Proposal Ring - Part 2

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bedposthalo

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Don’t be afraid to visit shops to compare and ask analyse their diamonds. You are the paying customer and its perfectly normal to find out more on the product you’re buying. After all, you’re spending a huge chunk of your savings and most people will want something value for money.

The common direction that most people take (or rather I took) is to find the most brilliant diamond and at the lowest price. To me, the point of buying a diamond is so that it is brilliant and attention grabbing =:p This has all to do with the Cut, which I find can be very confusing. Different shops can tell you different things. But one thing that they all tell you is that theirs is “the most perfect/brilliant/best cut diamond” etc… So who to believe? You need to do your own research. Lol

The very basic round cut is the round hearts and arrows diamond a.k.a the 57 facets, 8 hearts and arrows diamond. Essentially, all these branded diamonds like the Hearts on Fire, Lazare, Destinee, etc are technically cut the same way… meaning they have 57 facets with 8 hearts and arrows. The only difference is how “perfect” they are cut or how tight is their quality control.

When you go around shopping, you’ll realize that branded cuts tends to focus more on marketing their diamonds as the best, rather than explaining the technical aspects of their diamonds.

Destinee Ideal Cut

From what I know, Destinee markets their diamond as Ideal by focusing on the AGS certificate. They are certified by AGS and graded Ideal. They don’t provide their cut criteria range. I only managed to find someone’s else purchase info.

Destinee.jpg


The HCA score for this Destinee Ideal cut diamond is only 2.2. Technically, it’s not even an Ideal cut. Ideal – HCA <2
Super Ideal – HCA <1.4

I’m sure they have good and bad ones.. You’ll need to check yourself. Though you will be paying a premium for their branding. For a 0.6ct, I was quoted around 10k.

Lazare Ideal Cut

This is their Ideal proportion requirements,

Lazare-Diamond-Ideal-cut-Image-518x410.jpg


Can also read http://www.proposalring.com/buyingLazare.htm
It’s abit looser than most other Ideal ranges.. The table % is ok. But the crown, pavilion, depth range does fall out of the Ideal Cut. If I randomly input the proportions into the HCA calculator,
Table 57%
Depth 62.3%
Crown 35.5 degree
Pavilion 41.2 degree

I get a crazy HCA score of 4.5…. this is no way close to an Ideal cut. Of course there can be better ones.. but you will need to check yourself. That being said, different shops have their own specifications of what is their Ideal Cut. So you cannot assume that a Lazare Ideal cut as other shop’s Ideal Cut, vice versa.

Hearts on Fire Ideal Cut

I don’t have much info on this diamond. Lol. They don’t reveal their proportion range. There’s a lot of marketing and branding on this diamond on their 8 hearts and arrows. The sales person emphasize how perfect it is and how it is the most superior out of all the diamonds. But when I ask more about the cut, its mostly replied by them telling me to trust their reputation and brand… They didn’t have the specs that I wanted… I saw a 1ct E VS1 diamond and out of curiosity, asked how much. It was $48k…….. For that price, I can double up and get a Super Ideal 2ct diamond.

Check the quality yourself!

At the end of the day, it is your money. You need to do your own due diligence.
Checking the proportions of the diamond is only the first step. The only true way to analyse the brilliance of the diamond is to use the ASET and heartsandarrows scope. There’s no other way to this. In fact, I think its even more important to use those scopes than to see the proportions blindly. A diamond can be fantastic on the paper but still terrible in its light performance.

Some brands comes with additional certificate on top of GIA or AGS. These can be useful if its from a 3rd party lab like Gemex or the Sarin report. But other than that, if its issued from their own company, its does not carry much weight. They can print out whatever they want for themselves. Whereas 3rd party certificates have no conflict of interest.
Last but not least, don’t get confused with Ideal and Super Ideal cut!

Ideal Cut ≠ Super Ideal Cut

All of these 3 brands are essentially Ideal Cuts and not Super Ideal.
In order to determine if it’s a Super Ideal, you need the ASET scope and heartsandarrows scope. All the these shops I been to, did not have the Ideal or ASET scope to check the light return. They only have the heartsandarrows scope.

Sometimes, a lousy or Ideal cut diamond can still look great in the shop. But that’s also because of the jewellery shop lights they use. One way is to view the diamond outside with natural light. Then all the flaws (if any) will come out. Thing is most shops won’t let you bring the diamond outside or they’re located inside the mall. So the best bet is to use the scopes.
For me, I ended up with a Super Ideal Cut without paying for the brand. In fact, the Ideal cuts from those stores was actually more expensive than my Super Ideal cut. It didn’t make sense for me to pay more for a lower cut branded ring. When my wife wears her ring, no one will know whether its from Tiffany, Lee Hwa, etc… they all only comment on how brilliant it is :D
 

aLpHa-Ev7

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Hey all..

What do you guys think about upgrading the proposal ring your SO gave to you?

I personally think it's too small. Yea call me shallow or materialistic or whatever you may want to but I've not asked anything from him before. I pay my own rent, meals and I pay for all my shoppings. I just felt a little disappointed with the size he got me.

It's a 0.31ct VS1 F solasfera round.

On the night of proposal I have no choice but to say yes cause we have friends around.

I've kinda mentioned it once to him before and he was like 'oh I thought they look big on ur fingers' -_- yea he's the 'be happy with what you have' kinda guy.

Should I just keep brainwashing myself that because my hands are big and long that's why the diamond looks small on my hand, or should I just bring it to upgrade without him knowing? (Cause I dun know how to tell him without hurting his ego)

Or should I just let the thought go and wear only our wedding band after wedding? Poor ring will have to sit only in the drawer?

In big dilemma!!

*apparently I cant share photos cause of my post counts?? so yeaa..

I think you can wear it for a bit, and then talk about upgrading in the future. If you upgrade on your own, it might hurt his ego a bit. TBH i think 0.31ct is a tad too small. I would have spent a bit more to bump up to 0.45 to 0.5ct Super Ideal instead. It's all about weighing your options with what you have.

my point is, discuss it openly with him. Just tell him down the line if you were to want to upgrade, would it be ok? The diamond that is currently on the ring can be made into a pendent with it being in the middle and other smaller diamonds at the side.
 

RyanJ

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Hey all..

What do you guys think about upgrading the proposal ring your SO gave to you?

I personally think it's too small. Yea call me shallow or materialistic or whatever you may want to but I've not asked anything from him before. I pay my own rent, meals and I pay for all my shoppings. I just felt a little disappointed with the size he got me.

It's a 0.31ct VS1 F solasfera round.

On the night of proposal I have no choice but to say yes cause we have friends around.

I've kinda mentioned it once to him before and he was like 'oh I thought they look big on ur fingers' -_- yea he's the 'be happy with what you have' kinda guy.

Should I just keep brainwashing myself that because my hands are big and long that's why the diamond looks small on my hand, or should I just bring it to upgrade without him knowing? (Cause I dun know how to tell him without hurting his ego)

Or should I just let the thought go and wear only our wedding band after wedding? Poor ring will have to sit only in the drawer?

In big dilemma!!

*apparently I cant share photos cause of my post counts?? so yeaa..

Upgrading or not is a personal choice, there is no right or wrong, u will probably draw opinions on both sides from the forum.

But in any case I humbly suggest to only discuss after the big day. This particular rock can have a particular sentimental value to him, and he most likely researched alot / ran to a few places to get educated before making the purchase.

If you do secretly upgrade, and when he finds out, you will end up hurting him much more.

You should be open about it, discuss with him later on, somehow let him see that the upgrade is not a ditch of the original representation, be comfortable with the upgrade emotionally and financially.
( other alternatives = buy a new ring / create a halo or make it into part of a 3 stone or 5 stone ring / fix it onto a pendant that you can wear daily to show the sentimental value etc / a year or two you can celebrate your pregnancy / refresh your vows alongside an upgrade )
 

cuz531

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u referring to the ring i bought? 0.346 carat only ler..got it from white dwarf, triple excellent and so called ideal not so super cut..haha...

I think because the casing is thin so the diamond look big and also because the cut is good so the the carat was not wasted.
 

TheRagingEmu

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Hey all..

What do you guys think about upgrading the proposal ring your SO gave to you?

I personally think it's too small. Yea call me shallow or materialistic or whatever you may want to but I've not asked anything from him before. I pay my own rent, meals and I pay for all my shoppings. I just felt a little disappointed with the size he got me.

It's a 0.31ct VS1 F solasfera round.

On the night of proposal I have no choice but to say yes cause we have friends around.

I've kinda mentioned it once to him before and he was like 'oh I thought they look big on ur fingers' -_- yea he's the 'be happy with what you have' kinda guy.

Should I just keep brainwashing myself that because my hands are big and long that's why the diamond looks small on my hand, or should I just bring it to upgrade without him knowing? (Cause I dun know how to tell him without hurting his ego)

Or should I just let the thought go and wear only our wedding band after wedding? Poor ring will have to sit only in the drawer?

In big dilemma!!

*apparently I cant share photos cause of my post counts?? so yeaa..
GCP Spotted!

Sent from my anus using GAGT
 

gerald85

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0.517 ct D VVS1 $6300
0.514 ct D VVS2 $5550
0.571 ct D VVS2 $6150

Hi all, base on above specs, which one should I go for?

With VVS1 & VVS2, is there a difference?

I am looking at JP octagon series.
 

viix

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Hey all..

What do you guys think about upgrading the proposal ring your SO gave to you?

I personally think it's too small. Yea call me shallow or materialistic or whatever you may want to but I've not asked anything from him before. I pay my own rent, meals and I pay for all my shoppings. I just felt a little disappointed with the size he got me.

It's a 0.31ct VS1 F solasfera round.

On the night of proposal I have no choice but to say yes cause we have friends around.

I've kinda mentioned it once to him before and he was like 'oh I thought they look big on ur fingers' -_- yea he's the 'be happy with what you have' kinda guy.

Should I just keep brainwashing myself that because my hands are big and long that's why the diamond looks small on my hand, or should I just bring it to upgrade without him knowing? (Cause I dun know how to tell him without hurting his ego)

Or should I just let the thought go and wear only our wedding band after wedding? Poor ring will have to sit only in the drawer?

In big dilemma!!

*apparently I cant share photos cause of my post counts?? so yeaa..

Why not openly discuss it with him. If both are ok with upgrading just go for it. Doing it without his knowledge will hurt him and i foresee some arguments further down the road if you do not discuss it with him openly and this topic will come up in your arguments lol. Just don't do it behind his back.. Besides there'll be more decisions and discussing to be made in your future together.
 

Grizz.P

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Don’t be afraid to visit shops to compare and ask analyse their diamonds. You are the paying customer and its perfectly normal to find out more on the product you’re buying. After all, you’re spending a huge chunk of your savings and most people will want something value for money.

The common direction that most people take (or rather I took) is to find the most brilliant diamond and at the lowest price. To me, the point of buying a diamond is so that it is brilliant and attention grabbing =:p This has all to do with the Cut, which I find can be very confusing. Different shops can tell you different things. But one thing that they all tell you is that theirs is “the most perfect/brilliant/best cut diamond” etc… So who to believe? You need to do your own research. Lol

The very basic round cut is the round hearts and arrows diamond a.k.a the 57 facets, 8 hearts and arrows diamond. Essentially, all these branded diamonds like the Hearts on Fire, Lazare, Destinee, etc are technically cut the same way… meaning they have 57 facets with 8 hearts and arrows. The only difference is how “perfect” they are cut or how tight is their quality control.

When you go around shopping, you’ll realize that branded cuts tends to focus more on marketing their diamonds as the best, rather than explaining the technical aspects of their diamonds.

Destinee Ideal Cut

From what I know, Destinee markets their diamond as Ideal by focusing on the AGS certificate. They are certified by AGS and graded Ideal. They don’t provide their cut criteria range. I only managed to find someone’s else purchase info.

Destinee.jpg


The HCA score for this Destinee Ideal cut diamond is only 2.2. Technically, it’s not even an Ideal cut. Ideal – HCA <2
Super Ideal – HCA <1.4

I’m sure they have good and bad ones.. You’ll need to check yourself. Though you will be paying a premium for their branding. For a 0.6ct, I was quoted around 10k.

Lazare Ideal Cut

This is their Ideal proportion requirements,

Lazare-Diamond-Ideal-cut-Image-518x410.jpg


Can also read http://www.proposalring.com/buyingLazare.htm
It’s abit looser than most other Ideal ranges.. The table % is ok. But the crown, pavilion, depth range does fall out of the Ideal Cut. If I randomly input the proportions into the HCA calculator,
Table 57%
Depth 62.3%
Crown 35.5 degree
Pavilion 41.2 degree

I get a crazy HCA score of 4.5…. this is no way close to an Ideal cut. Of course there can be better ones.. but you will need to check yourself. That being said, different shops have their own specifications of what is their Ideal Cut. So you cannot assume that a Lazare Ideal cut as other shop’s Ideal Cut, vice versa.

Hearts on Fire Ideal Cut

I don’t have much info on this diamond. Lol. They don’t reveal their proportion range. There’s a lot of marketing and branding on this diamond on their 8 hearts and arrows. The sales person emphasize how perfect it is and how it is the most superior out of all the diamonds. But when I ask more about the cut, its mostly replied by them telling me to trust their reputation and brand… They didn’t have the specs that I wanted… I saw a 1ct E VS1 diamond and out of curiosity, asked how much. It was $48k…….. For that price, I can double up and get a Super Ideal 2ct diamond.

Check the quality yourself!

At the end of the day, it is your money. You need to do your own due diligence.
Checking the proportions of the diamond is only the first step. The only true way to analyse the brilliance of the diamond is to use the ASET and heartsandarrows scope. There’s no other way to this. In fact, I think its even more important to use those scopes than to see the proportions blindly. A diamond can be fantastic on the paper but still terrible in its light performance.

Some brands comes with additional certificate on top of GIA or AGS. These can be useful if its from a 3rd party lab like Gemex or the Sarin report. But other than that, if its issued from their own company, its does not carry much weight. They can print out whatever they want for themselves. Whereas 3rd party certificates have no conflict of interest.
Last but not least, don’t get confused with Ideal and Super Ideal cut!

Ideal Cut ≠ Super Ideal Cut

All of these 3 brands are essentially Ideal Cuts and not Super Ideal.
In order to determine if it’s a Super Ideal, you need the ASET scope and heartsandarrows scope. All the these shops I been to, did not have the Ideal or ASET scope to check the light return. They only have the heartsandarrows scope.

Sometimes, a lousy or Ideal cut diamond can still look great in the shop. But that’s also because of the jewellery shop lights they use. One way is to view the diamond outside with natural light. Then all the flaws (if any) will come out. Thing is most shops won’t let you bring the diamond outside or they’re located inside the mall. So the best bet is to use the scopes.
For me, I ended up with a Super Ideal Cut without paying for the brand. In fact, the Ideal cuts from those stores was actually more expensive than my Super Ideal cut. It didn’t make sense for me to pay more for a lower cut branded ring. When my wife wears her ring, no one will know whether its from Tiffany, Lee Hwa, etc… they all only comment on how brilliant it is :D

Good read! Reminds me of my diamond hunting days. Haha
I wish there was more regulation on how companies label their diamonds. It'll make life easier for us.
 
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