Choosing an engagement ring means not only picking out the right design but also the right center stone. While many love moissanite and colored gem stones, you can’t go wrong with a classic diamond! However, diamonds are pricey and choosing the right one can be difficult. Let’s break down some tips on how you can maximize your center diamond budget and get the perfect ring!
Choose an Elongated Shape
By choosing an elongated shape such as marquise, pea,r or oval you are maximizing the surface area on the finger. This mean you can go for a lower carat weight in an elongated shape. You can also choose the elongated variation of more symmetrical diamond shapes such as an elongated cushion, radiant, or emerald cut. This will give a similar effect!
Know Your Specific Diamond Shape Characteristics
It is very important to know where the strengths and weaknesses of your preferred diamond shape. Certain diamond shapes will expose lower color or lower clarity more than others. Just because diamonds are graded at I color, does not mean that every shape I color will look the same! As an example, emerald cuts need a higher clarity such as VS2+ but can get away with lower color. Oval and pear shape diamonds look great at higher color grades and can get away with a lower clarity grade such as SI2. Round cut diamonds are great at hiding low color and low clarity depending on the stone. Getting a diamond that is completely colorless and flawless will be pretty expensive. For this reason it is important to know where you can make certain sacrifices to stay within budget. For this specific area we recommend speaking with one of our consultant so we can guide you in the best direction for your needs. We also recommend watching videos from our loose diamond video gallery so that you can get an actual visual on how the different shapes appear at different quality ranges.
Trade Off one “C” for Another
Like we said before, a colorless and flawless or VVS diamond will be pricey. For most people they will not want to go this route if they have a specific budget and ring design in mind. For this reason we would recommend to choose an area you are willing to sacrifice to balance out the price of your diamond. As an example if you are set on getting a 2 carat diamond such as oval, that shows color very easily, then you may consider an F or G color (which is high in color) but dropping to an SI2 grade for clarity. If you would have stayed at 2 carats, colorless, and in the VS or VVS range you would easily be spending thousands more! Check out this video comparing different carat weight vs quality rings here.
Go for Measurements
Something we stress quite often is that carat weight is not the only indicator on a diamond’s actual size. It is very important to take a look at the millimeter measurements of the diamond you are considering. We specialize in selecting diamonds for our clients that maximize the surface area on the hand without sacrifice brilliance. Don’t assume that because a diamond weighs a certain amount it will appear that way in real life. By using the measurements as a guideline you will have a better idea of how big the diamond will look!
Looking for something specific? Submit a loose diamond request here and one of our associates will be able to select beautiful options to you tailored to your budget and desired ring design!