Diamond Earrings Buying Guide

If you’ve been waiting to buy a new pair of earrings, you’re in luck—2021 is an exciting year for online earring shopping. There are more new styles of diamond earrings out than we’ve seen in a long time, making it easier to find the perfect pair of earrings for even the pickiest people.

We can thank the pandemic for these new jewelry developments. Working from home and avoiding going out meant that many people didn’t have to put in the same effort into their outfits—you could wear a pair of pajama pants on a workday. The use of masks and shoulders-up view on Zoom calls placed a new emphasis on wearing visible accessories. You can show off a pair of diamond earrings while wearing a mask or having a video chat meeting.

As a result, the intuitive jewelry stores that listened to customer demands have added new earrings for men and women to their inventory. With so many great options, it can be hard to decide how to buy diamond stud earrings that suit you perfectly. To help you choose the best earring styles for 2021, we’ve put together an earring buying guide.

Diamond Earrings vs. Diamond Studs

Many of the most popular earring styles for 2021 are types of diamond earrings. But what’s the best type of diamond earrings for you? The first thing you’ll want to decide on is if you prefer diamond stud earrings, other diamond earrings, or something different—such as pearl earrings or other gemstone earrings.

Diamond stud earrings are a staple earring for both men and women. They come in a variety of sizes and colors, and they go with anything. They can dress up any outfit, and you can’t really go wrong with them. Some people never take them off.

If you’re looking for jewelry gifts that work for anyone, diamond studs are a great way to go. A basic pair of diamond stud earrings can work for men and women, no matter their style. 

Diamond earrings come in a versatile range of styles. There are diamond hoop earrings that come in many sizes. Diamond huggie hoop earrings are a smaller version of the regular diamond hoop earrings. There are also diamond drop earrings, diamond cuff earrings, diamond dangle earrings, diamond chandelier earrings, and so much more.

If you stick to basic diamond earring styles, you can find pairs that are just as versatile as diamond studs. You can also find more statement style diamond earrings to wear for special occasions.

Pearl Earrings and Other Gemstone Earrings

The other most popular types of earrings in style right now are pearl earrings and colored gemstone earrings. These are unique types of earrings that make great meaningful gifts for women who like to express themselves while staying on top of jewelry and fashion trends.

These types of earrings make great gifts for people who already have a collection of jewelry, and may already have basic earring styles like diamond stud earrings.

For more information on how to buy pearl earrings, check out our pearl jewelry buying guide. For information on buying colored gemstone earrings, check out our guide to buying gemstone jewelry.

Earring Buying Tips

The best way to shop for diamond earrings online or in-store is to learn how to identify good deals on diamond earrings and other types of earrings. To get the best deal, you want to find earrings with the best price for the quality of diamond, gold, silver, platinum, or gemstone, as well as the craftsmanship.

To help you figure out how to buy diamond stud earrings and other earrings in style right now, we’ve put together a collection of tips for buying diamond stud earrings, diamond hoop earrings, and the many different kinds of diamond earrings.

Plan Your Budget

Although it’s no secret that there are incredibly ornate styles of diamond earrings that cost thousands of dollars, it might surprise you that there are actually cheap real diamond stud earrings online. If you know what your budget is, shopping for earrings online is easier to find the most styles of earrings within your desired price range.

Good online jewelry stores will have search filters where you can sort the earrings by price. If you look on the left of our Itshot site, you’ll see filters for price, gender, carat weight, metal type, and diamond quality. This way, you can figure out how to buy gold earrings or certain diamond carat weights that fit within your budget.

Decide Where to Buy Your Diamond Earrings

You’ll want to research any store thoroughly before buying diamond earrings there. This can be tricky to do with marketplaces like Amazon, where sellers come and go, and often inflate their prices to pay the marketplace fee that comes out of their sales.

The store you choose should show that they’re knowledgeable about their products. They might have a “diamond stud earrings buying guide” like ours. Check it out—does the information seem helpful and accurate? Or does it give misleading tips in order to over-promote their own products?

Just because a store says their diamond earrings are in style now doesn’t mean they are. You’ll want to read about the latest jewelry trends in a few different sources to get an idea of what’s actually in style. The store’s inventory should have new items that keep up with the trends, at fair prices.

Figure Out What Styles You Like

When shopping for diamond earrings online, it’s useful to learn about all the different styles available. You don’t want to start shopping on a website and find yourself settling on the pair of diamond studs you like the most when it turns out you might actually prefer colored diamond studs, which you’d have to shop elsewhere for.

Look at different celebrity styles in the news or social media and see what you’re drawn to. Do you prefer yellow gold or white gold? Are you into everything rose gold? Maybe you like the vintage look that sterling silver provides?

Before you start shopping, go into your search with an idea of the types of diamond earrings, gold hoop earrings, or drop earrings that you like, so you’re less likely to settle for something that you don’t end up wearing very often.

Earring Buying Guide

Here’s a diamond earring buying guide for figuring out what to look for in the best diamond earring jewelry. Some criteria might matter more to you than others—it’s a matter of preference to figure out which things you want to prioritize in your budget for diamond earrings.

Color

Diamond color is a factor that affects the value of a diamond earring. The slightest difference in color might not be very noticeable to the buyer, but it impacts price nevertheless.

In white diamonds, the less tint color, the better—and the more expensive the earrings. D is the most valuable color grade (on a D-Z scale), as it is absolutely colorless.

• D, E, and F – colorless diamonds (all appear colorless to the untrained eye)
• G, H, I, and J – near-colorless (most common diamond choices; they still appear colorless to the eye)
• K, L, M – faint (these diamonds have a slightly visible tint)
• N, O P, Q, R – very light (a more noticeable tint)
• S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z – light (brown or yellow tint is very noticeable)

Even more valuable than D color is fancy colors: with red diamond earrings, blue diamond earrings, and green diamond earrings demanding the highest prices. Fancy colored diamonds are graded on a different color scale than white diamonds.

Popularity and rarity play a role in the price of fancy colored diamond earrings. For example, a black diamond is a very rare color, but its demand is lower than white, so black diamond earrings are cheaper per carat.

Clarity

Just as color, clarity defines the natural quality of a diamond stud. Absolutely clear diamonds are rare and therefore are most expensive—it’s not necessary to spend a ton of money on a perfectly clear set of diamond earrings when you won’t be able to tell the difference from a cheaper pair with slight inclusions.

Here’s the scale for measuring the clarity of diamond earrings:

• FL, IF means flawless, with no internal or external flaws. These diamonds are rare.
• VVS1, VVS2 means very very slightly included. It is very difficult to see inclusions even under a 10x magnification. These diamonds are considered of excellent quality.
• VS1, VS2 means very slightly included. The inclusions are not visible to the unaided eye, and barely visible under 10x magnification.
• SI1, SI2 means slightly included. Inclusions are not typically visible to the unaided eye, although they are visible under a 10x magnification. These diamonds provide a very good diamond value; most of the diamonds used in jewelry items carried by ItsHot.com are SI clarity and some are vs clarity.
• I clarity means that there are slight inclusions to the diamond that are visible to the Unaided Eye.

In diamond earrings, the gold, silver, or platinum holding the diamonds adds elements of design and structure that can hide any inclusions, so buying cheap diamond earrings is totally possible if you get a lower-clarity grade of diamonds.

Most people will not notice any inclusions in your diamond stud earrings, it’s typically a factor that more people care about in engagement rings. Diamonds have more inclusions than cubic zirconia or other diamond simulants, so it’s something that’s expected in real diamond earrings.

Carat Weight

Something to consider when buying diamond earrings is the total carat weight of the diamonds. A one-carat diamond weighs 200 mg. Diamond carats specifically refer to the weight of a diamond, rather than the size. This is because the cut of a diamond can affect its dimensions.

• Typically, the higher the carat weight of an individual diamond, the bigger its size. 
• Total carat weight refers to the sum of each of the diamonds’ carat weights. This gives you an idea of the total diamond carats for a diamond earring that has multiple diamonds.

If you’re buying a set of solitaire diamond earring studs, the carat weight of the individual diamond matters most. If you’re buying diamond stud earrings that feature a cluster of diamonds, or a gold diamond hoop earring that’s paved in diamonds, the total carat weight is a better means of assessing the best diamond earrings for your budget.

Styles of Diamond Earrings

For 2021 and the upcoming years, diamond earrings are here to stay. This year is a good year to buy diamond earrings, because the styles that are trending now will remain popular for years to come. Today’s styles of diamond earrings emphasize self-expression, personality, and individual tastes.

These are the main types of diamond earrings in style right now:

• Diamond Stud Earrings
• Diamond Hoop Earrings
• Diamond Solitaire Earrings
• Diamond Halo Earrings
• Diamond Cluster Earrings
• Princess Cut Earrings
• Pave Diamond Earrings
• Diamond Huggie Earrings
• Diamond Drop Earrings
• Diamond Chandelier Earrings
• Diamond Heart Earrings
• Colored Diamond Earrings
• Blue Diamond Earrings
• Pink Diamond Earrings
• Yellow Diamond Earrings
• Multi-Color Diamond Earrings
• Designer Diamond Earrings

Custom Diamond Earrings Buying Tips

If you have an idea of what type of diamond stud earrings, diamond hoop earrings, or diamond drop earrings you’d like to get, but can’t find the exact product available, or if you want a really meaningful and personalized set of earrings, you may wish to consider creating your own custom earrings.

Here are some tips for buying custom earrings:

1. Use identical diamonds. You don’t want the two earrings to look noticeably different. Even two diamonds that are the same cut or clarity will look weird when you wear them if they have different carat weights, different depth of cut, or different settings.
2. Create sketches from multiple angles. You may use a program to create your design or hire someone who specializes in jewelry design to produce images of the earrings you want to bring to life. The more detailed the images, the easier the process.
3. Consider customizing existing earrings. If you don’t want to start from scratch, some sellers (such as us) are happy to redesign your old earrings and add custom touches. Maybe you want to replace a fake diamond with a real diamond, for example.
4. Choose a reliable manufacturer. Not all stores that offer custom diamond earrings are experts at creating jewelry. It’s a good idea to look for stores that also sell loose diamonds directly to consumers or wholesale diamond jewelry. This means that the store is used to handling diamonds and has close ties to the manufacturer, so they know exactly what to expect in terms of materials.
5. Make sure the assembly is strong. Even if you choose high-quality diamonds and real 14K gold, poor craftsmanship can produce a weak assembly for your custom diamond earrings. You want to make sure the jewelry makers are experienced and have the expertise to know the best way to secure a diamond.
6. Establish contact before placing an order. To create your own custom earrings on our website, the first step is to fill out a form. This will set up the communication that’s necessary to create earrings to your specification and budget. You don’t want any unpleasant surprises in terms of the result or cost.

Not all custom jewelry stores online provide good craftsmanship. Some stores simply add an option for customization in an attempt to keep up with the new demands for personalized jewelry, but they don’t have the diamonds or metals in their possession to create your custom earrings in-house. This results in an up-charge on customized jewelry and unreliable quality.

Here at ItsHot.com, we specialize in creating expertly crafted custom diamond earrings. We have a rich experience of 20 years in the manufacturing and wholesale of fine diamond jewelry. We have a vast knowledge of craftsmanship and consumer demands which has helped us become a leader in custom jewelry in New York City’s diamond district.

Diamond Earrings Gift Guide

Diamond earrings make a great jewelry gift for anyone special in your life. Now is the perfect time to shop for diamond earrings, which are among the best gifts for 2021 in jewelry.

Gift Ideas for Girlfriend

Diamond earrings are one of the best jewelry gifts for your girlfriend or wife. When buying a jewelry gift for a girlfriend, you’ll want to inform yourself of what diamond earrings are in style right now. This way, you can choose something she’ll wear.

Here are some tips for choosing diamond earrings for your girlfriend:

• Which type of earrings suit her: simple earrings for everyday use, or bigger statement earrings for special occasions?
  • For everyday diamond earrings, look at diamond stud earrings and huggie hoop earrings.
  • For classy, statement earrings, opt for chandelier earrings, drop earrings, or large hoop earrings.
• What color is her other jewelry? Does she have a preference for rose gold, yellow gold, or silver tone jewelry (white gold and sterling silver)?
  • You can pick your type and color of metal for our men’s diamond earrings.
• What does she wear? Look at diamond earring styles that go with her outfits. Or, opt for simple diamond stud earrings or diamond hoop earrings to go with everything.
• If you’re on a budget, check out diamond earrings for under $500.

If you want to buy a matching jewelry anniversary gift for your girlfriend, you may want to browse clearance sections to buy another piece of affordable jewelry that matches the earrings. Ideally, you want your diamond earring gift to match your girlfriend’s taste in fashion and her personality.

Gift Ideas for Mother

When choosing a diamond earring gift for your mother, think of the occasions that you picture her wearing her earrings. If you think she will wear the same earrings daily, opt for diamond stud earrings or other small, simpler diamond earrings. If she likes wearing earrings for special occasions, opt for something more unique.

• For unique gifts for mothers, consider buying designer diamond earrings. Unique jewelry designs will be special and meaningful since it shows you didn’t just stop for something last-minute in a store.
• What is her birthstone? Choosing birthstone gemstone earrings is a great birthday gift idea for mothers jewelry gifts.
• Do you want something really classy and fashionable? Chandelier earrings are a great type of diamond earring for women of any age to feel elegant and beautiful.
• Upgrade her look in a classic way with pearl earrings that are in style right now.
• Consider custom diamond earrings for a meaningful gift idea for Mother.

The key to finding the best gifts for mothers is to choose something meaningful that they can wear frequently, and think of you. Traditional diamond earrings are actually in style right now, so finding the balance between her preference and the current fashion isn’t difficult.

Gift Ideas for Men

If you’re looking for gift ideas for your boyfriend, a male friend, a male cousin or another family member—diamond stud earrings are a gift that’s hard to go wrong with if he has his ears pierced.

Here are some tips for choosing diamond stud earring gifts for men:

• If he only has one ear pierced, save money and shop single stud diamond earrings.
• If he doesn’t have a pair of diamond stud earrings yet, opt for a simple style for everyday wear.
  • Solitaire diamond stud earrings
  • Cluster diamond stud
  • Pave diamond stud earrings
• If he already has a go-to pair of diamond stud earrings, get him something different.
  • Black diamond stud earrings
  • Multi-color diamond studs
  • Blue diamond stud earrings
  • Men’s diamond hoop earrings
• If he has more than one ear piercing, a set of men’s black diamond hoop earrings will add a unique look to his multiple earring style.
• If he has other jewelry, such as a gold chain necklace, match the earring metal color to what he has.

The key for choosing diamond earrings for men is to choose versatile men’s jewelry that suits his personality. If he’s more into subtle styles or minimalist looks, you don’t want to get him something too bold. If he likes statement jewelry, there are plenty of unique diamond earrings for men.

Finding Stylish Diamond Earrings

It’s not always easy to buy diamond earrings that are in style. Fortunately, here at ItsHot, we keep up with the latest styles, since we’re situated in NYC and provide jewelry for many celebrity customers.

We constantly update our inventory, providing real diamond earrings for both cheap prices and competitive prices for designer brands and rare materials, crafted by experienced professionals.

Denis Stepansky
Founder of ItsHot.com

Denis Stepansky is a founder of ItsHot, a diamond jewelry and watches store based in NYC. He has been in the jewelry business for about 20 years and owns such high-end jewelry brands as Luccello and Luxurman. As a jewelry expert, he has citations on well-known magazines and newspapers like Insider and Daily Mail.
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