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