Tell Us Your Favorite Pearl Color For A Chance To Win!

Monday, August 23rd, 2010

Lately, we have been focused on creating sets of solid pearl color items that you can mix, match or even break up to share with friends.  With so many pearl colors, we occasionally have trouble picking the best assortments for future designs.  From our “Earresistible” pearl earring sets to our “Perfect 10″ set of ringed pearl bracelets, we are always trying to come up with the next great idea for bring a little more color into your life.

With this in mind, we would love to ask you one simple question…

[Click here if you cannot see this poll]

We are going to sweeten the deal by making it well worth one very lucky person's time.  We are going to keep this poll open for two weeks and will choose one fortunate pearl girl shortly after to win our upcoming set of multi-color pearl dangle earrings ($75 MSRP) in either our light or dark pearl colors. If you want to enter all you need to do is add your email address along with your vote.  All you need to do is answer a simple question and leave your email if you would like to be entered to win.

Don't worry, we are not going to add you to any mailing lists (although you can subscribe to ours here) and will never share your email address with anyone.  We just plan to use this to let you know if you were the winner!

Best of luck and thanks so much for sharing with us!



  Cherry, Wildflower and Sunrise Pearl Jewelry Collections!

Wednesday, July 7th, 2010

We wanted to show off our latest advertisements of our colorful pearl jewelry and tell you a little bit more about each collection!

Very Cherry Freshwater Pearl Jewelry from Honora PearlsThe Cherry Collection

This bold new color of Freshwater Pearls has quickly become our hottest new collection of Pearl Jewelry.  The Cherry Collection has become a “must have” for Pearl Girls who want to make a statement.  Featured in our new “Very Cherry!” ad, our ringed pearls are the clear favorite in this up and coming collection.  You can see all three pieces featured in this advertisement from the New York Times here or visit our collections page to see the entire cherry collection!

Wildflowers Freshwater Pearl Jewelry from Honora PearlsThe Wildflowers Collection

Spring and Summer pastels are back with Honora’s new Wildflowers Collection!  This assortment of vibrant colors is L’array’s new take on our popular Multi-Pastel necklace that helped kick off the pearl color trend along side our Chocolate and Dark-Multi collections.  This selection is the perfect companion to your favorite summer dress, but still has strong enough colors to work year round.  Check out the baroque pearl necklace featured in our New York Times ad or view the entire Wildflowers Collection of Pearl Jewelry.

619869HON_Loose_x4.inddThe Sunrise Collection

Rise and shine with L’array’s rich color combination of pearl colors including our new favorite, Cherry!  This selection of vivid colors will instantly remind you of the array pink, reds and oranges that we all associate with the rising sun.  We invite you to see the baroque pearl necklace featured in our New York Times Sunrise advertisement or you can view the entire Sunrise Collection here.

You can find all of these collections and more at The Honora Store or at your Local Honora Jeweler.  Let us know which of our latest collections is your favorite as well as what you think of our latest advertisements in the comments section!



  Backstage Pass! Honora’s Design Director Discusses Upcoming Ideas!

Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010

Julie Lamb, Head Designer for Honora PearlsHey there fellow Pearl Girls!  As promised here is our second blog post from inside the Design Department.  Thank you to all the ladies who wrote in last month to welcome me to the Honora family and who shared with me their pearly wishes! Longer lengths and more blues, I hear ya!

As those of you who received our monthly newsletter already know, almost everyone in the office is working frantically on the annual trade show in Las Vegas. It’s the countdown to JCK and the whole industry is scrambling to wrap up their new collections and to unveil them to the world.  The Design department, on the other hand, is a very different story.  While everyone else is focused on the now, we are already living in the future working out collections for 2011! It should be nice and quiet here next week…

What will be different at Honora next year? While we are just starting to work on this, I can tell you that we are looking to infuse more metal into the line alongside our popular pearl color mixes.  The past few years we have focused on creating our exclusive colored pearls, now we are ready to take this to the next level.  One of our thoughts for 2011 are to expand upon the popularity of these strands by adding sterling silver designs and gemstones to differentiate the line.

Just to get you thinking, here is what what we’re inspired by so far….

  • Honora’s heritage: learning all about the company is inspiring me to design a collection that celebrates Honora’s history in the industry, we are after all heading into our 64th year!  Retire at 65?!  I think not!  We are just getting started!  The goal of this signature collection is to take traditional Honora elements that you know and love and present them in a fresh way.  Think modern classic.
  • I don’t know about you, but I am absolutely crazy for Coin pearls! What a sophisticated shape! I love how smooth they are and how they lay perfectly flat against the skin. We are toying with the idea of complimenting these unique beauties with coordinating semi precious stones.
  • Summer’s coming and I know I should be out looking for deals on swimwear, but the magazines are already showing Fall runway and I can’t help but be inspired by the wild new accessories! Croco, python, leopard, oh my!  I have a sneaking suspicion that something sexy will slither its way into Honora for 2011. These luxury materials easily translate to exciting new textures for sterling (& way more animal friendly in case you were worried!)
  • There’s no time like Honora time! Never miss Ralph and Joel on QVC again! The girls and I are are working to make Honora one to “watch” as the design team plays up some ideas that really “tick”!

Ok, that’s enough top secret info for the moment.  Let me know which of these concepts you are most excited to see come to life in the comments section.  Perhaps I can arrange a sneak peek next month… tune in next time!  Your Girl with the Pearls – Julie



  Meet the Newest Addition To Honora- Design Director Julie Lamb

Tuesday, May 4th, 2010

Julie Lamb, Head Designer for Honora PearlsGreetings from NYC! I would like to introduce myself to you. My name is Julie Lamb and I am pleased to announce that I am Honora’s new Design Director! I would like to share a little bit about myself with you and hope that you will feel free to do the same.

I grew up in Brooklyn, New York (Canarsie to be exact) and started making jewelry at a young age. My family belonged to the Seaview Pool for 3 years, all of which I hated- except for 5pm when the day camp would close and I would scrounge around under their picnic tables and find beads that dropped into the sand. I would collect them, take them home and wash them off, then sort them in Hot Wheels carrying cases- quite a process! Not only did that keep me busy for hours (when I could have been fighting with my brother) I was also producing stuff my mom would wear, so she was pretty happy!

I first heard of the High School of Art & Design through a friend’s older brother, I knew I had to go there! No, it’s not “the Fame school” (Laguardia) there was no dancing in the hallways- just design.  My best friend Renee introduced me to Sculpey modeling compound and Canal Street plastics.  I was making jewelry out of acrylic and beads as well as keys, bottle caps, nail polish, nuts and bolts from my dad’s garage- anything that wasn’t nailed down.  After graduating A&D as an illustration major I entered Syracuse University’s Metalsmithing program. I learned soldering, casting, wax carving and other bench working basics as well as doing a semester abroad in Florence.

I began working right after college for a few family run businesses like Erickson Beamon, Robert Rose, and Michael Anthony. I then started working for larger companies and designed for Nine West Jewelry and Avon. I can definitely say my varied experiences in different facets of the industry have led me to the right place- here with you!

I look forward to blogging with you on a monthly basis. I would like to use this platform to preview new ideas and get your (honest) feedback. I’ll also be giving you a behind the scenes account of what we’re working on, inspiration we’ve found, upcoming shows and places we’ve gone all in the name of pearls! Most importantly our conversations will keep you up to date with what’s coming next for Honora (before all the other kids see it!!!) and keep me up to date with what you really want from Honora. Please be encouraged to leave requests in the comments section, I promise I will read them!

See you next month!  Your Girl With the Pearls, Julie



  Freshwater Pearls Made Simple | What Makes Freshwater Pearls Different?

Tuesday, April 20th, 2010
A wide range of natural colors and shapes will grow in the same mollusk.

A wide range of natural colors and shapes will grow in the same mollusk.

This is part of the Freshwater Pearls Made Simple series where we offer short posts to demystify this unique variety of Cultured Pearls.  Be sure to visit our post on Confusing Words You Need to Know if some of these terms are unfamiliar.

While we will be sure to explain many of these in their own posts, we wanted to take a second to highlight some of the features that set Freshwater Pearls apart from other varieties of Cultured Pearls.

More Pearls Per Mollusk – Traditional Akoya and South Sea mollusks offer one (occasionally two) pearls at a time using the bead nucleation process where Freshwater Pearl mollusks can offer nearly 40 pearls at a time using the newer tissue nucleation process for cultivating pearls.

More Pearl Colors – Freshwater Pearls offer the widest range of naturally occurring colors.  You will often find White, Peach, Pink, Plum and Purple pearls side by side in the same mollusk.

More Pearl Shapes – The combination of a smaller nucleus, more pearls and larger mollusks has created several new and popular shapes including buttons, baroque, ringed and near round pearls.  Position within the mollusk will often go a long way towards determining the shape.

More Pearl Sizes – Larger mollusk sizes along with the newer tissue nucleation process for cultivating pearls offers the widest range of sizes spanning 4MM to 18MM.

More Pearl Nacre – Using tissue from small mollusks instead of mother-of-pearl beads to start pearl growth creates a cultured pearl that is over 90% nacre, the closest to naturally occurring pearls.

More Affordable Prices – The combination of more pearls per mollusk, no mother-of-pearl bead and a wider range of shapes has helped make Freshwater Pearls the best value in Cultured Pearls.

We hope this helps you get a better feeling for what makes Freshwater Pearls a unique and exceptional value in the pearl world.  Let us know if you have any questions in the comments section.  We will be sure to answer them there or add them to future Freshwater Pearls Made Simple posts.