ENGAGEMENT RING BUYING GUIDE

WHICH RING IS RIGHT FOR ME?

Choosing the perfect engagement ring for your partner is a thrilling experience but can also feel quite daunting to begin with. Don’t panic, the perfect engagement ring is here waiting for you, and our engagement ring buying guide will help you on your journey to the perfect diamond ring.

STYLE

CHOOSING A STYLE

The engagement ring style is just as important as choosing the diamond itself. Does your partner prefer the minimal look, such as a delicate solitaire, or do they like something eye catching like a Halo? The more the ring reflects your partner’s personal style, the more likely they will fall in love with the ring you have chosen.

The ring profile should also suit your partner’s hand. Delicate designs tend to suit smaller hands, whilst bigger designs with wide bands tend to suit people with longer fingers. Shorter fingers suit designs such as a solitaire or a trilogy ring, whilst long fingers can carry elongated designs, such as a Pear cut diamond shoulder setting, or an Emerald cut halo.

POPULAR STYLES

Currently the most popular styles are our Halo Engagement Rings shortly followed by our classic Solitaire Engagement Rings.

But if these two engagement ring designs aren’t quite for you, don’t worry. We have Trilogy Rings, Shoulder Set Engagement Rings and Vintage Rings, as well as our Collections to give you plenty of options to choose from.

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SHAPE

Choosing the right diamond shape for your partner can feel like a hard decision, but usually your gut instincts will lead you to the perfect shape.

Round

The most popular choice of diamond, it has the most ideal proportions to maximise brilliance and sparkle.

PRINCESS

The Princess Cut Diamond is an elegant, modern and popular diamond shape.

EMERALD

Echoing back to old-Hollywood, the rectangular facets truly show off the diamond’s clarity.

PEAR

This is a great diamond to choose to elongate the finger whilst the light dances across this delicate and feminine diamond cut.

OVAL

The Oval Cut Diamond elongates the finger without losing its brilliance. A versatile and magnificent diamond choice!

MARQUISE

If you’re looking for a diamond shape to optimise the carat weight, then the Marquise Cut is your diamond of choice.

ASSCHER

An exceptional diamond cut, reminiscent of the Art-Deco era.

RADIANT

Encapsulating the best aspects of the Brilliant Cut, Emerald Cut and Princess Cut Diamond, the Radiant Cut Diamond has become a diamond in demand.

CUSHION

This soft ‘pillow shape’ diamond is a unique cut, allowing for a greater separation of white light into spectral colours.

HEART

A truly romantic diamond, what better way to show your love than with a Heart Cut Diamond?

SETTINGS

4-Claw

6-Claw

Semi Rubover

Full Rubover

CHOOSING A SETTING

The type of setting you select is an important decision to make.

Do you go for maximum safety with a full rubover setting or a 4 claw setting which will allow the maximum amount of light to pass through your diamond.

It’s important to consider your type of lifestyle when picking the type of setting for your engagement ring.

MOST POPULAR SETTINGS

Our most popular setting type is a 4 claw. This offers a large amount of safety while still allowing a good amount of light to pass through your diamond.

The 6 claw is also a good choice offering maximum safety while still allowing a good amount of light to pass through your diamond.

CLASSIC SETTINGS

The tiffany style four claw is an all time classic along with the four claw twist which has been an established style of setting for quite some time.

We’ve also found trend styles are pushing Rub Over settings styles back to the forefront as a popular choice in an Engagement Ring. Completely encapsulating the diamond in a thin continuous line of metal, the rub over setting enhances your choice of diamond shape.

THE FOUR C’s

The 4 C’s- Cut, Clarity, Colour and Carat- are all important elements to take into account when purchasing your diamond Engagement Ring. Here’s a brief recap on what each one means:

CARAT

Carat refers to the weight of a diamond. Diamonds are all weighed in metric carats rather than grams or ounces. This is a standard industry practice around the world.

Diamond is expressed to the hundredth of a carat. Carat weight of less than a carat is expressed in points. So, for example, a 0.75ct diamond will be 75 points. Most jewellers will refer to carat weight in this terminology.

Another way to explain this would be using pounds, 100 pence equals 1 whole pound. Therefore 50pts will be 0.50ct and so on.

A common misconception is that it refers to the physical size of a diamond, which is incorrect. The diamond weight does not govern the size of stone.

We always recommend trying a range of carat weights on to determine which will be best for you. This way you will also be able to assess the visible size.

COLOUR

When searching for your perfect diamond, one of the C’s to consider during this process is the Colour.
Usually, people tend to choose a diamond with the least amount of colour, as it shows the purity of colour and rarity of quality.

The diamond colour grading system is based on an alphabetised system, starting from ‘D’, meaning the diamond is completely free of any colour, all the way to ‘Z’, meaning there is a visible tint of colour in the diamond.

To see a difference in colour between two diamonds, you usually have to compare at least three colour grades
(i.e, E Colour and a H Colour).

CLARITY

This will determine the number of natural inclusions that are inside the diamond. The higher the quality (such as VS1 or VVS1) will mean there are less inclusions, and the light is able to refract out of the diamond better than a lower clarity (such as SI2).

FAIR CUTS

GOOD CUTS

EXCELLENT & VERY GOOD CUTS

CUT

The way the diamond is cut will determine the sparkle and brilliance of the diamond. An excellent cut will reflect the optimum amount of light that enters the diamond. Lower quality cuts, such as good or poor, won’t reflect as much light and lack lustre.

PRECIOUS METALS

The metal you choose should suit not only your partner’s style, but also showcase the diamond. take a look at our metal options below.

PLATINUM

Platinum has become one of the most popular metals to be used in Engagement Rings and Wedding Rings. Platinum is a naturally white coloured metal, meaning it will not tarnish and lose its brilliance. Platinum is also a very rare metal that is only mined in a few select areas of the world, making it a very rare metal in comparison to Gold and Palladium.

Platinum will also enhance the colour of a diamond and its natural sparkle.

Platinum is usually hallmarked at ‘950’, meaning it is 95% pure platinum with the remaining 5% usually being palladium, iridium ruthenium and other alloys. Platinum is also a great choice for those who have contact allergies, as the purity of the platinum reduces the likelihood of any irritation during wear.

As with all metals, Platinum can scratch, however with proper care the wear should be minimal and can be polished again to return the metal to its original look.

18ct Rose Gold

This pink hue gold originally gained popularity in the 1920’s, then made a big comeback in the 2010’s. The unique blush tone of Rose Gold is created by mixing gold with copper. As all our gold engagement ring mounts are 18kt gold, the composition will be 75% gold, with 25% copper. A Rose Gold Engagement ring and Wedding ring gives an elegance that not all metals can achieve.

18ct White Gold

White Gold is still an incredibly popular choice of metal for engagement ring settings. White Gold has the same overall appearance as Platinum.

White gold is naturally an off-white colour, usually with a slight yellow tint. This is because white gold is usually mixed with palladium or magnesium.

To give white gold the trademark brightness, it is plated with rhodium or iridium. This plating will wear over time and return to its natural colour, however can be polishing and replated to return the metal to its former glory.

18ct Yellow Gold

Yellow Gold is a classic and timeless metal choice for any engagement ring. For thousands of years, yellow gold has been used in jewellery for its warmth in colour and its resistance to erosion. The colour of the gold is determined by what other metal alloys are mixed with it, such as copper and zinc.

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