Today I’d like to discuss how we jewelry fiends pick out our Essence beads.  I would like to bring up the fact that when picking a natural gemstone Essence bead, it is best to go to an actual store.  If you order online, someone else will pick any old bead and ship it out to you.  You will miss out on getting to see all the different nuances from each individual bead. Here is a small example:

I’ll call the left bead, bead number one and go from there to bead number four on the far right.  Notice how bead no. 1 is more opaque and milky, and looks like it has a solid darker bottom right by where my watermark hits it.  Beads no.2 and 3 look almost identical and bead no. 4 is more clear and translucent.  These beads are all made from the same source, in this case agate, and yet they are so different.  By going to a store, you’ll be able to go through all the beads and pick out the one that you like the best! Here is another example:

Here is the Balance moonstone bead. Again, each bead is different.  Each bead has a different shade of grey, the first one is a basic grey, the second bead has a bluish tone to it and looks a bit opaque, the third bead is a darker shade of grey, and the last bead has a blue fleck in it.  You would not be able to see these differences unless you go to a Pandora store yourself and pick out your bead.  A quick reminder as well, that this bead is on the retirement list and if you haven’t picked one up yet, now would be a good time as I’m sure they will be gone for good.

I hope this FYI has been helpful to all my bead fiends out there, happy hunting!!