Q&A: Looking for a 1.5 Ct. Princess Cut Diamond for a White Gold Pavé/Channel Setting for Under $7.500 In Total

Hi, I’m in the process of looking for a diamond for an engagement ring I’m buying for my girlfriend. Primarily, I’ve been looking on James Allen.

I have not picked out the exact setting yet, but I’ve narrowed down to a handful. I’m going to be choosing an 18k White Gold, either Pave or Channel setting.

I’m looking at Princess Cut Diamonds. Based on your advice on your website, I’m looking only at ideal cut grades.

As far as color, I’ve narrowed my search to G,H,I,

For clarity, I’m looking at VS2, SI1, SI2 grades.

For carat, I’m looking at rings around 1.5 Carats. I know being slightly under can cause a good price reduction, so ideally being in the 1.4 to 1.49 range would be great, but if there is a great ring available in the same price range for 1.53 or so, I’m fine with that too.

I would like to keep the budget for the diamond to under 7.5K.

I’ve been looking on James Allen, and am having trouble really seeing what the best options are. For me, it’s hard to tell between the best combinations of the color range and clarity range.

My most important thing is that it looks great to the naked eye. So, I want the best cut to really improve the other aspects, and I want the diamond to appear colorless and eye clean to anyone looking at it.

I’m leaning more towards an H or I colored diamond, but again, want to make sure it appears colorless.

I’m seeing price differences from around 6K to 7K, and I myself don’t know how much the look of it differs, but want to make sure I’m not losing anything by going with the cheaper ring.

For instance – 1.46, I, SI2 for 6.1K
www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/princess-cut/1.46-carat-i-color-si2-clarity-sku-2174436?a_aid=dmnd1357

vs – 1.46, H, SI1 for 7.3K
www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/princess-cut/1.46-carat-h-color-si1-clarity-sku-1139339?a_aid=dmnd1357

So, I would greatly appreciate your help with searching the James Allen Ideal Cut Princess Cut rings for under 7.5K that I can get the best bang for my buck and look great to the naked eye.

I truly appreciate your help with this, and all the help your site has been. Thanks so much.

I truly appreciate the help you have already been. Thanks for sending over those diamonds. They both look beautiful, with no big dark imperfections.

Few things that pop in my head when looking at both of these:

They are both ideal cut, looking at the dimensions, and also the polish, it looks like the 2nd diamond is a slightly better cut diamond, is that correct? It might not be noticeable to the eye, but given the larger carat and a small increase in price, that may be worth it. Do you agree?

The second diamond also has a better clarity grade, but given that they are both eye clean, I guess that doesn’t really make a big difference, right?

They both have an I color, which is the lowest of the G,H,I range, but in your opinion, will that be noticeable to the eye for an ideal princess cut?

I see that the 2nd diamond has bezel corner crown, whereas the 1st diamond has a French corner crown. In your opinion, is there any light performance difference between the two?

Similarly, the 2nd diamond has 4 chevrons, whereas the 1st has 3 chevrons. Will one have a better light performance than the other?

My last questions is about the Medium Blue florescence of the 2nd diamond. Personally, I like the blue florescence look, and think it adds a cool feature. However, I know it could cause a hazy look, and that if it doesn’t, it could allow the diamond to appear to have a better color. From the website, are you able to tell if the florescence has a negative effect at all, or should I reach out to James Allen to ask that? And, is it true that this will allow the diamond to appear as more of an H color?

Sorry for all the questions, I just want to make sure I buy the perfect diamond. I really love them both, and I’m leaning towards the 2nd, as long as the questions I asked above don’t have any negatives compared to the first.

Thanks so much for your help with this process. Hope to hear from you soon.

Thanks for answering all of those questions, it’s greatly appreciated.

That is the diamond I’m going to go with. I’m trying narrow down the settings to a few. I may send you a couple options to get your opinion.

Thanks.

So, I tried narrowing down my settings to a handful of options. Would love some feedback of what you think. My girlfriend is a nurse, so she doesn’t want anything that is going to sit to high and get caught on things. She has a size 6 finger, so I don’t want to get anything with too thick of a band either.

There was one solitaire setting I liked – It is simple and displays the whole diamond, but I’m worried it sits to high:
www.jamesallen.com/engagement-rings/solitaire/18k-white-gold-flat-edged-diamond-solitaire-engagement-ring-item-17819?a_aid=dmnd1357

There are 3 Pave that I liked.
The first is similar to a solitaire, with a few diamonds on either side. The setting goes up the side of the diamond, making it flatter, but do you think this would disrupt the view of the diamond?
www.jamesallen.com/engagement-rings/pave/18k-white-gold-petite-diamond-accent-engagement-ring-item-50241?a_aid=dmnd1357

The 2nd has diamonds halfway down the sides, and displays the entire diamond. But, this one appears to be a little bit thick of a band:
www.jamesallen.com/engagement-rings/pave/18k-white-gold-perfect-pave-engagement-ring-item-55388?a_aid=dmnd1357

The 3rd is a bar setting, with diamonds 2/3rd of the way around each side, with diamonds on all three sides. It’s very nice, but maybe too much, and would take away from the center stone:
www.jamesallen.com/engagement-rings/pave/18k-white-gold-bar-set-and-three-sided-pave-diamond-engagement-ring-item-9016?a_aid=dmnd1357

Then, I have a few channel settings I like.
The first has diamond half way down each side, but looks like it may sit a little high.
www.jamesallen.com/engagement-rings/channel-set/18k-white-gold-channel-set-princess-cut-diamond-enagement-ring-item-58676?a_aid=dmnd1357

The 2nd has diamonds 2/3 the way down each side. The diamonds come up towards the middle of the center stone, but there isn’t anything that blocks the center stone which is good, but I’m not sure I like the gap between the center stone and sides.
www.jamesallen.com/engagement-rings/channel-set/18k-white-gold-thin-channel-set-princess-shaped-diamond-engagement-ring-item-7084?a_aid=dmnd1357

The last three are the same type of setting, but with different diamond options. The diamonds go 2/3 around each side, and I like the look a lot, but again don’t know if the center stone will be blocked with the extra layer of the setting. Also, looks like it may be a little thick.

All princess cut:
www.jamesallen.com/engagement-rings/channel-set/18k-white-gold-channel-set-princess-shaped-diamond-engagement-ring-item-2160?a_aid=dmnd1357

All Carre shaped:
www.jamesallen.com/engagement-rings/channel-set/18k-white-gold-channel-set-carre-shaped-diamond-engagement-ring-item-1979?a_aid=dmnd1357

Princess and Carre:
www.jamesallen.com/engagement-rings/channel-set/18k-white-gold-channel-set-carre-and-princess-shaped-diamond-engagement-ring-item-302?a_aid=dmnd1357

So, that’s what I narrowed it to. Still too many options I know. I want it to fit her nice and not be too thick, not sit really high, but also not block the diamond with extra walls around the prongs. Not sure if that is really noticeable or not.

Any thoughts you can give is greatly appreciated.

Thanks so much. After looking more closely last night, I did end up really liking the first one that you sent. So, I ended up making the purchase just after midnight last night.

I ended up going with the diamond you suggested:
www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/princess-cut/1.53-carat-i-color-vs1-clarity-sku-2211501?a_aid=dmnd1357

And I ended up going with this setting:
www.jamesallen.com/engagement-rings/pave/18k-white-gold-petite-diamond-accent-engagement-ring-item-50241?a_aid=dmnd1357

I used this email address to make the purchase.

Thanks so much for your help, it means so much to me.