Pearl Bracelets in Today’s Fashion Jewelry

A cultured pearl bracelet is an inexpensive and easy way to add some pizzazz and class to any outfit, and to your hands in particular.  With the wide variety of pearls available in the market today, you are sure to find one or more bracelets that suit your style and taste.  You can pick a bracelet that has a single strand of pearls, or a wider bangle that can have anyway from three to six rows of pearls.  Between natural and artificial colors, you have a wide range of colors to pick from.  Natural colors range from white to light pink or cream.  Once you factor in dyed pearls, your color palette includes golden, brown, green, blue and violet. If you can afford it, you might even consider buying yourself a set of natural pearls!

Here is a bit of information on the origin of pearls.  Pearls are one of two “organic” gems, the other one being coral.  These two gems have the unique honor of being the only two gems that are created by living organisms, as opposed to geological and inorganic process that are responsible for the creation of other known gemstones.  Pearls are created by and within shelled creatures called mollusks.  These creatures have a soft body of mantle that is protected by a hard shell.  Sometimes a foreign body such as a parasite or a particle of sand may enter the shell and irritate the mollusk.  As a protective measure, the creature secretes a substance to coat and thereby isolate the intruder.  This secretion is called nacre.  With time, nacre hardens and develops into the pearl that we know.  In rare cases, the irritant that is essential to trigger pearl development enters the shell under natural conditions only, with no help from humans.  The pearl that develops is called a natural pearl.  As you would expect, natural pearls are hard to come by and are therefore quite expensive.  Today, most of the pearls on the market are called cultured pearls.  To develop a cultured pearl, man inserts an irritant into the shell of the mollusk.  This can be either a tiny plastic bead, or a piece of mantle from another mollusk.  It is important to note that both natural and cultured pearls are both genuine pearls.  What distinguishes the two is the way in which pearl development starts.

Pearls are quite versatile in that they can be used in a variety of situations.  You can wear a string to pearls with a casual outfit for a fun night out on the town.  Or you can wear a whole set of pearls – necklace, sterling silver earrings, and bracelet – with an evening gown for a more formal occasion.  Remember, pearls are a timeless classic and it is hard to go wrong with pearl jewelry.