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Hello
I live in the UK and have been looking for a ring on Blue Nile. I have read a lot of your website and I am pretty sure I know what I want, but I need your help on the diamond. There are about eight in my price range, but I know it is not as simple as going for the most expensive.
I was planning on going for this setting Petite Cathedral Pavé Diamond Engagement Ring. I think the side profile is better and won’t make the diamond look too high.
In terms of the diamond, I am looking for a 1.7 carat, round, I/H, SI1 or better and ideal cut. My overall budget is ￡12,000.
Please let me know if it is easiest if I send you the links to the diamonds.
The setting you picked is beautiful, I like it a lot.
Here’s a beautiful diamond you can pair it with:
Blue Nile LD12768512
It’s gorgeously cut, eye-clean and will have a lot of brilliance.
I was probably not clear, my 12k budget includes the setting. So the diamond would ideally be a max of £10,700.
Aha, thank you for the clarification.
This was the largest recommendable option I found for up to 10k:
Blue Nile LD12814138
It has fantastic specs and it’s completely eye-clean in spite of its lower clarity grade.
Thanks for sending this through, look a nice diamond.
Sorry to be a pain but can you look at the ones below, I would quite like the diamond a little larger, although you will probably tell me you can’t really notice the difference at this scale. My upper budget on the diamond itself is £10,700 and I am happy to spend all the budget.
No worries, I’m happy to be the second pair of eyes for you.
Blue Nile LD12122380
Theoretically, there’s nothing wrong with this diamond, but its cut is rather mediocre. The depth % of 62.7 is on the upper edge of what we recommend and if you want to maximize brilliance, it’s better to pick something with depth % closer to 61. Also, if you check the real measurements, you can see that the difference in size between this 1.70ct and my previous 1.55ct recommendation is really negligible (~0.14mm).
Blue Nile LD12920132
Very strong fluorescence is a big problem on an I-color diamond. It would make it look dull and hazy.
Blue Nile LD10038126
This one is very poorly cut. The table % 61 is too high and would cause much worse light refraction. Ideally, you should keep it between 55-58 for optimal brilliance.
Blue Nile LD12260840
This one is ok. Not terrible, not great. And again, it’s not that much larger than my recommendation (check out the real dimensions).
That is very helpful, and discounts all of those.
I am leaning towards your suggestion but before I finally pluck up the carriage to buy, given I have a bit more budget that I don’t mind spending, are there any other options that you could suggest, assuming there is another suitable option in my criteria, that would be worth the extra cost?
Here’s what I found:
They are nice diamonds, but to be perfectly honest, I still consider the 1.55ct option the best value. You’d have to spend way over 12k for a significantly larger diamond and the 1.55ct is the best option I found not only in the 1.5ct range, but also in the 1.6-7ct category.
Wonderful, thank you for all your help.
I will go with the original 1.55ct suggestion.
That’s great news!
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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