Fine Jewelry Gift Guide with Diamonds Direct

This post has been so long in the making and I’m SO excited to share it with you! So if you can bear with me for a bit of the back story as to why I’m writing it, I promise to have lots of gorgeous baubles below. Little did I know that my experience with Diamonds Direct started with my engagement ring over 9 years ago. I knew that during the process of finding my ring Dan was working with a jeweler that was more of a diamond wholesaler than a traditional jewelry store. Everything was superior quality and oh-so-pretty, but the prices were FAR lower than any other jewelry store we compared them to. Fast forward to now, that jewelry store that Dan worked with in Dallas was soon acquired by the Diamonds Direct brand and, oddly enough, we had since moved to Charlotte (where the Diamonds Direct corporate store is located). We’ve been so loyal to Diamonds Direct ever since and have been super impressed with the quality and more over the customer service. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t have a Diamonds Direct in your area (even though they are nationwide! See locations HERE), they have a fabulous website and have assured me that if you see anything from this post that you’d like more information on, they are there to help!

Here’s are the cliff notes. Diamonds Direct is a direct diamond importer, so essentially they have created a direct to consumer business model that cuts out the middle man and dramatically decreases prices. This being said, they aren’t a “bargain” jeweler either…the experience that you’ll receive in their showroom is so personalized and quite a bit of it is spent educating you on the diamonds or stones that you’re considering to ensure that you make a decision that you’re happy with. That experience extends after the sale to their amazing customer service. They offer complimentary servicing of your pieces, no questions asked. I’ve brought my rings in countless times….small diamond fell out, wanted them dipped in rhodium, wanted sizing bumps put in them…and they never once have charged me and turn them around super fast. On top of this, I felt so confident buying from Diamonds Direct because they offer a 110% lifetime upgrade policy. This means that if I ever wanted to upgrade the diamond in my engagement ring or step up my diamond studs, 110% of the value of what I bought the original ones for would be applied to my new purchase! Kind of like a savings account for your diamonds!

Read all about Diamonds Direct HERE!

Now I will tell you that I was hesitant to cover this topic for quite some time…it felt a little strange to talk about my rings, or the buying process in general. My mindset changed after Lawson was born and Dan was so sweet to gift me with 3 stackable rings from Diamonds Direct to celebrate her birth. I get multiple direct messages per day on Instagram asking for the details on my rings and most women who send the messages saying that they are also in the market for stackable rings but kind of don’t know where to start. After answering dang near 200 of these messages, I figured it was time to cover it on the blog…and what better time to do that than around the Holidays?!

What I did for this post was spend the better part of the morning just walking from case to case in the store with one of their experts. I hand selected pieces that are affordable (in terms of fine jewelry and diamonds), beautiful and would make great pieces for who I know you guys to be! I also polled Instagram that same day and asked what was on your jewelry “Wish List” and covered those topics. The most common replies were:

Stackable Bands
Sapphires
Diamond Studs
Tennis Bracelet

So, here we go….let’s kick it off with stackable bands! Like I mentioned above, when it came time to choose a push present (also, if you aren’t a fan of push presents, please keep your thoughts to yourself. When a woman births a child, I feel she has the right to decide if she’d like something or not…mmmk), I knew that I wanted stackables. I wanted an easy way to build upon my wedding set and/or a set to wear on my right hand. Luckily, stackables cover both of those and I am SO happy with what I chose.

Luckily, I never transfer photos off of my phone, so I still had these from the night we went to choose them. If you can excuse my manicure, here’s the set that I chose. Now, I will tell you that I shoot for the moon in these situations. First of all, I feel like carrying and birthing a baby is a dang big deal and I love having something to remind myself of that. Next, I truly don’t ask for big gifts like this other than during big life milestones, so it’s a real treat for me and believe me I know that. All of that said, I knew I overshot my range a little here, so the sapphire band didn’t make it’s way home with me. Dan assured me I can build upon my stack and that’s great with me (and another reason I love stackables).

Going in, I knew that I wanted dimension (different shapes and sizes), mixed metals, mixed stones (dream crusher, Dan) and rings that easily mix into my wedding set. The photo on the right, is the original dream team, the photo on the left is showing how the wider two look great alone as a right hand set and the next one is showing how the mix and match right to left hands.

Oddly enough, I posted this photo on Instagram last night and have an inbox full of questions about my rings, so I thought that I would include it here because it shows a different way that I’ve worn them mixed into my wedding set.

Even Dan has been impressed with how much I’ve worn them (ahem, everyday) and how much fun I’m having with them. I rarely wear the same combination and am always mixing up how I layer them!

So, I combed through the stackables case (y’all, they have HUNDREDS of options!) and put together some fun combinations to give you some inspiration! I kept price in mind (most under $1,500) and also wanted to put together sets that could be broken apart and worn lots of different ways…

This is my original wedding set (minus this sapphire beauty)…obviously I like a statement and am still in love with every detail of it to this day!

Kicking it off with my favorite stack from the day! This sapphire band was what dreams are made of and I wanted to give you an idea of how it layered within a wedding set and in a stack. It’s one of those pieces that alone makes an amazing gift!

My favorite individual stackable from the day was this one below! One of them makes a wonderful statement alone or within a stack and it’s around $500! I love love the shape and dimension is offers and I think for that price tag, you will be SO happy with it…

I was not alone in my love of a sapphire band and so many of you also said that one was on your wish list. Here’s a collection of my favorites that can be worn within your wedding set or as part of a right hand stack.

Here’s a more dainty option….

Lots of dimension here! I’ll add that the ring on the bottom (under the twisty one) is actually ONE ring, not two and offers that dimension built in. It’s BEAUTIFUL on and, again, layers into your existing set so well. One of my favorites…

Next on so many of your wish lists were diamond studs! I don’t have a pair yet, but they are on my dream list, too! I’ll mention it again here, but when you buy studs from Diamonds Direct, their Upgrade Policy applies here too, so you’d get 110% of what you paid towards an upgrade in the future.

Also, diamonds studs are part of their “Ready to Wrap” collection, meaning they have a variety of sizes in stock and ready to end up under your tree 😉

What I wanted to show here is that even if your budget isn’t huge, there’s a way to get an amazing statement! I chose the 1/2 carat studs as an example (some sets starting well below $1,000 at Diamonds Direct). They are beautiful to wear alone, but if you wanted to build upon them, I LOVE the idea of adding a jacket to them. Here’s an example below of how they completely change the look…a great way to go from day to night or to upgrade to a larger size without the hefty price tag of buying a larger solitaire.

Look at all of these beautiful jacket options…..

I’m including one splurge in here, because the same ring caught my eye twice in the store and they’ve said it’s been one of the most popular ever! This sapphire beauty makes an incredible statement and can actually be customized with the stone of your choice and whether or not you want them around the entire circumference of the ring or just half way. Even though I consider it a splurge, if you’re versed in fine jewelry, the price is amazing.

View their entire “Ready to Customize” gift selection HERE.

My favorite novelty collection of theirs was a brand called “My Story” and instead of traditional birthstone jewelry, this felt modern and updated. Dainty birthstones were placed on diamond bands or within layering necklaces and it’s such a sweet (and affordable!) way to tell your family’s story!

On the left is how my wedding set would look if I included a birthstone band for each girl (Landry is the amethyst and Lawson is the diamond). Isn’t this the sweetest gift idea???

I won’t dive too deep into these, but here were some other areas that really caught my eye! The fashion case…

This necklace in particular was a favorite. I wear layering necklaces like this all of the time and could see myself wearing this one almost daily.

Their morganite selection was UNREAL! These statement rings are WAY more affordable than you’d expect and are a great bang for your buck. Plus, morganite paired with rose gold is so on trend right now….

More gemstone beauties…

Another request was diamond bracelets. Dan gifted me a traditional tennis bracelet for the birth of Landry (visible in one of the first photos), but I also really love this update style. These beauties have a bolo closure so that you can secure it to your wrist and prevent it from really moving, which is my only hangup with my current bracelet….it slides underneath my watch, etc!

So there you have it–my personal favorites and top gift picks from Diamonds Direct. They have physical locations in Charlotte (across from SouthPark Mall), Raleigh, Charleston, Dallas, Austin, St. Louis, and many more HERE. BUT they also have a wonderful website and can really guide you through the process virtually should you need information on something that you’ve seen in this post!

I will also add that this weekend (December 15-17th) is their “READY TO WRAP” event and they are offering special Holiday pricing on tons of options as well as creating the perfect environment to make last minute Christmas shopping as stress free as possible! They’ll have food, drinks, and even activities for the little ones should they be in tow and have tons of gifts literally ready to wrap and take home!

I know that this post was a bit out of my wheel house and definitely contained items well above the price points that I normally blog about, but I believe that all women are 3 Dimensional and since so many people showed interest in a post about jewelry, I appreciate you indulging me in this. It was fun to step outside of my comfort zone and have some fun picking out these pretties for you guys. I appreciate my partnership with Diamonds Direct and am SO confident sharing them with you! I know that they offer the best prices, experience, selection and after the sale service…hands down…and know you’d be so happy with your purchase from them!

**ALSO, we are giving away a $500 (!!!!) Gift Card tonight on Instagram! Set your reminders for 9pm tonight to enter!!!!*