Paul Deasy’s Carico Lake Doesn’t Cut It For Us

We received our Evine Live Carico Lake pendant yesterday, and were eager to see what color the turquoise would be in this Paul Deasy special.

We blogged about this when we ordered the piece.

It turns out that it is a large, heavy-weight brushed silver pendant, nice work for the $177 Today’s Top Value price. However, while our pendant is green, it is the color of typical green turquoise, not the soft pistachio green that characterizes what we know as Carico Lake.

So our pendant will be going back.

We also purchased a 36-inch 4MM brushed silver beaded chain. It was a bit pricey, but it is also well-made and a bit unusual.

Also, we own several brushed silver pendants that would match and look great on it. So we think that’s a keeper.

Will Paul Deasy’s Carico Lake Turquoise Measure Up?

Will Evine Live vendor Paul Deasy let us down again? We will soon find out.

Yesterday we ordered Paul “The Gem Insider” Deasy’s Today’s Top Value, a large Southwestern-style pendant for $177.

http://www.evine.com/Product/155-013?icid=OnAirToday-_-The+Gem+Insider+Jewelry-_-155-013&cm_re=OnAirToday-_-The+Gem+Insider+Jewelry-_-155-013

This flower pendant came in five gemstones, namely “Sonora Beauty” turquoise, orange spiny oyster, purple spiny oyster, white buffalo and our choice, Carico Lake turquoise.

Deasy make a big deal about the Sonora beauty, which looks like Sleeping Beauty turquoise in terms of its robin-egg blue color and lack of matrix. We could care less.

We are enchanted with Carico Lake turquoise, which comes from Nevada and is a glorious green, like a soft mint or pistachio. It’s not easy to find and is pricey. We are hoping that is what our pendant looks like.

Some of the sample Carico Lake pendants were blue, not green. We certainly take Deasy’s word that his rough came from the Nevada mine. But if it is not the characteristic green of Carico Lake turquoise, WTH?

That’s like someone saying they have some Sleeping Beauty turquoise for you, and when you get it, it’s green, not the trademark blue of that stone.

We ordered a Native-American-made artisan feather pendant from Deasy a few weeks ago that came with an inset turquoise stone. We picked the one with Carico Lake. When we got it from Evine Live, it was blue, not green.

That feather pendant went back to Evine Live the next day.

We’re hoping our gemstone flower pendant doesn’t disappoint us with its Carico Lake stones.

If it does, it will also be on its way to Minnesota shortly.

‘Real Housewives’ Star Ramona Singer Shows Off The HSN Pearl and Diamond Pendant She’ll Be Wearing On The Reality Show Next Season

Ramona Singer, one of “The Real Housewives of New York City,” made her final visit to HSN for this year with her jewelry collection Thursday night.

Singer, who comes across as a much nicer person on HSN than she does on Bravo’s reality show, had on a grey freshwater pearl and diamond enhancer pendant — and a matching ring and earrings — from her collection for the home shopping network.

“I actually wore these pieces on my last episode,” Singer said.

She was referring to the fact that Bravo just wrapped up filming the next season of “The Real Housewives of New York City.”

Singer is not just another celebrity lending her name to a product. Her husband is a fourth-generation jeweler, and her mother collected estate jewelry and taught Singer all about it, she told HSN viewers.

Singer’s pieces have a vintage feel to them, and are very similar in look to those of upscale Madison Avenue designer Judith Ripka, who does a collection for QVC.

For example, the style of the hinged cuff bracelets that Singer and Ripka do are very much alike.

Singer considers her cuffs her signature pieces. “I wear two at a time,” she said.

The reality TV star got a little choked up when she explained that one of her rings, which had pink topaz and diamonds, was modeled after a ruby ring that her mom owned. Her mom is deceased.

Love of jewelry must be in Singer’s family genes. Singer keeps all her HSN rings in a box on her dresser, and she said her teen daughter noticed them recently and asked for one. The young lady wants to be able to pass that ring on to her daughter, according to Singer.

She also claimed that a Manhattan retailer is clamoring to sell her jewelry line, but that she told him it’s exclusive to HSN.

Beverly Hills Jewelry Designer Victoria Wieck Brings Unique Peacock-Feather Watch Bangle, With Drusy, To HSN As Today’s Special

We know we’ve done several “chick” blogs in a row, but we can’t help ourselves. Beverly Hills jewelry designer Victoria Wieck has a neat watch that’s HSN’s Today’s Special for Monday.

It’s a peacock feather bangle-style bracelet that incorporates a drusy stone — nature’s pave — as the “eye” of the feather, surrounded by Absolute stones to create the rest.

We’ve never seen anything quite like it. And this piece, which has the watch dial hidden, is only $60. It comes in sterling silver or gold vermeil.

You could buy the entire ensemble, cause there are matching earrings, a ring and there was a pendant, although they don’t use the drusy.

Jewelry Designer Carol Brodie Gives Us The Real ‘Poop’ On Elephants During Her HSN Visit

Well, we walked into the room in the middle of Carol Brodie’s three-hour show on HSN Saturday, and this is what we heard.

“I went on a safari for my birthday and all I saw was elephant poop with the hot smoke coming out of it,” blonde Brodie told host Connie Craig-Carroll.

What the heck! We had to watch the video later on HSN’s Web site to figure out what Brodie was talking about.

Brodie made her elephant remarks while describing a $170 “tusk” pendant that is part of her jewelry line. It’s crafted from frosted white topaz, white diamonds and African white sapphires.

Brodie, a veteran of Harry Winston, said she had gone to South Africa and seen marvelous wildlife like zebras, but no elephants. As the safari rode along, Brodie — obviously a city girl — said they passed big mounds with smoke coming out of them.

She was still asking where the elephants were when the safari guide got out of their truck and took a whiff of one of those mounds. Surprise, surprise — it was elephant dung, which was supposed to be leading Brodie and her crew to the behemoths.

Hence Brodie’s “all-I-saw-was-elephant-poop” remark about her birthday adventure.

We figure that will be the one and only time anyone will hear the words “elephant poop” uttered on HSN.