Today I would like to discuss Pandora’s recent Valentine’s Day 2015 release.  I have to say, I’m a little disappointed in this collection.  Where last years collection felt fresh, this year’s collection feels recycled and has a lack of imagination and creativity in my opinion.  Last year brought some interactive charms and what I mean by that is some charms actually moved, for example:

The Love Note opens up to say “To my Dear Valentine, Will you Be Mine?” and the Gift from the Heart features a heart shaped box that opens up to an actual 14ct gold ring with actual diamond.  I was in love with this collection!  Actually wish listed over half of these charms because I thought they were cute, whimsical and refreshing all at once.  Now we come to the 2015 Valentine’s Day collection and we see this:

Look familiar? That’s because these charms have been recycled.  The first charm is called Tumbling Hearts, the second two tone is called Message of Love and the third is Love All Around.  Enter their Disney counterparts:

I don’t want to sound rude or insensitive, but why would I want to purchase charms that look the same?  I can understand buying multiples of one charm in order to design a bracelet, and I can understand that perhaps not everyone is a Disney fan or likes hearts and perhaps that is why Pandora recycled these charms to maybe please everyone. However, it is very irritating (to me at least) that these have been replicated.  It’s as if Pandora’s designers didn’t put any effort into it, they just rehashed the Disney charms into the Valentine’s Day charms and called it a day.  The beauty of owning these charms is the exclusivity. Disney should get their very own exclusive charms and they should not look like rest of the collection and vice versa.  Of course this is only my humble opinion.

 

As for the pink Love All Around:

This one I don’t mind as much that it was recycled because it is a different color after all (i.e. the clear 2015 version), however the same still applies, there was not much thought put into this year’s Valentine Day collection and therefore my opinion still stands.  I decided not to include the Surrounded by Faith and Surrounded by Hope charms as technically they were released Autumn 2014 and I think by now you all know where I stand on that :P. My thanks to Mora Pandora as I borrowed the above images from her website, visit her site for more details on the Pandora brand.

 

And what of Pandora’s current trend in using pave in EVERYTHING?  Let’s not get started on that topic, as I have a few choice thoughts on that as well.  In a nutshell, I theorize that the pave charms are selling well, which is why Pandora keeps shoving them down our throats; and they are very pretty to look at as they are very blingy and eye catching. I’ll admit I’m the number one offender in liking them as I love anything that glitters and sparkles, but even I’m getting tired of seeing pave on what seems like 90% of charms coming out in the most recent collections.  It seems to me that lately Pandora’s designs feel tired, with a lack of imagination and originality.  I still love the Pandora brand and most likely always will as the brand was my first step into the European and modular charm trend.  I have found myself however starting to drift towards Trollbeads as their glass beads are beautiful and their designs remain original and refreshing.  What do you guys think?  Am I being too harsh on Pandora?