Oval diamond choice dilemma, please help!

[tarja]

Hi, I have really tough time to choose the best diamond because they both look beautiful to me so I want to ask you for help. Which stone should I keep? Or maybe I should buy something else, in between these two like E/F 1.20-1.40ct, ratio 1.38-1.40 ?

First on top: F VS2 1.53ct, polish/symmetry ex/ex, table 55.5%, depth 61.6%, crown height 15.5%, girdle medium to slightly tick, 9.03 x 6.62 x 4.08 mm, ratio 1.36

Second one: E VVS2 1.14ct, ex/ex, table 60%, depth 61.80%, crown height 13.5%, girdle thin to medium, 8.45 x 5.99 x 3.70 mm, ratio 1.41

Clarity in both is almost spotless/super eye clean,

My finger size 5 (please forgive me my sloppy nail polish haha)

 

[Matthews1127]

Can you provide the certifications, or any close up photos/videos?
Static photos make it difficult to evaluate performance.
If you can get ASET images of either or both, that would be extremely helpful.
Ovals are fancy cuts, and they’re a little tricky. Stats, alone, are not enough to evaluate them.
Both look lovely against your hand.
There is a significant size difference, and the l x w ratio is apparent.
Do you have a preference of l x w ratio, based upon these photos, on you?
Not sure of your budget, but I’m throwing this out there, too....

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Take a look at Jonathan’s ideal cut ovals.....

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Edit: Jonathan can provide lab grown diamonds, Moissanite and natural diamonds.

 

[tarja]

Unfortunately I don't have ASET images. I should ask about it before my purchase. They both are ideal cut. I can show you the video of F 1.53ct: https://s3.amazonaws.com/lgdvideos/LG384922835.mp4

A video of E 1.14ct is no longer available to see online. I have this picture I took with my cellphone. I have a video of it's video too, but I can't post it here, only photos.


I feel like I prefer the elegance of longer ratio but I wonder if E 1.14ct is good enough size for me, not a little too small? On the other hand, if F 1.53ct is not too big and bulky? I like it's chunkier appearance comparing to smaller and longer stone, and it's colorful big flashes of light in the sun. E 1.14ct is super bright, icy white color which perform fantastic even in low light and has slightly better scintillation, but a little less those big flashes in the sun. F 1.53 is warmer white.They both look beautiful and perform quite similar... This is really tough!

 

[AV_]

The E by allot - it is all that I expect from an oval; IDK for the slightly larger spread of the F, & do not believe that ASET shots will tell me anymore than these pictures. The E is a dream.

 

[tyty333]

I would try something else and not narrow myself to such strick ratios/color combinations. Ovals are all about the cut. Find one that is cut
well that you enjoy the looks.

 

[missy]

And not sure if anyone said anything about bow ties but that is something I loathe to see in diamonds and ovals can have one so be careful when choosing if that bothers you too.

Oval Cut Diamond Buying Guide - International Gem Society

Don’t let the bowtie effect keep you from buying an oval-cut diamond. With prices lower than rounds, ovals are also a stylish choice for engagement rings.

www.gemsociety.org

 

[Starfacet]

I don't know about the ratio of my stone, but I have a 1.53 ct Elyque oval from Jonathan, and I love the size and the fact that there's no now tie.

 

[tyty333]

Watch for when you turn the stones, more nice facets should light up going out towards the rounded ends.

I prefer more of this look

1.17 Carat oval diamond

This oval cut 1.17 carat G color vvs2 clarity has a diamond grading report from GIA

www.jamesallen.com

1.52 Carat oval diamond

This oval cut 1.52 carat G color vs2 clarity has a diamond grading report from GIA

www.jamesallen.com

Or try to find one that has a wider area of nice facets through the center

1.20 Carat oval diamond

This oval cut 1.2 carat G color vvs2 clarity has a diamond grading report from GIA

www.jamesallen.com

 

[diamondsR4eVR]

The smaller of the two E stone is far more appealing visually to my untrained eye, but I like the spread of the F stone.

If you don’t suffer from DS then consider the E, but if you will suffer from DS like most of us, keep looking.

 

[tarja]

Watch for when you turn the stones, more nice facets should light up going out towards the rounded ends.

I prefer more of this look

1.17 Carat oval diamond

This oval cut 1.17 carat G color vvs2 clarity has a diamond grading report from GIA

www.jamesallen.com

1.52 Carat oval diamond

This oval cut 1.52 carat G color vs2 clarity has a diamond grading report from GIA

www.jamesallen.com

Or try to find one that has a wider area of nice facets through the center

1.20 Carat oval diamond

This oval cut 1.2 carat G color vvs2 clarity has a diamond grading report from GIA

www.jamesallen.com

Thank you for helping! Have you seen the link of bigger stone I attached? I may be wrong and don't get what do you mean but I feel like my stone looks brighter and has less dark area in the middle than stones from JA. My stones both are ideal cut ex/ex. The shadow/bowtie is quite visible in my pictures because they lie on my hand in artificial back lightning. Most of the time they both have no visible bowtie.

 

[tarja]

The smaller of the two E stone is far more appealing visually to my untrained eye, but I like the spread of the F stone.

If you don’t suffer from DS then consider the E, but if you will suffer from DS like most of us, keep looking.

Sorry, what DS means? Diamond size?

 

[tarja]

And not sure if anyone said anything about bow ties but that is something I loathe to see in diamonds and ovals can have one so be careful when choosing if that bothers you too.

Oval Cut Diamond Buying Guide - International Gem Society

Don’t let the bowtie effect keep you from buying an oval-cut diamond. With prices lower than rounds, ovals are also a stylish choice for engagement rings.

www.gemsociety.org

Please take a look on this video. Do you think there is a bowtie?

https://s3.amazonaws.com/lgdvideos/LG384922835.mp4

 

[tyty333]

DS = DSS = Diamond Shrinkage Syndrome (where they look large for the first couple of weeks after you get them then all of a sudden you get use to them
and they sort of shrink before your eyes. Leads to a lot of PSers wanting to upgrade within the first year of getting their diamond.

I consider bow ties to be bad when there is a black line ...or thicker black area going through the center of the stone for an extended period of
time. Some people consider bow ties bad when there is any kind of bow-tie shape of facets going through the center.

What you want to do is maximize the nice facets that go through the center of the stone by finding stones where the nice facets continue out
towards the rounded ends of the stone as the stone turns.

The difference you are seeing from your video and the JA videos is a difference in the setup of the lighting. Makes it hard to do an apple to apples
comparison.

So I did a capture from your video and captures from the 3 stones I posted. It is a very fine line to be able to see the difference. When the stone
turns you want more main facets to show up and not virtual facets.

Here is your stone. When I look at the facets in the blue area they look like "mushy" facets. They are not clear, not crisp, and not well defined.

These are the first 2 stones I posted. The blue areas have more well defined facets (than your stone). The second picture shows really nice facets.
The first picture here shows a stone without any dark area (as well as no facets that show up in an outline of a bow-tie.)
Here is the link again

1.17 Carat oval diamond

This oval cut 1.17 carat G color vvs2 clarity has a diamond grading report from GIA

www.jamesallen.com

With the third stone I posted I was trying to show you that if you are going to have a mushy area (in the blue) you need to maximize the nice
facets in the red area (try to find a stone with a wide section through the center of nice facets and minimize the size of the blue mushy area).



So, now I hope you can see what I mean that it is a fine line (and hard to explain).

BTW - the only really "Ideal" ovals are ones graded by AGS like the ovals at Distinctive Gems Anyone else who says its IDEAL means that
it is IDeal by their standards which may or may not mean anything. I would take someone declaring a stone Ideal with a grain of salt (would
have to be from someone I knew they knew a lot about ovals).

After all that, you need to find a stone that you like and one that speaks to you.

 

[tarja]

DS = DSS = Diamond Shrinkage Syndrome (where they look large for the first couple of weeks after you get them then all of a sudden you get use to them
and they sort of shrink before your eyes. Leads to a lot of PSers wanting to upgrade within the first year of getting their diamond.

I consider bow ties to be bad when there is a black line ...or thicker black area going through the center of the stone for an extended period of
time. Some people consider bow ties bad when there is any kind of bow-tie shape of facets going through the center.

What you want to do is maximize the nice facets that go through the center of the stone by finding stones where the nice facets continue out
towards the rounded ends of the stone as the stone turns.

The difference you are seeing from your video and the JA videos is a difference in the setup of the lighting. Makes it hard to do an apple to apples
comparison.

So I did a capture from your video and captures from the 3 stones I posted. It is a very fine line to be able to see the difference. When the stone
turns you want more main facets to show up and not virtual facets.

Here is your stone. When I look at the facets in the blue area they look like "mushy" facets. They are not clear, not crisp, and not well defined.

These are the first 2 stones I posted. The blue areas have more well defined facets (than your stone). The second picture shows really nice facets.
The first picture here shows a stone without any dark area (as well as no facets that show up in an outline of a bow-tie.)
Here is the link again

1.17 Carat oval diamond

This oval cut 1.17 carat G color vvs2 clarity has a diamond grading report from GIA

www.jamesallen.com

With the third stone I posted I was trying to show you that if you are going to have a mushy area (in the blue) you need to maximize the nice
facets in the red area (try to find a stone with a wide section through the center of nice facets and minimize the size of the blue mushy area).



So, now I hope you can see what I mean that it is a fine line (and hard to explain).

BTW - the only really "Ideal" ovals are ones graded by AGS like the ovals at Distinctive Gems Anyone else who says its IDEAL means that
it is IDeal by their standards which may or may not mean anything. I would take someone declaring a stone Ideal with a grain of salt (would
have to be from someone I knew they knew a lot about ovals).

After all that, you need to find a stone that you like and one that speaks to you.

Ok, thank you for this explanation. From what I understand, I should look for a stone with more pronounced arrows, similar to round shape cut.

Because I like shape and color of my smaller stone, I already returned them both and I'm going to browse longer for the best one.

Talking about these facets, I turned my stone in the same angle as yours and then it's not that bad at all. I can tell there is that wide section through the center too. I don't think it was that bad. It is just my opinion, but I'm not an expert.



I agree that choosing an oval is very personal thing and a lot depends on what we prefer. Honestly, these three JA stones are not appealing to my eyes because of the bowtie and dark shady areas close to the center (and several other things). For sure I would not choose something like this:



For comparison, here is front of mine:



In my stone there are still visible arrows and this diamond looks generally brighter to me (and I'm not taking about its color grade).

I know and I do understand why ovals are not graded like round shaped diamonds and there is no cut grade in the certificate. Definitely this is more complicated to find the best one.
Still, if cut indicators like table, depth, crown height, polish and symmetry are all excellent and in the best possible range, then it is not a misuse to call stone like this ''Ideal cut''. Or is it?
At least, I think this helps a little to separate generally better stones from all those mediocre ones.

Soo I'm starting again my research and this time I'm going to keep more attention to those facets. Thank you

 

[tyty333]

You have to find what appeals to your eyes. If you like that second stone (and you have expressed why you do)...then maybe it is the right stone
for you. Its not a bad stone by any means. Better than average in the sense that it looks bright/white all the time.