First spotted on the Duchess of Cambrige during the 2012 Diamond Jubilee South Pacific tour, I loved the style of these earrings, although, priced at £140, they were slightly out of my budget. So I postponed buying them, until Catherine wore them again in April on a visit to Uluru, Australia. I fell in love with them all over again and finally gave in and bought them!
Left to right: 13 September 2012, State dinner at the Istana Negara Palace, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; 18 September 2012, traditional singing and dancing event in Tuvalu; 18 December 2013, Buckingham Palace Christmas party; 22 April 2014, visit to the National Indigenous Training Academy at Ayers Rock, Australia.
Priced at £140, plus £18 Royal Mail shipping to my home country, Italy (Catherine Zoraida's website offers worldwide shipping, and also an expedited shipping option via FedEx), you cannot say these come very cheap, but after receiving them and having a chance to observe them up close and wear them, I think they're pretty good value for money.
From the designer's website: "Designed and made in England, these delicate leaf earrings are made in 18ct gold plated silver. Featuring beautifully engraved feather details they measure approximately 6cm and have a wonderfully playful feel to them. These timeless gold earrings are an everyday classic. As seen on The Duchess of Cambridge (Kate Middleton)".
Leaf lenght: 3 cm (1.2 in).
They arrived packaged in a rather luxurious black real-leather box, embossed on the lid with the Catherine Zoraida logo:
The earrings arrived accompanied by a glossy Catherine Zoraida catalogue. Overall, I was very happy with the level of customer service provided: pieces are handmade to order in the UK, and after placing my order I received straight away an email thanking me for my "lovely order" and advising me the earrings would be ready to ship in 3 business days.
I've since worn them many times and I'm really satisfied with my purchase: the earrings have a great shine and you can tell the gold plating is high quality! So, on the whole, a purchase I can definitely recommend!
Should you be feeling flush, Catherine Zoraida has the matching Spread Your Wings bracelet (as worn by the Duchess at the Malaysian State dinner) available for £420.
Should you, on the other hand, like the style of these earrings but not be inclined to spend quite so much money on them, there are plenty of good repli-kates available on Etsy, among them these by TudorShoppe, or DesignsbyNoa often carries Kate-inspired jewellery and is definitely worth checking out (I have her Temple of Heaven earrings repli-kate and they're excellent quality)! You can read a review of the DesignsbyNoa Double Leaf repli-kates on Tatiana's Delights blog here.
Disclaimer: This post is not endorsed or sponsored in any way by Catherine Zoraida.
