JamesAllenRings

Hi blizzle,

My name is Shelly and I work at James Allen, an online engagement ring jeweler. Your question is a great one and very common.

As a company, we personally believe that if you are going to purchase an engagement ring, you should stay within whatever is a reasonable budget for you. You should not feel pressured into spending more than what is comfortable for you– an engagement ring is supposed to reflect the celebration and love between you and your partner.

Having said that, we definitely understand that lots of people appreciate a general context.

It’s great that you’re asking about a 1 carat, because that gives us a good starting point of reference. As far as color and clarity go, a popular choice is H color and VS2 clarity.

I went ahead and did a quick search on our site, you can have a look at the results [link=(here)]https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut/?CaratFrom=0.99&CaratTo=1.00&Color=H&Clarity=VS2&Cut=Ideal,Excellent,TrueHearts&PriceFrom=&PriceTo=&Sort=Carat,%20DefaultOrder&ViewsOptions=Images[/link].

One tip to keep in mind: consider going slightly under the carat size you originally planned. If you’re considering 1-carat diamond, think about instead getting a .97-carat diamond. It will look virtually the same and save you money.

Hope that helps and happy hunting!