Quick and Easy Buying Guide
Carat weight: 1 carat = 200 milligrams = 6.5 mm diameter. Doubling weight doesn't double diameter.
Diamond clarity: FL/IF/VVS/VS = super expensive, near perfect. SI = best value if you can check a photo for obvious inclusions (defects).
Color: D-G = colorless, expensive, only if you have money to burn. H-J = best value. Can go lower in gold metal settings than white metal.
Cut: Better cut ratings let more light into a diamond, making it sparkle more. Very important property, don't skimp here.
Set a budget and minimum cut (Premium). Go J color for gold and I/H for white metals. Go searching for SI1/SI2 clarity diamonds at James Allen. Pick a diamond with small/no inclusions. Choose a ring setting and buy it risk-free (60-day returns).
Rose Gold Engagement Rings
Getting away from the white and yellow gold possibilities for ring metals, you may come across what’s called “rose gold”. Rose gold has a pinkish tint which makes it stand out against the conventional white and yellow gold and platinum options.
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So why does rose gold look pink? Well it’s because of how the gold is combined with other metal alloys… The magical alloy in this case is copper, which has a natural reddish brown color – you have surely seen copper pots or copper water tubing at some stage and noted its color. Rose gold is created by upping the percentage of copper relative to normal. Because a jeweler can add any amount of copper, rose gold actually describes a wide range of hues of pinky-red gold.
There is a trade-off between the color of a rose gold ring and its carat rating. A higher carat gold ring will have a higher percentage of pure gold in it, leaving less room for the copper alloy. This means higher carat rose gold rings will generally be less pinkish than lower carat rose gold rings.
Rose gold in theory should be cheaper than normal white or yellow gold rings, because the main alloy copper is cheaper than other alloys such as silver. This is balanced by rose gold rings being much more in a minority than white and yellow gold rings, which pushes their price back up.
Like palladium rings, your choice isn’t all or nothing – you can have a ring which has some or a lot of rose gold, in combination with other metals. If you want the diamond to color match the rose gold, you might go with pink diamonds rather than traditional white diamonds.
Because copper makes up a significant component of the ring’s metal, you’ll need to make sure the wearer isn’t allergic to it.