A Guy’s Guide to Finding the Ideal Engagement Ring
Tuesday, January 9, 2018
Finding an engagement ring doesn’t have to be painfully boring an ordeal, even for a dude. So what if you have no known skills or mentionable experience in this job. You can still rock at it. Like everything else, there is a method to this madness and once you pick that up, you are only a decision away from selecting the right ring. So it make it optimally easy for you, I’ve broken the task down into simpler parts. Together, they make the job confusing, but when dealt with one at a time, it’s just another task of selection. If you have bought things before, buying an engagement ring shouldn’t be a problematic gig either. Just for now, put the focus off finding the perfect ring and approach this like any other purchase.
The Research Work Is the Fun Bit
The beauty is in the details, and knowing men and their obsession for technicalities, this should be an easy game for you. If you have never bought a jewelry for a woman in your life, you will learn a lot of things along the way about women’s jewelry, and if you have some experience in that domain, you will probably still learn a few new things. So, let’s get the process started with a little research.
Just to outline the basics, there are a few styles in engagement rings that are popular across women of all age groups and tastes. There is solitaire meaning, a single gem ring which normally doesn’t have much design or detail. If you are looking for something dainty and petite, then solitaire is your range. Then there is halo designs, which too uses a large single stone at the center, except that this center stone is embraced by a halo dotted with gems. Halo rings generally have engravings and accenting on the bands. They are a little ornate and quite vintage. Other styles include three-stone ring which again is quite clear and simple, but very sophisticated and then there is a whole lot dedicated to vintage-inspired designs. Except to see a lot of scrollwork, filigree, etc., in vintage rings, something like your grandmother’s engagement ring, only designed by a living artisan in the present.
These are the four major categories. But this is only the warmup to the drill. There are a lot of intricacies involved in the designs and styles of the rings that you still have to navigate through.
Another little detail that may come handy while researching is the kind of settings that are normally used in rings. Please note that settings, as they may sound is not just a technique of mounting gemstones, but it is also critical to the aesthetics of the ring. The few common kinds of settings are prong settings which vary from four to eight prongs, bezel setting, basket setting, tension setting, channel setting, bar setting and micro pave setting. Do make it a point to learn a little about each of these settings before you go ahead with picking one.
If it has started to get tedious at this point, it’s time to move to the next part of the drill.
The Size Ordeal
Now for better or worse, the size of a diamond on an engagement ring has come to catch the fancy of millions around the world. The bigger carat size gets a favorable voting in that. Quite naturally, men feel a little pressed to go overboard to get that rock size diamond for the engagement ring. Now, frankly, you don’t really have to do that. There are copious ways to get around that size hurdle, if you know how. There are a number of cuts that are spectacular, but have a carat advantage. For instance, an oval-cut diamond look visibly big for its carat size. So, you can avoid spending big on a rock size diamond by choosing cuts like oval, pear, marquis and others that have a slight elongation in the form.
However big of a diamond you choose, make sure you get a decent stone that is reasonably sparkling, eye clean and has good color. If you are thinking colorless diamond, then get something that pick from the nearly colorless grade. To conclude: 0.25 is for budget constrains (a small diamond) 0.50 starts to be very nice.
Different diamond sizes compared to an average woman hand
What about Clarity
Next comes clarity, one of the two aspects that influence the price of a diamond most. Now you can go ahead and be what they call a “clarity case, but it will cost you substantially. Another way to find a balance between getting a fairly clear stone and not upsetting all of your budget on just the stone is to get something from the SI1 category. The salesman may try to nudge you towards the Flawless variety and the stones under that grade are indeed remarkable, but don’t get carried away. Examine stones from the lesser grade, for there are plenty of choices to pick from. At all point, remember that the idea is to find a distinguishable ring that matches one’s definition of perfect, and that doesn’t necessarily have to have the best grade stone. Of course look for a 100% eye clean diamond
An Online Retailer Vs a Brick and Mortar Seller
Honesty is the keyword here.There are two kinds of sellers in the market at this point. Those that have swanky stores in upscale locations and others that sell online through a Web-based eCommerce site. If you are an Internet person, you obviously will go with an internet seller, because, you would, in all likelihood, know how to evaluate a seller. Once you know you have pull up enough information about the buyer to be sure of their reputation, it’s always advisable to go with an online seller. Their collections are pretty extensive and incredible at this points, and their prices are also markedly lower than an average land-based seller. Most online sellers have flexible return policies that allow the buyers to send a ring back and get a full refund, in a case where they don’t like the product.
Another benefit of online jeweller is that all he promisses is already in written, no last minutes disappointments.
So guys, don’t be scared by the challenges that lie ahead, for you know that it will all be worth the salt in the end.
