Soliataire Designs, What's IN and What's OUT

Double Claw Prong: IN!

Leon Mege is famous for his double claw prongs, which looks like a claw of a bird. These kind of prongs are really hot at the moment, as it allows the centre stone to appear elevated and stand out.

Elegance: 9

X Factor: 10

Safety: 8

Dawn's opinion: 9

Tiffany Classic: IN!

Still timeless! It's the most basic design out there in the market when it comes to proposal rings. Really nice setting for a really well cut round brilliant. Centrestone is extremely elevated to make the diamond appear even bigger. Don't spoil it with sidestones!

Elegance: 9

X Factor: 2

Safety: 9

Dawn's opinion: 8

U Prong: IN!

Kinda old fashioned for me, but still girls love it. Prongs are meant to look "flowy" and "elegant". Most of these designs are accompanied with sidestones to blend the flavors. Without sidestones you're better off with the tiffany setting, to keep it plain and simple! There are 2 kinds of these, one which elevates the diamond and one which allows the diamond to sit more into the ring.

Elegance: 8

X Factor: 5

Safety: 7

Dawn's opinion: 7

The Halo: IN!

Halo's has been around for ages! It used to be a common practice of older people wearing halo rings, however these days many younger couples are taking on the trend for various reasons: Illusion of a bigger centerstone, increasing the "bling" of your setting, it's old vintage classy look.

I'm quite a fan of halo rings and the recent comeback really makes me happy!

Elegance: 9

X Factor: 4

Safety: 9

Dawn's opinion: 8

Tension rings: OUT!

When Tension rings first came out, it was quite a big hit, being new and innovative and all. However, the lack of elevation / safety and little justice to diamond makes it one of the less popular designs these days. Also, these does not really scream "MARRY ME!". Not advisable as a proposal ring, a basic gift to a girlfriend/friend is alright if you don't really want to look too "proposal"

Elegance: 4

X Factor: 3

Safety: 4

Dawn's opinion: 2

Full/Half Bezel rings: OUT!

No no no... This is just wrong. Bezels for earrings and pendants are still quite alright, for a ring there is possibly a million nicer settings out there. Only use IF you are purchasing a real bad SI diamond and you'd like to conceal the corner inclusions, if not i'd definitely stay away.

Elegance: 2

X Factor: 1

Safety: 9

Dawn's opinion: 1

4 prongs vs 6 prongs

This is really up to preference, sometimes 4 prongs may cause a round brilliant to appear a little squarish. A 6 prong is safer, but the number of claws may kind of cover quite a fair portion of the diamond, a 4 prong definitely shows off a diamond more.

Sidestones or no Sidestones?

If you can't check with your lady cause it's a surprise, look into her personality!

Does she like flashy/cute/pretty stuff? Then you're looking more into a ring with sidestones on the band and maybe even on the prongs itself.

Is she more into elegance, simplicity and is not really designer oriented? Then you're looking more into a plain simple ring.

Dawn, those sidestones look sooooo EXPENSIVE, how much are they?

Most sidestone diamonds use 1-2 pointer diamonds, which would cost you around SGD$800-900 per carat. Sidestones which travel halfway round the band would use about 12 to 15 diamonds. 15 x 0.02 = 0.3. 0.3 x 900 = $270- $300 more.

It's not really as expensive as you think! $300 more to really bling up your ring:)

Websites with really nice designs to look at:

www.danhov.com

www.artofplatinum.com

www.briangavindiamonds.com

www.damiani.com

www.tacori.com

Color - D? E? F? G???

No, there is no ABC!

The whitest a diamond can get is D.


"Dawn I'm clueless what color i should get for my proposal ring!"
The standard proposal ring is using 18kt white gold or Platinum. Some girls like Yellow gold. So what diamond color is suitable for what ring color?

(Applicable for ideal cut diamonds)
White Gold / Platinum - D, E, F ,G, H(This is the bare minimum my eyes can take)
Yellow Gold - I, J,K,L,M

If you have a low colored diamond, say a K color on a white gold/platinum setting, the contrast between your diamond and the ring would cause your diamond to stand out very yellowish. This looks extremely ugly.

However, Low colored diamonds are suitable for yellow gold. The colors between the diamond and the band is blended, and makes the diamond less yellow than it actually is!

How Cut & Shape affects the diamond color

Super ideal / Ideal cuts, make diamond's yellow tinge less obvious than a poor cut diamond because of it's greater light return and scintillation. So if say your diamond is not such a well cut one, your tolerance for white gold should be higher than H color. Go for a G minimum.

Fancy shapes tend to also look more yellowish when it's in the lower colors due to their nature of poorer light return and scintillation.

"Why is my diamond slightly brownish and not slightly yellowish???"

Look at these 2 diamonds I took a picture of... Both AGS Certified (Same Issue with GIA) Both Ideal Cut, H Color, VS1. Carat size 0.43 and 0.37 Here's the thing, They are both different colored! One is Greyish Brown(looks obviously darker and uglier), One is Faint yellow....

color is based off: Hue & Tone Hue is one of the main properties of a color, the degree to which a stimulus can be described as similar to or different from stimuli that are described as red, green, blue, and yellow. Tone is the lightness or darkness of a color. So now, there are yellow, brown, grey even pinkish diamonds which can fall under the GIA category of H color, some of you who have bought H and below might be even holding onto a brown diamond. If Diamonds are graded with HUE, Why is it that we can still find other colored diamonds graded as H?

The problem with the diamond grading system... is the fact that every diamond is graded upon it's TONE. The lightness and darkness of the diamond, not on it's color. So lets say.... H light yellow tinge .......H Light brown tinge I Slightly yellowish tinge........ I Slightly brownish tinge J Moderate yellowish tinge..... J Moderate brownish tinge K Yellowish tinge........ K brownish tinge Get what i mean? Next you'll ask,

"Dawn, then why can't they factor in colors which look more horrible?"


Gemologists from gia and ags argue the fact, is a Fancy colored Blue diamond or a Pink diamond nicer? It's to each person's preference of course. So how can we say a Brown diamond is worse than a yellow one?

Rule of the thumb is that a yellowish diamond goes well with yellow gold a brownish diamond goes well with rose gold and a grey diamond with white gold pink diamond with..... hmmm pink gold? (it is possible... less copper in the alloy produces a pinkish tone to the gold)
The Problem

But in the diamond market, anything besides a yellowish tinge diamond is always cheaper than normal... but lots of retailers sell it at the same price! Do consumers have the right to know? Of course! but in the first place, those salesmen and saleslady at that specific shop, do you think they even know much about diamonds? They're there to tell you the basic 4 C's. And smile. And collect your money. And wave Sometimes even the Bosses don't even know this, with an exception of a few good jewelers in Singapore.

How do you know that your diamond is a brown diamond? with untrained eyes it's very hard... but having a good jeweler and recommendations from friends helps you get on the right track. Even some brands... reputable brands are ignorant of this fact. Like someone mentioned this before on this forum, diamonds are for the mathematical, technical, knowledgeable and romantic diamonds are not like clothes. Branded clothes speak for itself. Unless of course you don't mind buying a diamond for the sake of it and not knowing what you're buying, 3/4 of the jewelery industry are like this. And that is why the market is known for such huge profit margins.

FLUORESCENCE

The Bad Effect( blue fluor)
Fluorescence causes Colorless Diamonds such as D,E,F,G,H to look appear more "cloudy"(Stay away!)

The Good Effect ( blue fluor)
Fluorescence causes Low Colored Diamonds such as I,J,K,L,M to appear less yellow! The tinge counter balances the yellowish effect, causing the diamond to appear whiter! (Worth considering)

Fluorescence may also come in a yellow tinge, on the certificate it would be stated as; fluorescence: slight/medium/strong yellow(Stay away!). Causes a greater yellow tinge to the diamond

The Super Ideal Cut Diamond

What are Super Ideal Cut Diamonds?

Here i'll teach you easily how to ensure your ideal diamond is a cut above the rest, more fire, more light return, more scintillation.

In the first place, what makes an Ideal diamond?

GIA: Excellent Cut, Excellent Symmetry, Excellent Polish
AGS: Ideal Cut, Ideal Symmetry, Ideal Polish

So what makes a super ideal diamond?

STEP 1: Finding the Super Cut

GIA:
55-57% Table
59-62% Depth
33-35 Crown angle
40.6-41 Pavillion Angle
Star Facet Minimum: 50%(refer to below)
Lower Girdle Facet minimum: 75%(refer to below)
http://www.pricescope.com/cutadviser.asp
HCA Score must fall below 1.5

Combinations of the Star/Lower for GIA:

50/80
50/75

55/75

55/80
AGS:(remember their clarity grade is not as strict as GIA, so do check through the loupe)
All rules above must apply.
A little extra work here, AGS triple 0 may come with painted girdles, an idealscope/aset is needed here.


Make sure your diamond looks like the one on the right!
Difference:


AVOID: Very thin/Very thick girdles, Medium/Large/Extremely Large Culets

What to see on the HCA?
Light Return: Must be Excellent
Fire: Must be Excellent
Scintillation: Excellent or Very Good(I prefer if it'd be Excellent)
Spread: Very good or Excellent(Dont worry too much about this)

Where do i find these values from, Dawn?



Look at the cert and you will find these values from here!

Okay, now we found the best looking, firey, sparkling diamond. What is next?

STEP 2: Finding the TRUE HEARTS
Because i found the best super ideal diamond, it still does not mean it has hearts and arrows! Don't let anyone tell you otherwise! Yes, 90% of the time it would, but there still might be a chance there won't be. Don't be fooled by fake hearts. Make sure you find a real good one, cause what you're paying for, is the perfect symmetry.

Make sure those hearts are real nice and solid. All the hearts need to look EQUAL in size as well, Take your time to look at them, i'm sure your jeweller won't mind!


These hearts are really bad, arrowheads are not uniform, some parts of the arrow heads are touching the hearts. Hearts are different in size, with some clefts on the hearts.

These arrows are close to true, but still not perfect, and will fail as a true heart and arrow.

STEP 3: Dawn, there are so many diamonds, how do i find a super ideal quick and fast?

Heres a check list of how to skim through and weed through diamonds as fast as possible. It's the fastest way to filter out what you are looking for in order of importance.

1. First, look for 55-57% tables + 59-62% Depths, if this is true, proceed to step 2!
2. Look at the pavillion angle, if it is 40.6-41 go to step 3!
3. Look at Crown Angle, If it is 33-35 proceed to step 4!
4. Look at the Star facet and lower girdle facet, min 50% and 75% respectively. if true, proceed step 5!
5. Calculate the HCA score! If less than 1.5 proceed step 6
6. Check Aset/Ideal/Hearts and arrow scope


There may be certain conditions whereby it is an exception. Table may vary to 53%, In that case it's quite a subjective case, and I can't give you numbers to help you because what i've posted above is a general guideline. However i'd be able to help you if you have the information of the diamond(cert etc) and you can email me at dawnandbrianmin@hotmail.com and i can advise you from there!

What Carat Size Should I Get?

Have a look at that graph, These are the carat sizes that are priced differently in each bracket.

Price is based per carat.

To be exact the brackets on prices are separated like this:

0.30-0.39

0.40-0.49

0.50-0.69

0.70-0.89

0.90-0.99

1.00-1.49

1.50-1.99

2.00-2.99

3.00 -3.99

4.00-4.99

5.00-5.99

Lets first talk about What Carat Size For a Proposal Ring?

I'm certain by now your girl should have hinted something to you, and you're working out your budget.

0.30-0.39 is rather small for a proposal ring. Only if she has mentioned she wants a really small diamond then you should consider this range.

Best buys for the price: F VS1,VS2 / E VS2

0.40-0.49 is a popular range for the minimum carat size as a proposal ring. Because you sacrifice on carat size, looking for a high color/clarity is something you should aim for! Impress her with the quality, not the size.

Best buys for the price: D VVS2, VS1,VS2/ E VVS1,VVS2,VS2 / F VVS1,VVS2,VS2

0.50-0.69 is to me, the favorite range for girls as a proposal ring. 0.58-0.69 will seldom come as super ideal cuts. Finding the perfect cut in those high ranges is rare and a little more common in the low 50's.

Best buys for the price: D VSS2, VS1/ E VVS1, VVS2, VS1/ F VVS1,VVS2,VS1

0.70-0.89 is where you're ready impress. G color is quite acceptable at this carat size because size is speaking!

Best buys for the price: D VS1,VS2/ E VVS1,VVS2,VS1,VS2/ F IF-VS2/ G VVS1-VS2

Will finish up the rest of the carat sizes as soon as possible, but this is a general guideline.

Tips: Try to avoid rounded whole numbers. e.g 0.40, 0.50, 0.70. Lets say you purchase a 0.50, and the diamond gets chipped/damaged, re polishing will cause the diamond to lose weight, and fall into the range of 0.40-0.49, causing a large drop in value.

Dawnmin!

That's me posting on hardwarezone forums!

My name is Dawn, and i'm here to help everyone who is willing to learn about diamonds, to find the perfect diamond for their special loved ones.

If you need help/Recommendations,
you can email me at:
Dawnandbrianmin@hotmail.com and i will get back to you asap!