How to Avoid Buying a Fake Diamond Ring

Step 1

Ask if the stone is a genuine diamond or if it is a cubic zirconia, moissanite or other synthetic substance. A reputable jeweler will give you an honest answer.

Step 2

Look at the setting and mount. Since stones such as cubic zirconia are so much cheaper than diamonds, they are sometimes set in inferior metals.

Step 3



Check the wear and tear on the stone. A cubic zirconia is not as durable as a diamond and may show signs of scratches or nicks.

Step 4

Take the stone to a trusted jeweler. Looking through a jeweler's loupe, he or she should be able to spot a fake stone right away. If the jeweler cannot tell by examining the stone, he or she will have instruments that can verify its authenticity.

Step 5



Diamon Jewelry



It is highly recommended that you obtain a certificate from the Gemological Institute of America (GIA). The GIA, the largest impartial diamond grading authority in the world, issues a grading report after it examines the diamond and details it specifications.

Step 6

Have the stone appraised by an independent appraiser who is affiliated with a professional organization such as the American Society of Appraisers (ASA). Ask for a certificate indicating the value and characteristics of the stone.

How to Buy Diamond Engagement Rings

There is much to consider when purchasing a diamond – especially diamond engagement rings! The tradition of presenting a woman with a diamond engagement ring when proposing began in 1477 when Archduke Maximilian presented a diamond ring to Mary of Burgundy – and in most cases, the woman you plan to propose to will expect a ring to accompany that proposal!

Diamond Rings

First, determine how much ring you CAN afford. Most people use the `two months salary' rule. This means that the ring should cost the equivalent of two months of your current salary. Because you have other bills to pay, saving up this amount of money may take quite a bit of time. You should consider financing. Simply go to the jeweler of your choice and tell them that you plan to buy an engagement ring, and that financing will be necessary. Go ahead and get the credit check out of the way, find out what your payments will be, and how much of a down payment is required.

Now, have your mother, sister, or your girlfriends best friend take your girlfriend shopping, and make sure that they gaze at the engagement rings to get an idea of what she might like. Make sure that the jewelry store you buy the ring from will allow you to return the ring, if that is required, or allow your girlfriend to exchange it.

How to Buy a Diamond

Diamonds is very expensive. Get very simple tips how to buy it.

The 4 C's are Cut, Clarity, Carats and Color

How to Buy a Diamond based on Cut: The cut of a diamond describes how an artisan angles the gemstone to best reflect light through the diamond, causing it to sparkle. A quality cut brings out the beauty of a diamond and makes it more valuable, while a poorly cut diamond will sell for less because it isn't as brilliant or shiny. 

Cleaning Diamond Jewelry


How to Buy a Diamond based on Clarity: The clarity of a diamond refers to how clear the diamond is when you look through it. A perfect diamond is rare; most have inclusions and flaws, although many cannot be seen without magnification. When looking at a diamond for clarity, look to see if there are dark spots inside the diamond.

How to Buy a Diamond based on Carats: Larger diamonds cost more than smaller diamonds, even if the total carats of the diamonds are the same. For example, a single one carat diamond will cost you more than three diamonds set in a ring that add up to one carat. This is because larger diamonds are much more rare to find. When diamonds are cut, they lose about half their size.
How to Buy a Diamond based on Color: The actual color of a diamond is a personal preference. But diamonds that are colorless, known as white diamonds are the most rare and therefore cost the most. Diamonds also come in different shades, including yellow, green, blue and pink, among others.

Tips on Cleaning Diamonds

You can safely and effectively clean your diamond ring at home with any of the following household solutions:

• brand name liquid detergent
• mild detergent
• vodka.

The following are three simple methods to clean diamonds.

Detergent Bath

1. Soak your diamond ring in a warm solution of mild liquid detergent and water.
2. Gingerly brush the diamond with a soft toothbrush while immersed in the suds.
3. Swish the ring around in the solution and then rinse it thoroughly under running warm water. (Close the drain first or put the ring in a strainer to avoid losing it!)
4. Dry your diamond ring with a lint-free cloth.

**If your ring needs extra help, use a dental Water Pik to flush away small bit of grime. You can also use a wooden toothpick to very carefully push dirt away from the diamond and setting.

Cold Water Soak

• Prepare a small bowl of half cold water and half ammonia and soak your diamond in the solution for 30 minutes.
• Remove the diamond and gently tap around the circumference of the mounting with a softbrush. Place the ring in the solution for a second treatment.
• Rinse and drain on tissue paper.

Quick Method

• Spray or dip your diamond ring in Windex.
• Rinse with water and dry with a lint-free cloth.

Caring Tips of Gold Plated Jewelry

While all sterling silver jewelry should be treated with special care, gold plated designs need extra love and attention. With gold plated styles, the plating can wear off very easily and additional care is needed to prevent the plating from wearing off faster. Lotions, perfume, and soap all make the plating wear off.



Gold Plated Jewelry

Although I realize toe rings and anklets are popular items for the spring and summer, wearing gold plated toe rings and anklets to the beach and especially into the water will eat away at the gold. Salt water is horrible for gold plated items. Chlorine is no better and affects both gold plated and gold jewelry.

I'm sure you never sweat, but for the people who do, sweat is not the friend of gold plating either.

With sterling silver, some people are known to have body chemistry that reacts with the sterling silver (either the silver or the alloys) which can cause allergic reactions or discoloring of the wearer’s skin or discoloring or very rapid tarnishing of the sterling silver. Body chemistry can also cause gold plating to wear off quickly.

When not wearing your gold plated silver jewelry, one of the best ways to store it is in a sealed ziploc bag. This helps to prevent tarnishing and you can still see your gorgous jewelry.
Treat your jewelry with care and it will love you back and make you the Divalicious Superstar you know you are. If you don't show your gold plated jewelry any love and respect, it will turn on you and become all silver. Remember, there is a big price difference between gold plated silver jewelry and gold jewelry. We are proud to offer the look you want for the price you want to pay, but keep in mind, there is a reason it is less expensive.

Care for Diamond Jewelry (Diamond Jewelry Care)

Diamond Jewelry Care

Care & Cleaning of Diamond Rings

We are often asked how to care for and clean diamond rings. We have to consider the diamonds, the ring mount, and any other stones apart from diamonds.

General Diamond Jewelry Care

Diamonds are extremely hard and durable, but there are things which can damage them, so it is important to know what to avoid. Diamonds can be broken by a sharp impact on a hard surface, so dropping a ring onto a concrete floor could cause the diamond to cleave, especially if it struck at precisely the wrong place. This is not very likely to happen, and diamonds are so durable, that you may get away with dropping it onto concrete 1,000 times without damage. We would not recommend the experiment! Rings do come in for a large amount of wear and tear when they are on fingers, and an accidental blow on metal or other hard surface could have a similar or greater effect than being dropped.

This sort of collision damage is more likely to wear or break the ring mount, so it is worth inspecting the ring carefully after any hard knock to ensure that any claws are still intact and the stone is tight.

One of the worst things for causing wear and damage to diamonds is allowing them to rub and knock against other diamonds. This will cause abrasion and chipping, particularly around the girdle of the stone. If you wear several rings next to each other, it is better if there is a metal to metal contact between them. Although this will cause wear, it can be repaired fairly easily. We do see a number of older ladies, who have acquired a number of rings over a long period of time, wearing two, three or more rings on one finger. We even had one customer who had seven diamond rings on one finger. They were all quite large, and the thought of the damage to the diamonds made us cringe. This particular little old lady knew that her enjoyment of her rings was more important than the cost of any damage to them.

A number of years ago, we sold a large cubic zirconia ring to a lady, who brought it back less than six months later with all three stones almost worn away and looking very dull. We replace it, but advised her not to wear against her other diamond rings.

Reasonable care should be taken not to catch diamond settings with filaments of thread, particularly strong synthetic threads which may bend claws, and loosen the stones they are meant to be securing.

It is worth having your ring checked by a jeweller occasionally for wear or damage to the settings, particularly with claw set rings. Of course, you can do this yourself, but most jewellers have suitable magnifying glasses which make close inspection much easier. If you notice a stone which is loose, this should definitely be checked by a jeweller as soon as possible.

Cleaning Diamond Jewelry

When jewelery is worn next to the skin, it will become covered and clogged in oily debris mainly composed of dead skin. Dust and grit become lodged in this. Wearing rings while washing up can also allow a greasy film to coat the backs of stones (diamonds just love grease!), and the inside of settings.

The main purpose of cleaning diamond rings is to remove all this greasy debris, and allow light to enter and leave the diamonds, restoring their sparkle. Nothing you would ever use to clean your ring is likely to damage the diamonds without damaging the mount, so we will describe how to clean the metal part of rings. The mount will normally be made of gold, preferably 18 carat gold, of platinum, or of a mixture of the two. Other gold alloys are not as suitable, for an explanation of this, please refer to our Durability of Gold Alloys page.

The Ring Mount

Most gold or platinum jewelery can be cleaned in warm soapy water, detergent is equally good. It can be gently brushed if necessary using an old tooth brush especially to remove debris behind the stones. It is better to avoid cleaning agents containing abrasives, including toothpaste. Some people swear by gin. All alcohol will dissolve grease, but this is a waste of good gin.

Diamond Jewelry Care

What is Diamond (Diamond Jewelry Care)

Diamond Jewelry Care

Diamond is carbon in its most concentrated form. Except for trace impurities like boron and nitrogen, diamond is composed solely of carbon, the chemical element that is fundamental to all life.
But diamond is distinctly different from its close cousins the common mineral graphite and lonsdaleite, both of which are also composed of carbon. Why is diamond the hardest surface known while graphite is exceedingly soft? Why is diamond transparent while graphite is opaque and metallic black? What is it that makes diamond so unique?

The key to these questions lie in diamond's particular arrangement of carbon atoms or its crystal structure--the feature that defines any mineral's fundamental properties. A crystal is a solid body formed from the bonding of atomic elements or compounds in a repeating arrangement. Often, crystals possess smooth external faces. Due to their symmetrical and finite nature, the building blocks of crystals are limited to relatively small numbers of atoms, and their chemical compositions to simple numerical combinations of elements.

A neutral carbon atom has 6 protons and 6 electrons surrounding its nucleus. Four of the electrons in a carbon atom are valence electrons, which are electrons that are available to form bonds with other atoms. In graphite, each carbon atom bonds only 3 of its 4 valence electrons with neighboring carbons. The resulting structure of these bonds is a flat sheet of connected carbon atoms. Though individually strong, these layers are only weakly connected to one another, and the ease with which they are separated is what makes graphite so slippery.

In diamond however, every carbon shares all 4 of its available electrons with adjacent carbon atoms, forming a tetrahedral unit. This shared electron-pair bonding forms the strongest known chemical linkage, the covalent bond, which is responsible for many of diamond's superlative properties. The repeating structural unit of diamond consists of 8 atoms which are fundamentally arranged in a cube.

Using this cubic form and its highly symmetrical arrangement of atoms, diamond crystals can develop in a variety of different shapes known as "crystal habits." The octahedron, or eight-sided shape that we associate with diamonds is its most common crystal habit. But diamond crystals can also form cubes, dodecahedra, and even combinations of these shapes. All of these shapes are manifestations of the cubic crystal system to which the mineral diamond belongs. Two exceptions are the flat form called a macle, which is actually a composite crystal, and etched crystals, which have rounded surfaces and, sometimes, elongated shapes.

Diamond Jewelry Care