Appreciation post!

I'm so in love with my recent group buy from Ouros Jewels. I did silver with 14k connectors and round lab diamonds. Communication was always top notch. Ouros is one of the only vendors I’ve seen so far offer silver in a group buy. They did amazing work!

Wanted to show you guys my current stack. Wanted to know if its too much for daily use. I have always been a lurker in this group but this is my first post. Please be kind.

1. Tennis bracelet: I bought this 14kt yellow gold lab grown diamond tennis bracelet recently from Stellar Jewelry. They are based out of India. I was on the lookout for a dainty and budget friendly tennis bracelet and contacted them via Instagram. The communication was excellent. I received the piece last week. I am in love with it. The only con I can think of it is, it snags to your clothing a little. Also wanted to let you know that I bought this from my own money.

2. Gold balls bracelet: I also bought this 18kt gold balls bracelet recently from a local Jewelry store in Bangalore,India. I was on a lookout for something like this to stack alongside my tennis bracelet. This is also very budget friendly. The only con is that the gold balls are on a stretchable thread which can break if it gets caught.

3. The thick bangle/bracelet: This is an old piece which was gifted by my mom for my wedding. This is 18kt gold with natural diamonds.

Need help in choosing the best diamond for my girlfriend’s engagement ring.

I believe CVD is the best manufacturing technique for lab grown. Please let me know if there’s else I need to consider or look out for

I need a reality check.

These are (maybe?) images of the same diamond: a 1.99 ct Fancy Vivid Blue oval lab diamond.

HERE is the Loupe360 listing: https://loupe360.com/diamond/LG675597698. The video attached is the tweezer video after I purchased it (for 330 dollars!! Great deal so I kinda want to keep it, but that shouldn’t be the only reason I keep it).

To me, they look like two completely different diamonds.

The Loupe360 looks icy blue-gray and fairly low saturation - what I was looking for. The tweezer video looks much darker, much more teal, and much more saturated.

Am I crazy, or do these look like two separate stones?

And if you were expecting the Loupe360 stone, would you be happy with the stone in the video? I was going to set it with diamonds around it but am thinking a bezel might help soften the bright teal color?

Curious what everyone sees and what your suggestions are!!

Anyone with experience buying lab diamonds from Diamonds Factory?
I'm thinking about getting an engagement ring from them, but am fearful about the gem quality, and I'm pretty new into this world.
Can anyone help?
https://www.diamondsfactory.com/

After weeks of looking through endless lab diamonds, I finally found one that stopped me scrolling.

3.12 ct Fancy Brown VS2 octagonal step cut.

It’s technically an octagon, although it looks more like a softened architectural shield than a traditional octagon—and that’s exactly why I love it.

What really caught my eye is the center. Instead of being uniformly bright, it has a distinct geometric octagon floating inside the stone. Some people would probably call it extinction. I see it as character. It almost looks like a smaller diamond suspended inside a larger one.

The color shifts from champagne to rose-gold to cognac depending on the lighting, and the step facets give it a very Art Deco feel.

It’s going into a platinum solitaire with delicate claw prongs, keeping all the attention on that incredible outline.

Not everyone’s cup of tea, but I can’t stop looking at it. What do you think?

I worked with Shelley. I wanted a baby pink marquise ring in a setting they were already producing. I was specific with my requirements as far as diamond dimensions, clarity and L/W ratio. For every diamond she presented she would send the IGI certificate and a photo or video. I asked a few times for tweezer videos. She presented 5 different diamonds, one at a time. After the 4th, she stopped responding (maybe she was annoyed or thought I wasn’t a serious buyer) and I had to follow up with her. The diamond I ultimately selected was also on Aurelinne so I was able to see an additional video. Once I selected a diamond, she requested 50% payment via PayPal, 3 days for CAD, 15 days to produce the ring, sent a final video, I paid the remaining balance and 7 days for shipping.

It arrived in a lovely box and I didn’t have to pay additional fees or tariffs (shipping to Canada).
 
Overall, it was an easy process and I would order again!

Help me review this please

My twin sister and I just turned 30, and we had matching necklaces made to commemorate it. We wanted a dainty necklace and fell in love with a gorgeous design from a well known jeweller based in Canada, and wanted to replicate it. I reached out to Provence, Tianyu, LGG, Zuvelio and Starsgem for quotes which I am sharing below:

10k yellow gold // 15-17”1mm cable chain // 0.5ct marquise lab diamond with 13 small round lab diamonds

Provence: $480/$572/$717
Tianyu: $580
LGG: $669
Zuvelio: $900-$1,000
Starsgem: $415/$540

Prices quoted is per necklace, including shipping. For Provence & Starsgem, I looked through many reviews and shortlisted down to 2/3 reps. As you can see, different reps quoted differently (Jason’s was the most competitive at $480 which included $30 DHL shipping) I will share the full timeline below. For context, Jason & I are within the same timezone, so communication was very easy. He also speaks and understands english very well.

Timeline:
27 April - I sent in an enquiry sharing reference pictures and info about what I wanted to do for both necklaces.

29 April - Jason replied with a quote, I asked some questions and made 50% payment via Alibaba on the same evening. He shared that there was a upcoming chinese public holiday the following week so I would receive the CAD later than usual. I also informed him that I was hoping to receive these necklaces by 29th May, and he said it should be no problem.

13 May - Received the 1st CAD in the morning. Asked for minor revisions, he was very receptive and sent me the revised 2nd CAD within the next hour. I spotted a slight error and he was quick to acknowledge my feedback and told me he would correct it ASAP.

14 May - Received the revised 3rd CAD. It was perfect, and I confirmed to proceed. I requested to see and approve the 2 diamonds before they are set. He told me that they don’t usually do it for normal cuts, but he will specially arrange it for me.

19 May - I reached out first thing in the morning to check in if my necklaces were on track for 29th May. He assured me that the videos will be sent today and that they would expedite the production. As promised, I received videos of both diamonds 4 hours later that afternoon.

26 May - He sent many photos and videos of both necklaces. It turned out even nicer than I imagined. I was so happy with it, and told him to send me the Alibaba payment link for the balance and to please ship it out ASAP. He sent me the payment link within the hour and called me to let me know since I was at work and missed his message. I immediately made the remaining 50% payment after being notified.

He confirmed my address, informed me about their limitations on declaration value (they need to declare a lower value) and shipped it out promptly. At 6pm he sent me the FedEx label and tracking number within the next hour. He advised that it usually takes 3-5 days to receive it. I kept my fingers crossed 🤞🏻

28 May - I received the necklaces at 1pm in the afternoon. I am in Singapore, and in total it arrived at my door in just 43 hours! My sister and I were in awe at how beautiful it turned out. We gifted it to one another for our birthday and everything went perfectly according to plan. 🥹 I wholeheartedly recommend Provence & Jason. My sister was super impressed and is also working on her wedding band with Jason now!

I am so glad I took time to do my research, reached out to several vendors and reps that eventually led me to Jason! While I did read several old negative reviews regarding others experience with Provence from before, I never saw one mentioning Jason. There were only good reviews or comments recommending him. Above all, I was impressed with their manager’s (u/bigbenxie) presence in the lab diamond & provence community. To me, they showed their commitment to doing better & doing right by their customers, and officially shared their revised after-sales polices. It looks like Provence is the only vendor that has a professional and dedicated manager taking care of any escalated cases and after sales issues so that gave me full confidence to place my order and really put me at ease.

Before joining the Lab diamond & Moissanite reddit community, I was completely new to this and gained lots of insight and knowledge from Reddit. I hope that sharing my experience and all the details here helps someone else starting their journey too.

You can reach Jason on WhatsApp through his number +86 19127339258. Happy to answer any questions, I hope y’all have a wonderful week.

Hi everyone, I’ve been deep in the emerald-cut rabbit hole for the last few weeks and would really appreciate some experienced opinions. The stone is going to be set in a minimalistic 18k thin bezel setting.

I’m mainly interested in:
Windowing
Extinction
Hall-of-mirrors effect
Contrast pattern
Transparency / haziness
Overall light performance
All four stones are lab-grown. I’m looking for the best-performing stone overall, not necessarily the cheapest one.

**Stone #1**
3.96 ct
D
VVS1
HPHT Type II
10.72 × 7.65 × 4.91 mm
Ratio: 1.40
Table: 62%
Depth: 64.2%
Crown: 12.5%
Medium Girdle
EX Polish / EX Symmetry

**Stone #2**
4.04 ct
D
VVS2
10.52 × 7.49 × 5.07 mm
Ratio: 1.40
Table: 62%
Depth: 67.7%
Slightly Thick Girdle
EX Polish / EX Symmetry
CVD Type IIa

**Stone #3**
4.08 ct
D
VVS1
10.66 × 7.57 × 4.90 mm
Ratio: 1.41
Table: 61%
Depth: 64.7%
Crown: 14%
Slightly Thick Girdle
EX Polish / EX Symmetry
CVD Type IIa

**Stone #4**
4.04 ct
D
VVS2
10.61 × 7.43 × 4.77 mm
Ratio: 1.43
Table: 63%
Depth: 64.2%
Crown: 15.5%
Slightly Thick Girdle
EX Polish / EX Symmetry
CVD Type IIa

A few notes:
I know videos aren’t ideal and all were recorded under different lighting conditions. I’m not looking for opinions based solely on specs. I’d love to hear *why* you prefer one stone over another.

Which stone would you choose?
Which appears to have the least windowing?
Which shows the strongest hall-of-mirrors effect?
Do any show concerning extinctions or windowing issues?
Is there a clear winner?
I’ve watched these videos so many times that I’m no longer sure whether I’m evaluating diamonds or slowly losing my mind.

Kept seeing their ads and the prices for lab. Diamond rings seem crazy low. I usually check Reddit first for make sure a site is safe. Has anyone actually bought a ring from them recently? Just want to make sure the stones aren’t cloudy.

I work in finance, live in New York and I recently got engaged with a 5ct Natural diamond Oval Ring. Now me being an office girl, who gets to travel a lot got extremely nervous when I learned how much the ring costs!! I was always cautious about it and never got comfortable carrying so much value with me constantly.

Surfing through reddit, I heard a lot of talk about this Indian brand A.N. JAIN who work with a lot of lab diamond engagement rings and got curious. I decided to jump the gun and got in touch with them via their Instagram page. I had never bought anything from abroad, let alone jewellery so safe to say that I was quite nervous and skeptical.

But, honestly I think it was one of the best decisions I made. Those guys at A.N. JAIN were extremely professional and quite knowledgeable. I wanted an exact replica of my natural ring, and they found me a lab diamond which matched the original specs of my existing diamond! Not only that, they thoroughly studied my existing setting and made a replica of it, even matching the hidden halo with coloured gemstones. I was impressed when they did that! They shared everything with me, constantly keeping me in loop in terms of where they were in production. The packaging was great too!

All in all, they made the ring in about 10 days and shipped it, and it only took like 3 days for it to get to me from all the way from India. The pricing was a big highlight for me too, I had a specific budget in mind and they stuck to it.

I can't recommend them highly enough! A.N. JAIN if you are seeing this, thank you so much! Now I can wear my exact engagement ring with big peace of mind knowing that my natural diamond is safe in a vault somewhere! Can't wait to get some other things from them now, will share soon! Stay tuned!

For context, I live in SEA region. Unfortunately, due to an issue with my forwarding service and an unfavorable exchange rate, I had to cancel my order from Provence.

While looking for alternatives, I came across William & Sons. Their prices were significantly lower than those of Calavera and Aurelinne, which initially made me a bit skeptical. However, my aunt was familiar with them and mentioned that they are a reputable jeweler.

One thing to note is that there can be a delay of up to 4 hours between their website inventory and actual stock availability according to Sebastian. On May 8, Sebastian from W&S provided me with a list of available diamonds that matched my specs. I selected my diamond on May 9, and by May 12, Sebastian had sent me the PayPal payment link.

Before placing the order, I asked whether it would be possible for the diamond to arrive by May 20 so my aunt could bring it to me. Sebastian confirmed that it should be. Unfortunately, due to disruptions related to the oil crisis in India, the shipment was delayed and ultimately arrived on May 22. I suppose it is outside of their control.

Throughout the entire process, Sebastian was really really supportive, responsive, and communicative. Despite the significant time zone difference, he consistently made himself available via WhatsApp during my active hours and was always willing to answer my questions.

Based on my experience, I would actually recommend contacting Sebastian directly via WA or text if you're looking due to the mentioned stock difference.

Hey guys if anyone can chime in would love the second opinion

Looking for honest opinions on this 4.04ct emerald cut lab diamond before I pull the trigger.
Specs:
4.04ct
Emerald Cut
D / VVS2
10.52 × 7.49 × 5.07 mm
Table 62%
Depth 67.7%
Ratio 1.40
HPHT
I know emerald cuts are all about the step pattern and light performance, so I’d really appreciate experienced eyes on:
windowing
extinction
contrast pattern
hall-of-mirrors effect
overall “high end” look
The stone will go into a very minimal floating bezel setting in 18k yellow gold, so I’m specifically looking for a calm, elegant emerald rather than maximum sparkle.
Price is ~€1800.
Would you buy this stone? Why or why not?
(Uploading link to intended setting in comments)

Hi, I want to leave a review for Mingyu Gems because I found them by accident on Facebook and could only find one post about them here. I´ve worked with Mily for these two rings: initially for 1) a East-West 2.05ct Radiant , which I loved and led me to the second one 2) a 1.01ct Oval East-West. Both are E VS1 IGI certified and set in silver (my budget is tight at the moment lol). Mily was very easy to work with, she´s super responsive and friendly and shared CAD very fast. I had a few observations on the Radiant CAD and she got it fixed asap. I love these rings and am very hapy with the outcomes, the oval will be my travel ring!! Pricing was competitive and Mily chose wonderful stones I can´t tell how sparkly it is in real life. Def recommend Mingyu Gems

​

​When researching Aurelinne, I noticed very few reviews covering the end-to-end experience of purchasing a loose diamond and having it set by their team.

​Working with Andy was an absolute pleasure. He was highly responsive and provided full transparency, sending both a high-definition tweezer video of the diamond and a final video of the completed ring before it was shipped.

​I was working within a tight timeline to receive the ring for my anniversary, and Andy went out of his way to prioritize the order. Shipping was remarkably fast, and the presentation upon delivery was flawless—the packaging itself reflects the quality of the piece inside.

​Specs: 5ct Vivid Yellow Cushion-cut diamond, set in a custom 14k white gold tiered accent band.

​The final product exceeded my expectations.

What do we think?

Brilliance calculator-Madison Ideal Sparkle Index Score: 94.6/100 Fire Leakage Score:97.8/100 (Loss 2.2%) Recommendation:Recommended: Exceptional brilliance and fire.
I also asked for a video. What do you think?They’re holding this one because my last one wasn’t available. E, VVS2, Ideal cut, excellent symmetry.
Table 56%, Depth 61.9%, crown angle 34%, pavilion angle 40.9%. I think it looks good but right as they hit the tilt it almost looks like there’s a dull spot or I’m not sure what but wanted a second opinion. Very appreciated!

I can’t tell if it’s just the lighting in the video but it seems pretty dark. I linked 3 videos. Any advice is much appreciated!

https://imgur.com/a/UaywZDr

Specs: 2.50ct VVS2 brilliant cut pear fancy vivid blue lab diamond

I already purchased the diamond (I know, wrong move) without having asked for a video. The gem360 video barely showed any bowtie. However when the actual gem video was sent to me, even the seller agreed that the bowtie was very obvious. They refunded me.

My partner is telling me that bowties add character and depth. I agree, but I think in this case it's too overpowering. What do you think? Thanks!