Sandy Liang’s faux pearl necklace adds silver charms and carabiner closure

The pearl necklace has shed its stiffness. Sandy Liang’s Poison Graduated Faux Pearl Necklace keeps the familiar glow of a strand, then interrupts it with silver charms, a carabiner closure, and a mischievous, almost utilitarian finish that feels made for the girl who likes her jewelry a little off-center. It is exactly the kind of piece that turns pearls from polished occasionwear into something sharper, more personal, and much more current.

Why this pearl necklace feels current

What makes this design land now is not the pearls alone, but the tension around them. The necklace is still built on a classic code, graduated faux pearls, a 17-inch silhouette, a rounded rhythm against the collarbone. But the hardware changes the whole sentence. A carabiner clasp replaces the expected jewelry closure, and a star-shaped charm plus an “If Found” tag pull the piece away from tradition and toward streetwise styling.

That blend is very Sandy Liang. The brand’s necklace category leans into nostalgic charms and sculptural styles, and this piece sits neatly inside that vocabulary. It does not treat pearls like heirlooms sealed in velvet. It treats them like part of a look, something to be worn with a buttoned-up jacket, a slouchy tee, or a dress that needs one unexpected jolt of personality.

There is also a cultural shift behind the appeal. Pearl jewelry has been coming back through a fashion lens, not a formal one. The jewelry that feels freshest now tends to keep the pearl, then complicate it with metal, movement, or asymmetry. Sandy Liang understands that instinct better than most. As one shopping note put it, “Every downtown cool girl seems to own a piece from Sandy Liang.” That kind of reputation is built on pieces that look recognizable at a glance, then reveal their twist on closer inspection.

The details that make this version different

The Nordstrom listing gives the necklace its most useful specifics. It is priced at $118.80, marked down 40% from $198, which places it firmly in the fashion-jewelry zone rather than the fine-jewelry one. That matters, because the value here is not in rare materials. It is in styling intelligence: rhodium plate, glass faux pearls, and those silver-toned accents that keep the necklace from reading bridal or prim.

Rhodium plating gives the piece a cooler, brighter surface than yellow-toned metal would. Pair that with glass faux pearls and the result is crisp rather than creamy, polished rather than precious. The star charm and the “If Found” tag add a little narrative, too. They make the necklace feel collected and slightly coded, as if it belongs to someone who likes jewelry with a private joke built in.

The 17-inch length is another important clue. It sits in that close-to-the-neck territory where modern pearl necklaces tend to feel most wearable, especially when the design includes a statement closure or pendant-like detail. The necklace is also listed as only available for pickup at select Nordstrom stores, which gives it the feel of a shop-floor discovery rather than a mass-market staple. Nordstrom labels it Asian & Pacific Islander Owned/Founded, another detail that situates the piece within the broader fashion ecosystem around independent labels.

How to spot similar modern pearl necklaces on sale

If this Sandy Liang piece is the blueprint, the best modern pearl necklaces do not look delicate in the old sense. They look styled. They should feel like they were designed with the clasp in mind, not just the strand.

Look for these cues:

• Unusual closures, especially carabiners, toggles, oversized rings, or clasp hardware that is meant to be seen.

• Silver-toned or rhodium-finished metal that sharpens the pearls instead of warming them into classic territory.

• Shorter lengths, especially around 16 to 18 inches, which sit neatly at the base of the neck and work well with charms.

• Mixed details such as tags, charms, or sculptural connectors that make the necklace feel more intentional than conventional.

• Faux or glass pearls at lower price points, since the modern look often depends more on shape and hardware than on heirloom materials.

At around $118.80, Sandy Liang’s necklace shows how much style can be carried by construction alone. A buyer looking higher up the scale would expect more substantial metalwork or finer pearls, but the formula stays the same: the most interesting pearl necklaces now are the ones that interrupt their own formality.

Why Nordstrom is a smart place to look

Nordstrom has become an unexpectedly reliable place to find less mainstream labels, including Sandy Liang, and that matters because discovery has become part of the thrill. The retailer’s sale section is currently loaded with more than 50,000 markdowns, and around the same time its Nordy Club promotion offered up to $200 in Bonus Notes through Sunday, June 7. That scale creates room for pieces like this to surface between more conventional buys, which is often where the best fashion finds hide.

The point is not simply that the necklace is on sale. It is that the sale environment is now part of how younger, style-led pearl jewelry gets discovered. A piece like this needs the right context to make sense: a store that can place it beside bigger markdowns, a brand with a recognizable point of view, and a shopper ready to see pearls as something more playful than proper. Sandy Liang’s faux pearl necklace does exactly that, and it explains why the coolest pearl pieces right now feel less like inheritance and more like attitude.