Help choosing diamond

[sharptooth]

I already posted this on another section but was told I should ask here. I'm trying to pick out an engagement ring right now. I was wondering if I could ask your opinions on a diamond I found.

https://www.brilliantearth.com/lab-diamonds-search/view_detail/6179609/

I've already ordered one diamond and it had a very visible feather that reached the girdle so I returned it. My goal is to have an eye clean diamond 1.25-1.5 carat with a good cut but my budget is tight.

Thanks guys

 

[OoohShiny]

Welcome (to the apparently Dark Side, where the MMDs are lol)

What is your budget?

What are your preferences / requirements in terms of colour and clarity?

 

[Luminous1]

It looks really dull to me- I'm wondering if there are clouds present which are affecting the transparency of the stone. It could be the a bad video with a dirty stone though. You may want to see if they have a gemologist who will pull and look at the stone for you. If this video is all they have, I would personally pass on it.

Personally using your parameters, I would go with this one.
https://www.brilliantearth.com/lab-diamonds-search/view_detail/6155361/
The cut isn't perfect but it looks promising and it looks like it will be eye clean. Unfortunately IGI does not list the types of inclusions which would help tremendously.

 

[OoohShiny]

Ooh, I forgot to mention - Lightbox is being launched by De Beers, which will sell lab-created diamonds at '$800 per carat' and is scheduled to launch in early September, including pinks and blues, so at this moment in time, the market is in a state of considerable flux!

De Beers has capped Lightbox diamonds at 1ct absolute max (and is selling them as, basically, 'disposable costume jewellery') so it is unclear what is going to happen to pricing and availability of larger sizes - it may be that some growers go under, or some might focus exclusively on >1ct stones, but we just don't know at this point.

What timescales are you looking at?

I think it could be worth waiting until perhaps October or even longer (if you have the time) as some of the effects of Lightbox will have at least started to play out on the wider market, I reckon.

 

[Antique Chic]

I noticed a lot of inclusions (cloudiness) near the surface toward the top right (NE) in the video as soon as it started rotating. I like the one Luminous posted much better.
I agree with OoohShiny- I would definitely wait and see what happens with Lightbox if you can!
Good luck!

 

[MelloYello8]

I think it could be worth waiting until perhaps October or even longer (if you have the time) as some of the effects of Lightbox will have at least started to play out on the wider market, I reckon.

I don’t know that the market for 1+ carat stones will be terribly affected unless lightbox starts selling larger stones. As we’ve heard somewhere here that the 1ct white lighbox stones will be in short supply, it may need to stock a larger supply of 1ct white mmds to upset the wider market of certified diamonds with their non certified stones. As it is marketed as costume jewelry I doubt shoppers will be able to see what they’re getting prior to purchase. The $200 per .25 carats is about right in the existing market, but starts to get competitive at a half carat. My most recent mmd acquisition was 0.36 VS1 marquis light blue and was less than the $200 mark.

 

[sharptooth]

Thank yall, I went with the diamond luminous linked. They said if I didn't like it I could have one more exchange (fingers crossed). I'm gonna look at it under an ideal scope and hopefully wont have to.

 

[sharptooth]

Hey everyone, I got the diamond In and was happy to see that it appears eye clean to me. I put it under the DIY ideal scope I made using diamondfinder's tutorial and saw there is definitely a lot of leakage. (note the arrows are blue instead of black because the DIY scope I made is blue at the top for use as aset scope). What do y'all think? I have one more exchange I can do but they won't provide aset or ideal scope images so I could end up in the same situation or worse.

 

[OoohShiny]

Hey everyone, I got the diamond In and was happy to see that it appears eye clean to me. I put it under the DIY ideal scope I made using diamondfinder's tutorial and saw there is definitely a lot of leakage. (note the arrows are blue instead of black because the DIY scope I made is blue at the top for use as aset scope). What do y'all think? I have one more exchange I can do but they won't provide aset or ideal scope images so I could end up in the same situation or worse.

Meh.... That looks leaky.

It's a pain if only have one more exchange Perhaps you could return the current one and then 'buy fresh'??


In terms of options, these might have potential:

https://www.brilliantearth.com/lab-diamonds-search/view_detail/6172102/
1.2 I VS2
HCA 0.9
Crown/Pavilion angle is higher/shallower than PS-recommendations, but HCA indicates that the angles are at least complementary. 55% table and high crown should mean lots of coloured fire

https://www.brilliantearth.com/lab-diamonds-search/view_detail/6148629/
1.28 I VS1
HCA 0.9
Same as above, really, but 58% table will reduce fire slightly (if I understand it correctly). As per the one above, lower HCA indicates potential risk of obstruction issues when viewed face-on, but my good lady's stone is HCA0.8 (IIRC) and it has no issues IMO!

https://www.brilliantearth.com/lab-diamonds-search/view_detail/5526292/
1.29 I VS1
HCA 2.5
A bit steep deep but should be acceptable and also eye-clean at VS1.

https://www.brilliantearth.com/lab-diamonds-search/view_detail/5548648/
1.32 I VS2
HCA 0.9
Angles are within PS-recommended limits
Small inclusion at the edge of the table so slightly out of the way and hopefully less visible - looks black in the video but might be okay in real life, you could ask the assistant to check.

https://www.brilliantearth.com/lab-diamonds-search/view_detail/5548102/
1.29 I VS2
HCA 2.5
Somewhat steep deep (pavilion angle is too high) so might have some leakage under the table, but small table ( = fire) and looks very eye-clean!


I do wish they'd have more info on their grading reports, and that they'd have option to filter by pavilion depth/crown height on their search tool!

 

[sharptooth]

Unfortunately they only let me return the diamond one time and I already did that. Thanks for giving the suggestions! I'll check them out when I get off work. You think I color is okay even though they are IGI?