I know it is pretty stupid to buy a expensive gift for just a girl you like. She ain't my girlfriend, nor is there a chance that she will become my girlfriend (she rejected me by saying I am a nice guy, but let's be friend. Ironic isn't it?)
My friends scolded me for scaring the shit out of her and putting invisible pressure on her. And they also cursed that why am i spending such money when i could use it to treat them to a big feast.
But I don't really regret my decision. I didn't buy it because it is diamond; i bought it because i think it suits her. But that's not the reason of this blog post.
So, when buying a earring, i learnt a few stuffs.
The price range is insane. The cheap ones are going for 90cents a pair, while the real diamond real gold stuffs are going at 4 digits.
So what are the considerations you look at when buying a earring for a girl?
They are:
type of metal
type of precious stone
laser cutting
budget
Earring
It may sound pretty stupid talking about metal for an earring.
The cheaper versions are all made with plastics. But if you were to buy something that looks nice, it has to be metal.
The issue with metal is that there are so many bloody type of it.
Cosmetic metal- where it is just some cheap metal. If the wearer is allergic to metal, she would throw such cheapo earring away after wearing just a few times. Such earrings are usually in the cosmetic jewelry department where they are inexpensive and fairly ugly.
Surgical Steel - The name of it sounded awesome. But to me, it is just stainless steel. It may be slightly less allergic prone, but you cant be sure. They are after all, steel. They have a nice metallic color to it. Honestly speaking, i skipped these range totally since they are not really that cheap and their design looked ugly.
925 Silver- Such silver are pretty and can be expensive. Their design are usually with some precious stones that are not diamond(diamond is high budgeted). Being 925, they are said to be good for people with metal allergies. Their price range are pretty good too, and they looked nice! But silver will never win its counterpart, which is known as...
Gold- Of course, gold is the best type of metal. But do not misunderstand me when i say gold here. I am not talking about the color, but talking about the metal itself. The normal yellow gold that we know of is seriously ugly, despite being the type of gold that worth the most money.
White gold and rose gold is the most common for making earring. They are a pretty color and they are known to be the best type of metal for people with allergies. Well, they are in fact the only type of metal worthy to be paired with diamond! If you ever looked at any diamond earring, they are always paired with White gold or rose gold, or gold itself.Then going to stones,
Precious Stones are pretty cheap usually, since they are pretty trashy and is only there because it is pretty.
Diamond, however, is in a league of its own. Forget about clarity and cutting. I do not have such large budget to look at stuffs like that. But I would like to bring out a point that there are in fact 2 types of diamond, man made or natural. Man made stuffs would always be cheaper than natural stuffs. And of course, contrary to popular belief, diamond aren't THAT expensive.
100++SGD would get you a pretty diamond earring coupled with White Gold or Rose Gold, and they claimed that those diamond are REAL ones, not man made.
So in combination,
When you go to the jeweler, they would first ask you, "Diamond, No Diamond?"
If you said "No diamond",
They would show you a range of earrings with either precious stones, or laser cut.
Their range is fair affordable, with some of them being less than 100SGD.
My point is is to focus more on the laser cut.
Laser Cut looked damn good under those blinding lights inside the jewelers' shop. This is because the white gold does shine bright like diamond when coupled with strong lights. However, upon looking closely to it, it is nothing comparable to a real diamond shine. The price is good, but if you really want something that shine, diamond should be the stuff you look at.
Comparing to Swarovski crystals, diamond are still in a higher league on its own. And the crystal earring i so wanted to buy was a part of a earring and necklace set. So I didn't buy it.
So once you decided that you have a more than 100SGD budget, I suggest you get a diamond earring. They are a lot more nicer than 925 silver with precious stones, or White and Rose Gold with coloured precious stones. But that's totally personal opinion!
But if budget is less than 100SGD, diamonds are out. I suggest White gold or Rose gold with a nice pattern, but NOT with laser cutting. Because although they shine bright, they are still not diamond and hence it looked fake. Of course you can buy other types of metals, but i guess Gold would always outshine the rest of those precious metals.
Lastly, the good thing about buying diamond is that you get a certificate of authenticity. This is kind of like you get a warranty of the stuff you bought. I think it is a warranty of 6 months or a year. I can't remember anymore. And, while the warranty is usually a receipt, if it is a gift, you can request for the certification to be printed without the price of the item. That way, your recipient will not know how much does the stuff cost!( this is particularly important to me to reduce the invisible pressure on the girl i like)
My conclusion about earring is that, it looked damn good when you hold it on your hand or in the box. But when it is being worn, I guess it is too small to be noticed by anyone. I am not sure about others but i really doubt i would notice such a small item placed on the ears, unless i have the chance to be THAT close to her.
But then again, being a gift, i guess i don't want to give a trash that she wouldn't wear due to allergies or due to it being out of her style. So with that in mind, I chose one that suits her best(based on how i perceive her).
Jeweler's Service
The next interesting thing stuff that I learnt about buying diamond is that the way you present yourself will determine how much enthusiasm you received from the salesperson.While hunting for this particular present, i wore several outfit and went to several branches of jewelers. They are mostly the same few brands, some being the sister branding of their more premium range and bla bla bla. If the jewelers are selling the more high end precious metals and diamond, their salesperson would be wearing suits, else they would be just wearing some shirt.
When walking into the shop with polo tee and cargo pants, the service i got was quite lukewarm. It isn't that bad considering that they totally gave me a condescending "Hi Sir, how can I help you" when i walked in wearing t shirt and shorts with slippers.
But when I walked in with shirts and pants, they served me with more enthusiasm and the disappointment on their faces are a lot more when I walked out with no purchase.
So i guess, the saying of we are what we wear stays true. Dressing up does give us more confidence and gain more respect from people despite being empty vessels.
Don't judge a book by its cover doesn't work in the society i lived in.
I guess I couldn't get over the fact that i was once rejected by a girl for being too fat to even fit into her dreams.
Well, i do hope the monitoring of Mi Band will make me lose some weight so i can chase this current girl better.(she did say that no one else is chasing her hard, but that doesn't mean she won't run away herself )
Hope is the theme of my Christmas, but i lose more hope in christmas day itself than the whole year combined.
Regards
Benjamin Chai
