Diamond Engagement Rings 2012

Diamonds could be a girl’s best friend, but not those are lifeless and dull. It is well known that jewelry could lose its shine when it gets dirty. It could be from natural body oil or it could be from perfumes and lotions that we use.

In fact, different types of jewelry require different types of cleaning methods. You should know what you have before you start cleaning. It is important to be extremely careful with opals and pearls.

- In fact, gold jewelry is very strong, but still it can scratch and thus you have to handle it gently. To clean the gold jewelry just place some tablespoons of ammonia in a cup of warm water and put the jewelry into the water for some minutes. After that, brush the piece of jewelry with a soft toothbrush. And then dry the piece of jewelry with a soft cloth.

- As a rule, gems stones are hard enough to survive most cleaning methods. Turquoise, opal and onyx are the exceptions. Hard gemstones require absolutely the same treatment as precious metals. To clean your gemstones just place them into a solution of warm water and ammonia briefly, brush lightly with a soft brush and after that rinse and dry with a soft cloth.

- Everyone knows that opals and pearls are fragile. And thus they do not have to be soaked in any type of solution. To clean the piece of jewelry with pearls or opals, lay the jewelry out flat on a clean and dry cloth. Add several drops of shampoo to a small bowl of water. After that dip a clean cloth into the solution and wipe off each separate opal or pearl. You have to use a clean cloth with clean water to rinse and wipe the piece of jewelry dry.

Today jewelry comes in a great variety of materials, most of them having a metal base. When caring for the jewelry there are three areas that have to be concerned – the stone setting, any stones that are set as well as the metal. Keep in mind that stones even diamonds could fracture and under a scope show signs of distress. The greatest problem faced by the majority of jewelry owners is the stone setting. In fact, if it comes at all loose the stone could fall out. In the wrong place this could prove to be a costly accident. And thus when considering how to care for your jewelry, you have to consider the seat of the stone first and the rest has to fall into the place.

There are a lot of different tips that could be applied to almost all types of jewelry. In fact, if you manage to understand the main causes of jewelry damage, then you will be able to provide the best care for you jewelry.

- First of all, you should know that chemicals could cause problems with almost all types of jewelry. These chemicals could include such everyday products like kitchen cleaning products, laundry detergents as well as personal care products like cleaning agents and soap. The best care advice for jewelry is to remove or cover the piece to prevent it coming into contact with any chemicals.

- Sea salt could cause problems, but the body salt will create much more problems. In fact, rings are the most vulnerable as the body salts sit under the ring and slowly dissolve the metal. In order to reduce the impact of the body salt, remove rings on a regular basis and wash and carefully dry the skin.

- Keeping you jewelry clean using non-abrasive cleaners and soft polishing clothes will help your jewelry last many years. Keeping it away from circumstances where damage could occur is a great idea.

Wedding bands and also rings symbolize the actual endless loyalty as well as real love between a couple, and also the decision to live their life together within unity.

Use of wedding bands is without question a very common tradition which can be found throughout the vast majority of civilizations, which is believed to date as far back as early Egypt, just where its thought the tradition began. Wedding rings really are a brilliant option to openly exhibit your love as well as devotion for your partner, and also the life long dedication both of you make.

When arranging the wedding, it’s important that both you along with your loved one pick out suitable wedding rings to complement your personal styles, as these will be worn for many years to come. You might even like to match up your wedding band together with your engagement or bridal rings. For adult men, wedding bands are extremely popular, since they are simplistic and go well with nearly all male individualists and styles. Wedding rings can be bought in sets, as his and hers, and usually the men’s wedding band will always be much wider when compared to the female band.

On the other hand, wedding bands can easily be constructed and also obtained from several precious metals, not just yellow gold. As an example, many jewellery shops can provide wedding bands containing titanium, sterling silver, as well as platinum. These may in addition include things like attractive designs and patterns if you want to help make them a lot more individual and also unique, and can even be personalized by having a special message for you as well as your significant other. Many fashionable wedding bands have diamonds and gemstone’s, possibly on outside as well as inside of the jewelry.

There can be several designs of wedding rings as well. A typical wedding band is known for a smooth surface finish, whereas all of these may well be obtainable with grooves, 2 bands of white and yellow-colored gold, and also a mix of valuable metals.

When shopping for your wedding rings, there will be a number of points you should look at to ensure you decide on the appropriate one:

1. Precisely what metal do you want
The selection of metal for the ladies wedding band is typically matched along with that of their bridal ring. Yellow-colored gold is considered the most popular and also classic option, nevertheless you can also decide on white-colored gold, platinum and titanium, or a mix of two or more metals according to the ring style.

2. The shape of the wedding band
If your engagement ring is known as a classic straight edged band, any wedding ring shape will probably fit perfectly next to it. However, if you’re activation ring boasts gem stones or diamonds, a snug fit may not be achievable. Most jewelers may however, have the capacity to offer you a curved or tailored ring intended to help make the two rings be positioned together with each other.

3. The style of the wedding ring
The side profile of a wedding band is usually flat, rounded, or alternatively high domed. The design and style of your band is down to individual choice, though the round edged wedding ring design and style is far more conventional.

4. Diamonds and gem stones
Diamond set wedding bands can be very popular, and you’re able to select wedding rings along with inset diamonds that look breathtaking. You can even discuss personalized variations with your jeweler to make a wedding ring that’s unique to you.

If you want to have a diamond on your wedding band, but you are a lot more conservative, you could choose to gemstone within the wedding ring, that only the two of you will notice, along with a personalized message.

Larger diamonds are rarer than smaller diamonds as large raw diamonds are less frequently found during mining while very small diamonds are relatively commonplace. As the carat weight of a diamond increases, so does its rarity and its value, thus prices will be exponentially higher as the carat weight rises.

A 1.00 carat diamond will be more than twice the price and value than that of a 0.50 carat diamond. The diamond weight will, broadly speaking, determine also the size of the stone, however a slightly deeper or more shallow cut may result in very slight variations in the size of the “face” of the diamond.

More inexpensive options to choose when looking to buy a diamond at a cheap price for the same size is to choose a carat weight that is considered an “under-size”. For example, a 0.99 ct diamond will sell at wholesale at a discount price compared to a full 1 ct diamond, making them more affordable at retail.

Needless to say, that in mountings (solitaire engagement rings, earrings, eternity wedding rings, bracelets), the difference cannot be detected. It is worth spending some time to search these affordable options online and see who is selling under-sizes. Please feel free to contact us about such diamonds as we regularly have them in our inventory.

Below is a chart displaying popular carat weights and their ideal average size in mm for round brilliant and princess cut diamonds:

Carat weight conversion to mm size chart: Round Brilliant Cut Diamond

Carat weight	1/2 ct	3/4 ct	7/8 ct	1 ct	1 1/4 ct	1 1/2 ct	1 3/4 ct	2 ct	3 ct
mm size	5.1 mm	5.9 mm	6.1 mm	6.5 mm	7.0 mm	7.4 mm	7.9 mm	8.1 mm	9.3 mm
Image

Carat weight conversion to mm size chart: Square Princess Cut Diamond

Carat weight	1/2 ct	3/4 ct	7/8 ct	1 ct	1 1/4 ct	1 1/2 ct	1 3/4 ct	2 ct	3 ct
mm size	4.5 mm	5.0 mm	5.4 mm	5.7 mm	6.1 mm	6.4 mm	6.8 mm	7.0 mm	9.3 mm
Image

• Carat weight is weight and not size. 1 carat (or ct) conversion is 1/20 gram
• Simulated diamonds will have not have the same weight conversion

View The Diamond Rings Gallery

Here are a few important guidelines that you should follow to make an online shopping experience safer:

• Contact details
• Memberships
• Testimonials
• Reviews
• Reliability
• Security (SSL)
• Shipping methods
• Return policies

Contact details
Look at the contact details for a permanent address and telephone numbers. If you need extra reassurance, you can check them more thoroughly.

Memberships
Organizations that a diamond jewelry vendor should be a part of:

• The Kimberley Process
“The Kimberley Process (KP) is a joint governments, industry and civil society initiative to stem the flow of conflict diamonds – rough diamonds used by rebel movements to finance wars against legitimate governments.” Kimberley process

• Diamond Exchange
“The Israel Diamond Exchange plays a central role in the diamond industry, operating within the framework of the Israeli Diamond Industry for the benefit of its members. The Diamond Exchange sets policy with regard to trade rules and etiquette and befitting conduct of its members; one of its central functions is operating the legal institution which constitutes an integral and essential part in the commercial life of the members, acting for their benefit.“ Diamond Exchange

Testimonials
Look up for the testimonial page and signs they are real. The best ones would be when will see personal details, such as full name, photo, email, telephone etc.

Reviews
Google it! Look for the site’s profile on sites such as: Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn to get an overall view on the company’s background and activity.
See if you can find customer reviews, especially non positive reviews which you can learn a lot from; in some cases you would want to stay away but sometimes there are problems that get solved, meaning that the vendor is making an effort to insure his client’s satisfaction (things happen – we are all human).
For me, it means first and for all that this vendor exists and that he delivers! Nonetheless, the majority of the comments should obviously be positive.

Reliability
Look for one of these icons to make sure the site is reliable, for example: TRUSTe, Verisign or BBBonline.
“As the leading internet privacy services provider, TRUSTe helps thousands of businesses promote online safety and trust, and guides consumers to sites that protect their online privacy. TRUSTe helps both consumers click with confidence and online companies promote their Web site privacy policies online. Thousands of Web sites rely on TRUSTe’s privacy, including top-fifty sites like Yahoo, Facebook, MSN, eBay, AOL, Disney, New York Times, Comcast and Apple.”
(From the TRUSTe website)

Here is an example for site verification by TRUSTe: ShireeOdiz.com site verification

Security
SSL security – To keep your personal details safe, the connection to the server should be encrypted. For example: Shireeodiz.com Site secure (Hosted on Godaddy.com)
Make certain the web address starts with “https” when you get to the checkout page; it means that the site is secure.
Look for the padlock icon in the address bar by the “https” or at the bottom of the browser.
Besides a secure connection which makes the purchase through a website store safe, there are other ways for a safe purchase, for example: Google checkout, Amazon or Paypal.
In case you decide to use the website’s store to purchase – use a credit card (not debit). It gives you a better leverage and has a lower liability.

Shipping methods
Check out the company’s shipping methods and what are the costs.
Make sure the shipments are handled by a well known shipping company such as: UPS, Fedex or DHL. Like that, your order can always be tracked (using the tracking number).

If you are worried, pay via PayPal!

If an online seller is using PayPal they are most probably a legit seller.

Here are a few online sellers/brands: that I know of:   Tiffany, Zales, Kay Jewelers, Harry Winston, Debeers, Helzberg, Jared, James Allen, Blue Nile, Shiree Odiz, Tacori …