💍 choosing my own engagement ring

As someone who recently got engaged, I thought I’d share my ring hunting process and why I decided to choose my own engagement ring.

One of the biggest reason was that I knew I did not want a diamond ring. Don’t get me wrong, diamonds are nice and I love them as tennis bracelets but personally I just did not want them as the centre stone of my engagement ring. Obviously, saying that I did not want a diamond ring would be too vague for my bf to pick out an engagement ring for me 🤣

1. Color

This was a no brainer for me. I always loved pink growing up and since I’m quite fair naturally, it was a color that complemented my skin tone. It was only at the first jeweler we went to that I realized not all shades of pink looks good on me 🙃 gemstones like pink morganite were paler in nature and it kinda blends into my skin so it wasn’t as nice imo!

After visiting a few more jewelers, I realized vivid pink looks best on me and it typically only exists in sapphires and spinels.

2. Cut

Tbh, I wasn’t really that particular about the cut of the gemstone. I knew I didn’t want certain cut like heart, pear but I was okay with emerald, round etc. My bf, on the other hand was pretty insistent that it has to be round as it is more auspicious in the Chinese culture.

3. Size

Before looking for my own ring, I’ve always heard people talking about the ✨1 carat diamond ring✨. In the world of gemstones, carat refers to the total weight, not size. Of course, a heavier weight usually corresponds to a larger stone.

Tbh, I was more concerned about the width of the stone as I have chubby fingers and I wanted the ring to be of a certain size on my finger. After trying many rings, the range I was comfortable with was anything between 6-6.8mm!

4. Visible inclusion

If you’re not familiar with this term, think of it as a visible flaw. Initially, I thought I found the perfect gemstone at the second jeweler we went to but upon closer inspection under direct sunlight, I found a visible inclusion that I could not unsee 😭 call me picky but if I’m buying something to wear for a lifetime, it has to be perfect in my eyes 🥹

5. Heated vs unheated

Generally, unheated gemstones are more valuable as it means that it exists in its natural form without any color or clarity treatment. Surprisingly, only 1% of sapphires are unheated 🤯

Compared to the other criterias I had, I wasn’t that particular about this one.

6. Ring setting

I always knew I wanted a pave setting so this was easy since this setting is pretty classic!

I went into this ring hunting process thinking that it’ll be quite easy to find a gemstone that fits all of these specifications:

- vivid pink

- round

- between 6-6.8mm

- no visible inclusions

- preferably unheated

and boy was I so wrong LOL.

5/7 of the jewelers I visited did not even have a pink & round gemstone 🥲 the only other one that did was the one with the visible inclusion….

And that’s when I found Les Precieux 🫶

To start off, they had a wide range of gemstones to choose from and they are conveniently located at Orchard. Janice was also very patient and friendly during the whole process and never once made me feel pressured to buy anything from her. She made the whole shopping experience very personalized and we even bought our wedding bands there in the end.

Choosing my own engagement ring turned out to be the best decision ever since it doesn’t only have sentimental value but it is a design that I really really love!

#MyLemon8Diary