# I have no room for ugly jewlery **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 15, 2013, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-no-room-for-ugly-jewlery/676345 "2013-12-15T02:23:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2013, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-no-room-for-ugly-jewlery/676345/21 "2013-12-15T16:08:42Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Is it any different from the “pashmina” scarf craze a few years ago? Those things went for \>$100-now you can buy them for $6. > It is all marketing-the art of convincing people they need a useless item:mad: I have a lovely pale cream pashmina, I love the look and the feel of the silk. I also keep it in my travel gear in case I find myself needing a really light wrap because it turned cool, or in case I need to cover my head. At least a pashmina is _useful_, a jangly bracelet is not. ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2013, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-no-room-for-ugly-jewlery/676345/22 "2013-12-15T16:42:19Z")
> [@slightly\_askew](#): > > I agree those Pandora type charm bracelets are ugly. I think they are invented for people (often men) who don’t know what to get their wife or girlfriend or mother. With this they can buy the bracelet and a charm or two for this holiday and then for each of the next ten or so holidays/birthdays they can buy another charm or two until they fill up the bracelet. My thought has always been that charm bracelets are transitional, for women that are (finally) getting rid of their stuffed animals. I’d say this bracelet was for a low-level offender, maybe one or two animals from childhood with a lot of personal history, early 30s. Someone with a freaking menagerie would want something with big, noisy, colorful charms, before completing the final transition to cat lady. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2013, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-no-room-for-ugly-jewlery/676345/23 "2013-12-15T17:47:42Z")
Oh, and now they have the jelly bean diamonds. There are real, deeply colored, diamonds that go for hundreds of thousands of dollars, these are not they. They are artificially colored using heat and lasers, like the blue topaz craze from a few years ago. They are made from inferior diamonds of, originally, poor color and clarity. The ones with multiple inclusions are called “strawberry” because the inclusions look like seeds. Some have the cracks and inclusions filled with resin, like that used for small windshield cracks. ---
**Author:** ![KaylaLynn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@KaylaLynn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KaylaLynn)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2013, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-no-room-for-ugly-jewlery/676345/24 "2013-12-15T18:46:59Z")
> [@Motorgirl](#): > > Me three. (four?) I was a bit skeeved out by it as well when I saw the commercial. Glad I’m not the only one. Those charms are hideous. Pandora bracelets aren’t the least bit pretty either. Just goes to show how people will buy anything if it’s marketed well. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2013, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-no-room-for-ugly-jewlery/676345/25 "2013-12-15T19:38:30Z")
All the female administration staff in my office building are into Pandora stuff. Yes, it’s hideous. But I keep my opinion secret. You don’t mess with the people who process your paychecks! ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2013, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-no-room-for-ugly-jewlery/676345/26 "2013-12-15T19:56:35Z")
> [@CrazyCatLady](#): > > I’d rather have to wear it than the [typical modern bridal set](http://www.zales.com/search/index.jsp?categoryId=2109136&fg=&ff=PAD&fv=Stone+Type%2FDiamond&fd=Stone+Type&fg=&ff=Taxonomy&fv=2109136&fd=Taxonomy&fg=&ff=PAD&fv=Ring+Style%2FBridal+Set&fd=Bridal+Set&size=96&&cp=13337264.3261685). The Pandora bracelets are unattractive, but those rings are enough to take the sight out of a good eye. Are those really that ugly, or are they just poorly photographed? [This one is nice](http://www.zales.com/product/index.jsp?productId=17243966&page=1&fd=Taxonomy&fd=Bridal+Set&size=96&fv=2109136&fv=Ring+Style%2FBridal+Set&ff=Taxonomy&ff=PAD) > [@gigi](#): > > The worst is the commercial where the guy dating the little girl’s mom gives the little girl an open butt necklace – “Mommy, it’s just like yours!” I know it’s wrong, but the buttness makes me think of men who date women with children to get access to the children. This seems to be a widespread reaction. ---
**Author:** ![Happyasaclam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/7c8e57/32.png) [@Happyasaclam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happyasaclam)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2013, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-no-room-for-ugly-jewlery/676345/27 "2013-12-15T20:26:01Z")
> [@Motorgirl](#): > > I’ve told my husband I’ll divorce him if he ever gives me a Pandora bracelet. Or one of those Jane Seymour Open Butts necklaces. Oh gawd I hate those Jane Seymour things!!, Great description by the way:p ---
**Author:** ![hellpaso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecae2f/32.png) [@hellpaso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hellpaso)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2013, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-no-room-for-ugly-jewlery/676345/28 "2013-12-15T21:27:55Z")
> [@Happyasaclam](#): > > Oh gawd I hate those Jane Seymour things!!, > Great description by the way:p YES! We’ve called those butt/ass necklaces ever since the very first commercial! Who buys that crap? ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2013, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-no-room-for-ugly-jewlery/676345/29 "2013-12-15T22:54:03Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Is it any different from the “pashmina” scarf craze a few years ago? Those things went for \>$100-now you can buy them for $6. Not exactly. The term “pashmina” originally described cashmere made from the wool of Pashmina goats. You are not going to find a scarf made of this material for $6. However, [use of the term “pashmina” isn’t regulated in the US](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pashmina#Pashmina_products) so any scarf that contains wool – or even a scarf that _doesn’t_ contain wool – could be marketed as a “pashmina”. You can get these for cheap because they’re made of cheap material. ---
**Author:** ![Battle\_Pope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Battle\_Pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Battle_Pope)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2013, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-no-room-for-ugly-jewlery/676345/30 "2013-12-15T23:52:06Z")
My wife has a Pandora bracelet\*\*. I think she got it to appease some of her older relatives who refuse to get her a gift card for her birthday/xmas. She only wears it to family functions and a quick “Oh, you could get her an inexpensive charm for her bracelet.” is an easy way to deal with them. \*\*I’ve never gotten her a charm for it - could be why we are still married 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-no-room-for-ugly-jewlery/676345/31 "2013-12-16T00:04:42Z")
So that’s what it is. I was at the mall today and noticed a jewelry store called Pandora and thought “that’s an awkward name!”. I love handmade artisanal jewelry, specially because it is cheap (10 dollars for a bracelet is my limit). I don’t own any real jewelry, and don’t wear wedding rings. I have told my husband that the quickest way to get rid of me is to spend money on jewelry or flowers, I will divorce his stupid ass stat. Yeah, and that Jane Seymour thing always looked like an ass to me. Gah, people buy anything, is like they don’t work hard for their money. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-no-room-for-ugly-jewlery/676345/32 "2013-12-16T00:13:22Z")
I’ve never seen Pandora jewelry before. “Ugly” is putting it mildly. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-no-room-for-ugly-jewlery/676345/33 "2013-12-16T02:47:17Z")
Some of the necklaces and the earrings are pretty, but the charm bracelets are pretty tacky looking. I’m a big fan of [1928](http://www.1928.com/) myself. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-no-room-for-ugly-jewlery/676345/34 "2013-12-16T03:13:24Z")
The charm bracelets seems to be a conversational piece at my office. Someone catches a glimpse of another’s bracelet and says, “Oh, we’ve got the same charm!” Then that person launches into a long-ass story about where they got it (usually involving a fight with some salesperson). Then someone else talks about the charm they want. Then the lady overhearing the conversation from the far-off cubical can exclaim how she already got that one. Ya’ll wanna see it? Then someone can talk about the knock-off they saw at Stein Mart. It gives women of a certain age an excuse to giggle like schoolgirls when there are no new pictures of cute grandbabies to squeal over. While the rest of us women vow to never become like them. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-no-room-for-ugly-jewlery/676345/35 "2013-12-16T12:03:16Z")
My fiancee loves Pandora, she designed and bought one specifically for our upcoming wedding. She has a few others that she wears on a regular basis and I think they look great on her. Different squids for different kids I guess. ---
**Author:** ![scareyfaerie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scareyfaerie/32/3135_2.png) [@scareyfaerie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scareyfaerie)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-no-room-for-ugly-jewlery/676345/36 "2013-12-16T12:26:13Z")
A lot of my friends have joined the Pandora craze, I don’t like the jewellery much at all. I suppose there are plenty of people who like it as it’s so popular, but I wouldn’t want to wear it - luckily my family knows me well enough to stay clear of that kind of thing. My friend’s sister prefers [Troll Beads](http://www.trollbeads.com/united-kingdom/en-gb) but I think they’re every bit as ugly as Pandora. Still, it makes her happy and it relieves the need to think of a gift idea every xmas, birthday etc. ---
**Author:** ![congodwarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-no-room-for-ugly-jewlery/676345/37 "2013-12-16T12:33:49Z")
I will say that I did once buy a bead (custom made) for my niece’s bracelet and I was happy to do so. She was still in 8th grade and had just been accepted to the high school basketball team. So I had a bead made with her jersey number on one side and her nickname on the other and the background color was one of her school colors. So, for something like that’s it is pretty cool and the custom made bead was hugely less expensive than either the Pandora or the Chamilia beads. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-no-room-for-ugly-jewlery/676345/38 "2013-12-16T15:03:51Z")
I went into a Jared about two years ago to have a link removed from a necklace and was walking around while the repair was being done. I was startled to see that about a third of the store had been devoted to these beads. I guess the economy was so bad that nobody was buying actual jewelry? People could still go to a jewelry store and feel they’d bought jewelry. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-no-room-for-ugly-jewlery/676345/39 "2013-12-16T15:19:12Z")
> [@slightly\_askew](#): > > [We call them the two butt necklace.](http://www.kay.com/en/kaystore/open-hearts-by-jane-seymour%C2%AE-100083--1/1000830000/100063/1/0/0/0/100063.100066.100083) I’ve always heard them called the “tits-n-ass” collection. Someone MUST be buying them because a new commercial pops up every Xmas and Valentine’s Day. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-no-room-for-ugly-jewlery/676345/40 "2013-12-16T15:26:41Z")
> [@slightly\_askew](#): > > I agree those Pandora type charm bracelets are ugly. I think they are invented for people (often men) who don’t know what to get their wife or girlfriend or mother. With this they can buy the bracelet and a charm or two for this holiday and then for each of the next ten or so holidays/birthdays they can buy another charm or two until they fill up the bracelet. This is probably correct, but it’s not necessarily a bad thing. _Many_ people are hard to buy for, but if you know that someone collects cow-shaped creamers, then you can be looking for a new one all year long. And the charms are supposed to have some meaning to the recipient. But I checked the website yesterday. Each charm was about forty bucks, for something that’s about half an inch in diameter. Manufacturing cost is probably less than a tenth of that. And you can’t just buy them anywhere but are forced to go to their stores. My brother buys a new Hallmark ornament for their tree every year, and that’s basically the same idea. > [@gigi](#): > > The worst is the commercial where the guy dating the little girl’s mom gives the little girl an open butt necklace – “Mommy, it’s just like yours!” I know it’s wrong, but the buttness makes me think of men who date women with children to get access to the children. And as for this commercial, I felt the creepiness the first time I saw the commercial. And not based on the “buttness”, but that the guy was buying girl the same necklace as her mother. What’s next? Matching mother-daughter wedding rings? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-no-room-for-ugly-jewlery/676345.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-no-room-for-ugly-jewlery/676345.md?page=3)