Guide to Buying Engagement rings in 2018

Deciding to propose to someone is a big deal and getting the right ring is a bigger one! Picking the right ring for the right person is really difficult when you don’t know much about engagement rings so here is a quick rundown of what you’ll need to know. The four C’s are usually what is brought up as the thing to look at when choosing a ring. The four C’s are cut, colour, clarity and carat.

Cut

The cut is mainly to do with the shape of the diamond. The most popular cut is a round cut however you could also get an emerald, pear, marquise, princess, oval or heart shape cut.  All good jewellers should be able to show you all the various cuts and explain the pros and cons of each cut. The cut will also affect how the diamond sparkles as to cut a diamond means you are removing planes from its surface. All the planes are angled and sized differently which allows them to reflect light and sparkle.

The most popular cut is a round cut however you could also get an emerald, pear, marquise, princess, oval or heart shape cut.

Colour

Most people go for a white diamond, which is actually colourless. White diamonds are the go-to choice but make sure you get a diamond, which is categorized as “D”. This means the diamond is perfectly colourless. If you’re looking for a diamond with a bit of colour also known as “fancies” you may want to look into other gemstones as fancies are very rare!

White diamonds are the go-to choice but make sure you get a diamond, which is categorized as “

Clarity

Jewellers have a scale for clarity, going from IF (Internally flawless) to I3 (Imperfect 3). The clarity of a diamond can be seen by the naked eye and will only be seen through a jeweller’s loupe. If you’re using the loupe, you will be able to see small cloud-like shapes. The clarity will affect its sparkle but as long as your diamond is graded SI1 (Slightly Included 1) it will look great.

Carat

This is the most expensive part! Carat is the weight and size of the diamond. Not to be confused with karat, which is the purity of gold, when looking at engagement rings most people, will go for between one and half a carat.

If you want to learn more about engagement rings, check out the helpful infographic below.  Once you’ve decided what ring you’d like to get, go down to a Hatton garden jewellers to see the rings in real life.