Hi my name is Abby and I own Abby Sparks Jewelry. Today I'm going to talk to you about some hard truths when shopping for
trendy engagement rings. As someone who has helped hundreds of
clients get engaged by making and designing engagement rings, I'm gonna go
into some more detail about what is a trendy engagement ring? What are some of the pitfalls and some of the things to avoid from a materials standpoint and
from a design standpoint. By the end of this video you're gonna feel really
confident when shopping for engagement rings, because you're gonna know what to
avoid, so that you don't buy a ring that ultimately falls apart and breaks. A trendy engagement ring is a ring that
is designed and made with the intention of looking great, looking good, being on
point with certain trends of the moment. It's not made, necessarily, with the
intention of lasting a lifetime and using really, really tough materials and
good design standards to sustain a lifetime. Really, you have two options, two
main options right now, One find rings that are in stores Two, shop online.
What
you do need to know though is just because it's marketed as an engagement
ring, just because it says "Hey this is an engagement ring, buy me!" does not mean that
it actually is made to withstand a lifetime. In fact it could just be
fashion jewelry and not a good option for engagement rings. So what are the
problems with trendy engagement rings? Let's start with stones. So, a lot of
rings right now are being marketed as engagement ring options, but they contain
stones that are not necessarily durable. Some examples include: opals, labradorite,
turquoise, pearls, and moonstone. Well, these are beautiful options from a
design standpoint and from a visual standpoint, But they're not tough stones. What
do you need to know about tough stones? There's this thing called the Mohs
Hardness Scale. It's basically a scale just with numbers, essentially, on the
durability, that inside durability, of that
stone – how hard it is.
So you want something to be really, really hard so it
lasts an entire lifetime. If it's not really, really hard then it's gonna break.
If you are shopping, when in doubt Google "Mohs Hardness" and whatever that stone is. "Mohs Hardness Moonstone" "Mohs Hardness Turquoise" When you pull up this
Mohs Hardness Scale, if that particular stone isn't at least a seven, eight, nine,
or ten, it is a very poor choice for an engagement ring, because it won't last. So
what's the problem with trendy engagement ring metals? Avoid 18 karat
gold: rose, yellow, or white, for an engagement ring because it's just so,
there's more gold and it's just softer.
It's not built to withstand a lot
of pressure. One thing to also avoid is sterling silver.
Some people think, "Cool I'm gonna save a little bit of money. I'm gonna get this ring
made in sterling silver and save on that gold price." Well, you may have saved money
in the interim, but you will end up needing a new engagement ring, I promise
you, within a short amount of time because sterling silver is too soft,
essentially, to hold these tougher stones.
They will literally just work their way
out of that metal. So then you have a lady who's left with a setting with no
stones in it, essentially. So good metal choices are gold but not 18 karat, so
stick with 14 karat if you want it to be really durable, Platinum, and Palladium. What's the problem with some of these more trendy engagement ring designs? So,
mainly they're not engineered and designed in a way to withstand the test
of time, to last 50 years, or 15 years, or 30 years, whatever it is. They're made to
look really good right now but they're not meant to be worn every day for years. So some of those issues include little teeny
shanks or bands. It's really trendy right now, ladies want this super super slim
band but the reality is that it's gonna break. She's gonna bend it and it's gonna
break because that metal is, it's not engineered in a way, that ring is not
engineered in a way to withstand the test of time.
So that's a good example of
something to avoid. Another thing to avoid from a design standpoint would be
just really thin prongs, little teeny tiny prongs. Well with little teeny, tiny
stones and little teeny tiny prongs, you're not gonna get that durability in
that metal. So if you knick that little prong on a table, you're gonna lose a
stone. We're constantly seeing things repaired, stones falling out, shanks or
bands being bent, so avoid these, some more trendy options. Okay so my very last
tip is don't fall victim to really good marketing. People are really good these days.
You've got really engaging sales people that are, their job is to sell you
something, but not to necessarily know what they're selling – from a design
standpoint, materials standpoint, engineering standpoint. So be informed.
Just because a salesperson says it's a great engagement ring choice does
not mean that it actually is. I hope you found this video helpful and I hope you
feel more informed and confident when making these choices on these engagement
rings.
I love answering questions, put some below, comments as well, Subscribe to
our channel, like this video, and we'll see you next time!.
