Zing Necklace and Silver Charm Earring Set by Pallina Designs, $114 NZD
Throughout Amanda Dick’s life, she has had two great loves – that of family and that of creating things with her hands.
Based in New Zealand, Amanda has a diverse family history like most New Zealanders. She has Scottish, English, Irish, Spanish, and Maori ancestry. She loves to explore her family history and loves history in general.
It is then only natural that she is partial to creating pieces that don’t look new. Anything that looks like it has a history fascinates her.
A romantic at heart, she leans towards the era of the 1940’s and 1950’s where women wore matching shoes, hats, handbags, and gloves – a time of classic glamour.
Amanda has no formal training in jewelry creation and prefers it that way. She believes that imagination is the key – imposing no limits on how things are supposed to be done, boosting possibilities while finding ways that work best for oneself.
Her one-of-a-kind jewelry, wearable art, and accessories are under the label Pallina Designs and are available online.
We received the Zing Necklace and the Silver Charm Earring Set from her Jewelry Collection.
The necklace is an Eni Oken-inspired pendant hanging from a sterling silver-plated cable chain. It features a large, flat, smooth lime turquoise green bead which has been wired using meters of hair-thin, silver artistic wire. Wired to the front is a silver butterfly charm and above and below are hot pink fossil beads. It retails for $85 NZD.
The earring set is an elongated, silver-plated kidney ear hook with 3 interchangable charms – oval discs, etched leaves, and butterflies. It retails for $29 NZD.
The first thing that struck me about these pieces is the price – unbelievably affordable! The second is how in person, they look exactly the same as in the photos – definitely well captured. In truth, the earrings look even better in person.
Worn together, they are gorgeous and totally perfect for the warm months – simple chic brightly defined. Of course, the butterfly charm earring matches perfectly with the butterfly on the focal bead of the necklace so that’s a fabulous pairing. However, the necklace works so well with the other charms as well.
I also found that I like wearing the necklace by itself or the earring by itself. You get a lot of mileage out of this combination. The earring by itself is 3-in-1!
For a designer with no formal training, the workmanship on these pieces is outstanding. I traveled with them, packed in a pouch along with a bunch of other jewelries, and thrown in my big shoulder bag banging with the rest of the junk I have in there. I didn’t think the earrings would hold up at all. I fully expected the hooks to be totally distorted by the end of my trip.
Remarkably, the earrings stood the test of travel abuse (with lots of connections nonetheless) – security checks and all. By the way, I loved wearing the necklace and earrings (together or by themselves) with brightly-printed day dresses like this Off Shoulder Silk Dress by Julie Brown and 'Barbara' Dress by Trina Turk.
Of course, these jewelries are one-of-a-kind so you won’t be able to purchase the same ones. However, there are plenty of others to choose from and with the price points they’re offered at, I’m sure you’ll find lots of pieces to add to your collection. With gas prices continuing to soar up, you’ll get more mileage out of getting items shipped to you, rather than spending gas money driving around boutiques looking for unique pieces to complement your summer wardrobe. Check Pallina Designs out, definitely worth a look or two!
Reviewed by: Brown Eyes
