Click here to use it.

With this tool, you can browse through different engagement ring styles until you find the one that you think will be the best. It’s great for looking at a variety of different styles and deciding which you like best.

Check it out!

Pictures and more details have arrived! Here they are (pictures first!):

Here are the details: It’s actually an emerald cut diamond in the center – not a cushion cut as previously reported – with two 2 carat trapezoid shaped diamonds on both sides of the center stone.

The emerald cut diamond in the center is a whopping 16.5 carats and the sidestones are 2 carats each, totaling 20.5 carats in all! The cost? Estimated at $2 million.

This is definitely the next great celebrity engagement ring – who would not be happy to receive a ring like this?

—End of update, old post below—

Slightly off-topic, but it’s been in the news recently (and I saw on the cover of Life and Style magazine) that Kim Kardashian has picked out her engagement ring. Now I don’t follow the Kardashians the way many people do, but I don’t think she’s even engaged yet…so I’m not completely sure why she’s already made her engagement ring, but I’m just going to assume she knows what she’s doing.

Anyway, on to the information about the actual ring. It’s apparently a 10-carat cushion cut ring, which is pretty amazing, and it’s supposed to be styled after Elizabeth Taylor’s engagement ring.  One of Kim’s friends who is a jewelry designer is the one who will be putting the ring together. I’m not sure where they are going to find a 10-carat cushion cut diamond, but I’m sure they won’t have many to choose from. Actually, as of right now Blue Nile has a 10.41 carat cushion cut diamond in stock, so if you’re trying to out-do (or at least match) her, they have the diamond to do it!

The price? If the diamond that she uses has a cut grade of very good or better, is around G color or better, and is maybe VS1 or better clarity, the price for the diamond should cost at least $400,000. It should be safe to say that she will be wearing a half a million dollars on her finger when the ring is done!

I want to go through putting an engagement ring together with this budget of $3,000 to $5,000. What’s the best ring that you can get for this budget? Well, my goal is to show you how to get the best ring that you can possibly get in this budget range.

The Lower End: A Ring For $3,000

I’m going to start off with a ring that’s right at the lower end of this range. I will shoot for a ring that’s as close to $3,000 as I can get, while making sure it’s a great value for the money. To start with, I’m going to pick a setting that will leave me enough money for a good size diamond to put in it.

Here’s the setting that I’ll choose:

It’s a 2mm “Knife Edge” Solitaire setting, in 18K white gold, and it costs $360, which will still leave us $2,640 for the diamond.

Now for the diamond: I’m going to look through the diamonds for a diamond in the low .7 carat range. This is the largest size diamond that I’m going to be able to get for $2,640 while making sure that it’s a high-quality diamond.

Here’s what I’m considering for the diamond:

• For the diamond’s color, I don’t want one that’s D or E color, because that’s not necessary and it will add a LOT of unnecessary cost to the diamond.
• For the clarity, I don’t want to look for IF clarity diamonds for the same reason. I will look for diamonds that have a lower clarity grade, but I will examine the picture to make sure it looks clean to the eye.
• I’m going to look for diamonds with a cut grade of Ideal. This will make sure that the diamond is a good quality.

Here are 3 diamonds that I found that meet the criteria above:

• Diamond 1: .71 carat, H Color, VS1 Clarity, Ideal Cut. The cost: $2,600. Final cost with the setting is $2,960.
• Diamond 2: .73 carat, H Color, VS1 Clarity, Ideal Cut. The cost: $2,710. Final cost with the setting is $3,070.
• Diamond 3: .71 carat, H Color, VS1 Clarity, Ideal Cut. The cost: $2,600. Final cost with the setting is $2,960. Note: this is a different diamond from the first one, even though everything else looks the same.

And that’s how you put together a high-quality engagement ring for $3,000! Now, what about a ring for a $4,000 budget?

The Middle: A $4,000 Engagement Ring

What can I do with an extra $1,000? Well, to start with, I will pick a different setting. This time, I’ll pick a setting with pave sidestones to give it a little more flair than a simple solitaire setting. Here’s the setting that I’ll choose for this ring:

This is a French Cut Pave Diamond Engagement Ring setting, and it costs $780. That leaves me $3,220 for the diamond. I’m going to follow the same criteria as above for the diamond for this ring.

Here are some diamonds that will fit this criteria and the budget:

• Diamond 1: .8 carat, H Color, VS1 Clarity, Ideal cut. The cost: $3,310. Final cost with the setting: $4,090.
• Diamond 2: .78 carat, H Color, VS1 Clarity, TrueHearts cut. The cost: $3,110. Final cost with the setting: $3,890. Note: This is a TrueHearts diamond, which means that it has the best cut quality available. This means that it will have amazing sparkle and shine!
• Diamond 3: .84 carat, I Color, VS1 Clarity, Ideal cut. The cost: $3,280. Final cost with the setting: $4,060.

Now, I’ll do one more, this time for $5,000.

The Best Engagement Ring You Can Get For $5,000

Well, in my opinion this will be the best engagement ring you can get for $5,000, at least. Anyway, for this ring I will choose a 3 stone setting. Here’s the setting that I chose for this ring:

This is a 3 Stone Channel Set Princess Cut Engagement Ring and it costs $1,800. It is a very popular setting (not hard to see why!) and it has 2 princess cut sidestones and princess cut pave diamonds.

Anyway, I will follow the same criteria as I did for the first two rings when I choose some possible diamonds for this ring. Note that you must set this ring with a princess cut diamond.

• Diamond 1: .83 carat, D Color, VS2 Clarity, Ideal cut. The cost: $3,140. Final cost with the setting: $4,940.
• Diamond 2: .92 carat, I Color, VVS1 Clarity, Ideal cut. The cost: $3,130. Final cost with the setting: $4,930.
• Diamond 3: .79 carat, F Color, VVS1 Clarity, Ideal cut. The cost: $3,310. Final cost with the setting: $5,110.

And there you have it! That’s how you make the best engagement ring that you possibly can for these 3 different common budget ranges. Please comment if you have any questions or comments!

• They have a HUGE selection of designer jewelry. Almost everything that they have is unique and I’ve never seen it before.
• Almost all of the jewelry is customizable. If you’re looking at a three-stone diamond ring, for example, and you want to change the two outer diamonds to a different gemstone, then you can! You see a nice ring with white gold and you want rose gold, instead? No problem! I’ll explain it more below.

When you’re looking at an item, click the “click here to customize” link. I’m going to use this “Arbor Ring” as an example. This ring has a sterling silver setting and diamonds in a leafy pattern.  However, click on the “Click here to customize link, as shown below:

It will bring up a menu that looks like this:

You can click on any of the gemstones in the list to change the type of gemstones that make up the Accent 1 stones. As an example, I changed the Accent 1 stones from Diamonds to Blue Topaz – notice how the gemstones changed in the picture below. Then, you can click on the “Accent 2″ (I circled it in red on the picture below) to change the Accent 2 gemstones.

Now, you can choose the gemstones for the Accent 2.  I picked Emerald for the Accent 2 stones for my example. Notice how the other stones are now emeralds instead of diamonds in the picture below. Then, you can either click the “Metals” link to change the metal or the “Save & Close” or “Add to Cart” links (circled in the picture below).

Isn’t that really cool? You can customize pretty much all the rings that they carry just like that. Play around with it a little – I’m sure you’ll come up with many rings or other types of jewelry that you want to buy! I did

The other thing that I really like about Gemvara is all of the styles that they have. Here’s how this is so powerful:  If you’re looking at their engagement rings page, but want a specific style ring, such as antique  or modern, you can narrow down your selection with the categories on the left.  You can see it on the picture below:

This allows to sort your search by the style of the ring. Pretty cool, right?

I hope you think Gemvara is as cool as I do… I’ve been playing around with their jewelry for the last few days customizing any and everything!

First, I will run through the different types of setting styles and then I will show you how to pick out the right one for your needs. Here’s a quick video (not mine) explaining the most popular engagement ring setting styles. I will recap and review the video after and then expand on the information from the video. Then I will show you how to pick out the best setting for your individual needs. I’ll even include some example rings that fit into each category.

Here are the setting styles that he mentioned:

• Solitaire setting- the simplest setting. A single diamond in a simple shank.
• Three stone setting- 3 diamonds side by side.
• Pave/channel setting- A setting with diamonds embedded in the shank.
• Halo setting- 1 diamond in the center with diamonds it in a circle
• Antique style settings- Designer settings made to look like diamond rings of the past.
• Contemporary settings- New, edgy settings like tension settings where the diamond is held only by the pressure of the two sides of the shank where they come together at the top of the ring.

Here are some examples of each of these settings, along with links to view all the rings of each type in my #1 recommended engagement ring store, James Allen. Then after this I will show you how to choose the right type!

• Solitaire Settings
  

Knife Edge Solitaire Setting

Cathedral Reverse Tapered Solitaire Setting

Click here to view all of the solitaire settings at James Allen.

• Three Stone Settings

Three Stone Channel Set Ring

Three Stone Simple Setting

Click here to see all of the 3 stone settings.

• Pave Settings

French Cut Pave Setting

Cross Prong Setting

Click here to see all of the pave settings.

• Halo Settings

Designer Eternity Halo Setting

Swirl Halo Setting

Click here to see all of the halo and designer settings.

• Antique Settings

Engraved Channel Antique Setting

Bow Tie Channel Antique Setting

Click here to see all of the antique settings.

• Contemporary Settings

Spiral Tension Bypass Setting

Tension Setting

Click here to see all of the contemporary settings.

So there you have it! That’s the types of settings that are available for engagement rings. Now, to answer the bigger question:

How do you choose your engagement ring setting?

The first thing that you can do is to look at the types of rings that your soon-to-be fiance already owns. On top of that, which ones does she prefer and wear more? These are a huge clue to the setting that you should choose for your engagement ring. Get a setting that matches the same style of the rings that she prefers. If you notice that she has mainly antique style rings, then get an antique setting. On the other hand, if she has more contemporary style rings, then go with a contemporary style setting.

Another thing that you should do is take note of her hints if she happens to drop any. She might give you ideas about what type of jewelry she likes. Make sure you remember these!

The other thing that you should do is try to figure out what size ring she wears. You can look at her rings that she already has and if they don’t say the size on them you can try to take them to a local jeweler and they can tell you the size of the ring.

Taking all of these things into consideration, you should be able to decide on a style of ring that would be best. From there, browse that category of rings and choose the one you like the best!

My top recommendation for a place to get your engagement ring is James Allen. Click here to look at their engagement ring settings!

18K White Gold “Reverse Cathedral” Diamond Ring	Spiral Diamond Engagement Ring

I like these first two rings because they are simple. The first one is a classic, solitaire engagement ring. The second one is a more modern, different-looking, but simple ring.

French Cut Pave Ring	18K White Gold Round Raised Engagement Ring
Tapered Knife-Edge Pave Set Diamond Engagement Ring	Engraved Channel Cut Diamond Ring

These next 4 rings all have pave settings. They look a little fancier, and they will definitely shine brilliantly because of the diamonds going all around the setting. I like the last one because it has engraving on the shank – this gives it an antique, sophisticated look. Here are some more beautiful rings:

“Bypass” Pave Tension-set Diamond Ring	1 Carat Three-Stone Diamond Ring

Here are two more awesome rings – a tension-set pave ring and a three-stone ring. Regular tension-set rings are beautiful, but with a pave setting? Amazing! And then there’s the three-stone ring – why have 1 diamond when you can have 3?

Ready for some more?

Braided Pave Diamond Ring	Platinum Bezel and Pave Set Ring

These next 2 rings are really cool. They are definitely very unique and very beautiful. Probably not for everyone, but they are definitely something different worth considering.

Danhov Designer Engagement Ring

This last ring is a designer ring. I love it – it’s really fancy looking.  Diamonds all around the shank and diamonds all around the center diamond makes for a great ring.

I hope you have enjoyed this post and gotten some good ideas for the holidays! Remember to order early so that it gets there in time.

Happy holidays!

Why buy the diamond online? There are two main advantages to buying a diamond online:

1. They are almost always cheaper online. Your local jewelers typically mark their diamonds up at least 25% higher than the prices at online jewelers for identical diamonds.
2. There is a LOT more selection online. Blue Nile has over 70,000 diamonds to choose from, which is the largest selection out there.

So, what are the best online jewelers to buy loose diamonds from?

• As I stated above, Blue Nile has simply the largest selection of any jeweler, and they have grading certificates for ALL of their diamonds.
• James Allen doesn’t have quite the selection that Blue Nile does, but they offer real pictures of every diamond that they have in stock.
• Both of these online diamond stores are rated A+ by the BBB and offer great service!

If you need advice on choosing the best diamonds make sure to read my diamond buying guides.

Ready to start looking at loose diamonds?

Click here to look at loose diamonds at James Allen!

Click here to look at loose diamonds at Blue Nile!

Here are some of the awards they have won:

• “Best E-Tailer” from Kiplinger’s
• “Forbes Favorite” online jeweler
• “Circle of Excellence Platinum Award” from BizRate.com

They have also received an A+ rating from the BBB, a 4.5 out of 5 stars at iVouch, and an “Outstanding” rating at Bizrate.

What makes them good?

• Like I stated above, they have a huge selection of diamonds.
• They have diamond certificates for all of their diamonds.
• They don’t carry any “junk” quality diamonds.
• They have some beautiful engagement ring settings.

Looking for an engagement ring? They are an excellent place to purchase an engagement ring – check out their Top Ten Engagement Rings.

Click here to shop for your engagement ring or diamond ring at Blue Nile.

Here are the diamond rings with emerald sidestones. You can choose from 4 shapes for the emeralds- round, trillion, step-cut, or pear. You can choose almost any shape for the diamond in the center.

	Diamond Ring with Trillion Cut Emeralds
	Diamond Ring with Step Cut Emeralds
	Diamond Ring with Pear Cut Emeralds
	Diamond Ring with Round Cut Emeralds

And now, here are the rings with an emerald in the center, and diamond sidestones.

	Emerald Diamond Ring
	Emerald Diamond Ring This ring looks the same as the first one, but it’s bigger.
	Emerald Diamond Micropave Ring
	Square Emerald Ring with Diamond Sidestones

I hope you enjoyed these rings! Please take a look if you like them.

	3 Stone Tension Ring This is a breathtaking, brand new ring. This setting is very different and modern looking, and it definitely brings something new to the table!
	Diamond Accent Solitaire Ring This is a gorgeous ring with a diamond accent on the shank. It’s simple, but the accent adds additional style to it. This is a great ring if you like simple, traditional rings, but want something a little more decorated.
	Spiral Tension Diamond Ring This dramatic ring showcases the diamond for all its worth. The combination of the spiral design with a tension setting makes for a beautiful ring!
	Platinum Split Shank Diamond Ring Here is a ring with a unique, modern design.

That’s just a few of the modern styled diamond rings out there… click here to see more rings like these.