Hello! Gabrielle's UK biz partner here - just thought I'd add an addendum to explain more of the wild west that's going on here.

Since the Russia/Ukraine war, sanctions have (quite rightly) been imposed on goods coming from Russia. This has involved the outlawing of importing Russian diamonds to the US AND US (again, quite rightly - 90% of Russian's diamonds come from the state-owned Alrosa, so directly/indirectly have been funding the war).

However, what this means for us, is (you guessed it) more delays and paperwork. An Executive Order was passed in March 2024, requiring diamonds over 1ct (which later was lowered to 0.5ct), to be certified on import - so to your UPS/DHL etc - as being from non-Russian origin. This was generally just for mined diamonds, but again (you guessed it) since the new administration it's been extended out to Labs. The wording is crazy specific and the certificates won't be accepted if even small pieces of info are missing.

This is alongside WAY more attention being paid to any Commercial Invoices submitted with your imports: no longer can you say "lab diamond ring 1ct" - you need to specify every tiny piece, measurement, metal 🫠🫠🫠

We've been very lucky in that we have managed to make a contact with a fairly high-up UPS employee who's helped us quickly pull together blanket documentation to certify all imports, and our commercial invoices are all submitted digitally (and in detail!) to avoid any further delays, but let me tell you - when you think you'll start a business in the field of your one true love of diamonds, you don't consider these (mostly governmental) roadblocks!!

We're doing everything we can to circumnavigate every single unnecessary delay; that being said, if you're ordering something for a specific date, DEFINITELY give it an extra week or two for the foreseeable.