designer spotlight: jewelmint

My dear friend S (who has just started her own blog chronicling her culinary pursuits--go visit!) has always been a very bad influence on my shopping habits. She is the Queen of Good Deals, and she often passes that information along, which often leads to me pulling out my credit card because I am weak. This time, however, I feel compelled to pass that influence on to you guys, because I think she's really on to something!

Last week she invited me to join JewelMint, an online bauble-of-the-month club that offers personalized jewelry from the Kate Bosworth/Cher Coulter design team for $29.99/item. When you visit the site, you will be asked to take a "Style Quiz," which will ultimately determine which pieces of jewelry Kate and Cher deem appropriate for your particular aesthetic. Based on your answers, your "Showroom" will be populated with pretty rings, necklaces and bracelets, highlighting your "Top Match" (voted most likely to tug at your pursestrings).

You can also view any other pieces from the collection by clicking "Show Me More," and add or remove items from your Showroom, at which time you will be asked why a particular item doesn't appeal to you (further narrowing your preferences). I loved my Top Match immediately (the lovely Mosaic Dream Necklace shown above), but hemmed and hawed about joining the site and committing to a $30/month membership. Finally I decided to buy it for myself as a Valentine's Day gift (I mean, come on, there is even a heart on it...) and quit the site immediately afterward, but I have yet to quit--I'm curious about what will come along next month, and there are already so many other pretty pieces that I'm considering! The best part of the membership is that you can choose to skip a month at any time, choose to buy a piece during a month you previously decided to skip, or to simply cancel after a single purchase with no fees or penalties. If you forget to skip a month, you will receive a credit (one item) to use at any time, so it's not like you're paying even if you're not using the site.

If you're at all interested in joining the site, you can give me your email address and I will send you an invite. This way, if you do decide to make a purchase, I get some free jewelry! Or you can just poke around on the site without my help :)