The charms of a good bracelet

We’re in that weird in-between stage in the seasons where I feel like it’s too late in the season to buy summer stuff and yet it’s super warm so I want to wear light, bright clothes but also the autumn pieces are now starting to trickle into the stores.

I find myself being drawn to autumnal pieces that realistically I won’t be able to wear for ages yet. It really is a sartorially conundrum!

I’m really now just making the most of the pieces I already have and being inventive when it comes to accessorising and breathing new life into a summer wardrobe that by now I’m a bit sick of looking at.

This could also be the reason why at this time of year I’m completely drawn to accessories as no matter the season, you can always rely on a well placed piece of jewellery to elevate your look. I spoke about a fantastic jeweller last week whose pieces were such statement pieces but this week I’m talking about a label called Merci Maman whose pieces are more delicate for those who like to keep it more subtle.

Part of the reason why I really love this brand is because they specialise in personalisation and engraving and I am someone who absolutely loves anything personalised. I think this stems from being called Natasha and never being able to get anything with my name on it when I was a child in Ireland in the ‘80s so now I’ll lash my name, Blanche’s name or a significant date onto anything.

The brand was started in 2007 by mother of four, Beatrice and celebrates the bond between loved ones with hand engraving. I mean I’m totally sold on that. A celeb fav, the brand shot to fame in 2014 after being spotted on Kate Middleton but closer to home Una Healy and SoSueMe are fans.

Whether you’re a gold fan like myself or prefer silver, all tasted are catered for as well as various different chain lengths and engravings making it the perfect keepsake. I have two personalised necklaces from my wedding day. One is from Rob and one from my bridesmaids and I adore and wear them constantly. It’s such a lovely reminder of the day.

I now have a jewellery shopping list of items I’d like to get and top of that list is a signet ring for my pinkie finger. I only wear my wedding and engagement ring on their own as I find nothing else goes with them as I went for platinum with those and all my other jewellery is yellow gold. I know you can mix metals but I’m personally not a huge fan of that.

However there are only so many fingers and I wear a plain gold daphine band on one of them all the time so it limits what I wear on the others. I also like to stack various rings and play around with that so I feel like a signet ring is subtle enough to work well with other pieces of jewellery.

I’m also sourcing some lovely bits of vintage jewellery and I highly recommend Cork-based Ivy’s Attic for well priced, quirky pieces. I recently bought a vintage charm bracelet from them and it’s so nice to think of who spent all that time collecting charms for it.

Maybe I need to add my own charm bracelet to the ever growing list!