Diamond Stud Earrings : Please Help!

[jenkins]

Hey there guys & gals, first time post here. Please direct me to a different forum if this question doesn't belong here. I apologize if this is so.

I'll just come right out and say it. I don't really know a lot about diamonds, considering I'm (relatively) young and have never purchased a diamond before. I've read a few websites (www.diamond.info) to get acquainted with the knowledge, but there's a huge amount of information to digest at one time. My diamond knowledge (other than the barrage of holiday commercials) consists of a small understanding of the "Four C's," but I have little sense of what price might be a good deal relative to the quality.

Here's my situation: I'm currently looking for some .25 ct tw white gold studs for a special lady in my life, and quite honestly don't know a lot about what's going on. My budget is rougly between $200-$250. Here's what i've dug up so far.

www.UnionDiamond.com has a pair for $205 seen here.
www.Kay.com has a pair for $199 seen here.
www.philipnoel.com has a pair for $170 seen here.

Are these good deals? Bad deals? Shady merchants? Help!

Thanks in advance, and Happy Holidays.

 

[portoar]

Hey, there was another young guy on this forum recently and he got a pair of stunners that he was very pleased with from Whiteflash. You will find a lot of people here buy thier diamonds from WF (including me, my earrings just arrived yesterday). They have beautiful diamond earrings in their "expert selection" ready to go web page, the other guy here bought a .25 carat pair for his girlfriend and reported back that they were very beautiful and sparkly.

Look here:

http://www.whiteflash.com/golden-wardrobe/Gold_Details.aspx?ItemCode=WFER-4R-Set&CategID=54

Shipping is free and unless you live in Texas you don''t have to pay sales tax up front. You could choose white or yellow gold settings. They mail Fed Ex next day.

 

[jenkins]

You''re right, those are beautiful. I think those are towards the top of my list now, due to their great quality.

From those who have seen these smaller size diamonds in person, how noticable are the differences in clarity?

I mean, for a pair of stones of this small size, can you tell the difference between VS and SI? SI and I?

 

[Kaleigh]

Give WF a call tomorrow, tell them your budget and see what they have in stock. Their ES is a great way to go. As far as clarity is concerned they will tell you if they are eye clean or not. SI1, and SI2 if eye clean will save you a bundle. For earrings, that's the way to go. Also the martini setting, is gorgeous. It's 3 prong setting and sits well on the ear. Good luck, let us know how you make out.

 

[portoar]

Well, the WF site says their .25 ctw earrings are VS clarity, which should be totally eye clean. My earrings I just got yesterday from WF are VS, and I can''t see any inclusions, even with a loupe. If you went up to SI I would phone them and just ask them to be sure to pick out a pair that are eye clean; I would hesitate to go up to I on clarity; by definition (as I understand it) inclusions are now visible.