Q&A: Oval Diamond — James Allen or Brian Gavin?

I have now spent a number of weeks (turning to months) educating myself on the various elements to be taken into account when purchasing a diamond/engagement ring. After visiting a number of jewelers I didn’t feel I was getting my moneys worth so decided to look online.

I have now read countless reviews of Blue Nile, James Allen (JA) and Brian Gavin(BG) and your site has been by far the most helpful I have come across.

I have now narrowed it down to either JA or BG. Would you have a preference between these two? At the moment I’m swayed towards JA because of the ability to see the actual stones but whilst I have come across some negative reviews of the ring workmanship provided by JA I cannot find a bad word written about BG.

I also have a lingering worry over the quality of the rings provided by these sites. I was hoping you might provide some guidance on the not only the diamond but also the quality of the rings supplied by these sites?

I have also picked a couple of diamonds from the JA site I was hoping you could give me an opinion on (or alternative to) and also one from BG but can I trust to the quality of this without seeing the stone?

https://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/F-SI1-Ideal-Cut-Oval-Diamond-1357239.asp

https://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/G-VS1-Ideal-Cut-Oval-Diamond-1303735.asp

https://www.briangavindiamonds.com/diamonds/diamond-details/1.020-e-si1-oval-diamond-gia-30934741

Thanks in advance for any advice you might have, without a site such as yours I’m not sure i’d have ever gotten the ability to even get this far!

Thanks for the quick feedback, I have read a number of your replies on the site and think it is great that people like myself can get in touch with someone who has so much experience with diamonds. I really appreciate it.

The ring I actually preferred ( linked below) was on the James Allen site so very reassuring to hear that you rate their jewelry department so highly.

https://www.jamesallen.com/design-your-three-stone-ring/ring/item_260-4150.asp

The diamond you suggested looks fantastic but I’ve been given some guidelines from the fiance (I have already proposed with a nice but cheap ring as I wanted to get her opinion before I went about purchasing a diamond ring). She had done some research around diamonds before (as a lot of girls have) and was hoping for something within the D – G range that was between 1 to 1.1ct. Would it be possible to get a recommendation within this range? I have a budget of around €4500 for the diamond.

Sorry for the confusion, $4500 is my budget (excluding tax) added the euro symbol accidentally! I am over in Ireland (I know you have visited before from the image on your profile 🙂 Hope you enjoyed it over here).

It is a lovely stone but I would be slightly concerned about the brown coloration visible in the middle top area.

I would preferably like to stay within the D – G color range, would it be possible to get a recommendation within this color range?

Thought this sounded nice based on the image and GIA report. What do you think?

https://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/G-VS2-Ideal-Cut-Oval-Diamond-1501128.asp

…….

Or maybe this although slightly smaller?

https://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/G-VS1-Very-Good-Cut-Oval-Diamond-1373536.asp

Thanks

Thanks for the advice, only real concern was the brown tint.

Thanks again