I have always loved jewelry, but fine jewelry is something I’ve only recently gotten into.
As much as I love my handbags and fashion finds, quality jewelry feels like a true investment in myself!
So today I wanted to take some time and share with ya’ll my latest obsessions; The Sweet Alhambra bracelet and butterfly necklace from Van Cleef & Arpels.
There is a TON of content out there about these starter pieces from the brand (which I relied HEAVILY on before investing in my pieces ) and I’m hoping that this blog can help add to this knowledge pool, while also being full of eye candy and info on how you can save off the price of retail (because of course I’m all about saving a coin!)
I’ll tell you right off the bat that I’m completely in love with both my bracelet and necklace and looking to add more to my collection in the near future. They are just that beautiful to me!
However, I do want this review to be more structured than that. So in this blog, we’ll go over a short history of Van Cleef & Arpels as well as the Alhambra line, how it’s been holding up over the year, styling and investment value.
While I clearly think this is a great buy, I’m hoping to provide you with enough information to make that determination for yourself by the end of this post!
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Table Of Content
Van Cleef & Arpels–A Quick History
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The history of this brand is one made in love.
When Alfred Van Cleef, son of a stone cutter married Estella Arpels, daughter of a precious stone dealer in 1895, the mansion that we know today was established.
Officially founded in 1906 by Alfred with Estella’s brothers, Van Cleef & Arpels (VCA for short) gained quick esteem; impart because of their beautiful jewelry work, but also for their location and always being associated with luxury.
The brand quickly gain notoriety for their outstanding craftsmanship, with transformable jewelry pieces and mystery sets that looked absolutely seamless.
But prehaps what they are most notable for today is their Alhambra collection.
Created in 1968, the four leaf clover design was inspired by the Moorish tiles of the Alhambra Palace of Granada, Spain.
Made of 18K gold or sliver, the Alhambra pieces come in a variety of different stones or with diamonds and represent luck, health and love.
The Alhambra collection comes in 3 sizes, with Sweet being the smallest, followed by the popular Vintage size and Magic being their largest.
The Alhambra collection also now offers a “heart” and “butterfly” style for this collection in limited stone options.
In the future I plan on investing in a 5 motif Vintage Alhambra bracelet, as I believe them to be so beautiful! But for this blog, we’ll focus on what I do own, which is the Sweet Alhambra in Mother of Pearl (MOP) in both a bracelet and necklace.
Sweet Alhambra & How It Wears
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Designed for children, the Sweet Alhambra is dainty and a bit less expansive than the Vintage or Magic Alhambra pieces, making a great option of someone wanting to dip their toes into this fine jewelry collection. I’m a huge fan of dainty jewelry for daily wear, so this just seemed like the best place to start for me.
While the Alhambra collection itself boast a variety of colorful stone options to choice from, the Sweet Alhambra generally only comes in MOP, Onyx (black), Carnelian(red), Turquoise (blue) or in 18k gold options.
As mentioned above, I choose the MOP option as I thought it would look best with my daily wear.
Since December 2022, I’ve worn both my single motif Sweet Alhambra bracelet and butterfly necklace just about daily (save for surgery dates), and have rarely taken them off to shower or sleep.
First point I want to make here is that I find them to be very comfortable. I
normally take a lot of my jewelry off at night, because I find that it can be irritating to sleep in. But I haven’t had this issue with the Sweet Alhambra bracelet or necklace.
I barely feel that they are there. This may be due to the size of the pieces and maybe if they were the Vintage or Magic size, I would feel differently. But for now, I love how light and nonexistence these pieces feel on my skin.
These pieces also are proving to be incredibly durable.
I have worn these items nearly 24/7 for over a year now. I have been in the ocean, shower, hot tube and sauna with them. While the MOP is one of the more sensitive stone options for the Sweet Alhambra, my stones show no signs of wear or destress.
I will say that it is best practice to remove your MOP jewelry before getting into water, and I don’t think that I would wear it in the pool or spa too often especially with harsher chemicals that can damage it. But all in all, with daily entries in the shower, both the necklace and bracelet are holding up well.
The only issue that I’m facing is with the slight tarnishing of the yellow gold chain on the Sweet Alhambra butterfly necklace. I believe that this is because it’s rubbing up against my Return to Tiffany’s pendant necklace. However, cleaning it is quick and easy, so I don’t find it to be too much of an issue.
The Cons
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While I don’t have many, I did want to have a dedicated section where I could share any minor issues I had with this collection.
The first grip being, that it can be a pain in the you know what, to get these pieces on.
The clasp is quality, but it is tiny. Even with help it can feel like it takes a bit of a struggle to hook the claps closed.
My second con specifically deals with the Sweet Alhambra Necklace; the chain is a bit short.
For me this isn’t a huge deal, as I have a slimmer neck and since I stack my necklaces anyways, the shorter length work for me.
But this will probably be an issue for some. The good news is that VCA offers services that will shorten or extend a chain to your preferred length!
While this is an additional cost after a certain length, it’s still a service offered. Or, you can just buy a chain extender on Amazon like this one here.
Styling
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There are some jewelry pieces that have to be worn with the right outfit. But my daily jewelry pieces typically flow with just about anything I choose to wear, and both the Sweet Alhambra bracelet and butterfly necklace in MOP just work with…everything.
Typically I like to wear my daily jewelry stacked.
I have this necklace stacker that allows me to wear my butterfly necklace along with my Return To Tiffany pendant without them getting too tangled.
And then I stack the Sweet Alhambra bracelet with my Return To Tiffany’s and Charles Revson Vintage Love bracelet together on my left hand.
These stacks looks gorgeous to me! And they each add a bit of volume to the look since each one on their own is pretty dainty.
While they work beautifully stacked up, they are also beautiful solo too!
The brightness of the gold and the MOP really shine, especially against my rich skin tone and the pieces look almost like they are floating on my collarbone and wrist. They have a classy and a bit of playful vibe to them.
While you can literally wear these with anything, I feel like these pieces work best when paired with outfits that will show them off and not over power them.
They can look pretty with a higher neck or longer sleeve, but to me, they look best right up on skin.
Investment
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We established that VCA is a wonderful wardrobe investment. But now let’s look at it as a financial investment. Because even at entry level, these pieces cost a lot of money.
What makes a ‘good’ financial investment when it comes to assets is going to mean different things to everyone, so take my opinion here with a grain of salt.
That said, what I look for in a good asset is for it to maintain or increase its monetary value over time.
For example, while I love Louis Vuitton pieces, they generally don’t hold their value over time, so I tend to buy them pre loved when I can find a lower price point.
On the flip side, I don’t mind paying retail or a little bit extra for certain Chanel pieces because I know that they will retain or exceed in value what I paid for them over time.
From the little bit of research that I’ve done, VCA items typically retain their value very well and generally resell for around 50% more than what you originally paid for them, which is nice if you ever plan to sell them on down the line.
VCA pieces also typically see a price increase about 1-2 times a year, averaging around 5%. Thought the time and amount of the price increase are not consistent.
When I had first started looking at the Sweet Alhambra bracelet through the VCA site, it was retailing for around $1,250 USD. When I finally went to purchase it at the end of 2022, it was going for $1,380 USD and has seemed to stay at this price. I do not know what the Sweet Alhambra butterfly necklace was going for before hand, however the current retail price is $1,520 USD and has stayed that way for some months at this point
With me just hitting the price increase (they ended up having 2 in 2022 and then have slowed down) I ended up deciding to buy my pieces from Fashionphile and Rebag. I have bought many pieces off these sites before and they are my preferred luxury reseller markets (although Fashionphile can have higher markups than other places).
I was able to purchase my bracelet for $1,295 USD and my necklace shortly after for $1,435 USD. While this wasn’t a drastic savings, I did save a total of $170 off retail with both buying them second hand.
According to the documents that came with each of my pieces (something to consider if you are purchasing second hand!) these were purchased in 2021, a year prior.
Assuming that the price increase was again around 5%, the bracelet was likely around $1,185 USD at the time of retail purchase while the necklace would have been around $1,305 USD.
I mention this because these numbers demonstrate how close to last season’s retail prices the secondhand market is with this pieces–and its really close!
But it also showcases just how much value these products gain over time. If you held on to these pieces for some years, kept them in good condition and them sold later on, even with sellers fees, you could make a decent profit–if that’s what you were looking for.
Last thing here–just know that the resellers market isn’t always the less expensive route when luxury shopping. Especially if an item is harder to get at the moment, it may be more expense to buy secondhand.
So always shop around!
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Final Thoughts
I love my Sweet Alhambra jewelry pieces from Van Cleef and Arpels and if you’re looking to start or expand your fine jewelry collection, these pieces are worth looking into.
While I did have some cons, they were few and far between and pale in comparison to how happy I am with these.
I love that their easy of wear for me and that they have easily become daily jewelry pieces.
I’m also extremely happy with how durable these pieces have been. Not having to worry about wearing them to bed or in water makes a huge difference for me.
The fact that they also retain their value fairly well makes me feel really confident in this investment both fashion wise but also financially in case I decided to sell it later down the line.
I clearly think this is a great investment piece but what about you? Do you think investing in a Van Cleef and Arpels piece would be worth it for you? If so, what do you think you’ll get? I’d love to hear from you!
And if you’re looking for more Sweet Alhambra eye candy, be sure to check out the IG!