Ex-HSN Vendor Nicky Butler Debuts on Evine April 22

Best news this week: Jewelry designer Nicky Butler is coming to Evine.

Butler, a Brit who used to sell high-end jewelry in a London shop to the likes of Princess Diana,was one of our favs for years on HSN. His sterling silver jewelry, with gemstones from India and an artisan look, were gorgeous.

Over the years we bought many of his pieces, especially his crosses, since we collect them.

When Butler said he would no longer be on HSN earlier this year we and his other fans were dismayed.

But Butler recently posted on Facebook that he has a new home, Evine, with a link to the channel’s website.

https://www.evine.com/l/nicky-butler?icid=InternalSearch_Default_Nicky%20Butler&search_text=Nicky%20Butler

“Tune in April 22 for the premiere of my jewelry collection,” the site says, featuring a photo of Butler standing next to a British phone booth. “More announcements coming soon.”

There is also a sweepstakes to win one of his creations.

Butler joins a whole bunch of HSN jewelry vendors who have landed at Evine.

Congrats Mr. Nicky!

Beloved Jewelry Designer Nicky Butler Gone From HSN

Sorry to say, but we saw this coming. Another one of our favorites on HSN is abruptly leaving the home shopping channel after 20 years: British jewelry designer Nicky Butler.

Butler, a slender white-haired gent with a very spiritual side, posted the sad news on Facebook this weekend.

“After 20 years…I will no longer appear on HSN programming,” he wrote cryptically.

He asked HSN customers to pick up his final pieces for the network on HSN.com, and to continue following him on Facebook.

Butler, who once had a fancy shop in London and counted Princess Diana as a customer, got many of his design inspirations from his beloved India, where he sourced many of his gemstones.

His specialty was crosses — our favorite design — and we must have at least eight of his pieces or so.

But we haven’t seen him on HSN recently, and was wondering about his fate there. On FB posters asked if he was retiring, etc., looking for an explanation for his HSN departure and bemoaning it.

You don’t have to be a genius to figure it out girlfriends. Under the ownership of QVC’s parent, Qurate Retail Group, HSN is being turned into a homogenized, bland home shopping venue. So out with Butler and many other fan favorites.

Butler isn’t the only longtime jewelry vendor who has left. Victoria Wieck is on now on Evine.

From his responses on FB, it appears that Butler plans to continue designing and selling his wonderful jewelry. Let’s hope so.

Indian Couple Debuts Jewelry Shopping Show

Has anyone caught the “Prestige Jewelry Club” on one of their local cable channels or on Dish Network on channel 225?

The New York Daily News published a story Monday about Rakhi and Gaurav Jain, who supposedly had been selling their fine gemstone jewelry on unidentified home shopping networks, as well as having a wholesale business in Manhattan’s Diamond District on West 47th Street.

http://www.pressreader.com/usa/new-york-daily-news/20150629/281960311405315/TextView

The couple then decided to sell their wares direct to consumers, at lower prices, by producing their own TV shopping show. They built a studio in New York City and hired on-air hosts, a la QVC and HSN, and started broadcasting in February.

In addition to watching it on your boob tube, you can view “Prestige Jewelry Club” on the Jain’s website, http://www.pjctv.com.

The stuff is super pricey, we warn you.
Rakhi and Gaurav were raised in Jaipur, India, with their families in the jewelry biz. If you ever watch Nicky Butler on HSN, he often talks about buying gems and we think even making his jewelry in Jaipur.

We’re Going With ‘Fifty Shades Of Grey’ Instead Of HSN’s Nicky Butler Tonight

Call us snobs, but we can’t get excited over a Nicky Butler HSN Today’s Special when it’s made of bronze.

Normally, we don’t miss Nicky when he is on with his gorgeous jewelry, but we can’t go for this. Whether silver is pricey now or not, we don’t care. That’s what we want our jewelry made of.

The TS, by the way, is a gem solitaire bronze seal-design ring for $50. It comes in moonstone (Nicky’s favorite stone), drusy and red ruby.

We’re going to have to read “Fifty Shades of Grey” instead of Nicky tonight. That should make for some sweet dreams

HSN Finally Reveals Details Of Its ‘Eat Pray Love’ Promotion With Sony Pictures

Weeks ago when we asked HSN about a big event it had planned in conjunction with the release of the movie “Eat Pray Love,” we didn’t really get a response. We wrote what we could garner about the event from HSN.com.

Well, Tuesday HSN announced that it was partnering with Sony Pictures to support the launch of the film.

HSN modestly says that it “will be executing the most comprehensive 360-degree marketing campaign in its history, including 72 hours of original programming on Aug. 6, 7, and 8 featuring unique products themed around the movie.”

“Eat Pray Love,” based on the best-selling novel and starring Julia Roberts and Javier Bardem, will be released Aug. 13.

“There are very few retailers out there that have the breadth and depth of HSN,” Marc Weinstock, president of worldwide marketing for Sony Pictures, said in a canned statement. “This is a unique promotion that taps into its power as a content, community, and commerce platform, and we are excited to have them on board as a partner. This is a great opportunity for us to reach our target audience while extending the ‘Eat Pray Love’ experience on the weekend prior to our release this August.”

HSN, which reaches 95 million homes in the U.S., has a customer base that’s about 83 percent female between the ages of 30 to 50 years old, with an above-average income. Its website is a Top 10-trafficked e-commerce site.

Padma Lakshmi will be part of HSN's Eat Pray Love extravaganza

“‘Eat Pray Love’ is an event motion picture for women, and we are very excited to partner with Sony Pictures in an alliance that allows us to support the film while also providing immersive content and product experiences for our core female consumer,” HSN Mindy Grossman said in her canned statement.

“Our customers will be able to experience the journey of traveling through Italy, India and Bali as we bring ‘Eat Pray Love’ to life through stories, engaging personalities and unique products that complement the themes expressed in the movie,” she said. “We have no doubt our customers will love ‘Eat Pray Love’!”

HSN will leverage multiple platforms to deliver a 360-degree experience for consumers in support of Eat Pray Love: TV, online, mobile, print advertising, public relations, events and direct mail.

The 72-hour “Eat Pray Love” on-air event will incorporate appearances by more than 20 of HSN’s partners and brands and feature more than 400 unique items across a variety of categories, including beauty, electronics, home decor, travel, cooking, jewelry, accessories and ready-to-wear.

You’ll be seeing wares from Naeem Khan, Robin by Me & Ro, Rebecca Moses, Padma Lakshmi, Lancome, RK by Ranjana Khan, Hutton Wilkinson, Carlton Varney, Sony Electronics, Nicky Butler, V by Eva, Tagliamonte, Sajen Silver, Dalia, Clever Carriage, Casa di Francesca and Sarita Handa.

In line with the movie, HSN programming during the event will focus on three different countries: Italy on Aug. 6; India on Aug. 7 and Bali on Aug. 8 – Bali.

Bestseller “Eat Love Pray” was written by Elizabeth Gilbert. Here’s what the HSN press release says about her.

At a crossroads after a divorce, Gilbert takes a year-long sabbatical from her job and steps uncharacteristically out of her comfort zone, risking everything to change her life. In her wondrous and exotic travels, she experiences the simple pleasure of nourishment by eating in Italy; the power of prayer in India, and, finally and unexpectedly, the inner peace and balance of love in Bali. Based on an inspiring true story, ‘Eat Pray Love’ proves that there really is more than one way to let yourself go and see the world.

HSN Jewelry Designer Nicky Butler, What’s With The Mystic Quartz?

Butler's Today's Special

Jewelry designer Nicky Butler is one of our favorites on HSN, and he’s got the Today’s Special Tuesday. It’s a floral multi-gemstone ring, in either green or aqua quartz, that’s $70.

Butler has the kind of jewelry we love: silver and gemstones handcrafted in India into jewelry. When Butler owned a shop in London, Princess Diana was one of his customers.

But he has recently added Mystic Quartz to his repertoire, using it in a ring. Although most gemstones are enhanced Mystic Quartz has always struck as as fake and phony, with its rainbow effect. We think sometimes the treatment to get this effect is a coating outside the stone, and in some cases it’s a treatment that goes through the stone.

Maybe we’re being picky here, since most stones are enhanced, but to have a Mystic Quartz in a ring at $130 seems to us a betrayal of Butler’s self-professed love of natural, real gemstones.

One poster about the Mystic Quartz ring also complained about its high prices for what you were getting.