Find your diamond
Find your jewelry
shape
carat
color
clarity

Help with engagement ring

C

cmilot6329

Rough_Rock
Joined
Aug 5, 2019
Messages
14
Hello everyone,

I'm shopping for an engagement ring and would appreciate some help/advice with picking one out. I have a pretty small budget of about 2000 - 2500 so I know I will be pretty limited. Basically looking for about .5 - .6 Carat round diamond with a setting that has some twists and/or some additional stones along the band. Maybe something like this: https://www.jamesallen.com/engageme...m-vintage-infinity-engagement-ring-item-17862
or
https://www.jamesallen.com/engageme...m-embossed-diamond-engagement-ring-item-41133

So from doing some reading I think I should be looking for the best cut like ideal and color G-H and Clarity VS2 - SI1. As far as depth and table etc I found another thread that listed some numbers for those that I should be looking for.

So any advice would be appreciated and here are a few questions I had.

What is currently the recommended site to purchase from? I've read Blue Nile and James Allen but some recent threads may suggest somewhere else.

With a small diamond like this what type of setting is recommended? Or should I sacrifice color and clarity to try and get a bigger diamond?

I'm sure I have other questions I'm not thinking about right now but it's a start. Just don't want to get ripped off buying from a local store when I've heard the same ring can be purchased online for a lot cheaper.

Thanks!
 
Quick answer: you might also want to look at Whiteflash, High Performance Diamonds, and Brian Gavin. These vendors can all help you with settings. Is this diamond for you or someone else? Sacrificing color and/or clarity in order to get a larger stone is something that only the wearer can determine is a good choice. Most of us would say yes! Some might not though.
 
Thanks! This is for my soon to be fiance. I will check out some of those other sites mentioned. Are these the recommended sites now instead of Blue Nile or James Allen? I know JA no longer displays the certificate to view the additional details. I do like how JA shows the 360 view of the diamond as I can clearly see some faults in a lot of the ones I looked at. Whiteflash doesn't seem to have that or a photo unless I'm missing it? Seems to just have a sample photo?
 
cmilot6329 said:
Thanks! This is for my soon to be fiance. I will check out some of those other sites mentioned. Are these the recommended sites now instead of Blue Nile or James Allen? I know JA no longer displays the certificate to view the additional details. I do like how JA shows the 360 view of the diamond as I can clearly see some faults in a lot of the ones I looked at. Whiteflash doesn't seem to have that or a photo unless I'm missing it? Seems to just have a sample photo?
Click to expand...
Whiteflash do videos for their in house stones, so you’re looking for those ones branded A Cut Above, Expert Selection and Premium Select. The ACA line is the top, top quality cut superideal diamonds, the others will just miss that classification for some reason. The stones without videos are “virtual”, ie available to purchase but will need to be brought in for viewing.

The James Allen settings are pretty but if you look at the photos with the 0.5 carat stone it does get somewhat overwhelmed, in my opinion. Maybe something with a thinner band would suit better? Also don’t forget that a quality setting with diamonds (meaning one that your fiancée can wear without worry for the rest of her life!) will probably cost a fair bit of your budget. Have you thought about putting most of the money into the stone and just buying a sturdy 14k gold setting?

Anyway, here is a Whiteflash stone that fits your requirements, just as an example,

https://www.whiteflash.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut-loose-diamond-3999718.htm

They are a very nice, helpful company so they will be happy to discuss any stones, without obligation.
 
Thank you for the advice. I know she definitely doesn't want gold. I may just go with a pretty basic setting since I don't think she will be wearing it all the time since she can't wear it at work. And she isn't really big into jewelry in the first place but she did say she wanted diamond and not something else.
 
Snowdrop13 said:
Whiteflash do videos for their in house stones, so you’re looking for those ones branded A Cut Above, Expert Selection and Premium Select. The ACA line is the top, top quality cut superideal diamonds, the others will just miss that classification for some reason. The stones without videos are “virtual”, ie available to purchase but will need to be brought in for viewing.

The James Allen settings are pretty but if you look at the photos with the 0.5 carat stone it does get somewhat overwhelmed, in my opinion. Maybe something with a thinner band would suit better? Also don’t forget that a quality setting with diamonds (meaning one that your fiancée can wear without worry for the rest of her life!) will probably cost a fair bit of your budget. Have you thought about putting most of the money into the stone and just buying a sturdy 14k gold setting?

Anyway, here is a Whiteflash stone that fits your requirements, just as an example,

https://www.whiteflash.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut-loose-diamond-3999718.htm

They are a very nice, helpful company so they will be happy to discuss any stones, without obligation.
Click to expand...

This is a beautiful example!
Great find!!
 
While all super-ideal vendors are great and I still like BN, your budget will stretch the farthest with ID Jewelry and I strongly recommend that you reach out to them.

A friend of mine had a very similar budget and wanted a very similar setting and they were able to find something that fit the budget. Additionally, I recently had reached out to them on behalf of a friend again with a similar request - 0.5ct center, twisted/braided style setting and they had shared the below two settings which were both very affordable. I think that you will be able to find what you are looking for with them.
496C5E7F-35DA-43AC-90AF-B0CFD4F765F8.jpeg71B45824-C457-41F0-8862-BF505DB7F773.jpeg
BDAE0675-4CCA-419B-88E9-BBCDDCE6C66C.jpeg
914618E7-03CD-462C-BE0E-33BBCDF790C0.jpeg
 
SimoneDi said:
While all super-ideal vendors are great and I still like BN, your budget will stretch the farthest with ID Jewelry and I strongly recommend that you reach out to them.

A friend of mine had a very similar budget and wanted a very similar setting and they were able to find something that fit the budget. Additionally, I recently had reached out to them on behalf of a friend again with a similar request - 0.5ct center, twisted/braided style setting and they had shared the below two settings which were both very affordable. I think that you will be able to find what you are looking for with them.
496C5E7F-35DA-43AC-90AF-B0CFD4F765F8.jpeg71B45824-C457-41F0-8862-BF505DB7F773.jpeg
BDAE0675-4CCA-419B-88E9-BBCDDCE6C66C.jpeg
914618E7-03CD-462C-BE0E-33BBCDF790C0.jpeg
Click to expand...
I agree. Your budget will go further with ID jewelry, and they are amazing. I no longer recommend James allen bc they hide certificates, which makes it impossible for anyone to recommend stones. Blue nile is good, but they often don't have ASET/IS images, which is annoying. I recommend ID jewelry for you, unless you know you want to upgrade to a bigger stone in the future (in which case go with Whiteflash in house stones or high performance diamonds since they both have $1 upgrade policies).
 
Thank you for all the advice! I highly doubt we will be upgrading in the future. I really like both those settings SimoneDi mentioned. I will look around ID Jewelry to see what I can find. I noticed they don't have a price listed on a lot of the items. Do you really need to call them just to find out the price?
 
cmilot6329 said:
Thank you for all the advice! I highly doubt we will be upgrading in the future. I really like both those settings SimoneDi mentioned. I will look around ID Jewelry to see what I can find. I noticed they don't have a price listed on a lot of the items. Do you really need to call them just to find out the price?
Click to expand...
Call them, give them your budget, show them the settings I shared and tell them that PS sent you and you want a “PS quality diamond”, they will know what it means.
 
SimoneDi said:
Call them, give them your budget, show them the settings I shared and tell them that PS sent you and you want a “PS quality diamond”, they will know what it means.
Click to expand...
Exactly! You need to call them. Ask for yeukiteil , he's amazing.
 
lovedogs said:
Exactly! You need to call them. Ask for yeukiteil , he's amazing.
Click to expand...
I also love Joey, she is a sweetheart and always prompt in communication.
 
Awesome thanks! I will call them tomorrow or Monday if they aren't open tomorrow.
 
I spoke with Lana from ID Jewelry and she provided me with a few options in the $2500 range. She strongly suggested to go with a diamond that is not certified due to the low budget but she said she would offer me some different choices of certified vs non-certified. What's everyone's thoughts on that? Also, can I post the links she provided me to the diamond which shows the diamond specs and everything to get your input here? Or is that not a good idea for some reason?

Thanks!
 
cmilot6329 said:
I spoke with Lana from ID Jewelry and she provided me with a few options in the $2500 range. She strongly suggested to go with a diamond that is not certified due to the low budget but she said she would offer me some different choices of certified vs non-certified. What's everyone's thoughts on that? Also, can I post the links she provided me to the diamond which shows the diamond specs and everything to get your input here? Or is that not a good idea for some reason?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Strongly suggest that you don’t get a non-graded by a reputable lab diamond. Please ask for Yekutiel and explain that PS has sent you. Your budget is plenty sufficient for a beautiful 0.5ct GIA graded diamond and one of the above settings I shared.
 
Ask for yeukiteil. I didn't have a good experience with lana.
 
Ok thanks, I'll try again. It was busy all this morning when I called. Is there an email I can reach yeukiteil at or only phone?
 
cmilot6329 said:
Ok thanks, I'll try again. It was busy all this morning when I called. Is there an email I can reach yeukiteil at or only phone?
Click to expand...
Phone is best. Just ask for him and tell him pricescope sent you :)
 
Spoke with Yeukiteil today. Very nice and helpful guy! He sent me a video of the setting and diamond. Looks really good to my untrained eye but wanted to post the specs here to see what people think? Is there anything I should not post here like the GIA number or anything? Or can I post that with all the photos and video he provided? Ready to pull the trigger with the communities approval!

Thanks for all the help!
 
cmilot6329 said:
Spoke with Yeukiteil today. Very nice and helpful guy! He sent me a video of the setting and diamond. Looks really good to my untrained eye but wanted to post the specs here to see what people think? Is there anything I should not post here like the GIA number or anything? Or can I post that with all the photos and video he provided? Ready to pull the trigger with the communities approval!

Thanks for all the help!
Click to expand...
Yup, post all the stuff they sent you.
 
I wouldn’t post the GIA number so someone else doesn’t swoop in and buy it.
 
Here are the pics they sent. Couldn't attach the video as it is .mov which doesn't appear to work as an attachment. The only thing that looks like it may not be within the recommended ranges I have seen on this site is the crown angle which is 33.0 degrees. I've read 34-35.5 is recommended. Is this a big deal?

SNAG0001 08-15-2019 12.51 PM.jpg GIA-Officelight Gray-01.jpg
GIA-Officelight Black-01

GIA-Officelight Black-01

GIA-IdealScope-01

GIA-IdealScope-01

GIA-ASET Black (Fancy)-01

GIA-ASET Black (Fancy)-01

GIA -ASET White-01

GIA -ASET White-01

GIA-Hearts-01

GIA-Hearts-01

 
Love this thread!! Looks like you might be ready to make your big purchase. Do they have a setting you like?

Hoping @lovedogs or @SimoneDi come back with a thumbs up!!
 
That stone looks great. The lower crown angle is still “taller” (15%) and work well with the pavilion. GIA rounds their numbers, so it could be a dud, but the idealscope and ASET images look like the stone would have minimal light leakage. PLUS, it’s huge compared to what you started looking for.

Do you your intended’s ring size? You would prefer to get it right, especially if there are diamonds on the band, and not have to resize it after the proposal.
 
YESSSS! HUGE thumbs up from me. This is why I recommend idj :)
 
Thanks for the input! Yes she is a size 4.5. We had one of those plastic ring size things shipped out to us. Although, not really sure how tight it should be. 4.5 seems fairly snug but still easy to get off.
 
Ps, one of the reasons we have our recommended angles, etc , is bc they are likely to perform well. But you have advanced images, which CONFIRM amazing performance.crown of 33 with pav of 40.8 can be amazing, and that's exactly what happens in this stone. It's wonderful
 
cmilot6329 said:
Thanks for the input! Yes she is a size 4.5. We had one of those plastic ring size things shipped out to us. Although, not really sure how tight it should be. 4.5 seems fairly snug but still easy to get off.
Click to expand...
I would go a little bigger 4.75 or 5. This time of the year your finger size is the largest.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
GET 3 FREE HCA RESULTS JOIN THE FORUM. ASK FOR HELP
Jewelry Blog
PriceScope-Concierge-Ad
Find prime cuts.
Top