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At the mention of pearls, most people will think of white.
No doubt the most-loved gem of all times most commonly come in white or cream colour, natural and cultured black pearls are also fairly common nowadays.
Black pearl earrings and necklaces have becoming increasingly popular in recent years and they can look just as elegant and classy as their white counterpart.
1) Tahitian Black Pearls
Black pearls are also commonly referred as Tahitian pearls. It is precisely named so because black pearls mostly come from Tahiti and it’s surrounding islands. It is French Polynesia’s largest export item, forming over 55% of the country’s annual exports.
They are grown from a special type of oyster call Pinctada margaritafera, also known as the black lipped oyster, which are commonly found in the French Polynesia.
2) How Are Black Pearls Formed?
Pearls are formed in the oyster when a piece of sand or irritant gets stucked between the shells of the oyster.
In order to protect itself from the ‘intruder’, the oyster will quickly begin to cover the irritant with nacre, also known as mother of pearl, which is the beautiful white and silver surface of the interior shell. Layers and layers of nacre around the irritant will eventually become a beautiful pearl.
With the black lipped pearl oyster, it has a thick band of black around the edges of the interior shell (thus the name of black lip), and if the pearl is formed near the black lip, it will adopt the colour.
Black lipped oyster-Image credit: todropscience.tumblr.com
Black pearls are saltwater pearls and thus only 1 pearl can be grown in each oyster. Nevertheless, the supply for black pearls is abundant, so they can be rather affordable for the masses.
3) Types Of Black Pearl Hues
Most black pearls are not really black in colour, they look more green, gray, or dark purple in color.
The proximity of the pearl to the black lip will determine the intensity of the black hue. If it is formed a little further away from the black lip and more towards the white portion, then the hue will be more silverish grey looking.
4) Artificially Dyed Pearls
Other exotic natural pearl colours like blue, champagne, pink, green, and even light purple pearls do exist, but there are mostly rare and difficult to grow.
It takes a long time to collect enough of these pearls that are of same sizes and shades, not to mention that such pieces will come in sky-high prices because of their rarity.
Many of the coloured pearls are being coloured artificially, that includes common colors like cream, white and black.
While artificially dyed pearls can look equally great, they should come in cheaper prices than the natural or cultured ones, so do take note when you are out buying pearl earrings!
5) How To Wear Black Pearl Jewelry?
If you want your black pearl jewelry to be the focal piece, the key here is to create contrast. The lighter your skin is, the darker hue you should go for.
Black pearl earrings and necklaces will usually match women with fair to olive skin. If you have dark skin, then you might want to go for a lighter hue black pearl, since dark hues will not cause the earrings or necklace to ‘pop’ when you wear them.
If you are wearing black pearl earrings, the colour of our hair can also play up or play down the earrings. If you have very dark or black hair, then it’s harder for the black pearl earrings to stand out.
In this case, the best way to wear them is to tie or bun up your hair so that your earrings can shine.
If you already own a set of white pearl necklaces and earrings (you really must if you haven’t!), I will encourage you to get another set in black pearls, because not only are they timeless, they will help you look elegant in a different way!
Just imagine.
Will you go for white pearl earrings and necklace with red dress or black pearl earrings and necklaces with the red dress? What if it’s a green dress? Which one will you wear?
Tough isn’t it?
Why choose when you can wear both on different occasions? I’m sure you get picture. 🙂