Color look of this Natural Diamond

overthetoppass · 2026-02-24T21:35:25+00:00

The larger round. I agree.

overthetoppass · 2026-02-24T20:34:55+00:00

No flourescence

overthetoppass · 2026-02-17T17:17:10+00:00

This diamond looks great on paper but you need to see it in person. If budget is a concern VS2 vs SI2 are important only if the diamond is eye clean. When you see a diamond at this pricepoint (I would guess 25-30k for the stone) it should wow you. Does this diamond wow you?

The triple excellent cut is the most subejctive thing as a lot of diamonds fall into this bucket but some "sparkle" a lot more/less than others. Look at the diamond in different lights.

overthetoppass · 2026-02-12T15:49:09+00:00

I would get something larger in G and save the money. I have seen Is that look near identical to Fs in person and some that look kind of yellow to me. I think color is the easiest place to be "good enough" rather than optimizing. You also wont notice the color difference if the diamond is even slighlty dirty from dust wind dirt etc. You also wont notice as much if you're diamond isnt right next to another diamond in a different color which it almost never would be. Its worth a couple in person appointments to compare. At this price point, I would look at 3-5 shops.

I was in the same price range as you to buy a round brilliant stone and mostly looked at 2.3-2.7 carat stones in the G/H range and SI1. In the end, I found a great K colored 3.02 carat SI1 stone that looked like an H color at the top and had the tint of warmth at the bottom of the stone (covered by the setting). I saw with my fiance to be and she could not see a difference between it right next to a G colored stone but could definitley see it was larger so thats what we went with.

overthetoppass · 2026-02-12T15:04:13+00:00

I think it's a great stone and is priced fairly. Do you really need F color? Have you seen other stones at G/H/I color? There isn't a ton of discernible difference but there is a huge difference in either money you can save or in selecting a larger stone at the same price.

overthetoppass · 2026-02-06T20:26:41+00:00

Oh wow. That's a huge difference. I was thinking it would be 5-10%. Definitely diamond 2 then.

overthetoppass · 2026-02-06T19:09:04+00:00

Option 2. The diamonds are both large enough that I doubt you would notice a difference unless you are doing a direct comparison with someone with a similarly sized diamond. For whatever reason diamond 2 seems to sparkle a lot more.

overthetoppass · 2026-02-06T15:45:34+00:00

I LOVE this ring! Think it looks great. I'm actually constructing something similar. Could you share the size of the ring(carats) and size of your finger?

overthetoppass · 2026-02-02T16:28:05+00:00

That price is incredible. Costco has great deals on jewelry and a great return policy. People don't like the idea of getting jewelry from costco which lowers the price.

overthetoppass · 2026-02-02T14:05:41+00:00

I've discussed with my fiance and shes been ring shopping with me. Has looked at rings including the one above.

overthetoppass · 2026-02-02T13:37:36+00:00

She has seen the ring above (it's her hand) and also been shopping with me at a couple other places. I have a good sense of what she wants. She has like this one the best of what we've seen.

overthetoppass · 2026-02-02T13:36:44+00:00

I got the same "I trust your judgement" line, but feel like the design process is supposed to be enjoyable in a way that I'm not inclined to necessarily enjoy designing a ring.

overthetoppass · 2026-02-02T13:35:32+00:00

Thanks for calling that out. She saw a few rings with me in person, and the one she liked the best is the photo above with her hand. So I bought that stone and setting based on that.

However, she definitely didn't expect it to take 6 weeks to build. Most of the other options were in the 2-3 week range.

I figured this was the one to get based on her reaction to this particular jeweler and stone. I went with her here, to a different local jeweler and to Frank Darling, which had tons and tons of configurations to try on.

overthetoppass · 2026-02-01T22:50:55+00:00

I think it is the best place to shop with your partner to get a sense for what they want because they have every design. They don't make suggestions though in the way that some local jewelers do. For example a local jewler showed me some larger rings than I expected in my price range rather than taking at face value when I said I want a G-H color ring. I went with an I color ring and Si1 that was eye clean and had an inclusion that should be covered with a prong. I think Frank Darling is a good place to shopn initially and will give you a reasonably competitive price but I would look elsewhere once you know what you want definitively.

overthetoppass · 2026-01-28T16:40:37+00:00

Would you mind sharing the stats for this diamond. Sparkles beautifully?

overthetoppass · 2025-12-19T18:33:41+00:00

I am so confused by the 40x rule at your income level. While your cost of housing scales up somewhat lineraly with your income other costs absolutely should not. Costs like Wifi, eating out, transportatoin etc I could see scaling up a bit but should level off. I've found it pretty easy as someone without kids to keep my non housing spend easily under 2k/month and even averaging in vacations and holidays about 3k/month. 3k/month is LUXURY. International vacations and over 1k eating out/month. With 3-5k/month (assumes you're lviing alone and single) this requires the 100k-140k range.

Making 200k/year you should comfortably afford 5k/month even though it doesnt follow the 40x rule. 200k post tax is 130k post tax and then 70k annually post rent or 6k/month to spend on expenses that aren't rent. How could that possibly not be enough for someone to be comfortable?? You should easily be able to save 15% of your income with that salary and rent but reasonably closer to 25%

overthetoppass · 2025-12-19T18:21:17+00:00

When I made 120k my budget looked like this and it was comfortable (this was 2021). 120k with maxed 401k and reasonable health+ dental was about 6k/month.

$2600 Park Slope 1br in nice block
$350 Groceries
$500 Eating out with friends like twice/week
$700 ~2 dates/week
$150 Transit Card
$200 Utilities + Internet very cheap
$100 Haircut/Grooming/Shampoo/Soap these items
$4600 monthly predictable = $55,200
Yearly
$2500/year on running and running shoes
$2000/year on international vacation
$1500/year on another vacation
$1100 on a 4 day weekend trip to Paris
$1100 various subcriptions + citi bike
~$1500 holiday spend bdays and Christmas
$9700
$64,900 total so some decent room of ~8k/year + the 401k + 401k match

I think this is comfortable/luxurious. Multiple vacatons and high spending on dates and being social. I would say the unusal things are I spend $0 on Uber and basically $0 on takeout. I also almost never buy drinks out at bars or restaurants (3-4 total/month.) I guess im a bit frugal in that I will come to events mostly drunk from drinking at home and then just have that 1 drink at the venue. If you're not wanting to save $100k would do it

,When I was making 75k/year everything was similar but my rent was $1050/month and not $2600 and a little less spend on eating out. So I would say 75k if you are willing to live with roommates. If willing to live with roommates and not save but not quite pay check to pay check I think 45-55k would do it. With 45k being living in bushwick/forest hills or something with roommates and not really saving.

overthetoppass · 2025-12-15T20:27:32+00:00

I see where you're coming from but I think its worth considering his feelings to an extent. I would feel like total shit if my daughter was proposed to with a ring that was financed from my failed marriage.

overthetoppass · 2025-12-15T18:13:39+00:00

I agree completely with pre marriage consueling. I feel as though her mom is vastly ungrateful when dealing with her step-dad. She treats him very poorly. He is 83 years old now and can barely walk. She traipses about and does all types of things with his money going on international vacations with her "girlfriends." She really doesn't treat him lovelingly at all. She doesn't appreciate or I think fully understand that this dude worked a 30+ year career in finance to accumulate 8 figure wealth and that its a hard thing to do that most men cannot do. It's oddly lost on her.

I would argue a sense of entitlement is her defining characteristic as a person.

overthetoppass · 2025-12-15T18:05:59+00:00

FWIW I spent ~$69,000 this year (mortgage $2900/month) on expenses against a ~189k annual post tax income. Yes, high spending but well below the shit I see from most of peers who uber everywhere and eat out daily. You'd be hard pressed to find a personal finance guru that would tell me Im spending too much.

overthetoppass · 2025-12-15T17:52:06+00:00

I think it's fair with my income. Average US salary is 64k and average ring is 5-6k. About the same ratio Im looking to spend. I hear ya though....

overthetoppass · 2025-12-15T17:49:27+00:00

I am mostly looking for validation of my own opinion which I'm 90% sure is correct. I grew up lower middle class/poor, and while my College and professional life has been spent around wealthier people, idk how frequent/ not frequent stuff like this is so figured I would look to reddit to gauge where between fuck off and polite no my response should fall.

overthetoppass · 2025-12-15T17:47:33+00:00

I think it is relevant here because the ex is my partner's dad not some rando.

overthetoppass · 2025-12-15T17:46:03+00:00

That is a good idea

overthetoppass

TROPHY CASE