ALL that glisters may not be gold, advised Thomas Gray. But that should hardly prove an impediment to the spending power of Irish women, if the predictions of a British costume jewellery company are correct.

One of the fastest growing fashion businesses of this decade, Cabouchon was established in London just six years ago by German entrepreneur Petra Doring. Since then, the company has shown impressive development last year, retail sales in Europe reached £140 million sterling, an increase of some 66 per cent over 1994.

Although Cabouchon has had a certain presence in Ireland, it is only this week that the company was officially launched here. Cabouchon specialises in network marketing and direct selling women and the very occasional man are invited to host parties in their homes where the range of jewellery is displayed and orders taken. As a system, this has already worked well for a wide range of domestic goods a certain brand of plastic containers springs to mind. None of the pieces is understated Cabouchon's heavily encrusted style of ornamentation would never appeal to minimalist dressers but prices are relatively modest typically, many brooches or pairs of earrings cost less than £20.

Already reasonably well known, last year Cabouchon came to public attention when it was the subject of a television documentary on Channel 4. According to the star of that programme, Clare Cecil, within two hours of the broadcast, the company received some 500 telephone calls, many of them from Ireland. Ms Cecil, who first became involved in selling the jewellery four years ago and now has a team of 2,000 women under her, was in Dublin this week for Cabouchon's launch at the Shelbourne Hotel.

What sort of person did she think would be ideal for working with the company? "Somebody with enthusiasm you have to like wearing costume jewellery and have a great desire to earn money, I guess.

ON the evidence of last Monday's launch in the Shelbourne Hotel, the 200 odd women who turned out are already involved in Cabouchon and already adore wearing costume jewellery. Hannah Quigley, for example, who became associated with the company two years ago, was wearing a generous selection of bracelets and necklaces as well as two substantial bejewelled spiders on her left shoulder. "You just wear more than you need," she helpfully explained, "and by the end of the evening, other women will have bought it all off you it's an impulse buy."

The atmosphere in the Shelbourne took on the fervour of a prayer meeting, particularly as several people came to the podium to testify before the audience how Cabouchon had changed their lives "I've made so many new friends," was a typical comment. But the most obvious reason for becoming a Cabouchon "consultant" (never salesperson) is the chance to earn up to 40 per cent of the value of all goods sold. The rewards glitter just as brightly as the jewellery itself.