Twin Tuesday: Radiant Cut Engagement Rings with Side Stones

True Story: Radiant cut diamonds rank pretty high on our list of fancy shaped diamonds. They sparkle with the fire of a brilliant cut, but their elongated shape makes them appear larger than the typical round brilliant. Radiant cuts also offer a fantastic alternative to the slightly pricier (and often smaller looking) princess cut diamonds. Both stones are still stunning, but a radiant cut diamond of the same carat weight will typically look larger. We also love that they’re another sparklier alternative to an emerald cut, which need to be high quality to really shine in a ring. Radiant cut engagement rings with side stones offer an even greater advantage to your budget, by providing more sparkle spread across three stones – 3 carats between 3 diamonds will always cost less than one 3 carat rock. So when we spotted this fabulous radiant cut engagement ring with trillion side stones in Alice Kwartler’s 1st Dibs boutique, we needed to do a double take.

Look at the pristine facets on all three diamonds. The center stone, weighing 1.38 carats, looks even brighter and whiter than its beautifully made platinum mounting. It’s no surprise, with an E/F color grade and SI1 in clarity The side stones, trillions weighing .54cts are beautifully matched. But its beauty was only the first thing that made us stop and stare. The second is this ring’s uncanny resemblance to one of our own.

With just a few tweaks, you get the same look as the ring above for $10,000 less – and bigger diamonds. The center stone on this ring weighs a whopping 2.33 carats, but is K in color (still incredibly hard to identify any color in everyday environment). It’s actually even better clarity, scoring a VVS2 grade from GIA. The trillion side stones are 1.20ctw, and all three are set in 14kt white gold to lower the price. It’s a (beautiful) no-brainer.