Pet Face Necklace: Everything You Need to Know

Most people find the photo first. It is somewhere on their phone, taken on a walk or on the sofa, and it is the one that looks most like them: ears up, head tilted, that particular expression. A pet face necklace takes that photo and engraves your pet’s face onto a pendant you can wear every day.

It is a quiet piece of jewellery. From across a room it reads as a plain pendant. Up close it is unmistakably your dog, or your cat, or the horse you have had since you were fifteen.

This guide covers what a pet face necklace is, what it costs in the UK, how the engraved version differs from the photo projection version, and the two or three things worth getting right before you order.

What a Pet Face Necklace Is

The Pet Face Engraved Necklace is a pendant with your pet’s face engraved onto it. You upload a photo, and the engraving is worked from that photo, so no two are the same. There is also a field for your pet’s name, which you fill in alongside the upload.

It sits at £34.99 and comes in four finishes: silver, gold, rose gold and 925 sterling silver. Unusually for our range, all four are the same price, so the choice is purely about what the person wearing it already owns rather than what it costs.

You can see it next to the rest of the range on the pet necklaces page.

Engraved or Hidden Inside: The Choice That Matters Most

There are two completely different ways to put a pet on a necklace, and people often order one when they wanted the other. It is worth thirty seconds of thought.

Engraved, on the outside. The Pet Face Engraved Necklace carries your pet’s face on the surface of the pendant, visible to anyone who looks. The 3D Engraved Pet Portrait Necklace does the same thing in a raised, sculpted style, also from £34.99, in silver or gold 925 sterling silver, with optional engraved text on the back for £1.99. Choose engraved if you want people to see who it is.

Photo projection, on the inside. The Paw Print Photo Necklace at £39.99 works differently. Your photo is printed and sealed inside a paw print pendant. From the outside it is just a paw print. Hold the front of it close to your eye or against a phone camera and the photo is there, and shine a phone torch through the back and it projects onto whatever is in front of it. It comes on a 45cm chain with 5cm of adjustability. Choose projection if you like the idea of something only you and the people you show know about.

Neither is better. Engraved is more immediate and reads as a portrait. Projection is more private and tends to be the one people hand over to strangers in the pub to look at.

Choosing the Photo

This is the part that makes the difference, and it takes longer than picking the finish. The guidance on the product page is a clear, square photo, and that is the whole of it, but a few things make a clear photo easier to get.

Pick a photo where the face is well lit and facing you, not a shot of your dog mid run in low light. Crop it square before you upload, with the face central. A photo taken at their eye level almost always works better than one taken from standing height, which flattens the face. If you have a choice between a lovely photo of the whole animal in a field and a plain one of their face on the kitchen floor, take the kitchen floor one.

We go through this properly in our guide on how to choose the perfect photo, and the same thinking applies here.

The Rest of the Pet Range

A necklace is not always the right answer. Some people never wear one, and some want a second piece to match.

Bracelets. The Engraved Pet Face Chain Bracelet and the Engraved Pet Face Rope Bracelet are both £34.99. The chain version comes in silver, gold and 925 sterling silver, the rope in silver and gold, and the rope is the softer, more casual of the two. Both sit on the pet bracelets page.

Keychains. If the person you are buying for is not a jewellery wearer, a keyring gets used every single day. The Engraved Pet Photo Keychain and the Paw Print Photo Keychain are both £29.99, and they mirror the same engraved and projection split. There is more on that format in our guide to the pet engraved keyring.

Everything pet related sits together in gifts for pet lovers.

Materials, Tarnishing and Care

The pieces are stainless steel, 18k gold and 925 sterling silver depending on the finish you pick. They are guaranteed against tarnishing, fading and turning green, and they are hypoallergenic to most skin types.

The sterling silver option is worth a moment if you are unsure. We set out the difference in silver plated vs 925 sterling silver.

On water: these are not waterproof pieces. Keep them out of showers, baths and swimming pools where you can, and take them off before anything involving chlorine or cleaning products. A dry cloth is enough for the engraving. We answer the water question in full in are photo projection bracelets waterproof.

Buying One as a Gift

Every piece is made to order, so allow 1 to 2 weeks. That is the one thing worth planning around, especially in the run up to Christmas, when people order past the last dates and hope.

The photo is the harder part of gifting this. You need one, and you probably cannot ask for it without giving the surprise away. Most people go through a shared album, a group chat, or a partner or family member who has the good photos. If you are stuck, the pet’s own social media account, if there is one, is usually a goldmine.

You can add a gift bag for £4.99, a preserved rose box for £14.99 or a jewellery box for £19.99 at checkout. Everything is covered by our 100-day guarantee, so if it arrives damaged, arrives wrong or tarnishes, we replace it, or refund you if you would rather.

If You Are Buying After Losing a Pet

A good proportion of these are ordered in the weeks after a pet has died, and it changes what matters. The photo is no longer one of hundreds you could take tomorrow. It is fixed, and it is often not the photo you would have chosen if you had known.

Use the photo that looks most like them rather than the best quality one. Blur and grain matter less than the expression. If you are choosing on behalf of someone who is grieving, an engraved piece is the safer choice, because there is nothing to work out and nothing that can be got wrong on a bad day.

Our guide to paw print necklaces and pet memorial jewellery covers the memorial side in more depth, including which pieces suit which situation.

FAQ

Where to Start

If you want one recommendation: the Pet Face Engraved Necklace at £34.99 in whichever finish they already wear. It is the most direct version of the idea, and it is the one people recognise instantly.

If you would rather keep it private, the Paw Print Photo Necklace hides the same photo inside a paw print. You can see everything side by side on the pet necklaces page.