oohsparkly
Shiny_Rock
- Joined
- Sep 23, 2011
- Messages
- 122
Hi all, you don’t know me but I feel like I know so many of you! I have been studiously reading this great forum since about August 2011 but this is my first post. I have been trying to decide on my dream ring which is how I found you and now I feel like I just about have a Ph.D in Pricescope! Yssie, Gypsy, Frankiextah, Acebruin, Mayk, Rockdiamond, Phoenix and many, many others have been helping me decide on my ring without knowing it!
I had never heard the term ‘upgrade’ until very recently. It is not done in any of my circles. And to me, although this is my second engagement ring, it is not so much an upgrade but finally getting a ring I love, as my first ring had not been made very well and DH knew I was always a bit disappointed with it. So this is very special to me, even moreso than my original engagement ring, because my DH has chosen to get it for me now when our resources could have gone on many other projects!
So what to get???
All I knew was I loved halos, after seeing my first ever halo around a princess diamond in a local store. Then I found Pricescope!!
My first obsession was Lovey’s milgrained halo asscher followed by Mrs Salvo’s exquisite cushion halo. I was also mesmerised by Kaleigh’s oval with half moons and Lady Lulu’s emerald cut with traps and bullets, and Lovestreet’s K color AVC with tapered French cut sides, and many others. I knew I had to have a halo though.
I finally decided on an oval shaped diamond for my centre stone. I love the elegance and lengthening effect on the finger, and I also love the pretty faceting of an oval. DH wanted me to have a brilliant cut of some sort, and he also liked a long-shaped stone for me as well, so the oval it was, after every kind of agonising. For a while I tried to like rounds because of the superior sparkle and better range to choose from but I couldn’t make a round ‘me’. yfzcentral’s and Winston5’s oval halos with pave on the shanks were my inspiration at this point.
It was huge for me to decide what size halo stones to have. I was trying to be a good Pricescoper and get a thin and delicate halo as that is what most people seem to prefer. DH thought I should get 2.5 pointers from the start as he saw those put around my diamond as a suggestion when we bought it loose and he liked the look. So did I, but I tried to explain that no one on Pricescope would approve but he didn’t seem to understand what a serious issue that was!!
I even contacted Victor Canera and he would not hear of halo stones that big… yikes! But still something in me didn’t want a really thin halo… Then Gypsy (an excellent thinker-outside-the-box, snaps for Gypsy), who I believe reset with an exquisitely delicate THINNER halo on her own ER, made me feel better when she said it is just a matter of current fashion and that a bigger halo was still a classic and beautiful look. THEN I saw Mayk’s lovely reset of her RB and she went for more substantial halo stones and I LOVED the look of that, and her centre stone is still the star.
I also felt, though no one ever said so, (very occasionally I have my own thought) that oval stones can tolerate larger halo stones somehow. Kind of in the classic, Princess Diana sort of way.
So at last I felt that I could successfully choose the 2.5 pointers for the halo!
It was Yssie and her famous unplated white gold that gave me the idea to not rhodium plate which would never have occurred to me. I LOVE the softer, creamy color of unplated wg. It also will also not be such a contrast when I wear my yellow gold bangles.
For the first 95% of my journey I was adamant I would have milgrain and bead setting (and I still LOVE that vintage look). Then after I saw some cut down pave and bead setting in real life I agonised for a while, getting that glazed-eye look from DH. Then after reading about the fact that with perfect cutting only light from the top of the diamond was supposed to be the issue but in many people’s experience the light from the side DID make a difference to the light return I decided to make the shock decision to go with cut down pave. I was really helped in this decision by some posts by Rockdiamond and Phoenix. Also Phoenix pointed out on another thread that halos with bezelled/metal edges look bigger which was very helpful also. I preferred to have bigger diamonds in the halo but less overall size and less metal.
I couldn’t decide on the ‘underside’ of the ring until I saw Acebruin’s pink halo ring with 4 curved, pave struts attached to a donut and I knew that was it for me.
For prongs I gave my jeweller pictures of the rounded but gently pointing prongs of LORNAJS’ gorgeous crosscut 3 stone ring. Perfection.
In the end the photos I sent my jeweller were of Frankieextah’s ring, as they were the most like what I wanted but in an oval. Her photos, comparisons and explanations were invaluable. One of her threads is responsible for the 25 degree tilt on my halo, which I wouldn’t have thought of! Then today I sent Susimoo’s pictures of her new halo as they are one step closer to my specs, with no pave on the donut as I don’t want to scratch up my wedding ring. So the jeweller says he will start my ring soon….
Now I am waiting….. patiently…… sort of…….
THANKS PRICESCOPERS!!!!
I had never heard the term ‘upgrade’ until very recently. It is not done in any of my circles. And to me, although this is my second engagement ring, it is not so much an upgrade but finally getting a ring I love, as my first ring had not been made very well and DH knew I was always a bit disappointed with it. So this is very special to me, even moreso than my original engagement ring, because my DH has chosen to get it for me now when our resources could have gone on many other projects!
So what to get???
All I knew was I loved halos, after seeing my first ever halo around a princess diamond in a local store. Then I found Pricescope!!
My first obsession was Lovey’s milgrained halo asscher followed by Mrs Salvo’s exquisite cushion halo. I was also mesmerised by Kaleigh’s oval with half moons and Lady Lulu’s emerald cut with traps and bullets, and Lovestreet’s K color AVC with tapered French cut sides, and many others. I knew I had to have a halo though.
I finally decided on an oval shaped diamond for my centre stone. I love the elegance and lengthening effect on the finger, and I also love the pretty faceting of an oval. DH wanted me to have a brilliant cut of some sort, and he also liked a long-shaped stone for me as well, so the oval it was, after every kind of agonising. For a while I tried to like rounds because of the superior sparkle and better range to choose from but I couldn’t make a round ‘me’. yfzcentral’s and Winston5’s oval halos with pave on the shanks were my inspiration at this point.
It was huge for me to decide what size halo stones to have. I was trying to be a good Pricescoper and get a thin and delicate halo as that is what most people seem to prefer. DH thought I should get 2.5 pointers from the start as he saw those put around my diamond as a suggestion when we bought it loose and he liked the look. So did I, but I tried to explain that no one on Pricescope would approve but he didn’t seem to understand what a serious issue that was!!
I even contacted Victor Canera and he would not hear of halo stones that big… yikes! But still something in me didn’t want a really thin halo… Then Gypsy (an excellent thinker-outside-the-box, snaps for Gypsy), who I believe reset with an exquisitely delicate THINNER halo on her own ER, made me feel better when she said it is just a matter of current fashion and that a bigger halo was still a classic and beautiful look. THEN I saw Mayk’s lovely reset of her RB and she went for more substantial halo stones and I LOVED the look of that, and her centre stone is still the star.
I also felt, though no one ever said so, (very occasionally I have my own thought) that oval stones can tolerate larger halo stones somehow. Kind of in the classic, Princess Diana sort of way.
So at last I felt that I could successfully choose the 2.5 pointers for the halo!
It was Yssie and her famous unplated white gold that gave me the idea to not rhodium plate which would never have occurred to me. I LOVE the softer, creamy color of unplated wg. It also will also not be such a contrast when I wear my yellow gold bangles.
For the first 95% of my journey I was adamant I would have milgrain and bead setting (and I still LOVE that vintage look). Then after I saw some cut down pave and bead setting in real life I agonised for a while, getting that glazed-eye look from DH. Then after reading about the fact that with perfect cutting only light from the top of the diamond was supposed to be the issue but in many people’s experience the light from the side DID make a difference to the light return I decided to make the shock decision to go with cut down pave. I was really helped in this decision by some posts by Rockdiamond and Phoenix. Also Phoenix pointed out on another thread that halos with bezelled/metal edges look bigger which was very helpful also. I preferred to have bigger diamonds in the halo but less overall size and less metal.
I couldn’t decide on the ‘underside’ of the ring until I saw Acebruin’s pink halo ring with 4 curved, pave struts attached to a donut and I knew that was it for me.
For prongs I gave my jeweller pictures of the rounded but gently pointing prongs of LORNAJS’ gorgeous crosscut 3 stone ring. Perfection.
In the end the photos I sent my jeweller were of Frankieextah’s ring, as they were the most like what I wanted but in an oval. Her photos, comparisons and explanations were invaluable. One of her threads is responsible for the 25 degree tilt on my halo, which I wouldn’t have thought of! Then today I sent Susimoo’s pictures of her new halo as they are one step closer to my specs, with no pave on the donut as I don’t want to scratch up my wedding ring. So the jeweller says he will start my ring soon….
Now I am waiting….. patiently…… sort of…….
THANKS PRICESCOPERS!!!!
and thank you so much for the "shout out" about my ring... You made my day 
But your many insights and comments have sure been a great help.
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