Why Should You Consider A Halo Setting

A halo will make your diamond look bigger for the obvious reason that it covers more space on your fingers. However, there are other reasons why you would consider a diamond halo engagement ring. In addition to the size effect and the look, it’s really how the entire ring will look in relation to the center stone.

The center stone is the biggest cost in an engagement ring, followed by the mounting. The mounting is supposed to compliment the center stone, bring out its beauty and the entire ring should compliment the hand.

Roxana picked out her center stone and then choose a ready-made mounting for it. Although her diamond looked beautiful while it was loose and her mounting looked good on its own, the final result was not what she hoped for — something was missing.

Roxana Emerald cut diamond Ring With Diamond Band

Roxana’s center stone is a beautiful emerald cut diamond with very high color, clarity, perfect polish and symmetry. Like all other emerald cut diamonds, Roxana’s diamond has a quiet look, but her mounting with round brilliant cut diamonds set in “French set” style setting is a very busy and sparkly look. The mounting also had a very heavy center basket with thick, rounded prongs, which is not very complementary for an emerald cut diamond. The French set style is a very pretty setting that has triangle shapes on either side of the diamond and the diamond is held with four-prongs. It’s a busy look and it’s very suitable for multi-faceted stones such as round-brilliant cuts, cushion cuts, radiant cuts and ovals.

Everybody loves a ring that sparkles, however the ring should never out-sparkle the center stone, which was the case with Roxana’s ring. The setting did not compliment the center stone and worse, the center emerald cut diamond was lost in the mounting. Roxana loved her diamond but know something was missing with the setting and asked if I can custom made a halo to give her diamond a pop.

Roxana Wearing Her Ring before Halo Addition

Shape Of The Halo

For fancy cut diamonds such as a cushion, princess, radiant, and an emerald cut, its halo should follow the shape of the stone. For round brilliant cut diamonds, the shape of the halo can be a circle or a cushion shape, which ever one complements the hand and looks best given the entire ring design.

For Roxana’s emerald cut diamond, I followed her stone’s shape and made the halo at a certain width that would complement her diamonds’s measurements while remaining proportional to her ring’s diamonds band. I also made the prongs in a shape an angle in proportional to the diamond.

Halo Added To Roxana’s Ring

Two other calculations that I always take into consideration when making a halo, are the angle of the halo and the height of the center diamond from the top of the halo. Last, and certainly not least, I make sure the color and clarity of the diamonds on the halo match the color and clarity of the center stone.

Loose Brilliant cut Diamonds to Match The Center Emerald Cut diamond’s Color And Clarity

The result is a beautifully balanced ring that complements and shows off the center diamond. The entire ring has the sparkle we all want and the mounting is in perfect harmony with the center diamond.

Roxana Wearing Her Engagement Ring With a Halo

Choosing a halo setting may not always be for the purpose of achieving a big look. When done correctly, it can actually give the center stone the pop that it needs. One of the biggest benefits of a custom made engagement ring is the fact that the halo is completely complementary to both the center stone and the band. When designing the halo to perfectly match the center stone, I always calculate the most suitable width for the halo so that it neither outshines nor falls behind the center stone, but rather brings it to life.