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Hi, I’m looking for a round or cushion cut under AUD $10000.
I’d be happy to make some recommendations for you, but I need a little more info.
What style setting (solitaire, pave/side stones/halo) and metal (yellow/white gold, platinum) do you want to use? This may affect the colors that I recommend for the center diamond (as we explain in our post on color).
I prefer a thinner pave or solitaire setting with a platinum or white gold metal.
I do like the look of round cuts a bit more, but most of the ones I have found are a bit out of my price range.
Thank you for the info.
For a pave setting, I’d go with an H-color cushion cut or an I-color round diamond.
For a solitaire, you should stick to an H cushion cut, but you could drop down the color of the round diamond to a J and still have the colorless impression.
Have a look at these options:
Blue Nile LD10764376
They are well cut, eye-clean and all of them will be very bright and brilliant.
What do you think?
I think the second one definitely looks the cleanest, I’ve done a bit of research and am a bit worried about the pave diamonds now though. Would these two go well together?
www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut/1.30-carat-j-color-vvs2-clarity-excellent-cut-sku-5403232?a_aid=dmnd1357
14K WHITE GOLD PRESENTATION SOLITAIRE (SIX PRONG)
And this www.jamesallen.com/mobile/loose-diamonds/round-cut/1.27-carat-j-color-vs1-clarity-excellent-cut-sku-5285741?a_aid=dmnd1357 seems like really good value.
www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut/1.30-carat-j-color-vvs2-clarity-excellent-cut-sku-5403232?a_aid=dmnd1357
This diamond is ok, but I found a better cut option for less:
www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut/1.30-carat-j-color-vs1-clarity-excellent-cut-sku-4891365?a_aid=dmnd1357
I wouldn’t recommend this one:
IGI is rarely good. We’re trying to avoid it as much as possible.
Do you think with a larger size, the yellow tint in a J color will be more noticeable?
Would any of the True Hearts cuts look better?
I also found this and it looks almost blue although it doesn’t have the medium fluorescence?
I’m still open to Blue Nile, but their website makes it hard to compare diamonds and the 360 view doesn’t seem front on so it is hard to see the hearts and arrows shape.
I prefer VS1 and up, but besides that I am not too fussed as long as it isn’t hazy and it has a distinct hearts and arrow shape. Some of the images look dull and washed out, I think that may be the haziness I have read about?
Do you mean in the 1.3ct? I don’t think so. We recommend 2 or even 3ct J-color diamonds and receive great feedback on them. Brian Gavin is even a safer choice. Because of their absolutely perfect cut, the color isn’t noticeable. They even put their J color diamonds into halo setting with no problems at all.
True Hearts are without any doubts great diamonds, but when you find a very well cut “regular” diamond, you get the same look to the naked eye (without having to pay a premium for it).
Regarding the diamond from Brian Gavin you sent me, you don’t base the color choice on the pictures on the website, there’re various factors that can affect how the diamond looks (especially the lightning in the room where the video was recorded). All you need is the cert.
Haziness is not visible at the zoomed picture, but you might spot it when you see the diamond in person under various lighting conditions. It is tricky.
JA focuses on the technical side of the diamonds in their photos, not the brilliance. The brilliance is caused by the cut parameters that you can find in the cert. It doesn’t matter that one of the diamonds looks “less sparkly” than the other. That’s not important there.
After considering the setting and custom fees, I’ve lowered my budget a little bit.
I think I have narrowed it to these two diamonds, which one do you think is better?
They are both excellent choices, I really like them. I’d simply go with the one that suits you better price-wise. You can’t go wrong with either of them.
Thanks!
What we love about them:
- No questions asked returns within 30 days of shipment. James Allen will send you a paid shipping label to return the ring.
- Lifetime Warranty
- Free International Shipping
- Free prong tightening, repolishing, rhodium plating and cleaning every 6 months
- Provide insurance appraisals
- One free resizing within 60 days of purchase
- Free ring inscriptions
- Best-in-class high quality imagery of all diamonds in stock
- 24/7 Customer Service
- Best-in-class packaging
What we love about them:
- No questions asked returns within 30 days of shipment. Blue Nile will send you a paid shipping label to return the ring.
- Lifetime Warranty
- Free Shipping
- Free prong tightening, repolishing, rhodium plating and cleaning every 6 months
- Provide insurance appraisal
- One free resizing within the first year of purchase
- High quality images of about half of their diamonds
- 24/7 Customer Service
- 100% credit towards future upgrades (must be at least double in value)
- Best in class fulfillment
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