Q&A: Looking for a Princess or Radiant Cut Diamond for a Rose Gold Setting With a $4-5k Total Budget

Hi! I have started looking at engagement rings and have found your site very helpful for me as I look for a good valued ring/diamond. I just read over the Color Guide and had a question.

I am thinking about getting a rose gold ring with a princess cut diamond, somewhere in the general area of 1 carat. From what I understand, it is more important to spend more on color if you are going with a white gold or platinum ring than yellow gold since the yellow will make the diamond look a little colored anyway.

Is this the same for rose gold? Would an I colored diamond be a good value to pair with something along the lines of the ring below? Or will I be paying for quality that won’t be seen by the naked eye? Or do I need better quality? Clearly I am very new to this. Please let me know. Thanks!

Here is the setting I am considering:
www.jamesallen.com/engagement-rings/vintage/14k-rose-gold-vintage-infinity-engagement-ring-item-17859?a_aid=dmnd1357

Thanks for getting back to me. I am still in the early stages and looking to buy in 2-3 months.

Currently these are my thoughts. I am leaning towards rose gold, but white gold is not out of the question. I am pretty set of princess cut, and would like to spend 4-5k total on the ring. I think the setting will be relatively basic and not have diamonds in it, so it will likely not be too expensive. This would put my diamond budget at 3,500 to 4,500.

I think I would like the carat to be around 1 Carat, but that is more of a guideline than a necessity. I am most interested in getting the best value diamond that still looks great to the naked eye. Please let me know if you have suggestions of what I should look for. Thanks!

Thank you very much for your help and pointers. I will be back in touch when the time gets closer, but you definitely have me going in the right direction!

Thanks again!

I have restarted my look for diamonds as the time gets closer, and had a few questions I was hoping you could help me out with. I am still about a month away from my savings goal when I can buy it, so at this point I do not need a specific recommendation, but had more general questions.

I am almost definitely going to be getting one of the 2 rings below in Rose Gold, with a square outline diamond.
www.jamesallen.com/engagement-rings/solitaire/14k-rose-gold-infinity-solitaire-engagement-ring-item-53457?a_aid=dmnd1357

www.jamesallen.com/engagement-rings/vintage/14k-rose-gold-vintage-infinity-engagement-ring-item-17859?a_aid=dmnd1357

When I had emailed you before, I mentioned that I was set on princess cut. I still would like a square diamond, but now am aware of both cushion and radiant cuts. In both of these cuts, it seems like your website recommends sticking to H color or better when setting with white gold or platinum, but that you can go a little lower with rose or yellow gold. For these 2 cuts, would I color be a good place to buy if I am going with rose gold?

Also, when comparing the princess cut to the radiant cut, it seems like the key difference is the corners. If the diamond is going to be set in a ring where all 4 corners are hidden by the prongs, will they look very different? Or is there a bigger difference that I am missing?

Also, if you have any general advice about pairing those rings with one of these diamonds, please let me know. I started looking at the cushion cuts because those rings are very curvy so I thought that since cushions have a little more curve than princess they might look nice together.

Thanks for all your help.

Thanks for getting back to me. Just to sum up in terms of color, for the best value, I should look at the following:

Princess: I
Radiant: I
Cushion: H?

Thanks.

I got the parents blessing, so I am going to be buying a ring in the next few days! As I looked at more and more diamonds, and read more and more about them, I basically got more and more confused to help would definitely be appreciated.

First, I completely switched the ring I am getting. I will be getting this ring, but in rose gold:
www.jamesallen.com/engagement-rings/pave/14k-white-gold-twisted-pave-engagement-ring-item-53319?a_aid=dmnd1357

There isn’t a picture of it since they are making it for me. By the way, your website is right, James Allen has been very helpful. If you want to see what it will look like without a diamond, you can see the rose gold band here: www.jamesallen.com/wedding-rings/womens-stackable/14k-rose-gold-twisted-pave-wedding-ring-item-53498?a_aid=dmnd1357

Now for the diamond, I still go back and forth between radiant and princess, and I think my biggest area of confusion is clarity. There are definitely more princess to choose from, so there is a good chance I will go with that, but if there is a great value square radiant I will still consider it strongly.

For princess, based on your website, I have been looking mainly at SI1 and VS2, color H and I, and filter by “ideal” cut, polish and symmetry excellent and very good.

Sometimes I feel like when I zoom all the way out I either cant tell the difference between the VS2 and SI1, or the SI1 looks better. For example, when zoomed out, I feel like this:
www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/princess-cut/1.08-carat-h-color-si1-clarity-sku-2811592?a_aid=dmnd1357 or

www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/princess-cut/1.01-carat-h-color-si1-clarity-sku-3227711?a_aid=dmnd1357 or

www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/princess-cut/1.05-carat-i-color-si1-clarity-sku-2793120?a_aid=dmnd1357

all look better than:
www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/princess-cut/1.00-carat-i-color-vs2-clarity-sku-2869996?a_aid=dmnd1357

This confused me a lot because the fourth one technically has a better clarity rating. Is it just how the pictures are taken? I know I do not have a trained eye. And would any of those SI1’s be “eye clean” and work with my ring?

For radiant, I was looking mostly at H-I color, SI2 and up, polish and symmetry excellent and very good, depth and table 61%-71%. I would also want a square, not rectangle, which definitely limits the options. The only one I really came up with at James Allen is this:
www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/radiant-cut/1.03-carat-h-color-si1-clarity-sku-2232098?a_aid=dmnd1357

Would you consider this to be eye clean?

Sorry about the long email, just a little confused and excited about this, and definitely don’t want to get the wrong diamond. Really, I am looking for an eye clean diamond around a carat, either princess or square radiant that would go well with the rose gold ring I mentioned above.

My ideal budget is under $3,750, but could go up to $4,200 if there is something you thing would work better. I just don’t want to overspend on features I won’t notice, while also making sure it is eye clean. Could you please let me know if one of the diamonds I mentioned above would work, and which one you feel looks the best? Or if you have a different option for both princess and radiant that you think is a better value and eye clean, please let me know!

Sorry again about the lengthy email, and thanks again for all your help.

Thanks for getting back to me. James Allen was running a sale that was supposed to end yesterday but got extended, so it is still going. Since I thought it was ending I put an order in last night with this diamond: www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/princess-cut/1.01-carat-h-color-si1-clarity-sku-3227711?a_aid=dmnd1357

Do you think this one would be eye clean as well? If not I’m sure I could email and see if I can still change the diamond in it. Thanks for the help.

……

Sorry I missed the part of the email that said they are severe. I will email them today. Thanks!

……

I went with the radiant you recommended. Thanks so much!