While some rings feature a solitaire stone, others have a center stone surrounded by other, smaller diamond stones.
These diamond stones are called accents and can add lots of sparkle to a ring without increasing the price too much. Depending on your preferences, the diamond accents on your ideal ring can come in a variety of shapes, sizes and colors.
Types Of Accent shapes
Depending on your ring’s center stone shape and your personal preference, you may like some accent shapes more than others. Three shapes are most common for accent stones: baguette, trillion cut and round.
Baguette Cut
Baguettes come in two varieties. Tapered baguettes are rectangular, but the lines aren’t perfectly straight. Instead, these stones have tapered lines to follow the design of the ring. The other variety is a straight baguette, which does have straight rectangular lines.
Baguettes can be placed lengthwise along the ring or can frame the center stone. Since baguettes cover a large surface area, you may only need one or two to add a lot of sparkle to a ring, depending on the size of each baguette.
Trillion Cut
A common way to use trillion cut diamond accents is to have one stone on each side of the center stone.
Consider the shape of the center stone when deciding on a trillion cut diamond accent. These accents look fantastic with round and square center stones, but they might look strange with a trillion cut center stone.
Round Cut
Round accent stones are a very popular way to enhance the center stone because they come in a variety of sizes and can easily be arranged in many patterns.
For example, you could arrange a series of very small round accent stones in a floral shape around the center stone. You could also have two rows of round accent stones forming a double halo around the center stone.
You could use a few larger round accent stones or many smaller round accent stones. There are an endless amount of options for choosing a perfect design when you add round accent stones.
Do Color And Clarity Matter In Accent Diamonds?
While you may want to spend more money on finding a clear, colorless center stone, you can be a bit more flexible with accent stones.
The color should appear colorless, but since these stones can be fairly small, you can have a lower grade without seeing any color.
The same goes for clarity. Choose a grade that is clean to the eye, but since the stones can be so small, there’s no reason to splurge on anything higher.
However, if you have larger accent stones, you may need to find a color and clarity that is similar to the center stone. Choose something that looks great when paired with the center stone, and your ring will look beautiful.
How To Choose The Best Diamond Accents For Your Ring
Make sure the accents compliment the center stone. You can also choose accents that compliment your personality — for example, accent stones can make a ring look more vintage or more feminine, depending on how they’re arranged.
Need help deciding? Our diamond experts at Nazar’s & Co. Jewelers can help you choose the perfect diamond accents. Contact us today.