The ingredients for a perfect of piece of jewelry; take one part colored gemstone, two parts diamonds, add a dash of white gold, one part marketing, add one fairly well-known celebrity endorsement (sans drug and alcohol problems) and you could have the next hottest selling collection of jewelry on the market today!

Sounds easy enough but, you better have deep products, connections in the entertainment business and a few very good lawyers.

With the advent of QVC and Home Shopping Network (just to mention a few) celebrities are finding themselves a new way to earn extra money (in fact - millions of dollars in some cases). They gain additional exposure during down-time (between projects) and are setting new trends in jewelry design.

They slap their names on a piece of sterling silver, get on QVC and talk about the "jewelry epiphany" that hit them in the middle of the night and wham! They're making millions!

On the other end of the spectrum, you have jewelry designers who are just aching to get a celebrity to wear a piece of their jewelry in order to gain recognition of their designs (their existence in the marketplace).

There are even websites which hawk addresses and contact information for celebrities to those who seek to get their goodies into the hands of the celebrity, which just might be a perfect fit for their product line.

Yes, there are the old-timers out there like Elizabeth Taylor (who created the House of Taylor in order to push her brand into the market) however, did Elizabeth Taylor sit down and actually design every piece of jewelry in her collection or, did she assign a project manager (who in turn) assigned specific jewelry designers (to the task) of coming up with some baubles that Elizabeth then approved, rejected, refined and/or simply said "no way, I would never wear that".

Does it come down to a celebrity sitting down at a drawing board and ripping through design after design, ending up with sleepless nights, coming up with new and innovative jewelry designs? I think not, as most of these celebrities have no idea (no clue) what it takes to design a piece of jewelry - let alone - take the time out of their day, to mix and match diamonds (and gemstones) to come up with just the right look.

I don't doubt that celebrities have the ability to mix and match colors, as they might do when deciding what color looks best on their living room walls. I am also certain that they know what corner of the room - the armchair looks best in - and that the sofa should be moved three inches to the left of the coffee table but, designing jewelry?

However, these celebrities have one thing going for them and that's "their" celebrity. It's a marketing scheme which is so perfect in form that only DeBeers could have surpassed with their "A Diamond is Forever" marketing campaign.

There was a time, when jeweler's clamored to offer their best designs for the Academy Awards, as loaners to the stars. However, seems some of these celebrities liked their jewels so much that they would sometimes find a way to keep them. Nowadays, the celebrities have to sign a receipt in order to ensure that the celebrity understands that the one million dollar diamond necklace around their neck was loaned to them (and not a gift).

Jewelers, such as Harry Winston, is one the most recognized brand at the awards and his designs have become the staple of the Oscars however, more and more celebrities are either teaming up designers to help push that specific brand and/or coming up with their very own collection.

Vera Wang is a real go-getter in jewelry design. Yes, she hit the market (the runway) with her clothing line and then swung left into branding her own jewelry collection. She even offers her very own mattress. I often wondered if Vera placed a pearl under ten of her mattresses, as the true "acid test" for comfort.

I'm not being critical of celebrities nor the use of their own name in earning extra money (by pushing their own brands forward). However, I do have my doubts as to their ability to design jewelry.

I guess if I walked into their homes and placed three carats of loose diamonds and multi colored gems (with a template for a setting) they could possibly come up with something but, this would be akin to asking them to paint by numbers and I have no doubt, I be shown the door (quickly).

I have often thought of those in this industry, which have spent years (decades) refining their designs, attending schools to achieve their degrees (in this specialized field) and no one will ever know their names.

I think Bravo has a few great shows like Runway and Top Chef. These shows separate the wannabes from the "real thing". It would be a great idea to come up with a show based upon jewelry designers, who are in competition (not with each other) but, with celebrities who claim to able to design a piece of jewelry.