personal experience, small L color?

[Niel]

A friend of mine asked me to point him in the direction of a nice ring for his girlfriend. The budget is absolutely 1600 or less. He needs a plain shank halo like the photo below. I had him contact idj and we think we have one, but its an L. .6 CTS vs2. It appears well cut from the photo he has gotten though he is still waiting on idelascopes. Numbers are good though. We know she doesn't know much about jewelry. We know she specifically does NOT want the surprise ruined and has gone about pinning things as a way of giving him ideas.
If the ring will be rose gold, and only .6 CTS, do you think an L is fine? I'll tell you now the next size in any color upgrade is .5 and below.
At James Allen he can't even get to .5 CTS.

Any thoughts on personal experience? Ita not an old cut. Being that the halo will be rose, and the size is small, do ypu think it would be acceptable? I don't have experience but I do have a k I'm white gold and I know she thinks thats white enough.

Again we can't ask her, and she doesn't want a soli. He is also self conscious about his ability to buy a sizable diamond.

 

[Niel]

Setting idj offered

 

[diamondseeker2006]

I think that halo setting is a great one to add a little size! I'd probably only do L in a larger faceted stone like an OEC. Have you looked at Erica or Grace's site? Diamond Zone on ebay usually has some nice smaller ones as well.

I will add this, if it has a brown undertone, it might be good. But I don't like yellow with rose gold. (my experience is seeing L and M AVCs that had yellowish tint)

Is budget for the whole ring $1600?

 

[Niel]

I think that halo setting is a great one to add a little size! I'd probably only do L in a larger faceted stone like an OEC. Have you looked at Erica or Grace's site? Diamond Zone on ebay usually has some nice smaller ones as well. By email I mean facebook, I contacted them sense I already follow them on facieb, and he seems a little overwhelmed

I will add this, if it has a brown undertone, it might be good. But I don't like yellow with rose gold. (my experience is seeing L and M AVCs that had yellowish tint)

Is budget for the whole ring $1600?

I cant pull up the page now because they took it down while getting him an idealscope, but I thought I remember it listing it as a faint brown. I did contact lad and they didn't have any diamonds in his price range. And I was looking at jbg and I didnt think she did but I didn't email her. And he really wants to get it all in one place so that that makes it harder too.

Yes while budget is 1600. And he doesn't even want to reach that if he could avoid it lol

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Well, I think getting a good half carat in a halo setting would be doing GREAT at $1600! It would have the appearance of probably 7mm!

You know me, Niel..I'd go for a half carat in J or K if it's going to be mrb.

Does he have photos of the L diamond to share?

 

[Niel]

Well, I think getting a good half carat in a halo setting would be doing GREAT at $1600! It would have the appearance of probably 7mm!

You know me, Niel..I'd go for a half carat in J or K if it's going to be mrb.

Does he have photos of the L diamond to share?

One sort of "glamour" shot, but still waiting on idealscope images.
Ideally an eye clean j/k would be best, but those in the .5ct plus in his budget are hard to find. The setting is 700! That's a lot of his budget.

I found him a perfect j si1, .7cts and could afford a cool soli with it but like I said he is reluctant to buy a soli because she loves halos.

 

[lilysweet]

Hi Niel. I thought I remembered this ring from the JbG site: http://www.jewelsbygrace.com/rings/1-01ct-oval-cut-diamond-halo-ring-gia-l-light-brown-vs1#.VR2dtob3arU.. It has an L colored center diamond in a rose gold mount with a halo set in white gold I think. Just to look at for reference.

 

[Niel]

Hi Niel. I thought I remembered this ring from the JbG site: http://www.jewelsbygrace.com/rings/1-01ct-oval-cut-diamond-halo-ring-gia-l-light-brown-vs1#.VR2dtob3arU.... It has an L colored center diamond in a rose gold mount with a halo set in white gold I think. Just to look at for reference.

Thanks! I appreciate all the help I'm not sure it would really be a good indication though. Lots of variables, bezel, oval, 1ct...hmmm

 

[momhappy]

With that budget, has he considered a pre-owned ring? He'd get so much more bang for his buck...

 

[diannec18]

I was originally thinking of going with rose gold so I could drop down in color. But I changed my mind after seeing some I/j stones against ride gold, it was the opposite of what I thought would happen, the stones actually appeared yellower, at least to me and the sales girl. So based on my experience, rose might not be the way to go...

I'm also shopping for a diamond of similar size and from everything I've seen/read, an L diamond is not going to look white. The lowest I'm considering is a J, and even that's iffy.

If your girl loves halos, drop down to a .4 ct. The difference in size isn't super noticeable, but an L diamond surrounded by the halo diamonds (commonly g-h from what I've seen) is def going to be noticible. I'm going with a solitaire myself, because I'm not partial to halos and I'd rather the money be spent on a larger stone.

Good luck!!

 

[Niel]

With that budget, has he considered a pre-owned ring? He'd get so much more bang for his buck...

If you can find me a pave ring in rose gold I'm all ears.

 

[Niel]

I was originally thinking of going with rose gold so I could drop down in color. But I changed my mind after seeing some I/j stones against ride gold, it was the opposite of what I thought would happen, the stones actually appeared yellower, at least to me and the sales girl. So based on my experience, rose might not be the way to go...

I'm also shopping for a diamond of similar size and from everything I've seen/read, an L diamond is not going to look white. The lowest I'm considering is a J, and even that's iffy.

If your girl loves halos, drop down to a .4 ct. The difference in size isn't super noticeable, but an L diamond surrounded by the halo diamonds (commonly g-h from what I've seen) is def going to be noticible. I'm going with a solitaire myself, because I'm not partial to halos and I'd rather the money be spent on a larger stone.

Good luck!!

Rose gold is a requirement. That was decided before we ever considered what color to go for
As I stated she has seen my Ks and the color was fine. This is a 6mm stone. So saying a j is iffy doesn't apply to her. To be honest I'm not so sure a 6mm lower k will have that much visual difference between a 5.4mm L... But that's just my suspicion
Plus this stone has brown undertones if I remember correctly. So it won't look more yellow.

Also .4mm will be a noticeable difference on the hand, plus the halo adding, say, 1-2mm all around will make a .6 ct appear much larger. And she is quite partial to halos.

Thank you for your first hand experience though! just what I was looking for.

 

[diannec18]

Just giving my personal experience.

And based on the stone size comparison site I've been using, even the difference between a .55 and a .69 I'm both considering is very slight.

 

[diannec18]

Could he get a slightly larger halo to offset the smaller center stone?

 

[Niel]

Could he get a slightly larger halo to offset the smaller center stone?

I'd hate to get too large in the halo and too small in the center. I know she wants a halo look vs a cluster look. Kwim? Plus larger pave means more $$, and then its a snowball effect. More money toward pave, smaller stone... Then the need for bigger pave.

Here's that mock up finger site, then I added a circle of equel width around both. Because the halo adds worth all the way around the stone, it makes the %coverage area, I think, noticeably larger.

 

[diannec18]

Yes, I see what you're saying... Well whatever you guys go with, I'm sure she'll love it. She's obviously not a crazy obsessive control freak like me if she wants it to be a surprise! Lol. I can't stand the idea of my bf dropping that much money on a stone I haven't seen.

 

[Niel]

Yes, I see what you're saying... Well whatever you guys go with, I'm sure she'll love it. She's obviously not a crazy obsessive control freak like me if she wants it to be a surprise! Lol. I can't stand the idea of my bf dropping that much money on a stone I haven't seen.

Yeah,she cares a lot about the setting, but the stone she doesn't seems to be too interested in besides the basic things most gals know about diamonds.

 

[lknvrb4]

I was looking at Brilliantly Engaged website and found this setting for $798. The website also has several .50 J diamonds in the $800 range as well.

http://www.brilliantlyengaged.com/31-650-fy-14e-bpid-1129-18.html

 

[Niel]

I was looking at Brilliantly Engaged website and found this setting for $798. The website also has several .50 J diamonds in the $800 range as well.

http://www.brilliantlyengaged.com/31-650-fy-14e-bpid-1129-18.html

Oh my gosh that would be amazing! Let me go take a gander

Eta can you point me in the direction of some you found. When I searched there weren't any ex cut stones for that price that came up

 

[danielxlin]

I think you've got a great find with the IDJ ring. Quality 0.60 carat diamond in a halo for under $1600? Incredible.

I hope the rose gold in the setting is more rose/pink and less copper-ish looking.

 

[ericad]

I think you've got a great find with the IDJ ring. Quality 0.60 carat diamond in a halo for under $1600? Incredible.

I hope the rose gold in the setting is more rose/pink and less copper-ish looking.

I have found that 18k rose gold has more of the rich copper tones, while 14k rose gold is more pink, for what it's worth.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

I was looking at Brilliantly Engaged website and found this setting for $798. The website also has several .50 J diamonds in the $800 range as well.

http://www.brilliantlyengaged.com/31-650-fy-14e-bpid-1129-18.html

Oh my gosh that would be amazing! Let me go take a gander

Eta can you point me in the direction of some you found. When I searched there weren't any ex cut stones for that price that came up

That setting comes in white gold and platinum.

 

[diannec18]

Try contacting them and see if they'll do it in rose gold. I know some sites will use other metals even if it's not listed on the site. For example, ritani has no palladium settings in their site, but they told me they could make moody of their settings in it. Worth a try

 

[diamondseeker2006]

The Gabriel setting likely will not cost much if any more than that with the IDJ discount. I'd rather have Gabriel than an unknown brand, personally, since we know they make good quality settings at that price point.

One more note, Niel, I think these settings come in certain sizes, and they will probably use the same size halo for a .50-.60 stone. So it really doesn't matter that much whether you get a .50 , .55 or .60 because the halo itself is going to be the same size regardless. I imagine the next size up is for a .75 ct stone.