3.5\nAfter dinner in RM Seafood at the Mandalay Bay, my ex and I strolled over to the Excalibur hotel and found ourselves at the Pearl Factory kiosk. I've seen them at various other locations. . .San Francisco, practically every other Las Vegas hotel, and there's even one at Downtown Disney. My ex, after a hint from me, thought it'd be a great idea to get me a pearl souvenir for the fab price of $15. I wasn't worried about whether or not I would like the pearl -- I was more focused on the excitement of choosing my own oyster and the subsequent opening of it!!!\n\nI have to tell you, I only wanted my darling to spend the 15 dollars and high tail outta there. But nothing ever goes the way you want it to. . .\n\nSo the time came. . .I went to go choose my oyster. Let me tell you. .. I am SUPER indecisive and SUPER picky. That makes for a bad combo. They had two baskets to choose from, but I was disciplined and only limited myself to one. . .otherwise I would've been there ALL night (I almost was) So after a while of poking, turning, asking my boyfriend for his humble opinion, I finally picked my oyster. It was the fattest one of the bunch. After the cheesey tapping, ALOHAAAA and ringing of the bell, my pearl expert opened the oyster and . . .out came not one but TWO lustrous, round pearls!!! \n\nThe Chinese inside of me was saying \"SWEET, TWO FOR ONE DEAL\" and I was about to pack up my pearls and get on to boozing/shopping but then the girl selling me the pearls gasped and said \"TWINS! I haven't seen those in months! This is almost as rare as black pearls! And a green luster to them too. . .that stands for longevity!\" Huh? Rare eh? Oooo. . .she caught my interest.\n\nI told her I just wanted the pearls and that I'd come back later. She looked at me and said \"well, why don't you just get the backings for the earrings. . .that way at least you get to wear them!\" \n\nNext thing you know, she was showing me diamond and white gold settings for pendants, rings, earrings. . .ranging from $179 - $300+. I was trying the rings on, looking at the earrings, and we spent a good hour looking at all the different settings. After a while, I saw my compa ion literally start to SWEAT, haha. He was probably thinking to himself: \"I came here thinking I'd only pay $15 but now she wants a white gold and diamond setting! . . .I didn't sign up for this!\"\n\nBut, I was a good and just choose a pair of white gold backings. Total damage : $70 (backings were $50+$15 pearls = $65 + tax)\n\nI mean, it was a lot of fun. . .and I feel sorry for the girl because I took up a lot of her time agonizing over what setting to buy. . .and then ultimately ended up purchasing the cheapest thing there. But seriously? $15 pearls in a $300 setting? This is where they get you: you go for the $15 pearl and you end up buying a $200 setting for it. Because in your mind. . .what's the use of a loose pearl when you can actually put it to use and add it to your jewelry collection?\n\nAhh, yeah, they got me. I later read on this site that the oyster hosts for the pearls aren't even the original hosts. . .the company places the pearls in the oysters and then later submerges them in alcohol to make them close and preserve them for shipment to all the different Pearl factory locations. So, a bit of advice: come here prepared to spend some dough if you decide that a pearl from the Pearl Factory is calling out your name next time you're in Vegas. . .
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