The Bossticks - Everything You Need To Know About Purchasing Diamonds & Jewelry Ft. The Ring Concierge's Nicole Wegman

Episode Date: February 14, 2022

#435: On today's episode we are joined by Nicole Wegman, also known for her brand The Ring Concierge. In this episdoe we cover everything you need to know when buying diamonds and jewelry, the history of the diamond business, and how to purchase jewelry that will hold it's value.  This Episode is Brought To You By Ring Concierge To learn more and get 15% off at The Ring Concierge click HERE and use code SKINNYRING To connect with Lauryn Evarts click HERE To connect with Michael Bosstick click HERE Read More on The Skinny Confidential HERE For Detailed Show Notes visit TSCPODCAST.COM To Call the Him & Her Hotline call: 1-833-SKINNYS (754-6697) Produced by Dear Media 

The following podcast is a dear media production. This episode is brought to you by Ring Concierge. She's a lifestyle blogger extraordinaire. Fantastic. And he's a serial entrepreneur. A very smart cookie. And now Lauren Everts and Michael Bostic are bringing you alone for the ride. Get ready for some major realness.

Welcome to the skinny confidential, him and her. What the women focus on is so different than what men typically focus on. or, you know, a woman if she's the one purchasing the ring. Women care 99% of the time about what it looks like. They don't care about the quality. They don't care about the specs. They want the biggest ring humanly possible, you know, within their partner's budget, and that is what they care about.

And they care about the setting design. They care about the overall aesthetic. And so that's usually what they're sending their partner. You know, get me this ring. Then a guy comes in, all stressed out. He doesn't know what he's doing. He did a little bit of online Googling. and he's like, oh my God, I need to buy a flawless diamond.

Like it needs to be colorless and flawless and all these things. Well, guess what? Now your budget is just shifted to quality oversize, and that's the opposite of what she wants. Turn this episode up in front of your significant other, okay? This is the deal. You're going to go around them, and you're going to turn it up real loud,

and they're going to get all the information, education, and hints on what to do when it comes to getting you, your dream engagement ring. I am taking one for the team, you guys. It's Valentine's Day. I wanted to get creative. So I teamed up with Michael, too, with ring conciergeers. I have been following Nicole of ring concierge forever.

She is such a staple when it comes to diamonds and engagement rings. She's all over Instagram. She has the most beautiful photos. And she's a practitioner when it comes to jewelry. I felt like this episode was so necessary for anyone who is engaged, wants to get engaged. wants to get engaged, wants to redo their ring. You know, maybe someone's out there that's listening. They've had the ring for 15 years.

They want to upgrade. Or even someone who's single and wants to buy themselves a really fabulous piece of jewelry. I thought this episode would be perfect for you guys so I could ask Nicole the ins and outs of the business. We asked her every little question possible. I also think this is for the guys out there because we didn't know or I didn't know shit about anything that had to do with buying rings or diamonds or engagement. And listen, I think we're just expected to kind of figure this stuff out. I thought you just walk into a store.

But listen, guys, here's the reason why it's important. You want to get a little bit more bang for your buck. You want to buy a smart investment. You want to actually get an asset. You want your dollars to go as far as they can. This episode's important because it'll educate you around the entire process. And I think it's really important for people to just know more about this stuff for so long. You know, nobody teaches us these things.

So again, if you're going to start spending money in one of your biggest purchases, like always get educated first. You should also know the ring concierge is doing a giveaway. I had to leave this giveaway in the beginning and the end because it's such a good one. She is giving away diamonds to one lucky winner. The diamonds are so beautiful. I saw them in person. She actually made me a necklace.

So I will show you the necklace that I have on Instagram stories and she's going to give one to you. To get detailed with you, it's a baguette and pave initial. necklace. So I did a Z and you can pick whichever initial you want. You could do your last name. You could do your mom's first name. You could do yours. She'll let you pick the initial and you will get this gorgeous and I mean gorgeous. Diamond baguette and Pavay initial necklace. You can check it out on her site at ringconcierge.com. All you have to do to win is follow at ring concierge on Instagram. You can't miss her page. Let me tell you. And then tell us your favorite part of this episode with

Nicole on my latest post at Lauren Bostic. On that note, let's meet Nicole. Nicole Wegman is the founder of ring concierge. She began as a luxury private jeweler and has scaled into a successful e-commerce business. She's also a private jeweler and she knows her shit. Let me tell you. She's disrupted the industry. She's avant-garde and she's on the pulse when it comes to jewelry. With that, let's welcome Nicole to the skinny confidential him and her podcast. This is a is the skinny confidential, him and her. I have saved so many of your rings on my Instagram story archives and sent them to Michael as like a nudge, nudge, push, push.

So I'm really excited you're here. But I think having you on this podcast, the goal is for education around diamonds. And the reason that we wanted to have you on is because Michael sort of has a little bit of a horror story. And I wanted you to tell that. I don't know if I necessarily have a horror story. It was more of just like I didn't realize how much education is, needed to understand diamonds, right? I would consider myself, I'm not an expert, but an

officiado of watches and buying watches, like, been passionate about it my whole life. So I understood what that process was. I understood the makers, how to buy it, how to find the right person to buy it from, like all of those things. But with diamonds, I don't know why I didn't think about it when I went to get Lawrence, what is it, 10 years ago, I thought you just like walk into any store and get them and just like, pick out one you like. I didn't realize all of the, what is it, the four Cs? Four Cs, yeah. And all of these things. And that size doesn't necessarily, really mean quality. Like, so I think probably that's a decent place to, or a good place to start is like,

I was just so ignorant. I think I'm probably not the only one. But you have to tell the story of how you walked in the store and they quoted you this exorbitant amount of money. You know, this is probably just me walking. You know, we were in Los Angeles. I probably walked into one of the higher end stores. He goes into like, he goes into.

What was it? Like, Harrods? No, Harry Winston. Oh, you went into the top of the top of the top. And they're like, oh, look at this dumb ass. Yeah. No, I didn't know. And of course, I didn't know either.

So I'm like, I like this one and it's like a 12 cut, de-flawless. Yeah, they're like, this one will be about $2 million. And I'm like, this one is leaving the store. Yeah, I mean, so it is a very opaque industry. And obviously, why would you know anything about a diamond if you've never purchased a diamond before? And usually for most people, it's when they're getting engaged. So you're walking into a situation where you're about to spend possibly the most, the most money you've ever spent aside from maybe a house or a car, and you know nothing about it.

So it can be very stressful. It can be very daunting. And we really try to change that for people and make it really comfortable and stress-free. And we have a lot of ways that we do that. But yes, if you walk into a store like that and you don't know what you're doing, you're going to walk out paying way more than you should. During my process, and again, I don't want to paint a bad picture here. but I also was just like, who can I trust to educate me? Right? Like, it's hard to, you know, you never know, like the person that's in the store selling me. It's like their job obviously is to sell me or whoever's buying the diamond.

So I'm like, yes, I can get some education there, but maybe not all of it. Right. So it just, it was just daunting because I didn't know where to go or who to talk to or even what to look at. Exactly. And that's really why I started the business. So I was in the process of getting engaged. This was also about 10 years ago. And-

engaged to you. Oh, fuck. They're screwed. Well, no, I wasn't doing this yet, but I was still a monster. No, I wasn't doing this yet, but I knew I wanted a big ring and I'm very particular. So I started looking, like, without my now husband, which actually most women do. I'm not a total psychopath. Like, that's a thing most women do, started looking. I went up and down the Diamond District in New York City. It's very sketchy. There's men on the street saying, are you buying, are you selling? You know, like, come in here and you're like, wow, this is uncomfortable. I have no idea if I'm getting ripped off. I don't know what I'm buying. Is it what they say I'm, you know, buying? And then I went into Harry Winston, just like you did. And I was like, oh, everything's beautiful. They get my taste. And then you

get hit with a price that is easily in the six figures for like a two-carat for like not a very large diamond. And then I also started looking online a little bit. And the options were just so impersonal. They weren't cool. It was like Blue Nile, which is a very large diamond website. But it's just, it doesn't feel luxes. They don't have good designs. There's no person behind the brand. You know, who are you even buying from? And that is what inspired me to create ring concierge because I was in my mid-20s and I didn't like any of the options, any of the ways to buy an engagement ring. And I realized, wow, there was this huge void in the industry for a company that focuses on how millennial women actually want to shop for jewelry and how, you know, men would want to purchase an engagement

ring. And, you know, our focus is transparency and education and we can go into all of that. But we, you know, I had a similar experience to you. And that's what inspired ring concierge. I also feel, and this is a little tip for everyone out there and tell me if I'm wrong, that when you go in these stores like Harry Winston and Tiffany's, they have a special fucking light in there. Okay. There is a light that they have that hits that diamond in a particular really sparkly way. So you're, you're, you almost think you're getting more for your buck. When you walk out of the store with the ring, there's no, like, I almost wanted to walk around with the light shining on my ring at all times. That doesn't come with the ring.

Right. No, I mean, you're totally right. There is, you can spend a lot of money to get optimal lighting in a jewelry store. And most jewelers do this. We, when we work with clients, we have all of our jewelry by just windows, just like in this room, and we encourage them, go stand by the window and look at it in natural light. You know, look at it how you would actually see it when you're wearing it. And that's how you should purchase a ring. You shouldn't just base it on the lighting and jewelry store because, yes, it makes it so much sparklier. And you can get a diamond that really sparkles like that. But you want to make sure it sparkles like that in all lighting. I totally agree. You should also take an Instagram picture of your hand in natural light.

So you can just see how it looks. What are some other manipulations? that jewelry stores do that you don't do. So another big differentiator for us is we don't hold inventory. What we do is you would call us up and say, you know, I'm interested in, you know, making up a scenario, an oval, I think around two carrots. My budget is around $25,000. And we curate an assortment. We pull from all the suppliers and wholesalers, not just in New York City.

We work, you know, worldwide with the best of the best. And we curate an assortment just for you. So we are giving you completely impartial opinions on what diamond is best for your budget, your preferences, your, you know, let's say size is more important than quality. So then we'll focus on that. Most jewelers carry an inventory. And so they're going to push whatever they need to move. And so they might be saying, oh, this is the best option for you because of X, Y, and Z.

And it's not, you know, it's something that they just need to move. So we're working, you know, with you. We're on your side. And we're only recommending things that we would personally stand by. wear because we don't have an ulterior motive when we're recommending diamonds. That makes sense. Another thing that someone said to me that made a really big difference when I was picking out what I wanted and silently sending pictures to Michael was everyone's finger is different. It's like your body. Like some things flatter body types better than other things. And I think with

the ring, I was told that there was a certain stone that flattered my finger and made it, I was told, like a ballerina finger, like a longer finger. Do you find that to be true with different shapes and sizes? Absolutely. So universally, the most flattering is an oval. And that's because it's elongated and it helps elongate the finger. So when people are kind of self-conscious about their finger shape, that tends to be a really great option. Rounds are also universally flattering. They look good on everybody. What I wouldn't do is if you kind of have stubbier fingers, there's nicer ways to phrase that. But if you have a steper, your finger, you don't want a ring that's going to emphasize that. So a shape, for example, that wouldn't be great might be a very square cushion shape. You know, you want something that's long

and lean to make your finger look long and lean, like a ballerina finger, just like you said. Yeah, I didn't want a chode finger. That was, that was important to me. Nobody wants that. Yeah, I wanted my fingers to be, to look long. And I think that that's something to be said when you're looking for the ring. I would love to talk about how much education goes in. into the whole process with the woman before the man even comes. Like what what do you see women doing to start the process like nudge, nudge, wink, wink to, or I guess it could be woman to woman too. Like what do you see women doing secretly behind their significant others back

before they even buy the diamond? Yep. So that's a great question because what the women focus on is so different than what men typically focus on or, you know, a woman if she's the one purchasing the ring. So women care 99% of the time about what it looks like. They don't care about the quality. They don't care about the specs. They want the biggest ring humanly possible, you know, within their partner's budget, and that is what they care about. And they care about the setting design. They care about the overall aesthetic. And so that's usually what they're sending their partner. You know,

get me this ring. Then a guy comes in, all stressed out. He doesn't know what he's, doing. He did a little bit of online Googling and he's like, oh my God, I need to buy a flawless diamond. Like it needs to be colorless and flawless and all these things. Well, guess what? Now your budget is just shifted to quality oversize and that's the opposite of what she wants. So usually that initial conversation for us is working with a guy and saying, okay, we're going to make sure it's still an optimal diamond and it's going to look white and bright and you're not going to see any visible, you know, inclusions. But you can drop a bunch of marks here and a bunch of marks here.

And we can reallocate that towards carrot weight. So now she's super happy. And that's usually the balance and the difference between what a woman wants and what a guy thinks he should focus on when they first come in for the first appointment. Well, Leran, I think this is, so this is the education that took place for me. One, you know, I only knew about shape and size, right, and cut in the beginning, right? I didn't know about the color and all the clarity and all this stuff. And I think that a lot of guys get put in a position where, you know, if you knew more about these things, you could actually probably get a better quality and maybe a more sizable diamond for whoever you're buying for.

You know what I mean? Because if you're looking and maybe that it's has a really high color, and let's say it's like, you know, D.E. F or whatever. And you're looking at that and like, okay, well, for that kind of color, I can only afford, you know, a one carrot or whatever. But if you maybe lowered that a little bit like you're saying, I think just guys don't know this, right? But at the same time, like my challenge is always if I'm looking, I look at all these things as assets, right? I look at watchers and diamonds as assets. And if there's not a way to transfer that asset out, meaning they can't sell it or get some money back, I typically like tend to stay away, which I think is important for people to think about when they're buying.

And so I think there's the balance of like buying a smart asset while also getting your significant other, the closest thing that they'll be happy with. So also a great thing to talk about because I think what you think would be very sellable asset is probably the opposite of what actually is. So in the market, I think actually DE are not assets. They're difficult to move because they're less desirable because less people can afford them. So if you want to buy a diamond that you're like, okay, I think, you know, my wife might want to upgrade in five years. I want to make sure it's an easy item to trade in or that a jeweler would want to buy back. You're actually want to go down a few notches. You want to be in the near

colorless range, which is going to be G through J, not D through F, because. it's just harder to move something at a really high price point. So a lot of people do think that way, and it's kind of you want to buy the opposite of what you would gravitate towards. Quick break. One of the best things about moving to Texas is not just moving locations and being in Texas, but it took me breaking out of a city and getting into a new place to realize how many unhealthy practices I had.

And with that, I have really overhauled my life. I quit drinking. I started eating healthier, started working out more. And I started supplementing, right, which is why I'm so excited to talk about symbiotica. They are currently my favorite supplement business, supplement brand. If you've listened to the show, you heard that we had the founder, Cherveen on the show the other day. And these supplements are so great because they're liposomal.

All of the vitamins are edible, right? It's food-based. So the nutrients and the supplements and the vitamins get exactly where they need to go. My favorite one is the B-12 and the D-3. These are critical for so many different things. You just squirt them in your mouth. I'll let you jump in, Lauren, but I'm just so excited about symbiotica. It's such a great business. You know when Michael collects something, he collects and he commits to it. So all of his

symbiotic vitamins are lined up. If I had to pick one to share with the audience, I would pick the B12. You squirt it in your mouth. I do 12 squirts in the morning and I notice a huge difference. And they also have this other situation. It's minerals. Okay. So it's like this little black tub of minerals. And what I do with the minerals in the morning is when I'm making like my lemon chlorophyll water is I'll just do a little scoop of those minerals and put them in my water. And it's actually like a liquid gold. The benefits if you go on their site are incredible. So those are the two that I would start with. It contains over 84 essential minerals and is a super antioxidant that is very anti-inflammatory, which I love. One thing I love about what Symbiotica and Chervine has done is

they've really, really taken the time to source the absolute best ingredients. To try it out, go to symbiotica.com and use code Skinny at checkout for 15% off your first purchase. This is an addition to custom bundle discount so people can get up to 45% off, which is a shitload. So be sure to create your custom bundle at symbiotica.com and use code skinny. Okay, you have to tell the truth when I ask this question. How many guys are going in to talk to you? And they're like, let's just tell her that this diamond is 4-carat, D flawless. And it's actually not. And then additionally, how many people are actually switching the diamond out for a fake

diamond and lying? Okay. So less than, less than I, you would think, and hopefully, and maybe they don't tell us, that's what they're going to say. We've had it happen a few times where they're like, if she emails, tell her it's X. You know, so it does happen. But what we're starting to see more and more, it's not a fake diamond. Lab grown diamonds are becoming increasingly popular. So obviously, diamonds are traditionally mind, you know, they're hundreds of thousands of years old, and that's part of what makes them so interesting and so special. We now can make diamonds, you know, man-made. It is still technically a diamond. It's 100% carbon. It's, you know, to the naked eye and to most professionals, you really can't see the difference, but it is made in a lab and it takes very little time. So,

therefore, they cost much, much less. So that's the swap that we're starting to see happen. And do they say that they're swapping or do they just lie? I think there's a combo. Okay. I think some guys just handed her and she's probably like, oh my God, how the hell did he afford that? And he doesn't say a thing. What if your husband proposed to you with a lab grown diamond, would you be okay with it? I have no judgment either way. I'm just wondering, you're a jewelry designer. You do this for a living.

I guess to follow that, if what you were saying earlier, if some women don't care about all the quality and all the stuff, like, why would they care? If it is the aesthetic that they like, why would they care if it's not all the other things? So just to your point earlier, if you. you want to buy something that is going to be worth something in 5, 10, 20 years, a lab-grown diamond is not the move. They're new to the market. They're becoming increasingly saturated.

So their prices have been dropping not by a little, but by a ton month over month. Like we're talking there a quarter of the price that they were two, three years ago. So if you want to buy one and you know this is the opposite of an investment, but you don't care. You want to get the biggest diamond possible. I want a three-carat. I don't care. It's going to cost much less than a real.

a mined diamond, buy it. You probably can't ever trade it in. It's probably worth, you know, very, very little in five years from now, but you're happy for the time being. Then I'd say buy one. If you want to buy something that's still worth what you paid or more or it's going to hold value, you can pass down to your children, then you've got to buy a mine diamond. What would you say, though, if they've proposed with a lap diamond? I want to know what you would actually say. Give me your real reaction right now. I'd be pissed. I would, I personally would be pissed. It'd be like, okay, you couldn't pony up and get me the real thing. That's how I would feel. And what about a moizenite? We've seen this now on Vanderpump rules. This is like a whole

scandal. Have you seen this? No. Okay, there's like a scandal on Vanderpump rules about the Moisonite diamond. Again, I actually have no judgment either way. Like who the fuck cares what you're wearing? But I would love to know like you're a professional what your opinion is. So Moisonite, I would also be, I'd be particularly pissed. They're not a real diamond at all. I mean, it's not even in the same family. So if you gave it to me and said, you know, this is this. This is this. is what I could afford. I hope you love it. I would be fine with that. But if you give it to me and say, this is a diamond, that's not a way to start a relationship, first of all. Ooh, you're a liar, integrity. Exactly. What is the history of the diamond? Like, how did we, how did this become so

important? Right. It's like, this is one of the more important things when you're getting engaged. It all comes down to the rarity. I mean, people have been giving diamonds for engagements for hundreds and hundreds of years. You know, truthly, I don't even know the era in which it started. It's been so long. And I think because they're so rare, they're the hardest substance on earth. And obviously when you cut them, right, they're gorgeous and brilliant. And, you know, every woman is drawn to that. So it's just stuck. And then in, I believe it was the 80s, the entire Diamonds Our Forever campaign came out from De Beers. And they really pushed it from a marketing standpoint. And now, you know, every woman in, you know, the Western world associates love and an engagement with a diamond.

Okay. So say there's a girl who's at home listening and she wants, let's pretend she wants a three-carat, nice, high-quality diamond. Where would you tell her to start? Is she booking an appointment with you and her husband? Is she sending him stuff on Instagram? What are the little tricks and tips that you can give this? going to therapy. She's got high taste right there. Is he breaking up? Like what what's the dynamic that you usually tell people to do? We usually see two things. Either the couple makes the appointment together and they come in. We also work with couples remotely all the time. So they'd be involved with the process together. They'd do their initial consultation. They'd learn we educate them. They'd learn kind of what that's going to cost them and what she might care about most. And then you,

Usually she bows out and the final appointments he'll do alone. So there is still this element of surprise where she doesn't know the exact diamond he picked or she doesn't know when he's going to propose because she doesn't know when the ring's going to finish. So there is usually still this like surprise element. Or she will send him a million screen grabs and aggressive text and just be like this is the ring I want because he doesn't want her involved in the process. And he comes in alone and then just shows us a screen grab and says, make this or she'll kill me. So it's usually one of those two scenarios. How do you feel I was? I think I was pretty easy.

I picked her stone myself. Which I love. Without her after going. But you knew what flattered my finger. Well, we went in and we looked at a bunch of different stones on like basically what flattered her fingers. I was going to make sure that at least had an idea of the type or the shape she liked. But then I figured out all the other stuff.

And then she obviously took over the full process of designing it with the jeweler, at least with the setting, because I was going to fuck that up for. sure. Speaking of setting, I feel like it's time to update mine. But while I have you, I would love to know how the evolution of how the setting and the diamond has changed since you started to now. Like what is very on the pulse, almost avant-garde where you think like the industry is even going? Yep. So we are usually at the forefront of trends and engagement rings because, you know, there's not that many cool people doing this. So people usually are following our Instagram account and they're really getting inspiration from us.

The trend that's the largest right now and that we really started is the whisper thin setting. So that is the thinnest band you can safely wear. So the focus is all on the diamond. And yellow gold tends to be more popular in that setting than platinum, which is also a big shift because it used to be all about platinum. So it's just this super, super thin gold band. And your diamond looks like it's floating on your finger.

It makes the diamond look massive. It's easy to stack wedding bands and other, fun rings with that setting. So that's wildly popular. You know, people come to us just for that specifically. I like that dainty setting. I think that's so much more flattering than like a huge thick band. Totally. And there are trends because, you know, 10 years ago, a thick band was what everyone wanted. But I think where it's going is even more modern. So a bezel set is huge right now. What's that? So that is when there is a ring of gold around the diamond. There's no prongs. So it basically mirrors the shape of the diamond.

I'll have to show you one because it's almost a little hard to describe. But it's you see the color gold wrapped around the diamond. It's not as simple as a four-prong ring. You are such a professional at what you do. But you also, and I've watched you for a long time, really been savvy about the business on social media. No one was doing what you were doing on social media. I mean, the way you take your pictures, you are constantly showing new shapes.

They're on the pulse. They're avant-garde. How do you do both and do it so well? So I found early on in the business that blurring the line between being an influencer and a retailer was kind of the key to our success. Yeah. Not being just a brand, which is how most people in the industry operate because it's mostly male run.

So, you know, you're not going to see a 60-year-old guy. posting selfies on Instagram. No one's buying from that if you're selling jewelry. No one wants that man's chode finger. No, with hair. No. So I used Instagram to grow the business. It's my single most important tool. And it is a focus of mine. And we basically carved out, the team is carved out of my schedule time to focus every single day on Instagram because it's not just this fun, fluffy thing for me. It is a business tool. And the reason why it's been so effective is because women see exactly like how you wear this jewelry every day. It's not just a product shot on a white background. It's, I'm at dinner and here's what I'm wearing and here's why I chose these pieces.

And this is the engagement ring I'm wearing today. And here's the wedding bands I'm stacking with it. So they really see how to wear it. They feel more comfortable wearing jewelry every day because they see like you don't have to be going to a formal event to be decked out in diamonds. And I think they relate to me and they trust my expertise because they see the face behind the brand. How fun for you. You're just like opening up your clueless closet, looking at all your jewelry, being like, what should I wear today on Instagram? That's such a fun job. Can we talk to some scenarios? So say that there's a couple and they're just getting their financial footing and they want to have a starting, you know, they're just thinking, okay, we have a set budget because we're just getting started and we want to make a smart buy and potentially also have the ability to upgrade or change it to something greater in a few years once they're a little bit more financially. all of it. Where do you, where do you coach that couple to start? I would say buy whatever really is making you happiest, you know, pick a ring that you love. Don't try to stretch your budget past your comfort level because at the end of the day, this is not the most important thing in the world. I mean, yes, I'm sitting here and I sell diamonds, but it's not more important than making

sure you're not going into debt and all those other things. Buy something that makes you really, really happy, but find a jeweler that has a trade-in policy because you want to make sure you're going to get the money you've paid back. So trade-in policy, meaning you can bring that specific diamond or piece of jewelry back. They will trade it and upgrade or for the similar or relative value and then you'll be able to upgrade. Exactly. If you walk into any old jeweler that you've never worked with and try to sell your ring back, you're going to get slaughtered. Because if you think about it, why would, you know, I as a jeweler pay Joe Schmo more than my wholesale pricing I can get from buying from a wholesaler? It doesn't make any sense in terms of a business model.

So what we have is we have a trade in policy. If you come any dime in you purchase from us, we will buy back and put towards your upgrade. If you spend double on your upgrade, we give you 100% of your money back. So you can really feel comfortable that in five, 10 years, you want to get a bigger ring, you're not going to take this big hit when you trade your ring in. You spend 10,000 and then you come back five years later and like, hey, you know, now I'm in a better position. I want to get a nicer ring. You'll give them the full 10,000 if they buy the $20,000 ring. Exactly.

And if you buy less than double, we'll try to get you the highest price possible, whatever's kind of fair on the market that day. If you listened to our podcast with Lori of maybe you should talk to someone, maybe you decided that maybe you should talk to someone. I know that I am inspired to talk to someone. And therapy can be annoying because you have. to get in your car. You have to park. You have to go in. You have to write your name on the clipboard. You have to run into someone from high school in the waiting room. And then when you finally get in, you're not in the comfort of your own home. Then you got to drive home. You run out of gas. It's a whole thing. Which is why I am so excited to tell you about better help. Better help assesses

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That's right, it's Valentine's Day. If you forgot it was Valentine's Day, I have a little tippity-tip. Sikara Life, okay? Sikara is a wellness company, and they use food as medicine. There is a specific thing that I cannot stop ordering on Sikara Life that would make a very cute gift. You could gift your significant other this, or you could gift your single self-this. And that is their chlorophyll drops.

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Tell us another scenario. I like these scenarios. Well, say somebody, I mean, I think that's a good scenario, you know, or say somebody's had a ring for a while and they are wanting to upgrade now and they didn't get it from something like that. Like, what are their options? So you want to get quotes because, like I said, it doesn't really make sense for a jeweler to pay you retail pricing for a diamond. Get quotes from a few people, but also get quotes on what you want to buy.

So not just your trading quote. You have to kind of have to do the math in totality. What are they giving me for my trade in? And what am I going to spend on my new diamond and do the math? Because different jewelers will price it out different ways. And it's the final number is all that really matters. And that's how I would go about it. But it's not that straightforward.

It's not that simple. Unfortunately, it's like a touch complicated. I would love for you to talk about Gody. I'll spend whatever I want versus chic, understated, but also beautiful. What do you do when someone comes to you and they're like, I could spend whatever I want, whatever. What do you say? How do you talk them off that cliff to get them something pretty? So I never talk them off spending so much cliff. But no, I know what you're talking about.

To make it like cool and not like loud and annoying. But sometimes people like to be loud and annoying. And if you like to be loud and annoying, great. But like I'm just asking how you do that. I feel like it's a finesse. It is a finesse. Luckily, people usually come to us that have good taste. because I think they're drawn to the simplicity of our settings.

But we have definitely have clients that, you know, they want to buy a very large diamond, let's say like nine carrots, and then put big sidestones with it. And then all of a sudden you're like knuckle to knuckle. You don't see any skin. It's uncomfortable to wear. So those are the scenarios where we really try to talk to them about other options, which might be a little classier.

Let's just keep the band super simple. Keep the setting really, really simple. But if you want to feel like you've got more, buy yourself a badass band, a big eternity band that you can wear on your right hand. So you're kind of spreading out your diamond coverage and it's not all just covering one finger, which is when it does look very gaudy. There's obviously a lot of controversy in the diamond industry and also it's male dominated. I would love to know your thoughts on both of those. Yeah. So like I said earlier, that was one of the big inspirations for me starting the company. I didn't think it made sense that an

industry that caters to women, you know, women are the end users and they're the drivers in the decision. And, you know, nowadays with fine jewelry, women are just shopping for themselves. Why is this being run by 60-year-old men who are taking over a business that their dad run and then their grandpa ran it before them? And it's just so crunchy and old and antiquated. It wasn't cool. So when I started this, it was really tough because no one took me seriously within the industry. I remember once I was meeting with a manufacturer and I brought some diamonds with me to show him to talk about the specifics of the settings I wanted. And he looked at me and he's like, do you have insurance for those? And it was kind of this, you know, backhanded, oh, you silly thing,

you're playing with diamonds. You don't know what you're doing. You probably don't even have insurance coverage, which is like, of course I have insurance. I'm a jeweler. And so I realized I wasn't going to get a lot of support or being taken seriously within the industry. and my whole strategy was just to prove them wrong. And now cut to nine years later, you know, everybody's knocking on our door, trying to do business with us and we don't need them anymore. So there's more and more women that are starting to join this industry. And I think that's really important. And, you know, my team, I have 35 employees. They're all women. So we're really, really proud of that because this industry shouldn't be driven by men. It should be driven by women.

And women should feel empowered to work in it, to shop for jewelry, to be more. more a part of, you know, the entire thing. One time my aunt had a wedding ring and she went to this jewelry store. I know the jewelry store. It's like jewels by blah, blah, blah. And she goes in and she gets her wedding ring completely cleaned. And she leaves it there, I think for like a couple days, I want to say. She comes back.

She gets the ring. She puts it on. She wears it. She ends up getting a divorce. And she goes back years later to another jewel. and she's like, I want to sell this ring and they're like, this is fake. Do you hear these stories a lot? And how can we avoid that? Because it is a lot of anxiety to leave something that's so precious and expensive in the hands of someone who knows the industry when, you know, maybe she didn't.

Totally. I think that happens very rarely. I've heard these horror stories. And whenever people, you know, say, oh, I need to go get my ring clean somewhere. Can I trust someone? I don't think most people are doing that. Obviously, like, you know, you're specifically a criminal if you're doing that. But people are very nervous and they should be. It's a tiny thing that's very expensive. So always go to the person you bought it from. If you can and if you can't, just look on Yelp. You know, look at if a store has five stars on Yelp and you go get your ring clean there, odds are they're not swapping your diamond out for Cubisconia. How important is certification? So like obviously like GIA certs and stuff like that, you know, in the watch space, like for me, if I'm buying a watch, it needs to come with all the papers or

least be certified from the manufacturer. Like with diamonds. I know, don't they, print serial numbers on the inside of them at some point, too? Or they do. Yeah. So certs are extremely important. And the only one that matters when it comes to diamonds is GIA. They are, you know, the utmost authority in diamond grading. And that is what the entire industry bases their standards off of. So if you go to a jeweler and they quote you a price and it just seems too good to be true, you should dig into it. Is it GIA certified? What's the other, there's another certification that's like kind of like a secondary that? There's so many.

There's EGL. Okay. Yeah, you don't want anything but GIA. You could buy an EGL diamond that might say, oh, it's a DVS2, which would be a very good diamond. And GIA might give it a GSI2, which is many grades lower. So you have to be really careful. And it's a great, it's a great company. They're very trustworthy.

There's no reason to buy a diamond that does not come with a GIA certification. And what about from an insurance? perspective. They're going to insurers are going to want that, right? They prefer it. They don't need it. But if you have a scenario where you need to replace your ring through your insurance company, you're much better off when you have a valid certificate that's tied to your original purchase to say, no, no look. It was in fact, you know, a GVS2. And I want my replacement to be at least a GVS2. If someone's listening and they have a budget of like 10 grand and let's also do five grand with this and you're you. What are you getting?

what kind of cut, what kind of clarity? If you have a budget of 10 grand, what are you going to tell your husband specifically to get? You want to get... Or girlfriend or boyfriend. You get what I mean. Yep, yep. I would say where you want to be

if you have a 5 to 10 budget and you want to maximize carrot weight, you want to be at the bottom of the near colorless range. So that's going to be a J or an I. It's still going to look white, but you're not breaking the bank on, you know, focusing on color. And you want to be in the S-I clarity range. That means slightly included.

So there's SI1 and S.I.2, both are fine. The key is look at the diamond in person or if you're working remotely, get really good pictures of it from your jeweler. Can you see anything with the naked eye? If you can't see anything with the naked eye, who cares what's in there? Because that grading is done

under 10x magnification. So obviously under 10x, you're going to see little tiny imperfections. But who cares? If you can't see it with the naked eye and it looks white when you're looking at it, you're totally fine. So that's kind of the sweet spot in maximizing budget.

And if you have a 10K budget, you'll be right under two carrots, which is great. And if you're around $5,000, you'd be around one carrots. You're going to think this is crazy, but I deal with tones on Instagram, like different tones on my Instagram story

and like my aesthetic, I would think if I was getting that ring, I would not want any gold near it. And I'll tell you why. I feel like the gold would bring out any yellowness of the diamond. So I would get like platinum around it and do like platinum bracelets. Is that fucking crazy psychotic or is there something to that?

Total strategy. And great, you brought that up because even when someone buys, it could be a colorless diamond. If you make the prongs, which are the part that's actually touching and holding the diamond, if you make those yellow, the diamond will pick that up and reflect it. So even when someone wants a yellow gold ring, which like I said, we sell all the time, we make the band in yellow and the head, which is the part. that the diamond sits in, always platinum, always platinum. This is why you don't see me wearing a lot of yellow,

because I think it brings out the yellows in my highlights. I know this, bear with me, it brings out the yellows of the teeth, the yellows of the eyes, and you won't see me wearing a lot of red because the same thing. I don't want my eyes to look red. I'm very specific about tones. And I know that sounds crazy, but once I point this out,

I feel like the audience, maybe someone will DM me and be like, I get what you mean. But there is something to be said, actually, if you have a diamond that's towards, you know, a lower color grade, so it does have more warmth and it looks a little more yellow, if you set it in all platinum, like the band is platinum and the head, it will make it look more yellow because it's contrasting against white. So you want a yellow band that helps make the diamond look whiter. But again, the top of it, the prongs need to stay platinum.

So you're not adding more yellow into the reflection. That makes sense. That is such a good tip. Write that down and play it. You're in the bathroom right now with your significant other. Turn that up and play it right next to them. How can consumers know if they're getting conflict-free diamonds? Is there any way to figure that out? Yes. So legally, you cannot sell conflict diamonds in the U.S. I think there's this big misconception because of the movie. And explain what that is for anyone who doesn't know. I think it came to light when blood diamonds came out, the Leo movie. Basically, there are, mines in Africa that have really horrible conditions and it's high conflict and there's violence and, you know, there's really dangerous people essentially, you know, forcing people to mine

for these diamonds and they're murdering people. It's horrible. It's much more under control right now, but it does still exist. I'm not going to lie, it still exists. In the U.S., you cannot get diamonds legally that have gone through these conflict mines. And there's something called the Kimberly process. And this is a process that traces the diamond from origin all the way to its finished state to make sure it's never been in a conflict zone. And all of the diamonds we sell, follow the Kimberly process. And anything that's going through GIA and is being certified is a conflict-free diamond. So most jewelers, you know, you can very safely say you're not getting a conflict diamond. I think there's a misconception that all diamonds have gone through conflict.

And it's just not true. Nicole, can you tell us the coolest diamond you've ever done. And then maybe if you can talk about a celebrity or influencer that you did that you were just, like, freaking out about. Yeah. I would say the coolest diamond also happens to be the largest diamond we've ever sold. And it's not just because it was big, but that surely added, it was 11 carrots. But what made it, which is gigantic, that's like a nice skating rink. But what made it really cool is it was this really rare antique cut. So it wasn't cut in a modern way, which can be very flashy. I think when you go really, really large, you have to be super careful about the cut you select so that you're not looking gaudy. And it was very understated. And we put it in the whisper thin, and the proportions were

just crazy to have this ice skating rink in the really thin setting. It was out of this world, gorgeous. You have to show it to us on Instagram story, if you can when this goes live. Yes. And what about celebrities and influencers? Do you get them all the time? One of the things that has been on the skinny Confidential master list on my blog for the last four years is a humidifier. I have been raving and screaming from the rooftops about the benefits of humidifiers for your skin. I never knew what humidifier to recommend to you guys because they were all ugly as shit. So when Canopy launched, I was extremely excited. I honestly cannot believe how much they pay attention to detail.

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code Skinny 10 at checkout and you save an additional 10% off your canopy purchase. I'm telling you, your skin will thank you. We do. I would say the story I like the best is actually Jordan and Jojo. I don't know if you watch The Bachelor. So she was the Bachelorette and Jordan won. They're still together. Everyone loves them because they're just the greatest couple ever. Everyone, if you watch The Bachelor, you get proposed to with a Neal Lane ring. And it's this whole thing. They came to us about two years ago and he basically was like, this ring's not my vibe. You know, it was given to me by the show,

but I want to propose to her with the ring that she actually loves, that I picked out. I want to feel like it's this real proposal. And she was a follower of ours and she was, you know, doing what you were doing and just saving all of our pictures and sending it to him.

So he completely surprised her. She had no idea and bought her this like killer oval, set it in the yellow whisper thin and reproposed to her for real without, you know, cameras, without a TV show. And this was years into, their relationship where they were already technically engaged and reproposed to her in the way that he always dreamt of. And it was just so sweet and so special and they're like the nicest people on

the planet. I would love another proposal. And I'll tell you why. I think that it's been a long time we've been married. I could use like a little like my my gas tank needs to be filled. Like I would I would love for you to like do a whole proposal again and repurpose. All right. I'm sure. I, uh, if you're, If you're looking for like an idea, like I would... Let me, let me type, only, Lauren. We're going to get this baby out first. We're going to give me a little breathing room and then we'll see how it goes. Okay, I'm just like putting it out there.

If anyone wants to DM Michael, I'm telling Nicole, I'm like manifesting it. I would love just a sporadic. Let's do it non-traditional. You propose to me and you set it up for me and you get me, you tell me in. No, I feel like your fingers are too chody for that. I don't have choty fingers. A little bit, little bit. I think that I might need a proposal if anyone has any idea.

Isn't it like supposed to be like the ten? year mark, five year mark? Yeah, we're almost there, I feel like. Really? Yeah. I think that's a great idea. Nicole's contact. I want to know selfishly for myself, when you're cutting a diamond and you were talking about the antique cut, what does that mean? Is there specific names for it? Yes, and they're actually antique. You know, they're not cut new. So there's an old mine cut, which is the precursor to today's cushion. And then there's the old euro, which was the precursor to rounds. And they're truly antique diamonds. And the way we acquire them is we would go to auctions and, you know, all of these types of things and buy out antique jewelry. And it might be a huge necklace that has 50 of these

because back in the Edwardian period, that's what women wore. And we pull the whole thing apart and get the diamonds repolished and GIA certified. And then, you know, you sell them loose for engagement rings. So it's really cool. They're really old. It's just so special. That's really, really cool. I like that. What about necklaces, bracelets? slits, little rings, maybe someone single that's listening that wants to buy themselves something. Do you also sell watches? Talk to us about the other things that you do and like little tips and tricks that you have for that. Yep. So we have a website. We're ring concierge.com, but we have a website that has everything and anything you could ever want in the fine jewelry space. You know, we were talking a lot

about engagement rings here, but that is just half of the business. The other half is fine jewelry. Prices start at $70. You can get, you know, a single stud to do like a cool earring stack. And they go way up from there. But some of our favorite things that people like are stacking rings. You know, we have a lot of really cool rings in like the $300 range. You can slowly build out your stack by one piece here and there so you don't have to do this monster investment in over time or make a wish list and have your friends and family buy you a new ring for every occasion. Bengals are huge. We sell a ton of bingles. I know everyone loves a Cartier love bracelet, but they're expensive. And for that same amount of gold, you can, or for,

that same price, I should say, you can get three or four of our bangles and create like an entire risk stack for the price of one love bracelet. Yeah, yours are super chic. She's wearing them right now. I feel like you guys look at her Instagram. You can see that. What are some other trends that you're seeing coming up? Not trends now. Some trends that are going to come up. Tennis necklaces as an everyday piece. Is that just a diamond necklace? Yep, a string of diamonds, which who doesn't want around your neck, people are wearing them now casually. Traditionally, you would wear this like to a wedding, to a black tie event, and now I'm wearing one today with a skim's body suit. People are grabbing them, layering them, wearing them really casually with a ton of gold necklaces. There's this movement towards traditional diamond heavy pieces, like a tennis necklace, a tennis bracelet, and just making them feel really casual and layering them on and, you know, going to lunch with your friends wearing these pieces. That's so funny. because she has tons of jewelry on you guys. And the one thing I'm attracted to, I'm attracted to all of it.

It's gorgeous. It's all dainty, beautiful pieces. But I was kept looking at that tennis necklace, if you're wondering. You know. What? I don't know if I could see. Michael really wants a cock ring. Do you design those?

Yeah, yeah. We have it, but we can create anything. We could create like a piece that goes from his balls to his tip with a little diamond. Yeah. That's where the budget's going to go. We were going to think about upgrading you. but instead we'll put the budget that way. If you could change one thing before you go in the diamond industry,

like if you could snap your fingers and change it and make them sort of speed up to where you are, what would it be? I think it's empowering women even more. That's my biggest mission within this industry. If you want something, go buy it for yourself. I mean, obviously an engagement ring is specific. But don't wait for a man to buy you jewelry. If you want something, go buy it.

I think the entire industry needs to understand. that this is what everything's moving towards, millennia women, Gen Z especially. They're not waiting around to be gifted something. They want to feel empowered. They want to feel important. Jewelry makes you feel pulled together. It makes you feel special. Go buy it for yourself. I think that's, you know, the big shift that needs to happen. And just so we know, are there plans that people can get on or is there nothing like that? Is it full price only? We use a firm on the website. So if you want to, you know, join a payment plan, it's really easy. It tells you exactly what your monthly payment would be. So You don't have to make this big commitment right away.

If you want to buy a piece that's $1,000 and it breaks it out over six months, it becomes, you know, really affordable. And the difference is when you're thinking about your disposable income, if you say, okay, I have a thousand extra dollars I'm going to spend this month, I would recommend don't buy a shoes or a bag because, yes, they're great. Don't get me wrong. I have no shoes and bags. But that's very trendy.

If you want to buy yourself a gold bangle, I promise you you're still wearing it in five years from now. jewelry trends are very slow to shift. So if you're going to put your money somewhere, it's a great place to put it because you're going to get so much use out of it. And you can wear it every single day. You know, you can't wear the same shoes every day. You're not going to look good. But you can wear a bangle every single day and get a ton of use out of that purchase. I completely agree with you. I would way rather not spend money on my bags and shoes and spend money on jewelry or my time or my skin. Those are my, those are my favorite things. Michael's the same way about your watches and

your jewelry, you like to spend money towards that instead of, I feel like, I think if you buy the right piece and the right thing and that you actually love it, like you said, like there's certain things that I've had that's been, you know, 10, 15, 20 years, right? It's still in style. Yeah, and you can pass it down to Zaza. Like, that's the other thing. You know, this is, this is a material that lasts forever. So that's what another reason jewelry is a great thing to purchase if you want to think about longevity. My new ring that you're proposing with and my tennis necklace can be passed down to Zaza. Maybe I'll just get something for Zaza. Lucky you guys, the ring concierge has given you a code. It is skinny ring for 15% off. And is this

the whole site? It is, it does not include bridal. Okay. And it doesn't include diamond studs. But that's it. Okay. Everything else. Tennis bracelets, tennis necklaces, stackable rings, earrings, anything and everything on the site with the exception of those two categories, they're included. Maybe when this goes live, you could take some Instagram stories of what you're wearing today. really think our audience would love it. It's some beautiful pieces, you guys. Dainty, chic. I'll post stories of you talking as well, but maybe I feel like they would like what you're wearing. Yeah, definitely. Stack and everything, where can everyone find you? And I feel like everyone already follows you,

but just pimp yourself out. Yeah, we're at Ring Concierge is our Instagram handle. And then our website is ringconcierge.com. So it's pretty easy to find us. If you are a woman and you like jewelry and you are not following the ring concierge. you are missing out. I feel like I've been following you from the beginning. When did you start? What year? 2013.

So maybe not for that long, but I think we've been connected for a very long time. A very long time. I look at your rings all the time and send them to Michael and screenshot. Are the only DMs I get from her? Go check Nicole out. Nicole,

thank you so much for coming on. Thank you for having me. I'm inspired. I'm going to be pushing and I might need a push present the second the baby pops out. Well, now I know who to call. Okay.

Thanks, Nicole. Thanks, Nicole. Thanks, guys. Do not forget to enter this diamond giveaway. I would say it's one of our best giveaways. You win a diamond, baguette, and pave initial necklace. You can pick any letter you want. All you have to do is tell us your favorite part of this podcast with Nicole on my latest

Instagram at Lauren Bostic and make sure you're following at the ring concierge on Instagram. Don't forget to use code Skinny Ring 2 for 15% off if you shop her site. She has so many gorgeous pieces. You're going to love it. And we'll see you next time. This episode was brought to you by Ring Concierge.