Best Diamond Studs - $4k Budget

[pimp4cheddar]

Hi All -

I've decided to purchase my wife a set of Diamond Studs. I've been on this forums for years and anytime I need advice - I come on and search but this time I'm very torn.

I'm looking to keep my budget at $4,000 (maybe $4,500). I'd like to buy 4prong Diamond Stud earrings but I want them to really have a wow factor to them.


I've been on James Allen, HPD, WF and all the sites and it's become selection overload! At this point - I'm just stuck.


I've been looking at loose diamonds for over a month debating on colorless vs size vs cut vs clarity as the focal point. I really need some help.


Ideally I'd like to be around 0.6cw - 0.7cw on each ear but I need the experts to guide me back on track...any specific place I should be looking? Is cut really the driving factor for earrings?


Thank you all!!!!

 

[La2020]

That is so sweet of you!

You can use https://www.pricescope.com/diamonds/search as a starting point to have an idea whether your budget is realistic.

The cutting for earrings is very subjective; some don't mind to compromise on the cutting, to make up for the size. While others want the best in everything. It really depends on what your wife really wants.

 

[missy]

Alternatively you can reach out to the specific vendors with your max budget and requirements and they can hand pick the diamonds for you. I would trust WF and HPD to do this for you no problem. Among other PS vendors.

And IMO, yes, cut is king even for earrings. You might be able to sacrifice VS clarity or even color but cut is king and shouldn't be sacrificed if you want the most bang for your buck. IMO.

 

[Snowdrop13]

Diamond pair details | Complete characteristics for chosen diamond pair

The most carefully chosen diamond pair. Every diamond is unique, but we choose the most similar diamond pair

www.whiteflash.com

plus the 14k white gold 4 prong settings

 

[kgizo]

I like your username. If your wife isn’t color sensitive you could go down to J in color and WF has 3 pairs of ES (savings over ACA and eligible for upgrade policy) that are in size requirements, VS2 and around $3,400 which leaves plenty of $ for the settings you want. I have J ES earrings from WF and they sparkle like crazy.

 

[AllAboardTheBlingTrain]

I would also call up IDJ as they are great at maximising budgets, it might not be a super ideal but you’ll still be able to get a great cut and it won’t be distinguishable on the ear at a distance. Also, I personally think that a spreadier, brighter stone looks better for earrings, but that’s super personal and not everyone agrees with me on this one! To me, as long as the stones have complementary angles, and both stones are matching “flavour”, then I’d rather maximise spread over anything else.

You can also check JA or BN for stones, ideally it’s best to try and create pairs yourself instead of going with their preselected pairs so you get better stones. There are certain proportions you can try to stick to for the best cuts (You can get that info from this post by Garry Holloway). Garry doesn’t go into depth but I would say to stick to the 60-62ish range for depth since you don’t want something too deep or too shallow (can go up or down 0.3ish from the aforementioned range). Since you are looking for RBCs you can run the HCA that is available here on PS. I would run the GIA number of any stone you’re interested in through the PS search engine first as if they have it in their virtual database you will be able to see the HCA score without using up your 3 free results. Or you can buy more HCA tests. You can also use the cut estimator tool on diamondscreener to get some additional verification. Also, while matching stones, you want to make sure that the table sizes and pavillion angles are the same or extremely close (especially the pavillion angle), and the dimensions in mm are similar. A tolerance of around 0.1-0.15mm is usually not discernible to the naked eye once worn in the ears.

Personally for earrings I think clarity is unimportant, VS2 or SI1 is my sweet spot (though id go a bit lower or higher) especially at 1.2-1.4ctw (ctw means ct weight of the pair, so both ears added together). Just make sure that the stones are eyeclean (the rep wherever you’re buying should be able to confirm this for you) and, especially if it’s a lower clarity in the SI range, clouds are not the main grade setting inclusion (not first on the legend list and/or there’s no comment that says: clarity grade based on clouds not shown). For colour, depends on how colour sensitive the wearer is. Personally, I am not colour sensitive so my sweet spot is H or I, but I’d be happy to go to J especially at that size and in the ear. I think H would face up pretty white to most people, so it should be “safe”.

Finally, I’ve assumed your wife will not want to upgrade (at least not by trading in these stones). If she will/might want to upgrade, then I would confirm that the trade in policy is palatable for you wherever you buy from. A big value add in buying from a super-ideal vendor like WF is the upgrade policy, but if you are sure you won’t upgrade, it’s useless for you. If there’s a question of upgrading, then I would get a pair from either the ES or PS lines at WF (and confirm they are eligible for upgrade before buying).