya earrings , I'm going to start saving my coins for a Tahitian stud and pendant set in the silver.

I also looked at earrring sizes while there, although the biggest they had were 10mm. They made me realize that 10-11mm would be plenty big for earstuds-- I guess I have pretty small ears :-).

I also looked at Miki Akoya studs-- they had a full selection of grades, from Miki A through AAA. The AAA were beautiful, but the 8mm were more $$ than my 1.2 ct diamond studs were . I probably should post this in a different thread, but how can I expect Pearl Paradise, et al Akoyas will compare to Mikis? Will their AAA be as nice or nicer than the Miki A or A+ quality?? Or do I have to get Hanadamas for that?

Thanks bunches-- you all have been most helpful so far .

--Robin C.

[Josh]

Tahitians for blondes? Yeah, blondes are OK but I prefer brunettes.

[CLICLASP]

There are so many hues in Tahiti pearls, that there is always one that fits any skin and hair color of the girl ; I don't worry too much about it, just try peacock, platinium, pinkish and else overtones and make your own idea

In my opinion, Tahiti pearls highlight all types of skin/hair/ eye color...