VCA ~ Van Cleef Arpels Discussion thread!

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I really need help from you lovely ladies. I went into a local boutique hoping to try on RG pave earrings to see how they pair with my 20 GMOP. As I walked in rather than booking an appointment, my usual SA wasn’t in and the earrings which I wanted to try were out of stock- apparently no stock left where I live. However, the SA who was helping me suggested that I try RG frivole pave earrings (small) and surprising I really liked them. I say “surprisingly” because I didn’t really like the pink sapphire pairs when I tried them on about a year ago- I know I am in minority as I know these are very popular. Then to make things even more complicated for me, he brought out WMOP rose de noel mini earrings for me to try on and WOW! These were stunning! This was my first time trying on these pairs and they just blew my mind away! Now, I am really torn as I initially wanted to have earrings which I can match my 20 GMOP which could also match my other perlee pieces but after trying on two earrings today I am completely off my track and rather lost. In perfect little world, I would want them all but in practicality I wouldn’t want too many earrings knowing I don’t wear earrings that much. FYI- I currently have just two pairs of earrings (YG MOP and guilloche) but I don’t wear them as much as I would like to. If I don’t think about matchy/matchy, rose de noel would stand on stop of my list, frivole second then Alhambra pave third but then I know Alhambra pave will be most versatile piece which will go with my other items.
I would appreciate any thoughts/suggestions. I am adding few photos I took when trying these on. Because they didn’t have RG pave, I just held up the pendant on my ear to see how it looks. View attachment 5405560View attachment 5405560 Thank you
Hi! My two cents for what it's worth...
First, if you plan to buy earrings to go with your 20 GMOP, I do not like the Rose de Noel. They don't go at all to me. At it's core, the earring one is a big white flower earring, and the necklace is a long gray four-leaf clover chain necklace. I think if you look at it that way and take out the VCA label, it will help you decide if you truly think these piece match. They do not for me; not even close. Frivole is a better option if you have to go with a flower.

I think a pair of VA earrings would be the best match, and I would get the RG MOP, pave, or hammered gold. All of these follow the clover design, so you can't go wrong.

For me, I would get the RG GMOP. I think a 20 is stunning with matching VA earrings; it creates a nice long line.
However, since you did not mention it; I assume you do not like that option.

For you, my vote goes to RG pave. You already have Perlee pieces, and I think VA RG pave are a perfect match to Perlee.
That's what I would do. Hope this helps.
 
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That’s sounds dreamy. Oh no now I might need doubles :angel: . Do you do that with other sets or just this one?
For VCA, so far, the WG MOP is my only VA set.
But yes, when I buy my next VA set (waiting for WG blue agate! :nuts: :heart:) I will do the same and buy two bracelets. My VA set would be a 20 motif, VA earrings, and two 5 motif bracelets.

And yes, I do this with other sets. I just really like the “two same bracelet” look. The look to me is clean & bold. I am not a fan of mismatched bracelets as the look is busy & bold. It's 100% preference though and the look you prefer. I think I posted my pearl bracelets here a while ago as examples worn with my Lotus ring. I actually have three of the same pearl bracelets to stack.

Ok… here are the photos I dug up...

From my photos…
To me, a single bracelet is a bit lonely, two bracelets give it punch, and three bracelets make the bracelet more a statement piece. You can see what look you prefer.

Oh hey... and check this out! As I was digging for these bracelet photos, I found another photo of me wearing two MOP bracelets. Look again.. the motifs tuck in! I'm bad with photos which is why I rarely take new photos (I recycle the same old boring photos :shocked: :heart:)! All my photos are natural, crooked angles and all, so how you see the bracelets is where they naturally lay on me. These little motifs like to tuck in! :biggrin::heart:

Hope this helps.

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For VCA, so far, the WG MOP is my only VA set.
But yes, when I buy my next VA set (waiting for WG blue agate! :nuts: :heart:) I will do the same and buy two bracelets. My VA set would be a 20 motif, VA earrings, and two 5 motif bracelets.

And yes, I do this with other sets. I just really like the “two same bracelet” look. Clean but bold. I think I posted my pearl bracelets here a while ago as examples worn with my Lotus ring. I actually have three of the same pearl bracelets to stack.

Ok… here are the photos I dug up...

From my photos…
To me, a single bracelet is a bit lonely, two bracelets give it punch, and three bracelets make the bracelet more a statement piece. You can see what look you prefer.

Oh hey... and check this out! As I was digging for these bracelet photos, I found another photo of me wearing two MOP bracelets. Look again.. the motifs tuck in! I'm bad with photos which is why I rarely take new photos (I recycle the same old boring photos :shocked: :heart:)! All my photos are natural, crooked angles and all, so how you see the bracelets is where they naturally lay on me. These little motifs like to tuck in! :biggrin::heart:

Hope this helps.

View attachment 5405977
View attachment 5405979
View attachment 5405981
View attachment 5405982
:love:

I tried googling to see if I can find the BA with WG..I’ll have to dig a little deeper, but it sounds pretty! So far I’ve stuck with YG. It’s funny because growing up I was always a silver/WG girl, never really liked YG. And in the past like 5 or so years it’s basically all I’ve gotten. The BA is on my radar, but I’m not sure info want to venture out of neutrals. Finding a perfect shade would prob help push me over the edge though. Do you know what shade you want?

Totally agree with what you’re saying on the pearl bracelets..the three are like omg!

Sometimes those types of pics are the best-you get to really see what something looks like and not the most perfect it could be in a single, heavily planned moment.

Ugh the tucking looks drool worthy! My wallet is giving you a very not happy face right now lol.
 
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:love:

I tried googling to see if I can find the BA with WG..I’ll have to dig a little deeper, but it sounds pretty! So far I’ve stuck with YG. It’s funny because growing up I was always a silver/WG girl, never really liked YG. And in the past like 5 or so years it’s basically all I’ve gotten. The BA is on my radar, but I’m not sure info want to venture out of neutrals. Finding a perfect shade would prob help push me over the edge though. Do you know what shade you want?

Totally agree with what you’re saying on the pearl bracelets..the three are like omg!

Sometimes those types of pics are the best-you get to really see what something looks like and not the most perfect it could be in a single, heavily planned moment.

Ugh the tucking looks drool worthy! My wallet is giving you a very not happy face right now lol.
I love color for jewelry, and colored gemstones are my first love. Diamonds are nice, but I've said this before; diamonds are safe, and everyone wears diamonds.

Side by side, if you see a ring with diamonds or a ring with a ruby, emerald, or sapphire, the eye will go first to the colored gemstone. Our eyes love color as it pops.

On blue agate in WG, it's a special order. VCA allowed WG BA as a SO as late as last fall. I actually tried to order a WG BA set, and all pieces were approved except for the 20. However with VA sets, the 20 is my core piece I cannot live without, so I said no. :shocked: :heart:

VCA stopped all SOs I recall as of Nov 2021 (I might be off by a few months). I have seen a WG BA bracelet in social media somewhere, and it's gorgeous. BA against WG is such a crispy look.

My perfect BA shade is a medium neon blue. I have seen that shade in YG BA, and it almost glows. If the medium neon blue is not possible, my next choice would be a hue lighter, not darker. I like lighter hues for colored pieces because lighting greatly affects the look. We live indoors most of the time, in artificial lighting, and I feel stones that are too dark tend to recede in artificial lighting. Just some thoughts to share as you pick your perfect shade! Color is 100% preference.

I hope you decide to get some color. If you like jewelry that pops, to me, color beats diamond all the time.
Diamonds sparkle, but as a "color", a diamond is white, a neutral. Sparkle is everywhere in our lives (e.g. glass, crystal), so our ours are a bit used to it. Color pops, the eye goes nuts and stares! :nuts::heart:

I hope I was a bit inspiring on color... I love color for jewelry. Give it a shot, try on BA or other colored stone, you might love it!
 
I love color for jewelry, and colored gemstones are my first love. Diamonds are nice, but I've said this before; diamonds are safe, and everyone wears diamonds.

Side by side, if you see a ring with diamonds or a ring with a ruby, emerald, or sapphire, the eye will go first to the colored gemstone. Our eyes love color as it pops.

On blue agate in WG, it's a special order. VCA allowed WG BA as a SO as late as last fall. I actually tried to order a WG BA set, and all pieces were approved except for the 20. However with VA sets, the 20 is my core piece I cannot live without, so I said no. :shocked: :heart:

VCA stopped all SOs I recall as of Nov 2021 (I might be off by a few months). I have seen a WG BA bracelet in social media somewhere, and it's gorgeous. BA against WG is such a crispy look.

My perfect BA shade is a medium neon blue. I have seen that shade in YG BA, and it almost glows. If the medium neon blue is not possible, my next choice would be a hue lighter, not darker. I like lighter hues for colored pieces because lighting greatly affects the look. We live indoors most of the time, in artificial lighting, and I feel stones that are too dark tend to recede in artificial lighting. Just some thoughts to share as you pick your perfect shade! Color is 100% preference.

I hope you decide to get some color. If you like jewelry that pops, to me, color beats diamond all the time.
Diamonds sparkle, but as a "color", a diamond is white, a neutral. Sparkle is everywhere in our lives (e.g. glass, crystal), so our ours are a bit used to it. Color pops, the eye goes nuts and stares! :nuts::heart:

I hope I was a bit inspiring on color... I love color for jewelry. Give it a shot, try on BA or other colored stone, you might love it!

Sorry, I meant color in VCA, I love colored stones! Sapphires, rubies, emeralds oh my! :giggle:

I love anything highlighter colored, so neon blue sounds amazing. I have to try to find a pic of one now. If I did a colored stone it would def be BA, but I think what made me eh about it was the shade. The couple of times I’ve seen in person it was a basic blue, which was pretty, but didn’t wow me.
 
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@Happyish @nicole0612 @BigAkoya @missie1 and all ladies, thank you all for taking the time to suggest/advice/comment. I am so grateful to meet the VCA family here. :)
If I have to fiddle/mess with it so much to somehow convince myself to love it, I don't think I will. Once a cloud is on my mind, I won't be able to enjoy it.
@Happyish FYI, discussed with my hubby a few days ago, based on his shipping experience, if the owner rejects receiving the item, this bracelet will be sitting nowhere, for months. so I won't be able to dispute the charge.
@BigAkoya totally agree if you don't love it, don't wear it, that's a bigger waste than 25%. And my hubby is fully in support of whatever makes me happy, including selling it. Although he may not realize the big loss :crybaby:
 
If you're going for a piece which works best with your GMOP 20, I say get the Alhambra pave. I think they look good together (even with your mock up using the pendant). I see how beautiful those Rose de Noel earrings are! What statements! However, together with GMOP 20, I don't love the pairing, so if you got those earrings, I would assume, they would be worn alone or with a different pairing? Personally, I am a big fan of pave frivoles (on my list) however, again, if I were to choose between frivole and Alhambra paves for the purpose of pairing with Alhambra necklaces, Id say stick with the pave Alhambras. I am a big fan of buying what you love, so if you love the RdeN, I'd get those. Id hate you miss out on them. There will always be something which comes along that will work with your GMOP 20 so if you feel the priority should now be on the RdeN, I'd say, yes.
Yes, I do agree the pave ones look the best worn with 20 GMOP. I will definitely be wearing rose de Noel on its own if I were to get them. Do you know if Rose de Noel earrings difficult to come by? I am guessing pave one’s should be much more readily available although they are out of stock at the moment. Am I right in thinking this?
 
My priority would be cost per wear. If I would choose the one I would wear the most first. Is that a function of whether it matches you 20 motif? Or maybe your wardrobe? The other jewelry you wear? Or all of the above?
What is your priority? To match your 20 motif?
And just because you don’t get the RDN now doesn’t mean you can’t get it later.
Yes, I strongly agree on cost per wear being very important as this is something I always consider when I buy anything/everything. I guess my priority was to buy something that matches 20 initially. Whist matching 20, I knew pave one will go with other VCA pieces I own and also could even go with my potential future purchase-thinking of getting RG 20 hammered at one point.
I thought I was set on pave, I almost wish that SA didn’t show me all these other earrings
 
Choose what you love, not what's practical. You'll reach for the practical and regret what you really wanted but didn't buy. The RDN are glamorous and make a real statement. I have a version of these and love them. They're quite versatile. I can dress them up or down. Sometimes I just wear the earrings; they're simple and elegant.
I know others love frivole, but I don't any longer. I outgrew them. I had multiples; all have been rehomed in favor of pieces more unique and less commonplace.
Notwithstanding, frivole is lovely and very wearable and you can't go wrong with either. The issue is that one may be more right than the other.
Go with your gut, not what we say.
Ohh how brilliant you own Rose de Noel! They are stunning! I have heard from some people that pedals can break easily? If this has ever happened to yours, was it very costly to repair? How have yours being holding up? Have you not had any issues? Sorry for throwing so many questions but I am little excited to hear someone owning these as they don’t seem as popular as some other lines of VCA.
 
I love the way the Frivole earrings look on you. Honestly, I don’t like the way the rose de Noel sits on your ear, although is it possible the strings from your mask are pulling on your ear so those earrings don’t sit right? The Alhambra earring looks like it may be too small and hardly show up. Just my opinion. Get what you love, not what others like.
In fact, earrings never sit on my ears as nicely as I would like them to be. I think this is mainly because I need to wear them as clips as one piercing hole had closed up after not wearing earrings for a while and I am too scared of needles to go through piercing it again. As I am super scared of earrings falling off my ears abs going missing when worn as clips, I tend to push it up little too much which often time isn’t the best look.
oh dear.. maybe earrings aren’t for me after all??
 
Hi! My two cents for what it's worth...
First, if you plan to buy earrings to go with your 20 GMOP, I do not like the Rose de Noel. They don't go at all to me. At it's core, the earring one is a big white flower earring, and the necklace is a long gray four-leaf clover chain necklace. I think if you look at it that way and take out the VCA label, it will help you decide if you truly think these piece match. They do not for me; not even close. Frivole is a better option if you have to go with a flower.

I think a pair of VA earrings would be the best match, and I would get the RG MOP, pave, or hammered gold. All of these follow the clover design, so you can't go wrong.

For me, I would get the RG GMOP. I think a 20 is stunning with matching VA earrings; it creates a nice long line.
However, since you did not mention it; I assume you do not like that option.

For you, my vote goes to RG pave. You already have Perlee pieces, and I think VA RG pave are a perfect match to Perlee.
That's what I would do. Hope this helps.
I am definitely kicking myself for not ordering earrings at the same time with 20. As I am not much of earrings person I just didn’t think of earrings paring at all when placing an order for 20. With multiple SAs all agreeing that stones on earrings may turn different in Colour/tone/and etc from
20, I am little hesitant to order them at this point.
 
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For VCA, so far, the WG MOP is my only VA set.
But yes, when I buy my next VA set (waiting for WG blue agate! :nuts: :heart:) I will do the same and buy two bracelets. My VA set would be a 20 motif, VA earrings, and two 5 motif bracelets.

And yes, I do this with other sets. I just really like the “two same bracelet” look. The look to me is clean & bold. I am not a fan of mismatched bracelets as the look is busy & bold. It's 100% preference though and the look you prefer. I think I posted my pearl bracelets here a while ago as examples worn with my Lotus ring. I actually have three of the same pearl bracelets to stack.

Ok… here are the photos I dug up...

From my photos…
To me, a single bracelet is a bit lonely, two bracelets give it punch, and three bracelets make the bracelet more a statement piece. You can see what look you prefer.

Oh hey... and check this out! As I was digging for these bracelet photos, I found another photo of me wearing two MOP bracelets. Look again.. the motifs tuck in! I'm bad with photos which is why I rarely take new photos (I recycle the same old boring photos :shocked: :heart:)! All my photos are natural, crooked angles and all, so how you see the bracelets is where they naturally lay on me. These little motifs like to tuck in! :biggrin::heart:

Hope this helps.

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@BigAkoya, I love your two Alhambra stack, I want to copy your idea and stack 2 chalcedony bracelets!
 
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