How to choose an engagement ring? A guide that every Magpie should show to their future fiancées. Part 1
You can pretend that finding the perfect engagement ring is a piece of cake for you. I, despite my Magpie knowledge, believe that it is not that easy but I can help you… After my two lessons you’ll become an expert in ring selection and will achieve to goals: firstly, you’ll make your chosen one the happiest woman in the world during the engagement and for the first months she won’t want to part with the ring. Secondly, you’ll become your friends’ best advisor. Apparently no one wants to admit they too want to know, and tossing in a thing or two about carats or ring construction is really impressive.
However, before we start our lesson, you need to learn about the ring anatomy. Take a close look at the description. This way you’ll go through the whole looooong text easily without wasting time on looking up jargon words in the dictionary.
What does your loved one like? Choosing the ring style.
Let’s start with a short characteristics of women to whom we can assign the selected ring designs. If you decide that the description fits your loved one somehow – you deserve a big round of applause, because the toughest part, that is choosing the style that suits your girlfriend, is ahead of us!
Classic design: If the future bride values elegance and timeless style, and in her wardrobe you can find a Christian Louboutin pair of stilettos with red soles or a Chanel purse, it is probable that the engagement ring will be of the utmost importance to her. She’ll be surely charmed by the ring with a classic design.
Retro design: Your loved one reads tons of Jane Austen books, sighs at the thought of the dresses and men’s culture and elegance in “Pride and Prejudice” movie, loves pearls, grandmother’s golden signets, dresses originally not following the trends at all costs and never parts with her favorite red lipstick. Retro ring will be a perfect choice for her.
Modern design: It can be a bull’s eye bot for a pragmatic person (channel set rings are very comfortable in everyday use) or a woman who doesn’t want an eye-catching trinket on her finger, because she prefers a ring that would accompany her everyday and be coherent with her outfits.
Design with diamond and other color stones: Such ring design perfectly suits a person who follows trends and is sure that a sophisticated ring will not be mismatched. It will also be good for a woman who loves color and is crazy about color gemstones. The choice is easy if you know which stone is her favorite.
Let’s talk about setting
Diamond sparkles the most in the embrace of a precious metal. I will now show you four types of settings. Each has its unique way to reveal the stone’s beauty and changes the way the ring is worn.
- Chaton setting: the most classical setting. In this setting the stone is held with prongs (usually 6 or 8) which let more light to the stone – this way it sparkles fabulously. The drawback of this method is that it can get tangled during everyday activities like putting your hand in a pocket or putting on stockings. But the engagement ring is a little treasure, which needs to be cared for, so I’d never think that any Magpie would hide a hand with a sparkling treasure in… a pocket. Unless she doesn’t like it.
- Full setting: It is another way to set a diamond, which covers its girdle. The advantage of this setting is great security of the stone, the drawback is that the stone gets less light, so its shine is weaker.
- Pave Micro Pave setting: this is a technique where a large number of tiny stones is set very closely to each other. This way the light reflexes overlap and the ring sparkles with a spectacular glow – like a uniformly smooth surface. You have to know that stones in such setting are set by a jeweler with the perfect precision under a microscope, so that the boundaries among the diamonds are invisible.
- Channel setting: used in the rings where the gems are set in a row. The advantage of this setting is a modern design (it is perfect for pragmatic people) and a large amount of light delivered to the diamond.
When choosing a ring, take a look at its rail. If you see it is hollow (such ring is automatically lighter and it has smaller weight in the description) – then its quality and price will be lower.
I always give here the example of my grandmother’s rings. Her rings are massive and heavy, made from noble metal (without cheating with hollow channel inside). That’s why they survived in my family to this day and with a bit of care I think it will be still possible to give them to Magpie daughter or even granddaughter.
Think about it when buying a ring. It can, of course, happen that your wallet will put limits on you and you’ll compensate it with a beautiful design. Awesome for me! You have to remember that your happiness and satisfaction are the most important for me – but I wouldn’t be a real Magpie if I hadn’t share this secret knowledge with you.
Gold, silver or platinum? Conscious choice of the metal…
During the last brilliant shopping I’ve heard such sentence: – “A ring is a ring, right? What? Gold has colors…? and then I looked in the direction the voice was coming from. I saw a very confused man who was choosing an engagement ring. But you know what? You are lucky because I will not let you be confused. Prepare yourself. We are starting a short lesson on gold.
- White gold: Pay attention to what color of jewelry your future fiancée wears. If she prefers silver, I recommend you white gold ring to be in harmony with the rest of the jewelry. But remember that the ring rail in the final step of production is rhodium plated (rhodium plating is covering the metal with rhodium, that is noble metal of the platinum group which makes the metal shine). Since “white gold” is a common name for gold with slightly yellowish hue, rhodium plating gives it a perfectly white color and shine. You have to remember, though, that this shiny coating can wear off with time. But the ring can be rhodium plated again.
- Yellow gold: If your loved Magpie is a fan of classic golden jewelry, then don’t hesitate to choose a yellow gold ring. But remember to choose a golden instead of gold plated one, because if it’s worn everyday its color will wear off after washing hands 10 times, and we are choosing a ring for many years. So if you have decided the ring has to be golden, read the article by Jan Suchodolski here: <link>. You will learn about standardization of gold and silver content in the alloys and your knowledge will stump all shop assistants.
two color model or platinum: More and more often the shops offer two-color gold design (yellow with rose or white with yellow) or platinum (with gray and white shine). I recommend such rings for a woman who is very aware of what ring she desires – then she will certainly be glad.
Diamond quality, or 5c.
Let’s get back to school for a while. Her’s a Magpie’s lecture on diamond quality. Read this – at least once, but diligently – so that you will not get cheated by the salesman…
CARAT
The diamond’s weight is expressed in metric carats (it is mass unit used by goldsmiths to define size of the precious stones). The term is derived from the name of plant Ceratonia siliqua L. or Carob tree whose seeds were used to determine the weight unit.
Since 1913 the mass of diamonds is given in metric carats “ct”. One ct is 200 mg (0.2g). You have to know that weight has great significance in the stone’s value. In the jewelry description you can often find a collective weight of the stones set in the ring, so remember that the number in description may refer to one or more diamonds, depending on the design.
CUT
Raw, uncut diamond doesn’t look very attractive. Only through proper treatment by the lapidary (with excellent craftsmanship, who can plan the cut taking into account the shape and proportions of the stone) we can extract its unique glow (in jewelry it is called brilliance).
This phenomenon occurs due to complete internal reflection and dispersion of light rays as well as light reflections from the outer surface of the stone. You will quickly see it yourself. How? When admiring a diamond, you will get the impression that the stone lives, shimmering with the colors of the rainbow with every move of the hand.
And one important thing. The words “diamond” and “brilliant” are often used interchangeably. It is not correct, because every brilliant is a diamond, but not every diamond is a brilliant. Brilliant is a diamond of a certain shape (round – it was created to take as much sparkle from the diamond as possible). It is a defined geometric cube. Like the cuboid, which consists of six mutually perpendicular walls, the diamond is composed of a number of surfaces, so-called facets, adjacent to one another at proper angles. Usually a diamond with round brilliant cut has 57 facets.
CLARITY
Another important factor that affects both the price and the beauty of a diamond is clarity. The signs in the internal structure of diamond, that is inclusions, may cause undesired dispersion of light rays in the stone, which affects its shine (brilliance). Diamonds can have not only internal marks, but also external ones – called defects.
Stones with P1, P2 or P3 clarity (you can find the clarity classes in the info graph below) have blemishes discernible by an experienced technician without a magnifying glass. While diamonds of SL, VS and VVS clarity have flaws visible only when using a special magnifying glass with tenfold magnification.
The diamonds in majority of Apart jewelry have a SI clarity class, so that customers can purchase a glamorous diamonds at a reasonable price. However, if you choose stone investment and you want it to be a really rare specimen, select the stone of the highest color and clarity class.
COLOR
When pricing the ring also the color is important. It needs to be mentioned, that the difference in value of two stones of a similar weight and cut can be very large. This is why a diamond stands out with its color: from colorless to various shades of yellow, browns or grays, or diamonds in fancy colors like blue, pink or even green.
It is estimated that in 10 thousand stones of regular color there is one with fancy color. The value of fancy colored diamonds, due to the rarity of their occurrence, are very diversified. Would you believe that one of the highest price reached the pink diamonds from Australia, which were sold for over 1 million AUD per carat?
Remember that the color class is defined with a letter between D-Z (according to international standards). The best color have the stones marked with D. It is the so-called purest white +. Diamonds of this color are the rarest, which significantly affects their prices.
And here an important Magpie’s piece of advice: always look at the ring with a gemstone on a white sheet of paper. On a different background you may incorrectly judge its color.
CONFIDENCE
And one more thing. Apart, out of concern for the wellbeing of its customers, has added the “fifth C” – Confidence to the 4C principle, which is confirmed by the certificate attached to the product. It contains a description of the diamonds made by experts whose qualifications have been confirmed by specialists from Diamond High Council of Antwerp (HRD).
In addition, with diamonds weighing more than 0.43 ct you’ll receive a certificate of one of the world’s most recognized gemological institutes (HRD, GIA or IGI). It is very important if you don’t want to buy a Magpie in a poke.
Pierścionek Apart z żółtego złota z diamentami
Nowoczesny pierścionek APART z białego złota z diamentami
Klasyczny pierścionek APART z żółtego złota z diamentem
Nowoczesny pierścionek APART z białego złota z diamentami
Nowoczesny pierścionek APART z białego złota z diamentem
Nowoczesny pierścionek APART z żółtego i białego złota z diamentem
Klasyczny pierścionek APART z białego złota z diamentem
Klasyczny pierścionek APART z żółtego złota z diamentem
Pierścionek APART w stylu retro z białego złota z diamentami
Nowoczesny pierścionek APART z żółtego złota z diamentami
I hope you swallowed the whole text and learned a loooot. In the second part of the article we will take a look at color gemstones (because diamond doesn’t have to be the only choice), you will learn how to choose the correct ring size and on which finger your significant other should wear it. Interested? Click here <link>! Enjoy your reading, Magpie.
The post was written in cooperation with APART brand.
