It’s the holidays which only means one thing: jewelry. Okay, maybe we’re simplifying the season a bit, but it’s one of those gifts on every wish list, not to mention December is the most popular month for engagements. But with all this gold, silver and platinum flying around, where is a guy to start? To save your man a little frustration, Elaine Russell and Vanessa Stofenmacher founded the jewelry site Heirlumé, to help guys find a gift you’ll love. Using a simple quiz to find the best colors, shape and style for each woman, this is probably one of the easiest ways to buy treasured gifts this year. We caught up with CEO Elaine Russell to see just what makes Heirlumé so helpful.
JustLuxe: What lead you into a creating a gift buying jewelry site? Why did you want it to be specifically gift jewelry?
Elaine Russell: I spent many years watching my husband struggle each time my birthday or our anniversary came around. He did not enjoy picking out a gift for me completely on his own and at the same time, I did not enjoy just sending him a link and telling him to buy it! Women love to receive jewelry and it is actually the number one gift that men give women. Yet, it is typically not a category that men are experts in. For these reasons, we wanted to create a site that can help gift buyers find the perfect gift.
JL: How do you decide which designers and pieces to curate in your online store? Are there particular styles you look for?
ER: We look for jewelry designers that have unique collections using high quality materials. Our designers are located across the country and all have incredible talent for designing and making jewelry. Because we have technology that allows us to curate for the specific person, we do not limit our collection to particular styles.
JL: How do you create your recommendations?
ER: In order to recommend products, we ask the gift buyers eight questions around the lifestyle of the woman they are buying for. We use purchase data and correlation data to make the match and recommend nine specific pieces. We continually collect additional data and improve our algorithm.
JL: You have a plethora of information about stones, styles, cuts, colors etc on your site, do you recommend men try their hand at choosing their own piece or go through the quiz?
ER: We recommend that men use our quiz if they need recommendations and inspiration. We provide additional information to shoppers in order to help and educate buyers before buying. Fine jewelry is an investment that we take very seriously and want every customer of Heirlumé to feel very comfortable with their purchase.
JL: Jewelry can be one of the most treasured things in a woman’s life—what suggestions and recommendations do you have for choosing the best pieces especially with the holidays approaching?
ER: Well, this is tough because I truly love all of our pieces and think that we have something for everyone! That said, we did curate a small Holiday Collection containing our favorite pieces this year in addition to our newly launched Heirlumé collection.
