Advice on choosing a lab grown diamond

[sheezacowgurl]

Any updates?

Yes, but not great news lol. Frank Darking ordered it in and it was supposed to arrive yesterday. The lady I’ve been working with there reached out yesterday and said the F color I was most interested in, they were not able to get. Apparently, there is a delay is the systems updating with what diamonds are available or not. She sent over some alternatives, but they are all CVD diamonds and I really wanted HPHT. The search continues…

 

[DejaWiz]

Yes, but not great news lol. Frank Darking ordered it in and it was supposed to arrive yesterday. The lady I’ve been working with there reached out yesterday and said the F color I was most interested in, they were not able to get. Apparently, there is a delay is the systems updating with what diamonds are available or not. She sent over some alternatives, but they are all CVD diamonds and I really wanted HPHT. The search continues…

Bummer about the F color!
Does this one fit your budget and desires?

diamond-LGA1049607JA | Frank Darling

Sustainably grown lab diamonds and conflict-free natural diamonds. Shop competitively priced GIA diamonds in every shape, from emerald cut to round brilliant.

frankdarling.com

Gem Certification & Assurance Lab

www.gcalusa.com

 

[Kim N]

Yes, but not great news lol. Frank Darking ordered it in and it was supposed to arrive yesterday. The lady I’ve been working with there reached out yesterday and said the F color I was most interested in, they were not able to get. Apparently, there is a delay is the systems updating with what diamonds are available or not. She sent over some alternatives, but they are all CVD diamonds and I really wanted HPHT. The search continues…

What do you think of these?

diamond-LGA815731JA | Frank Darling

Sustainably grown lab diamonds and conflict-free natural diamonds. Shop competitively priced GIA diamonds in every shape, from emerald cut to round brilliant.

frankdarling.com

Gem Certification & Assurance Lab

www.gcalusa.com

diamond-LGA354917JA | Frank Darling

Sustainably grown lab diamonds and conflict-free natural diamonds. Shop competitively priced GIA diamonds in every shape, from emerald cut to round brilliant.

frankdarling.com

Gem Certification & Assurance Lab

www.gcalusa.com

diamond-LGA1160915JA | Frank Darling

Sustainably grown lab diamonds and conflict-free natural diamonds. Shop competitively priced GIA diamonds in every shape, from emerald cut to round brilliant.

frankdarling.com

Gem Certification & Assurance Lab

www.gcalusa.com

diamond-LGA1185715JA | Frank Darling

Sustainably grown lab diamonds and conflict-free natural diamonds. Shop competitively priced GIA diamonds in every shape, from emerald cut to round brilliant.

frankdarling.com

Gem Certification & Assurance Lab

www.gcalusa.com

diamond-LGA1199015JA | Frank Darling

Sustainably grown lab diamonds and conflict-free natural diamonds. Shop competitively priced GIA diamonds in every shape, from emerald cut to round brilliant.

frankdarling.com

Gem Certification & Assurance Lab

www.gcalusa.com

 

[sheezacowgurl]

Bummer about the F color!
Does this one fit your budget and desires?

diamond-LGA1049607JA | Frank Darling

Sustainably grown lab diamonds and conflict-free natural diamonds. Shop competitively priced GIA diamonds in every shape, from emerald cut to round brilliant.

frankdarling.com

Gem Certification & Assurance Lab

www.gcalusa.com

This one looks really nice too! Price wise, I think I'll keep it to the 1.5ct ish range. I really liked the 1.75 ct Kim found due to price per carat!

 

[sheezacowgurl]

What do you think of these?

diamond-LGA815731JA | Frank Darling

Sustainably grown lab diamonds and conflict-free natural diamonds. Shop competitively priced GIA diamonds in every shape, from emerald cut to round brilliant.

frankdarling.com

Gem Certification & Assurance Lab

www.gcalusa.com

diamond-LGA354917JA | Frank Darling

Sustainably grown lab diamonds and conflict-free natural diamonds. Shop competitively priced GIA diamonds in every shape, from emerald cut to round brilliant.

frankdarling.com

Gem Certification & Assurance Lab

www.gcalusa.com

diamond-LGA1160915JA | Frank Darling

Sustainably grown lab diamonds and conflict-free natural diamonds. Shop competitively priced GIA diamonds in every shape, from emerald cut to round brilliant.

frankdarling.com

Gem Certification & Assurance Lab

www.gcalusa.com

diamond-LGA1185715JA | Frank Darling

Sustainably grown lab diamonds and conflict-free natural diamonds. Shop competitively priced GIA diamonds in every shape, from emerald cut to round brilliant.

frankdarling.com

Gem Certification & Assurance Lab

www.gcalusa.com

diamond-LGA1199015JA | Frank Darling

Sustainably grown lab diamonds and conflict-free natural diamonds. Shop competitively priced GIA diamonds in every shape, from emerald cut to round brilliant.

frankdarling.com

Gem Certification & Assurance Lab

www.gcalusa.com

Sorry for the delayed response. All of these look like good options. Did any really stand out to you?

 

[Kim N]

Sorry for the delayed response. All of these look like good options. Did any really stand out to you?

Is the 1.75 F still available? It's still showing up on the website.

diamond-LGA1213326JA | Frank Darling

Sustainably grown lab diamonds and conflict-free natural diamonds. Shop competitively priced GIA diamonds in every shape, from emerald cut to round brilliant.

frankdarling.com

Otherwise, I also like these two.

diamond-LGA354917JA | Frank Darling

Sustainably grown lab diamonds and conflict-free natural diamonds. Shop competitively priced GIA diamonds in every shape, from emerald cut to round brilliant.

frankdarling.com

diamond-LGA1160915JA | Frank Darling

Sustainably grown lab diamonds and conflict-free natural diamonds. Shop competitively priced GIA diamonds in every shape, from emerald cut to round brilliant.

frankdarling.com

 

[sheezacowgurl]

Is the 1.75 F still available? It's still showing up on the website.

diamond-LGA1213326JA | Frank Darling

Sustainably grown lab diamonds and conflict-free natural diamonds. Shop competitively priced GIA diamonds in every shape, from emerald cut to round brilliant.

frankdarling.com

Otherwise, I also like these two.

diamond-LGA354917JA | Frank Darling

Sustainably grown lab diamonds and conflict-free natural diamonds. Shop competitively priced GIA diamonds in every shape, from emerald cut to round brilliant.

frankdarling.com

diamond-LGA1160915JA | Frank Darling

Sustainably grown lab diamonds and conflict-free natural diamonds. Shop competitively priced GIA diamonds in every shape, from emerald cut to round brilliant.

frankdarling.com

I saw it was still available as well and asked again yesterday! They told me it’s not available. Also, there had been mention of the same diamond being for sale on different sites with different prices. I have yet to be able to find that. I can’t figure out how to search by the cert number or either it gives no results because they really don’t have that diamond. Any tips on this? Is there a way to filter for only HPHT diamonds? Most I pull up on sites other than James Allen are CVD or are GIA graded and it doesn’t list CVD or HPHT at all on the that cert. I’ve noticed Ritani is about half the price of comparable spec diamonds on other sites. Any thoughts/advice on all of this? Thanks!

 

[Kim N]

I saw it was still available as well and asked again yesterday! They told me it’s not available. Also, there had been mention of the same diamond being for sale on different sites with different prices. I have yet to be able to find that. I can’t figure out how to search by the cert number or either it gives no results because they really don’t have that diamond. Any tips on this? Is there a way to filter for only HPHT diamonds? Most I pull up on sites other than James Allen are CVD or are GIA graded and it doesn’t list CVD or HPHT at all on the that cert. I’ve noticed Ritani is about half the price of comparable spec diamonds on other sites. Any thoughts/advice on all of this? Thanks!

There's no way to filter for HPHT. I did notice that a fair number of GIA stones no longer say HPHT or CVD, which is a shame. I think they used to always specify which method. Ritani is definitely one of the cheapest vendors we know of. However, they don't sell GCAL 8x and have very few GCAL in general. The advantage of GCAL 8x is all the light performance analysis they provide.

 

[sheezacowgurl]

There's no way to filter for HPHT. I did notice that a fair number of GIA stones no longer say HPHT or CVD, which is a shame. I think they used to always specify which method. Ritani is definitely one of the cheapest vendors we know of. However, they don't sell GCAL 8x and have very few GCAL in general. The advantage of GCAL 8x is all the light performance analysis they provide.

I do like how the GCAL cert provides all the light performance. The diamond I returned was IGI and it didn’t have any of that. I like your other suggestions and will I inquire on them. They recommended gcal cert#322610993 as they have this one available on hand. What on your thoughts on this one? I did notice it lists more inclusions than some of your suggestions. Thanks!

 

[Kim N]

I do like how the GCAL cert provides all the light performance. The diamond I returned was IGI and it didn’t have any of that. I like your other suggestions and will I inquire on them. They recommended gcal cert#322610993 as they have this one available on hand. What on your thoughts on this one? I did notice it lists more inclusions than some of your suggestions. Thanks!

I like some of my suggestions a bit more, but this one would still be a great choice.

 

[sheezacowgurl]

Hi, they were able to get the 1.75 and 1.68 diamond after all! They sent some videos of them over. Can I share google drive links on here for videos? I know before someone mentioned u can't share videos unless you make an Imgur account I think

 

[DejaWiz]

Hi, they were able to get the 1.75 and 1.68 diamond after all! They sent some videos of them over. Can I share google drive links on here for videos? I know before someone mentioned u can't share videos unless you make an Imgur account I think

You *might* be able to post the links to the Google drive but the viewing rights need to be public, so make sure there are no private or personal info shown anywhere.

 

[sheezacowgurl]

Forgive me as this is my first experience with google drive! How do I make sure no private or personal info will be shown? If I post the link I don't see any personal info in that and when clicking the link, it goes straight to the video. Is that ok?

 

[DejaWiz]

Forgive me as this is my first experience with google drive! How do I make sure no private or personal info will be shown? If I post the link I don't see any personal info in that and when clicking the link, it goes straight to the video. Is that ok?

Yep, should be fine, then. As long as there are no indicators of name, address, customer number, etc in the Google drive link or the shown in the video.

 

[Kim N]

Hi, they were able to get the 1.75 and 1.68 diamond after all! They sent some videos of them over. Can I share google drive links on here for videos? I know before someone mentioned u can't share videos unless you make an Imgur account I think

You don't need an Imgur account to share a video there. Anyone can upload a video to Imgur. That would probably be easiest with no privacy concerns.

 

[sheezacowgurl]

You don't need an Imgur account to share a video there. Anyone can upload a video to Imgur. That would probably be easiest with no privacy concerns.

So I've googled and looked at Imgur. I'm not sure I'll be able to upload the videos to Imgur either because the settings in google drive that the video owner has selected doesn't allow me to download it. The only thingI can do (that I can see) is it allows me to copy the link to share to public and it's viewer only. I'll compile a list of all the links for the videos she sent me and post that. I do have a couple questions in choosing between the 1.68 ct and 1.75 ct. The lady I have been working with says they basically look like the same, even in size. She said the 1.68 is super spready. When looking at the 1.75ct vs1 and the 1.68 ct vs2, would one be preferred over the other based off of the clarity, the dimensions, and the type/location of inclusions shown? When looking at the certificates if looks like the vs1 has more inclusions than the vs2. Thank you!

 

[Kim N]

So I've googled and looked at Imgur. I'm not sure I'll be able to upload the videos to Imgur either because the settings in google drive that the video owner has selected doesn't allow me to download it. The only thingI can do (that I can see) is it allows me to copy the link to share to public and it's viewer only. I'll compile a list of all the links for the videos she sent me and post that. I do have a couple questions in choosing between the 1.68 ct and 1.75 ct. The lady I have been working with says they basically look like the same, even in size. She said the 1.68 is super spready. When looking at the 1.75ct vs1 and the 1.68 ct vs2, would one be preferred over the other based off of the clarity, the dimensions, and the type/location of inclusions shown? When looking at the certificates if looks like the vs1 has more inclusions than the vs2. Thank you!

In the photos/videos, the VS1 appears to have fewer inclusions. The dimensions are basically the same, as the naked eye can't perceive a 0.07mm difference in spread. Between the two, I have a slight preference for the 1.75 due to the clarity and slightly taller crown height.

 

[sheezacowgurl]

Ok thanks. So it would be better to have the 1.75 ct stone that list crystals on the bezel and cloud, feather on the upper girdle instead of the 1.68ct stone that lists Crystal on the table, star?

 

[DejaWiz]

Ok thanks. So it would be better to have the 1.75 ct stone that list crystals on the bezel and cloud, feather on the upper girdle instead of the 1.68ct stone that lists Crystal on the table, star?

The 1.75 is a VS1...at this fairly high clarity grades, any inclusions will not impact transparency, optical performance, or be visible without hunting for them with at least a 10x magnifying loupe. You're good to go.

VS Diamond Clarity

Learn why a very slightly included VS diamond might be the right choice for you? How important are VS1 and VS2 clarity for diamond sparkle?

www.pricescope.com

 

[Kim N]

Ok thanks. So it would be better to have the 1.75 ct stone that list crystals on the bezel and cloud, feather on the upper girdle instead of the 1.68ct stone that lists Crystal on the table, star?

Yes, I usually prefer inclusions that are not on the table and will almost always choose VS1 over VS2.

 

[sheezacowgurl]

@DejaWiz and @Kim N thank you both so much! I believe I’m going to go with the 1.75! I did go to the gcal website last night and pulled up the videos again. I feel like the 1.75 has a gray/steely look and the 1.68 looks warmer. Can either of u weigh in on what I’m seeing since they are both F color? I took a screenshot that shows what I’m seeing.

 

[DejaWiz]

@DejaWiz and @Kim N thank you both so much! I believe I’m going to go with the 1.75! I did go to the gcal website last night and pulled up the videos again. I feel like the 1.75 has a gray/steely look and the 1.68 looks warmer. Can either of u weigh in on what I’m seeing since they are both F color? I took a screenshot that shows what I’m seeing.

You're absolutely right...the 1.75 leans grayish/grayish-blue while the 1.68 leans yellowish/yellowish-brown.

 

[Kim N]

@DejaWiz and @Kim N thank you both so much! I believe I’m going to go with the 1.75! I did go to the gcal website last night and pulled up the videos again. I feel like the 1.75 has a gray/steely look and the 1.68 looks warmer. Can either of u weigh in on what I’m seeing since they are both F color? I took a screenshot that shows what I’m seeing.

I agree that the 1.75 is less warm than the 1.68. I don't see any blue nuance, though, so it looks like the winner between the two.

 

[sheezacowgurl]

You're absolutely right...the 1.75 leans grayish/grayish-blue while the 1.68 leans yellowish/yellowish-brown.

Here they are at Frank Darling on the white grading tray. 1.75 is on the left. Now that I’ve seen this I’m feeling apprehensive on it because of the blueish that bugged me in the first diamond I purchased.

 

[DejaWiz]

Here they are at Frank Darling on the white grading tray. 1.75 is on the left. Now that I’ve seen this I’m feeling apprehensive on it because of the blueish that bugged me in the first diamond I purchased.

Inconclusive from that picture...they need stronger lighting. Can you ask them for more pictures in the grading tray, stronger lighting, and closer together?

I'm not convinced that the 1.75 is a Type IIb...yet.
Will need better pictures.

 

[Kim N]

Here they are at Frank Darling on the white grading tray. 1.75 is on the left. Now that I’ve seen this I’m feeling apprehensive on it because of the blueish that bugged me in the first diamond I purchased.

I looked at this photo and the videos on GCAL's website several times, and I still believe it doesn't have blue nuance.

 

[DejaWiz]

Maybe some more to look at and consider if you feel that the 1.75 isn't for you (but definitely get more photos of color hue comparison, because I don't think that 1.75 has blue nuance based on what we've seen so far).

diamond-AM3-139SL | Frank Darling

Sustainably grown lab diamonds and conflict-free natural diamonds. Shop competitively priced GIA diamonds in every shape, from emerald cut to round brilliant.

frankdarling.com

diamond-AM4-14SL | Frank Darling

Sustainably grown lab diamonds and conflict-free natural diamonds. Shop competitively priced GIA diamonds in every shape, from emerald cut to round brilliant.

frankdarling.com

 

[sheezacowgurl]

@DejaWiz event though we think it doesn't have blue nuance, do u think it will give a grey/blueish hue etc like you can see on the photo I posted? Here is everything she sent me:
1.68 on the top, 1.75 on the bottom:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1myjLVlUX6FrykVB-8gv6rwwOMDLVoDIf/view?usp=share_link
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1p1XvXH7gvQ_9MojQ0EDIkSKAia3NAKG3/view?usp=share_link
1.75 on the left, 1.68 on the right:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1n-oBju6HVDnPoFad5AGZYI5AKaIqDucN/view?usp=share_link
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nOFK_RSuTo3NYDaYzL_hEScdpoBYLVWW/view?usp=share_link
1.68
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mZN3sZZiz8npLMC1Pi6RAn56r7-x1seU/view?usp=share_link
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mSXLFh5DwKPP9eg13CFEgcAA-pqjiYnv/view?usp=share_link
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mNjCMoZw9rWF8xi1wr8n4poJcXbbd6WR/view?usp=share_link
1.75
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mredENEA3cOy8sgUCMC4XmOqqs773hul/view?usp=share_link
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mjtMb2PRxNl2rtPTl8u5wfVgp6lJd3Gy/view?usp=share_link
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mjj1gHQEBy-q-ploQRiyIXZCByh6xxJq/view?usp=share_link

 

[DejaWiz]

It looks quite icy white to my eyes!
Ask for some solo pics of the 1.75 and comparison pics in the grading tray in more brighter lighting.

 

[sheezacowgurl]

It looks quite icy white to my eyes!
Ask for some solo pics of the 1.75 and comparison pics in the grading tray in more brighter lighting.

OK, I'll do that! After seeing both diamonds in real life videos, did you notice any differences in performance/color or would prefer one over the other?