When choosing the right engagement ring for your partner, familiarising yourself with a few essential factors will aid you in making the best decision. An engagement ring is a once-in-a-lifetime purchase, and like any other significant purchase, you want to be well-informed so that you can make the best choice. Here is the ultimate guide to choosing a lab grown engagement ring.
Gemstone choice:
Lab grown gems have been increasing in popularity in recent years with more consumers becoming aware of their products sourcing and carbon footprint. The first point of call when choosing an engagement ring should be the gemstone choice.
Moissanite
One of the most popular gemstones at Lily Arkwright is moissanite, which is a precious gemstone composed of silicon carbide and is in fact rarer than diamonds. This is an amazing alternative to the traditional naturally mined diamond engagement rings. It is a wonderful white stone option in its own right, possessing unique visual and physical properties that are full of brilliance, fire and scintillation. Mossanite costs up to 90% less than a mined diamond ring and is far more sustainable due to the lab growing process eliminating all harmful mining activities.
Lab diamonds
Lab diamonds have been rapidly rising to fame in recent years with multiple high profile fans, with endorsements from royals such as Megahan Markle and celebrities such as Emma Watson. Lab diamonds are grown by using two complex processes, one called CVD (chemical vapour deposition) and the other High-pressure-high-temperature(HPHT), both of which are popularly used throughout the lab-grown diamond world and the results are virtually the same. Lab diamonds are exactly the same as mined diamonds, they share the exact same chemical composition and they look the exact same but are generally 30% cheaper than their mined diamond equivalents.
Lab grown coloured gemstones
Did you know coloured gemstones can also be grown in a laboratory? Although diamonds are viewed as the traditional engagement ring centre stone, adding a pop of colour means bringing a sense of confidence to your ring style. Lily Arkwright are proud partners with Chatham gems and offer a range of lab grown coloured gemstones including: rubies, emeralds, alexandrites, aquamarines, pink, blue, yellow, and padparadscha sapphires.
Choosing the right setting
Picking the right setting for your engagement ring is a great place to start on your journey to choosing the perfect ring. Lily Arkwright offers an array of various settings for you to choose from and cherish forever! If you are perplexed and overwhelmed by all the options on hand, a simple solitaire setting is the ultimate timeless classic and has been the most popular engagement ring style for decades. If you have something truly unique in mind and can’t quite find the right ring for you, opting for a bespoke ring is always an amazing choice.
Find their ring size
We understand that finding out your partner’s ring size can be very difficult if the proposal is a surprise but finding the right ring size is a key step in finding the right ring for them. A great strategy is to borrow one of your partner’s rings for a day. However, you do need to proceed with caution on this tactic as the ring must be similar in size to your partner’s left ring finger or ideally a ring she wears on that finger!
Metal choice
Choosing the right metal that compliments your partner’s skin tone and reflects their personal style. Lily Arkwright offers a range of precious metal options, from flirtatious rose gold, to traditional platinum and classic yellow and white gold.
The four C’s of lab diamonds and moissanite
Moissanite and lab diamonds use the same grading system as mined diamonds, using the 4C’s; cut, colour, clarity and carat.
Cut
The cut is measured on a scale from Excellent to Poor, and is determined by how well the stone’s facets are proportioned to maximise sparkle. When referring to the cut, it is not the overall shape but rather the optimal set of ratios for that particular stone shape as this will affect how the light reflects internally.
Colour
The colour scale of lab diamonds and moissanite ranges from shades of truly colourless, which is very rare, to warmer whites and yellow colour hints. Colour is graded on a scale of letters, with D being excellent and ending at Z being a tinged yellow. At Lily Arkwright all their white stones come in two colour grades, D-F which is classified as a colourless stone.
Clarity
As diamonds and moissanite are created by extreme heat and pressure, traces of minerals or uncrystallised compounds can occur within stones, which are called inclusions. Clarity is graded by the number of imperfections and inclusions that are within a stone that may affect its optical performance. The clarity is graded from FL (internally and externally flawless) to I (included) which signals multiple inclusions internally and externally.
Carat
Carat weight could be considered one of the most important factors when choosing a diamond or moissanite as this determines the size of your stone. Choosing the right stone size for your budget and desired look can be a difficult task but Lily Arkwright has a range of options on hand to help guide you, such as expert jewellery consultants on hand to help and virtual try on hand features to guide you through the process of picking the right size stone.
