Love & Co - Design should be nice, as Love & Co and SK Jewellery belongs to the same company. According to SK salesperson, their bands and ring settings are made in Italy. I took a look at SK's design recently and their ring settings are indeed nice and gives a more contemporary feel. I believe Love & Co should be the same. As far as I know, Love & Co's bands and ring settings are made in Italy as well. Price wise, I am not sure about Love & Co, but for SK, if not mistaken, half a carat with setting should be around 13K, for their True Love. Most of the diamonds of True Love are graded by IGI. Their diamonds are shiny, but they are not really perfect Hearts & Arrows. At least not the sample I saw. But to be fair, other diamond shops may also claim to have diamonds with perfect Hearts & Arrows, but unless they can prove it, I will still take that as a marketing gimmick.

DeGem - Their signature is Lazare diamonds. The salesperson was good enough to show me the difference between a Lazare and a normal GIA diamond that is available in his shop. Price wise is around 13K+ for a 0.42ct, F color, VS1 clarity, Ideal Cut. Lazare is a branded diamond from overseas, hence there is a premium. But truth to be told, although the proportion of how the diamond is cut can be quite strict, it doesn't really guarantee it has an excellent cut, unless proven. To be fair, buying a Lazare can be safer than buying a random diamond because of their stricter process in diamond selection, but if a GIA graded diamond is cut with excellent proportion, they can too shine as nice as Lazare, less the premium. Oh, btw, Lazare diamonds are graded by themselves, not an independent lab.

Diamond and Platinum - Nope, didn't went into that shop to enquire.

So for your question... design wise, I will go for Love & Co. It should be more modern. Brand wise, I will go for Lazare, but should be more expensive.

And if you are clueless about what your girl likes, go for Tiffany & Co. or Cartier. Just top-up budget only bro!

But if you are adventurous, can go and look for diamonds online also. Overall, my personal experience is it is overall cheaper, but you will have to do more work yourself. Do check it out on my blog: http://myengagementringexperience.blogspot.my/

Ya, definitely looks nice. I guess I love the ring setting more though. It's a pity SK does not do setting for loose diamond.

Anyway, their Group CEO explained here:



Besides that, Poh Kong also has their own non-standard cut, the Hemera diamond, with 101 facets.

And Jann Paul got their 88 facets, 8 hearts 8 arrows, octagon shape (8 sides) diamond... so 'huat'... check it out here. I think they are called D'Amor series.

Personally, I will stick to the traditional 57 facets diamond, 58 facets (if include the culet, according to Wikipedia). This is because those materials that I can study online mainly focused on this cut and it is easier for me to shop around. Besides, I am a traditional guy.

This post has been edited by kambingkoh: Aug 25 2016, 09:52 AM

I asked one of the salesperson in a jeweller store before, he mentioned that the extra facets will produce more white light, meaning it sparkles more, but does not mean it will produce the necessary dispersion/fire/rainbow effect.

I also went to ask uncle google earlier, and found out that extra facets will indeed produce more scintillation (white sparkles), but at the cost of reducing the diamond's dispersion (fire/rainbow effect), as well as the diamond's brilliance (total light return). Refer here.

So if you go and take a look at Hemera 101 facets diamonds at Poh Kong, try to move the diamond around, it will sparkle like crazy, but you will notice that it will have lesser rainbow, if compared to a traditional 57-facets. But of course to be fair, if you get a poorly cut 57-facets, then it won't produce anything nice also, and on the contrary, if you get a really good Hemera 101 facets, it may produce fire as well. However, if you compare to a 101 facets diamond to a 57 facets diamond that are cut ideally, then 101 facets will show more scintillation and 57 facets will show more fire, and probably brilliance.

So I will summarize like this:

101 Facets/More Facets
Scintillation - Very Excellent
Dispersion - Good
Brilliance - Good

57 Facets
Scintillation - Excellent
Dispersion - Excellent
Brilliance - Excellent

But ultimately, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. If the buyer feels that Hemera attracts him/her more, by all means just buy Hemera. And if the buyer feels that the traditional 57-facets him/her more, then just buy the standard traditional facets.

Personally, my first choice will still be buying the 57-facets, because:

1. It has long proven proportions for optimum scintillation, dispersion, and fire.
2. There are really a lot of choices to choose from. Most diamonds are 57-facets.

Just my 2 cents.

This post has been edited by kambingkoh: Aug 25 2016, 11:07 PM

Haha. Ya, "sounded" only. I just read what I can from the internet.

Thanks for the intro!

another branded diamond. Jann Paul is one of the retailers. It seems to have good review! Not sure about the price though.

Hmm, compared to SK's 10 hearts 10 arrows, which has 81 facets, Solasfera has 91 facets. I wonder how will SK's one stand against Solasfera. Any ideas?

Haha, those who need can PM and research a bit. I don't need dy. No money liao.

Here is my comment:

lol. why takes a lot of courage? usually you don't need to ask anything. just need to tell them your budget. hahaha... anyway, do read up the basics such as the 4Cs:

Go to Audrey's to do some price survey.
Learn about diamonds:
Prosumer Diamonds
Beyond4cs
Niceice

secondly, don't rush into buying anything. please don't feel that you are obliged to buy from the salesperson even if he/she is very nice to you, think it through.

thirdly, do share with us the diamond details you are looking at.

Here is my answer for your questions:
1. If not mistaken, proposal ring is the same as engagement ring. This is the ring you used during proposal, when you kneel down and pop the question. The ring that you exchange during wedding ceremony is wedding band, which is another different ring. There is actually one more ring before engagement ring, which is called promise ring, but seldom hear people talk about it these days. As far as I am concerned, I have only one engagement ring and one wedding band for my wife.

2. Most jewellers will give you free resize for 1 time. Just ask and see what they tell you.

3. In Malaysia, you can try iDo Jewellery or Tailored Jewel.

4. Love & Co price is negotiable. It is still a typical jewellery store. Its sister company is actually SK Jewellery from Singapore. You let us know the specs and price, and I am sure some of us will give you our opinions.

Good luck in your diamond hunting!

This post has been edited by kambingkoh: Nov 29 2016, 07:41 PM

Of course you will be getting the engagement ring first!

It is not about carat, it is your sincerity that counts, hahaha.... Anyway, you should be able to get at least a 0.3ct, which actually is not that small. With your budget, you can consider the following:

1. Tailored Jewel is running promotion: https://www.facebook.com/tailoredjewel/phot...?type=3&theater (Money-back if unsatisfy!)
2. ZCOVA is running promotion: https://www.facebook.com/zcovajewels/photos...?type=3&theater

However, since you mentioned that your girlfriend likes Love & Co. You should pay them a visit. My friend managed to get his engagement ring below RM 5K. Not sure about the specs though. One thing good about Love & Co is that their ring setting is very nice (based on my experience with SK Jewellery).

And yes, wedding band in general is cheaper than the engagement ring.

The price is definitely marked-up due to rental, salary, and commission. Comparing to Tailored Jewel, Tailored Jewel is selling 0.25ct E VS2 + 18K white gold setting @ RM 3,300. Higher colour but cheaper price (Not sure comes with GIA cert or not though because the size is below 0.3ct, if you are interested, you can check with Tailored Jewel.) Alternatively, if you are focusing on ring design, you can look for iDo Jewellery at Bukit Jalil (Contact her via Facebook for appointment.)

For that diamond offered to you at Love & Co, which laboratory graded the diamond? Is it IGI? Or some other lab?

I think the main benefit of Love & Co is the ring design. They really look nice. Do they do resize? Or do they exchange with another setting if ring size not correct?

Free resize hmm? Are their ring settings made in belgium? Or locally?

That's a pretty bad experience especially when we need more money to settle other stuff for wedding! Since you paid in full, I guess you should entitle a better discount for the ring because sales price for installment should usually be higher, and probably there's why there is a 4% "retransaction fee"... a sudden thought. Btw mind sharing the % of discount off the listed price for your ring?

work there?

A 0.3ct probably will be between 5000 to 6000 i think. Why dont you walk-in and ask?

Budget?

Btw, better to ask here instead: https://forum.lowyat.net/topic/3224055

This post has been edited by kambingkoh: Nov 5 2017, 08:18 PM

Unlike most white gold, i believe rose gold do not have any plating, like white gold's rhodium plating. When people see that a white gold "fade", this is possibly because the plating layer has suffered wear and tear, which is normal, so a re-plating is needed at a minimal cost. As for rose gold, since no plating is required (afaik), I believe what the salesperson said ia true. But if you scratch the ring, then some gold will gone, so if scratch too much then maybe it will look faded as well. On the other hand, when you "scratch" platinum, the material just gets transferred from one part of the ring to another part, and won't be gone from the ring, at least this is what I have read before.

They do have some certs from some not-so-famous lab, but they are also relatively cheaper, but there is a possibility that these labs may be not as strict as GIA.

Their current signature LoveMarque diamonds are graded by IIDGR or IGI. I would prefer the IIDGR certs because the diamonds should be newer and with laser inscription on the table of the diamond and with the Hearts & Arrows image on the cert. Personally think that IGI stones are more like their old stocks, but I can't be sure.

If that's the case, then perhaps you try to look elsewhere?

Usually in-house cert means the jeweller grade themselves. GIA is an independent organization and they are the world's diamond foremost authority. To put in simpler, we can just say Wah Chan carries diamonds graded by GIA, and keeps these diamonds in-house.

As for IAG, my personal opinion is that their name and font has some motive of confusing people. Just my 2 cents. Again, sticking to GIA is the better choice if you are comparing AIG.

No problem! Let me know if you have further questions.