10 Best Engagement Ring Styles (+ 7 Ways to Make Your Diamond Ring Bigger)

This article explains the 10 most popular engagement ring styles – to help you choose a ring that suits you perfectly – plus a guide to making your diamond ring look much bigger and sparklier.

1. Low set solitaire rings

A low set solitaire ring has a single diamond held in place by metal claws. The reason why it is called low set is that when you look at its side profile, you’ll notice the diamond sits low down, close to the band.

The advantage of a low-set solitaire is that the diamond won’t catch on clothes, hair or objects around you because it is securely “tucked in”.

For people who want a classic, beautiful yet practical ring, it’s a perfect choice.

2. GOLD QUALITIES

Apart from different colours, gold may also come in different qualities, or purities.

What is gold purity?

By gold purity we mean the amount of pure gold that is present in an item like a jewellery piece.

Gold purity is measured in karats. The abbreviation for karats is the letter K.

All gold, regardless of its colour, is graded by its purity using karats. So for example, you can buy white gold, rose gold or yellow gold in both 9K or 18K purities.

There are many different purities of gold

Gold comes in several different purities, depending on the ratio of pure gold and alloy metal present:

  • 9K gold is 37.5% pure gold
  • 10K gold is 41.7% pure gold
  • 14K gold is 58.3% pure gold
  • 18K gold is 75% pure gold
  • 22K gold is 91.6% pure gold
  • 24K gold is 100% pure gold

Pure gold equals 24K gold

The maximum number of karats that gold can have is 24.

Therefore, 24K gold is pure gold – and it is always yellow.