Help selecting a lab diamond

[titos5]

Hi everyone,

Been lurking and learning for awhile. Thank you all for the help in advance! I'm looking to purchase a lab diamond engagement ring and would love to hear some feedback on stone selection.

Priorities: Eye clean & great sparkle (sparkle as defined by someone who is not an expert)
4 Cs: Ideal/Excel. Cut, H+ Color, VS1, ~.9ct
Budget: ~$2,500 for stone​

I believe I'll be purchasing from Brilliant Earth. (Easy interface, liked halo setting in showroom, good lab prices, but scared of few online horror story reviews) When I run sorts using the 4 Cs above, I just get quite a few results, and don't really know how to narrow from there. Is there something I should focus on more? Are there major differences from one Ideal cut to another? Am I overthinking it?

Feel free to poke holes in my thinking. A few stones I've been interested are below, but again there are several options when you filter on their lab diamond inventory page. https://www.brilliantearth.com/lab-diamonds-search/

https://www.brilliantearth.com/lab-diamonds-search/view_detail/6301841/
https://www.brilliantearth.com/lab-diamonds-search/view_detail/6300996/​

For those interested: Plan on going with a lab as we don't see the need to sell/upgrade down the road and don't view the purchase as an investment. It allows me to get what I want at a price I can afford. SO likes the idea of having the real thing but being able to allocate more to a honeymoon. She also likes the eco-friendly sales pitch of both BE and lab diamonds.

Thank you all!

 

[denverappraiser]

Aiming for Super Ideal cuts in a synthetic is a tricky problem. IGI, which is the grading lab used by BE and many of the others in the industry, doesn’t use the term at all. That’s been added by the seller and I find no hints as to why. The BE tutorial is no help. It says super-ideal is really good, the best, but gives no clues to exactly what they mean by it. Best in what ways? Where are the demising lines?

IGI does use the word ‘ideal’, without explanation, but the IGI tutorial includes no clues to what THEY mean by any of their terms. The scales are not the same as GIA’s. Sometimes BE-super stones seem to have been graded by IGI as ideal, and sometimes they’ve been graded IGI-excellent.

My advice is to ask your seller. They should be prepared to explain any terms they’re using. Be prepared for a difficult conversation. They may not know themselves and not so many customers hold their feet to this particular fire.

 

[OoohShiny]

You can run the diamonds in the search results through the HCA tool under the Tools tab at the top of the forum.

You want a score under 2, because that illustrates the crown and pavilion angles will work well together.

You should also try to keep within these recommended parameters (which I think are correct??):

Table: 53% - 58%
Crown Angle: 34degrees - 35 degrees (up to 35.5degrees should be fine with a 40.6 pavilion)
Pavilion Angle: 40.6 degrees - 40.9 degrees
Depth: 60 - 62.3