Gold expert Jan Springer shares the latest jewellery looks

May is Gold Month, and we're really excited about the new jewellery we'll be bringing you! Jan Springer's here to talk about the latest looks in gold.

Jan's been involved in the jewellery and precious metals industry since 1970. As well as QVC, her clients include The Goldsmiths Company and the World Gold Council.

What styles are coming up for summer and beyond?

The layered look is really taking off. It's all about mix and match - lots of different lengths, weights and styles of chain worn together, and bangles layered with slim link bracelets. There's a real east-meets-west look to this style. The rule is that there really are no rules! It's a great way to use your existing jewellery and mix it up with a few new pieces to freshen up the look.

If you're only looking for one key piece to add to your collection, what would you go for?

I would say look for anything in rose gold. It was everywhere at the latest jewellery fairs, and has made the cross-over from the designer watch market into all aspects of jewellery. It's such a soft, feminine finish, and is especially perfect for the summer months as it looks great with a tan. Of course, rose gold represents love, so a piece of rose gold jewellery makes the ultimate romantic gift.

Interview with Lulu

We caught up with Lulu to chat about men, music and her Time Bomb range…

Who are your dream dinner guests?

Elton John - he's funny, well informed and a great gossip! His partner David is also great, he's very charming and a wonderful party guest. I'd also invite Barack Obama as I would love to have a chat with him. But I'm a girl's girl, so I would invite my friend Susannah Constantine (from Trinny and Susannah), my sister and my nieces.

What qualities do you look for in a man?

A sense of humour is very important. I like sophisticated men, someone that's well travelled and can keep up a conversation. I like men who enjoy the arts. Oh and he's got to be able to dance - the Salsa!

What are your three desert island essentials?

My Time Bomb Survival Kit, water and an umbrella.

Anthony Heywood's favourite gadgets

I seem to have been given this moniker of electronics and gadgets guru. A lot of the other guys are really well clued up on it too but I do tend to get a lot of tech shows and that's where my passion is, I know a lot about tech. I love the toys!

I haven't done a Bose show for a while but whenever I do they're my favourite because I've got loads of Bose stuff at home.

The sat nav has got to be one of my favourite gadgets because, I think, out of all the gadgets that are out there, it's the one that has made the most difference for a lot of people.

Top tips from our scrapbooking expert, Rosemary Merry

Hi, I'm scrapbooking expert, Rosemary Merry. I'm going to take you through the journey of a scrapbook album and offer some useful tips on getting started...

How to begin

The beauty of most modern scrapbook albums is that you can move pages around from beginning to end and in-between. That means you have the flexibility for the contents of the album to develop, change or grow as you work on it - so you don’t necessarily need to start at the beginning and work through to the end.

I find it helpful to gather together the photos that I want to include, to organise them into chronological order and think about how they might group nicely if I want more than one on a page. I try to work on double-page spreads so that the look is more cohesive. Then, I think generally about how the album will look overall and what kind of papers will showcase the photographs most effectively. Do I want it to have an antique heritage look, a holiday feel, or a modern-day approach?

Charlie spills the beans about the BAFTAs…

Hi! I went to the BAFTAs on Sunday night and had a great time! Seeing Dame Judy Dench at the event was fantastic - she looked incredible, and of course Bruce Forsyth winning the Fellowship award was lovely to be a part of. Graham Norton was a true professional and from a television point of view I was very impressed to see how smoothly the night went.

My chocolate BAFTAs

I arrived really hungry and was hoping for some food, but we were running a little late. By the end of the show I was really starving! On the way out of the Palladium to the meal there were trays and trays of chocolates in the shape of the BAFTA mask. While most people were taking just one or two, I took several handfuls which helped ease the hunger before the main meal! Not a healthy thing to do I'm sure!

                                       
After-show dinner

We arrived at the Grosvenor for the after-show meal.  Wow, loads of champagne and a three course meal - although I don't drink so I stuck with fizzy water. I sat next to Camilla Dallerup from Strictly Come Dancing, she was lovely and like me was looking forward to the meal. Michelle Collins (pictured) was also on my table, she's a lovely girl.

Charlie

Richard Jackson: My 10th Anniversary at QVC and preparing for Chelsea

Hello everyone! Today I'm thrilled to be celebrating my 10th Anniversary at QVC. I've had so many fantastic times over the years and I'm just as excited about QVC gardening and meeting QVC customers now as I was 10 years ago!

I'm really looking forward to this year's Chelsea Flower Show. I was thrilled with last year's Bejewelled Garden and the wonderful response we received from the judges, the public, and the QVC viewers. And of course, it was great to win that silver medal.

This year we're really going for it with the QVC Garden, which is five times the size of the Bejewelled Garden. The QVC Garden looks incredible and we're in a prime spot this year, so the impact is going to be amazing. The designers have taken inspiration from the countryside and incorporated that into the garden very cleverly.

Glen Campbell works his magic at the BAFTAs

Hello everyone! I hope you enjoyed watching the BAFTAs on TV. You may have spotted some of the celebs wearing QVC jewellery, I helped them choose their accessories.

QVC's style suite

I had a style suite on Friday where celebs attending the BAFTAs could pop in for some style advice and choose jewellery from QVC to complement their outfit. Some of them brought their outfit, a few brought photos and some came without anything and we just had to work from memory!

The celebs

We had a constant flow of people throughout the day. Melinda Messenger picked a beautiful Butler & Wilson bracelet. Lucy Speed dropped by, she actually got her dress from the high street, so she picked some chic jewellery to complement it. She doesn’t like anything too over the top, so I helped her pick a Butler & Wilson pearl bracelet and a gold pearl ring.

Camilla Dallerup from Strictly Come Dancing wore a dress designed by the winner of Project Catwalk.  She was a little worried about choosing the jewellery to go with such a contemporary dress, but we found her some great pieces by Butler & Wilson and Joan Rivers.

Some of the celebs couldn’t make it to the style suite, so we sent jewellery out to them. I sent a fabulous Butler & Wilson necklace and earrings to Joanna Lumley. Michelle Collins wore a gorgeous Vivienne Westwood dress, and she chose Butler & Wilson accessories - a chunky red bracelet, small red hoop earrings and a chunky black ring.

Best dressed

In my eyes, one of the best dressed people was Ellen Page from the film Juno. She wore a long, backless black dress with a deep V neckline and pretty beading detail.

The BAFTAs used to be seen as the Oscars not-so-glamorous British equivalent, but now people are definitely making more of an effort to look fabulous.

Click on an image to enlarge

Find out more about Glen Campell

Countdown to the CEW Beauty Awards

We can't resist an awards ceremony - especially when QVC products are up for prizes. The CEW Beauty Awards have been causing a buzz this week and tonight we'll find out who went home with a coveted crystal trophy.

We're particularly excited about new QVC brands like Eve Lom - have you checked out their new cleanser yet? And another award favourite we're keeping our fingers crossed for is Elemis, nominated for lots of awards.

The CEW Awards are voted for by people in-the-know, including beauty editors from some of our favourite glossy magazines.

Catch our CEW Beauty Awards show at 8pm tonight (Tuesday 22nd April).

Browse award-nominated products

Joanna Lumley shines in QVC jewellery at the BAFTAs

For the third year running, QVC was the official jeweller to the British Academy Television Awards supported by Sky+.

The lucky nominees and presenters were offered a fabulous selection of jewellery from many of our glamorous ranges, includng Butler & Wilson, Rivka Friedman 18 carat gold-clad jewellery, Poggi Paris, Frank Usher, Joan Rivers, Diamonique and Betsey Johnson watches. And as if that wasn't enough to choose from, there was also The Collection - our hand-picked choice of scintillating silver and gemset jewellery.

Joanna Lumley looked resplendent in her matching Butler & Wilson necklace and earring combination, while ex-EastEnder Michelle Collins teamed her eye-catching chunky red Butler & Wilson bracelet with matching hoop earrings and a daring black faceted agate and sterling silver ring.

And newcomer Joanna Page, star of the award-winning Gavin and Stacey, looked glamorously demure, teaming her impeccable black cocktail dress with a suitably dazzling Diamonique necklace and heart-shaped drop earrings.

Don't miss our three-hour Jewellery from the BAFTAs show from 8pm tonight to recreate that red carpet look for yourself!

Anthony Heywood invites you into his dressing room

Hello everyone - welcome to my dressing room! There's very little in here really, I'm a total tidy freak. I have the bare essentials - clothes, make-up, Ribena, tea and chocolate.

My dressing room essentials

I suppose my dressing room essentials are all of my tea-making facilities - Twining's Everyday Tea, sugar and I bring milk in with me. I also have a stash of chocolate for chocolate Tuesdays and for when I need a little lift. I also always bring my laptop in with me.

My pre-show rituals

I don't really have a ritual before I go on air, apart from making sure I have make-up on so I don't look anaemic! Oh, and I normally take a mug of hot Ribena with me when I do my first show of the day.

On my walls...

I have four photos of past QVC Christmas parties around my room, but that's about it. As I said, I like minimal. Or clinical. Or just dull - whichever way you want to look at it!

Richard Jackson's gardening advice for April

Hello! It's my favourite time of the year to be in the garden. With the weather warming up and the light levels getting better, you can be doing tonnes outside.

From mid to late April there's so much to do, you have to prioritise.

Plug plants: Now's the time to be potting them on and planting them in larger pots.

1. The most important thing is to 'pinch' them out if they're getting a bit scraggly. This encourages them to push out and develop a stronger root system and produce more flowers.

2. Feed them. I use liquid tomato food or my own Flower Power Feed. This encourages the plants to get into flowering mode and bloom earlier.

3. Towards the end of April to early May, you can begin moving potted-on plug plants outside during the day, and bring them inside at night. This 'hardens' them up. Once you permanently leave them outside, they're tough enough to deal with the variable British weather.

Alison Young is excited about Beauty Day!

I'm getting excited about Beauty Day on Saturday. We're focusing on award winners, so it's a celebration of what QVC always does best which is cherry-picking the very best formulas.

Recently these formulas have been winning worldwide awards from magazines, trade press and newspapers. Whether they're chosen by other professionals or customers, hundreds of the award winners are sold at QVC.

Some of our long-standing guests will be joining us to celebrate their existing product ranges including Liz Earle, Fiona from Decleor and Lee from Philosophy, as well as guests you may have not met, such as Rebecca Korner, the founder of Korner Skincare which has won a massive anti-ageing award.

So join me on Saturday 19^th April for a day of pampering!

Alison xx

Spring gardening advice from Sarah Price, QVC's Chelsea Flower Show designer

Hello! Hope you're enjoying the extra daylight and (with any luck) the better weather. The longer days mean it's the perfect time to get working on your gardens. 

I'm spending all my time preparing for the Chelsea Flower Show. There's less than a month to go until we can start working on-site at Chelsea, and the pressure is starting to mount.

I've been busy visiting nurseries and seeing how the plants and trees for the QVC Garden are coming along.

It will be some weeks before the plants begin to bloom. Meanwhile we've been hardening the plants off, which involves moving them temporarily from their warm polytunnel homes to outside. This way they gradually get used to the cooler temperatures, but the unpredictable weather we've had this spring has made this tricky!

Julia Roberts: update on my book

Hi everyone,

People keep asking about my book so I better give you an update. I haven't been able to write much lately, but I'm hoping to do a lot of work on it this year.

I have started writing lyrics again though. My daughter Sophie is in a girl band and her manager has asked me to have a look at lyrics for a couple of songs - it's something I haven't done in quite a while, but I'm loving it.

Julia x

woman&home: love your bras!

Fed up with hand washing your underwear? woman&home have found a great alternative. Simply put them in a bra cleaner ball with one cup in each side, insert the ball in-between and pop in the washing machine along with your regular washing. Nothing could be simpler!

Find more handy cleaning products

Claudia Sylvester: sticking to my golfing new year's resolution...

Well, I said my new year's resolution was to play better golf, and so far I'm sticking to my plan!

I've booked in a series of lessons with an excellent golf professional by the name of Dave Novell. He's a teacher at Stoke Park Club, so not only am I learning to play at one the world's most amazing golf clubs but I'm getting a good knowledge of the game from someone who really knows. It won't be long before I can hold my own out there! And there's the added bonus that after an intense few hours of playing golf, I can scoot into the beautiful spa and have a relaxing massage. It's like being in a tranquil palace for the day.

Take a sneaky peek into Catherine Huntley's dressing room

Hello everyone! Welcome to my dressing room.

I have lots of shoes, boots, clothes and make-up in my dressing room. Plus reams of notes! I love having my own little space so I can keep it immaculate, unlike home where I have all my crafting clutter! There's also a coating of cat hairs on everything at home now, too.

Being a QVC presenter means it's essential for my hands and nails to look good, so I have my Leighton Denny Slick Tips cuticle oil, an assortment of nail polishes, lots of hand and body creams and my Philosophy hand wash.

Plus I have my Ojon glossing mist and hair straighteners to get a nice sleek finish to my hair.

Alison Young answers your beauty questions

Is your hair limp, your skin a little dull, or perhaps you're just looking for the right make-up shade? Alison Young, our industry expert, is here to answer your beauty questions. This is her latest advice…

I am 38 years old, fair skinned and have quite bad dark circles and puffiness under the eyes. I have tried numerous products that over the years have cost a fortune. What brand can you recommend?

If you've got an eye cream that you're happy with you can add Elemis Absolute Eye Serum underneath it to increase potential results. If you don't have an eye cream then Clientele Elastology Eye Science is an all-in-one which contains unusual ingredients such as copper extract. Make sure that you're not trying to fight a lack of sleep or water with a product, so increase water intake by drinking 2.5 litres a day and get eight hours of sleep - even if it means napping.

Read more of Alison's advice...