Tess Daly

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Our last holiday in April I ended up with Bronchitis. I got antibiotics from the medical centre but ended up with a second lot a week after we got home.šŸ˜Ŗ
The holiday gods have got it in for you, that's for sure... Really hope you'll feel better very soon and manage to salvage the holiday.
 
Apologies in advance - if you're a fine jewellery/jewellery fan like me, this will interest you. If not, feel free to scroll on by!

As a buyer of QVC fine jewellery for decades, I've been dismayed by its dramatic drop in quality, particularly over the last 5 years. The lack of solid gold items is sadly predictable, and has happened over a longer time period, due to the precious metal's market price rocketing. I recognise we can't blame QVC for this.

I own a few very nice QVC solid 9ct gold bracelets in different styles, which I bought around 25 years ago and still enjoy today. They all weigh around 15g - 18g, and were skilfully made (in Italy), to achieve the look of a big, bold gold bracelet, without the weight/gold content of a genuinely chunky, high-end piece. For context, back in the late 1990s/early 2000s, a 15 gram gold bracelet was regarded as pretty lightweight, and at the lower end of quality fine jewellery. How times change in two decades!

I recently looked at the QVC website to see what gold bracelets they offer today. The answer is, it's slim pickings. They have less than ten, solid, ALL 9ct gold bracelets (ie no sterling silver elements in the gold bracelet, as typified by the long-standing and in my view outrageously overpriced Welsh Clogau range, which in recent times has added silver sections to its jewellery presumably to eke-out its dwindling stores of Welsh gold).

To their credit, QVC helpfully states precise gram weights for all solid gold jewellery on its website - as they should, with today's exorbitant gold prices! Here are the facts and figures:

Currently, QVC's advertised solid 9ct gold bracelets weigh from under a gram, at a mere 0.55g (I'd worry that would break if I sneezed), to their heaviest, solid gold bracelet, weighing in at 5.8g. In terms of price, their 9ct gold bracelets - some recently reduced by over Ā£100 - currently cost between Ā£75 and Ā£440. So by a simple process of multiplication, the 9ct gold bracelets I bought from QVC all those years ago which are three times the weight of their modern offerings, would presumably be three times the price today. Mind-boggling, and prohibitive for most of us!

Customer website reviews for their solid, 9ct bracelets are lukewarm, to put it mildly. For example, a 9ct gold, 19cm, 5 gram bracelet described as a 'Diamond Cut Hidden Clasp Belcher Chain Bracelet', was damned by its two reviewers, both of whom returned it for refund, giving it mere 1 and 2 Stars out of 5, and the near identical titles: 'Not Worth the Money/Price!' Both complained it was small/flimsy.

But the gold situation isn't the only jewellery disappointment at QVC. In recent years, even solid sterling silver has become less available, and largely replaced with the 'Steel By Diamonique', stainless steel range. Don't get me wrong, I'm actually quite a fan of their steel pieces. It's surprisingly good quality/nicely finished, looks great combined with Diamonique CZs (which I believe are superior quality cubic zirconia), and appears to be durable. After all, unlike sterling silver, steel has a reputation for not tarnishing.

But there's no escaping the fact stainless steel is not a precious metal. However much Dale Franklin & Co emote over it, stainless steel items are costume, not fine jewellery. Which brings me to the current topic I want to discuss here - QVC's brand new range of jewellery by leggy blonde, BBC 'Strictly' TV host, red carpet celebrity and 'Hello' magazine favourite, TESS DALY.

Before I go further with my thoughts, here's the QVC website's description of her new range:

'Channel Tess Daly Glamour - Discover Tess Daly's My Jewellery List collection and bring her gorgeous celebrity style to any outfit'.

I was curious about the quality and design of this new celebrity range, so researched it via the QVC website, which carries video clips of Tess's recent, QVC Towers, in-person brand launch, in all her glossy, golden-goddess gorgeousness. She and QVC's Kathryn Goldsmith 'Ooh-ed & Aahed' over every piece, while Tess praised her 'fabulous', top notch design team, who apparently only ever work with high-end designer brands.

Tess had certainly picked up the professional lingo from them, throwing the word 'premium' at everything. She even quoted the age-old story of how the diamond tennis bracelet got its name, though sadly she made the common mistake of saying Chris Evert's pricey line bracelet flew off and stopped play during the 1987 US Open (it was actually 9 years earlier, at the 1978 US Open - must try harder on that research Tess!)

But I have to give her 'A' for Effort on her sales pitch. She even produced a recent copy of 'Hello' magazine, on which she's the cover girl, posing in the 'signature' necklace from her collection, a big & bold, gold paperclip chain, with a tiny round Diamonique-studded charm (too small to be accurately called a pendant). She claimed to have worn this piece on her recent Summer family vacation, no doubt to a 5* resort. Apparently her folks thought she'd blown the holiday budget on a new piece of jewellery, because it looks SO expensive. Yeah, right...

My first impression was that oversized paperclip chains are everywhere right now (there are several priced far lower on QVC), so it's hardly original. But to be fair I haven't seen it in the flesh - customer reviews are the best clue. In common with so many items from her new range, that necklace is a Sold Out / Waitlist item. So it seems her range sold very well on its studio debut. The bad news is, the reviews across the board are overall lousy, with many giving her pieces 1 or 2 out of 5 Stars, and saying they had returned them for refund.

The necklace Tess says is such a personal favourite 'doesn't hang right', according to both reviewers, who sent it back. At the best part of Ā£100 with P&P it certainly isn't cheap - and here's where (you'll be glad to hear), I get to the point. This brand new, massively hyped celebrity jewellery range is made of - wait for it - recycled brass. No mention of brass from Tess or QVC's Kathryn, funnily enough, as they urged viewers to part with their brass, and buy her 'glamorous' new, must-have range. Call me old-fashioned, but even on my modest income I wouldn't be seen dead wearing brass jewellery - and I'm damn sure multi-millionairess Tess Daly wouldn't, if she weren't filling her retirement coffers.

Unsurprisingly, pretty much every reviewer mentions the fact they didn't know the jewellery was brass, there was no mention of it on-air, and that they wouldn't have bought it had they known due to its risk of tarnishing. One buyer even asked if Tess Daly's range would tarnish, and QVC replied (yes, QVC have started posting replies to customer reviews), that they couldn't guarantee it wouldn't! In studio, Tess Daly said she was thrilled at the positive response from viewers Tweeting, sending Whatsapp messages etc. I think she'll be rather less pleased at the unenthusiastic feedback once people get her jewellery home!

But I hate to end this on a negative note. There was a heartwarming, on-air moment, when none other than Tess' famous hubby, TV presenter Vernon Kay, sent a surprise message into his wife's live brand-launch, praising her for working so hard on her wonderful new jewellery range. Bless him! Tess looked genuinely moved, probably that Vern took time-out from his busy schedule - sexting Page 3 models!
 
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The problem is gold went up so much in price, no way will QVC try to sell solid gold with high gram weight now. I have some QVC jewellery which is 14ct gold bought in the early 00s. They don't even sell silver jewellery now without diamonique. I have some good weight plain silver bracelets, no longer sold on QVC.
Excellent point - it hadn't occurred to me QVC no longer sell much sterling silver without Diamonique. There used to be some great silver lines, like that glamorous, Angelica Huston lookalike, who had a classy range of Mexican-made jewellery.
 
Her Jewellery range sold out in 45 minutes thought it was well priced.
Yes, it sold out fast - but judging by the lousy customer reviews on the website, most of Tess Daly's range is coming right back to QVC for refund! Miss Daly was coy and never mentioned it during her on air launch, but her supposedly 'premium' range is made of recycled BRASS! Hardly high-end - and certainly not heirloom pieces to hand down through the family!

Understandably many people who bought it, were shocked to discover it's brass, not least due to its propensity for tarnishing. One who gave a negative website review, asked QVC to give them an assurance it would not tarnish - QVC's reply was that it may well do!

Something tells me there not be another Tess Daly jewellery range at the Q. I for one find it offensive when a celebrity tries to make a fast buck selling a product they are not famous for, and have no expertise in. It smacks of cashing in. I highly doubt multi-millionaire Tess Daly would be seen dead wearing recycled brass in any other circumstances!
 
I didnā€™t watch it as sheā€™s not my favourite zelebrity. I did look at the range online and noticed then it was brass. Thought it wasnā€™t anything special but very expensive for what it was.

I watched a Diamonique show over the weekend and they had a Brenda Edwards (whoever she is) designed heart shaped pendant heavily reduced (I think fromĀ£48 to Ā£18) Just stated gold tone or silver tone. No mention of what the base metal was. Looked online it just state Silver tone/ gold tone on base metal.
 
Can anyone help me? I'm not a regular contributor to shoppingtelly.com, but have enjoyed my visits here.

I've a query for moderators I don't want to bore other users with - from what I can gather, there's no forum to contact mods. Is that really the case? Sorry to post this in a totally unrelated thread, I'm really not clear how else to proceed.
 
I must admit that I did look to see if the collection was in sterling silver but immediately knew it was base metal when there was no information shown. I wouldnā€™t dream of wearing anything brass let alone paying through the nose for it.
Absolutely! Not only is the Tess Daly range brass/base metal, it isn't even plated in real gold or silver - each item is branded 'Goldtone/Silvertone. Nasty IMO! Frankly I'm amazed she'd put her name to such tat. In her famous shoes, I would have insisted on a range that was at least solid sterling silver, ie a precious metal/fine jewellery, or I'd have walked away.

Nothing wrong with costume jewellery btw - but Tess Daly never mentioned the term during her live appearances, and I think misrepresented it as though it were fine jewellery. She actually said "I won't wear anything else, because it's just beautiful". Oh PLEASE!
 
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Can anyone help me? I'm not a regular contributor to shoppingtelly.com, but have enjoyed my visits here.

I've a query for moderators I don't want to bore other users with - from what I can gather, there's no forum to contact mods. Is that really the case? Sorry to post this in a totally unrelated thread, I'm really not clear how else to proceed.
Matt is Admim you can contact him on @Tech Admin or myself who is Moderator.
 
Matt is Admim you can contact him on @Tech Admin or myself who is Moderator.
Thank you, much appreciated!

Excellent point - it hadn't occurred to me QVC no longer sell much sterling silver without Diamonique. There used to be some great silver lines, like that glamorous, Angelica Huston lookalike, who had a classy range of Mexican-made jewellery.
Update - Just found the name of that fab sterling silver brand - it's 'Taxco Traditions', with Dominique Dinouart, another great source of quality fine jewellery lost to QVC viewers. Shame.
 
Just found this thread and really enjoyed reading it!

Had no idea Tess had brought out a jewellery range - suppose should be grateful it wasnā€™t faux tan products (she always looks v orange to me, ā€˜though nothing compared to Claudia!) or fashionā€¦

When I read it was made of recycled brass, I was quite interested, imaging ethnic/boho range actually made of ā€œpureā€ brassā€¦
NOT what looks like cheap Diamonique-type jewellery (am not a fan of faux bling!) without the silver.
And as others have said, v over priced..

Also interested on the info about gold jewelleryā€¦

Itā€™s ā€œbabyā€ nieceā€™s 18th birthday early next year and when we asked re gifts she said sheā€™d love some jewellery. Thatā€™s great for me as itā€™s easy to buy online plus itā€™s nice to buy as a keepsake and sentimental gift..

Have often bought her and her sister silver earrings, and even their brother leather/steel type bracelets etc

However sheā€™s apparently a fan of gold these days! (Iā€™m not and nor is my mum or friends so never really looked at it or bought any..!)

Would love to get her something in solid gold, as I actually got a nice quite heavy gold chain for my 18th, but the prices! šŸ˜³

May have to resort to old or rose gold plating šŸ˜”
Weā€™ll see!

Thanks for the info!
 
Re Strictly, Iā€™ve watched from the beginning.

Used to hate Bruce Forsyth (in general but especially on SCD - no offence to him, RIP)
He was great for his age but a total liability on the show by the end.
(And donā€™t get me started on Anton du Beke who models himself on Brucie..!)

Poor Tess then had to play the dumb blonde role to Bruce.

I do find her dull, but I think she does a decent job of keeping show running and I love Claudia and they make a good team I think.
And itā€™s fun to guess what theyā€™ll wear each week!

Someone in the village runs a sort of sweepstake voting system for SCD, which adds a bit of fun!

But as the years have passed, and partly to do with my illness too, I just canā€™t sit through the main show.

Hate al the filler, nonsense and ā€œrehearsalā€ videos etc, so I too watch the whole thing on fast forward on iPlayer..

This year I havenā€™t got the energy to watch at all - felt same last year - but may join in later in series.

I actually have a friend in the live band but that has just been cut and cut down to bare bones tooā€¦
It used to exceptional and mostly freelance professionals who gathered for the showā€¦
Now itā€™s mainly the often warbling singers with few instrumentalists behind themā€¦

Excuse the waffle!
 
Just found this thread and really enjoyed reading it!

Had no idea Tess had brought out a jewellery range - suppose should be grateful it wasnā€™t faux tan products (she always looks v orange to me, ā€˜though nothing compared to Claudia!) or fashionā€¦

When I read it was made of recycled brass, I was quite interested, imaging ethnic/boho range actually made of ā€œpureā€ brassā€¦
NOT what looks like cheap Diamonique-type jewellery (am not a fan of faux bling!) without the silver.
And as others have said, v over priced..

Also interested on the info about gold jewelleryā€¦

Itā€™s ā€œbabyā€ nieceā€™s 18th birthday early next year and when we asked re gifts she said sheā€™d love some jewellery. Thatā€™s great for me as itā€™s easy to buy online plus itā€™s nice to buy as a keepsake and sentimental gift..

Have often bought her and her sister silver earrings, and even their brother leather/steel type bracelets etc

However sheā€™s apparently a fan of gold these days! (Iā€™m not and nor is my mum or friends so never really looked at it or bought any..!)

Would love to get her something in solid gold, as I actually got a nice quite heavy gold chain for my 18th, but the prices! šŸ˜³

May have to resort to old or rose gold plating šŸ˜”
Weā€™ll see!

Thanks for the info!
Yes the prices of new, solid gold are outrageous (due to gold prices but also the VAT on top), but there are still some bargains to be had second hand.

Ebay and Etsy are a good place to start your research on second hand gold jewellery. And of course there are umpteen second hand jewellers in the UK many of whom trade online, plus fine jewellery auction houses (though obviously that's more time consuming).

I mostly buy second hand gold now when I'm able, and have scored some amazing buys. Good luck!
 
Yes the prices of new, solid gold are outrageous (due to gold prices but also the VAT on top), but there are still some bargains to be had second hand.

Ebay and Etsy are a good place to start your research on second hand gold jewellery. And of course there are umpteen second hand jewellers in the UK many of whom trade online, plus fine jewellery auction houses (though obviously that's more time consuming).

I mostly buy second hand gold now when I'm able, and have scored some amazing buys. Good luck!
Thatā€™s a great idea thanks!

Was thinking it had to be new - donā€™t know why especially as she wears lots of vintage clothing. And she and her sister use Vinted all the time.

Before I got too ill, I used to sell on eBay too. Still buy but nothing like I used to.

And weā€™ve got a great couple of local auction houses so I will check those out too ā˜ŗļø

Iā€™ve noticed one of the action places which specialises in watches and jewellery has recently had a lot of ex- GEMS TV and other ex-shopping tv pieces. Not sure why?!
 
Unsurprisingly, pretty much every reviewer mentions the fact they didn't know the jewellery was brass, there was no mention of it on-air, and that they wouldn't have bought it had they known due to its risk of tarnishing. One buyer even asked if Tess Daly's range would tarnish, and QVC replied (yes, QVC have started posting replies to customer reviews), that they couldn't guarantee it wouldn't! In studio, Tess Daly said she was thrilled at the positive response from viewers Tweeting, sending Whatsapp messages etc. I think she'll be rather less pleased at the unenthusiastic feedback once people get her jewellery home!
My ex-brother-in-law sold tat "gold" and "silver" jewellery at a market stall and made a decent second income doing that. People used to ask him if his jewellery would blacken, and he always replied that he'd never had one go black on him yet. Well, he wouldn't, would he, if he never wore them?
 
Re Strictly, Iā€™ve watched from the beginning.

Used to hate Bruce Forsyth (in general but especially on SCD - no offence to him, RIP)
He was great for his age but a total liability on the show by the end.
(And donā€™t get me started on Anton du Beke who models himself on Brucie..!)

Poor Tess then had to play the dumb blonde role to Bruce.

I do find her dull, but I think she does a decent job of keeping show running and I love Claudia and they make a good team I think.
And itā€™s fun to guess what theyā€™ll wear each week!

Someone in the village runs a sort of sweepstake voting system for SCD, which adds a bit of fun!

But as the years have passed, and partly to do with my illness too, I just canā€™t sit through the main show.

Hate al the filler, nonsense and ā€œrehearsalā€ videos etc, so I too watch the whole thing on fast forward on iPlayer..

This year I havenā€™t got the energy to watch at all - felt same last year - but may join in later in series.

I actually have a friend in the live band but that has just been cut and cut down to bare bones tooā€¦
It used to exceptional and mostly freelance professionals who gathered for the showā€¦
Now itā€™s mainly the often warbling singers with few instrumentalists behind themā€¦

Excuse the waffle!
The band is Dave Arche, Claudia does a running joke he is her boyfriend. The female singer is not great, but there is a man who has been there from day one. All the other Strictly versions worldwide just use a backing track no live band.
 

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