WHIMSY

Imagine it: You’re with your boyfriend on a romantic dinner date. Everything’s perfect—the mood lighting, the soft music, the food, the wine. You look into his eyes and you can just tell he loves you with all his heart, and you feel the same way about him. He’s usually so comfortable around you, but tonight he’s fidgety and seems nervous. The reality hits you when he kneels down in front of you with a small box. The whole world seems to stop as he slowly opens it…

But what does the ring look like? Is it antique or modern? Yellow gold, white gold or platinum? Is the diamond a princess cut? Round brilliant? Then there are the characteristics you can’t easily see….is it colorless or nearly colorless? Slightly included or very slightly included? Maybe very very slightly included?!

There are a lot of options to take into consideration when choosing the engagement ring that’s right for you, so imagine how overwhelmed your boyfriend must feel! You don’t want to pressure him, but you feel that things are getting serious, and you think he might need a little extra confidence to finally pop the question.

Abazias will give him that confidence, and a way for you to do your research and drop subtle hints! The homepage of the site has a diamond search feature with cut options and four different sliders for price, carat, color and clarity, so you can search for a specific diamond in a specific price range. Then you can “build” a ring with your chosen diamond (out of over 150,000 loose diamonds available!) and a whole slew of settings. The site will even save your ring, so next time you visit it, you don’t have to search all over again! And, of course, they have full descriptions of the different characteristics of diamonds (the 4 C’s), plus frequently asked questions and diamond “lessons” so you can feel good about your informed final decision.

This is seriously handy, ladies. Even if you’re not in a huge hurry to get engaged, this site is ultra addicting. And the idea of strategically leaving your ideal ring up on the computer screen for your boyfriend to see could possibly work. Or at least plant the idea in his head for the future!

With the help of the experts at Abazias, you can take comfort in knowing that your engagement will be truly magical and memorable—and a little less stressful for him!

Photo from Abazias.com

-Keri

When I first encountered chocolate diamonds (a much more appealing name than “brown” diamonds, as they’ve been known for years), I wasn’t sure how I felt about them. They seemed dirty and of poor quality, but they’ve grown on me.

I especially love Le Vian’s Chocolatier line with light blue gemstones surrounded by chocolate and white diamonds. Delicious!

They have an exquisite diamond kaleidoscope pendant that reminds me of Tiffany’s kaleidoscope key pendant.

Le Vian pairs chocolate diamonds with white gold, yellow gold and rose gold, and I like them set in rose gold the best. Something about the unusual color combination just looks so striking!

Apparently, I’m not the only one who likes chocolate diamonds—celebrities from all over have been photographed in Le Vian pieces. Isla Fisher, from Wedding Crashers and Confessions of a Shopaholic, wore a chocolate diamond ring and bracelet to the Golden Globes, and Amber Heard, of Alpha Dog and Pineapple Express, wore a chocolate diamond and white gold ring to a movie premiere.

Le Vian even boasts that chocolate diamonds are the next “big thing” in jewelry fashion on its website. Since they are less expensive than white diamonds, they are a fashionable alternative for the woman who wants to add more diamonds to her jewelry box.

As if I didn’t like to eat chocolate enough, now I can wear it—and it’s calorie-free!!

-Keri

Like just about every other female I know, I look at engagement rings—on the internet, in jewelry stores and catalogs, and wherever I happen to see them. It’s not because I’m in any hurry to get engaged or married—I just love to look at big diamonds! I daydream about the day a man will pull out a ring box and propose to me with a huge rock, even though it won’t be for quite a few years, and I highly doubt it’ll be with a huge diamond (though a girl can hope). Those are just the kinds of things a young, unmarried 20-something thinks about from time to time. And when I’m grazing the pages of Modern Bride or jewelry websites for the “perfect ring” (i.e. the ring I would propose to myself with), my eyes are drawn to antique-y settings and cushion cut diamonds.

Cushion cut diamonds are harder to find than the more popular round and princess-cut stones, but they’re gaining in popularity again as antique settings are also becoming more mainstream.

Lussori, one of my favorite places to pretend-engagement-ring shop, has a good selection of cushion cut diamond rings in unique settings that include everything from filigree designs to pave diamonds encrusting the band. Some even have rose gold accents and pink pave diamonds, which I love.

It’s all about the details in an engagement ring, in my opinion. A Lussori platinum designer setting with pave white diamonds and filigree detailing is absolutely gorgeous and extravagant.

The pave pink diamonds and rose gold I mentioned above are a delight in this Lussori platinum GIA-certified diamond ring. Something about that beautiful antique look with such a modern twist—the colored diamonds—is beyond alluring. And no worries about prongs breaking, because the cushion cut center diamond is bezel set.

If your budget doesn’t include a ring upwards of $20,000, King of Jewelry has a cushion cut diamond ring with a center stone just over one carat, framed by moon cut, princess cut and round cut diamonds, making a total weight of 2.54 carats. It clocks in at just under $6,000 and is also available with a larger center diamond—definitely an option that doesn’t seem too far fetched.

Or this KOJ three-stone cushion and princess cut diamond ring is a great option at under $5,000. It’s a lot more of a “classic” engagement ring, but it still incorporates the cushion cut diamond, which is less conventional than a princess cut.

Most of us ladies will never get the chance to wear a diamond engagement ring that costs more than the average four-door sedan, but we can certainly dream (and internet window shop)—something I’m getting quite good at!

-Keri

If you pay attention to what celebrities are wearing on the red carpet, names like Valentino, Diane Von Furstenberg and Dior are just as recognizable to you as Nicole Kidman, Beyoncé and Natalie Portman. But those leading ladies are donning more than just glamorous designer gowns—check out what’s bedazzling their necks or encircling their wrists. Huge, honkin’ diamonds.

Chances are, a 6-carat diamond pendant isn’t in the monthly budget of any non-celeb, but there are designer jewelry lines that deliver the sparkle and the shine without the hefty price tag. (And feel better about your weekly earnings because those celebrities don’t always purchase their jewelry—they borrow pieces for fancy events, too!)

Tiffany & Co., the quintessential jeweler for high-end, fashion-forward pieces, does have quite a few chic styles that won’t make your wallet cry. Their new line of Tiffany “keys” comes in various sizes and designs, and they all look like newly polished vintage keys to some secret garden in Versailles. Prices range from $100-270 for the sterling silver ones, so you can treat yourself without feeling guilty. There are plenty of blinged-out keys, too, if those are a must-have for you.

If you can’t resist diamonds, Hot Diamonds, based out of the U.K., offers award-winning sterling silver and diamond jewelry that’s eye-catching but definitely not overdone. Many of their pieces are reminiscent of Tiffany’s smooth lines and contemporary styles, but they keep their diamonds small and few, which in turn keeps prices more reasonable in most cases. They also have coordinating pieces so you can be “matchy-matchy,” if that’s your style. (I’m currently addicted to the lovebirds collection.)

HD did jump on the charm bracelet bandwagon, which isn’t always a good thing, but they focus on quirky designs (like a pair of scuba flippers with a shark bite out of one called “lucky flipper” or a chicken with its head cut off called “hectic hen” to make the line less fashion-y and more tongue-in-cheek.)

HD is the kind of company whose Web site you’d talk your boyfriend into visiting a week before your birthday because mentioning the word “Tiffany” makes him nervous. And the best part about it is he’ll be adding diamonds to your jewelry box, and he may even be able to take you out to dinner, too.

“I never hated a man enough to give his diamonds back.” – Zsa Zsa Gabor

–Keri