By now, you’ll be familiar with the shape of your partner’s hand, but if they’ve not expressed a preference for the style of ring they favour, you may find yourself struggling to imagine which ring will best suit her hand.
The good news is that each hand shape and finger type has several design options that will compliment them. When considering your engagement ring, there is plenty of scope to draw upon your partner’s features to bring out the beauty in your choice of ring.
Read on to find the hand type closest to your partner’s to discover which style will best suit them.
Short fingers
Generally, if her fingers are shorter than the palm, they would be considered short. To flatter her hands, the ideal ring will elongate the fingers making them appear longer and leaner.
A simple design, with a narrow or slender band can achieve this, so as to not overwhelm the finger with a complicated design.
An elongated centre diamond in a marquise, pear or oval shape will help create the illusion of length. Although large, squared shapes should be avoided, a small rectangular emerald-shaped can also lengthen the finger.
Long fingers
Those with long fingers can carry off most styles and can afford to be bold with intricate designs if an extravagant style suits their personality.
Shapes such as a princess or cushion cut, along with solitaire and simple round diamonds are particularly flattering. Wider bands can also be very complimentary on long fingers.
Wider fingers
With wide fingers, the wearer has an opportunity to make a statement with a wider design, taking care not to choose a design that’s too small and appears underwhelming.
A wider stone such as an oval, marquise, rectangular or emerald are all suited to wide fingers, whilst round stones utilising a cluster style like a halo can be very flattering.
A raised prong setting also creates the illusion of depth, and both angular and asymmetrical designs will make the finger appear narrower.
Large Knuckles
With large knuckles, the ideal ring will draw attention away from the hand and instead towards the ring. Thick, bolder band designs will compliment large or defined knuckles and even out proportions.
Look to a three stone ring to bring volume and create a beautifully balanced look.
Large Hands
Those with large hands have more room to be creative and expressive with a larger ring and can carry off chunkier styles like a split shank or geometric rings.
So as not to appear underwhelming, the more coverage you can get with the ring, the more complimentary the look will be. As a general guideline, try selecting a band thicker than 1.8mm.
Large center stones an obvious way to add coverage, whilst a budget friendly option creating the same effect would be to use accent stones or pave side stones to accentuate the ring.
Small Hands
An advantage of petite hands is that a small sized diamond will be much more in proportion with their hand size, so you can afford to select a smaller carat without the ring looking underwhelming.
Delicate bands with a solitaire design, round or princess cut diamonds and oval or heart shaped stones all work well. Pave settings are all suited to small hands and will compliment without appearing over the top.
While our guidance will hopefully help narrow down your choices, the perfect engagement ring should, more than anything else, suit the wearer’s personality and lifestyle.
For custom engagement ring design and advice, speak with expert gemmologist Steve Richards.
