The Diamond Store Blog

The 84 year old Playboy tycoon Hugh Hefner only got divorced from his second wife in March, but Tweeted on Christmas Day that he and his 24 year old girlfriend Crystal Harris had got engaged.

She met Hefner on Halloween in 2008 and started dating him in January 2009 while he was also seeing identical twin glamour models Kristina and Karissa Shannon. But he ended his relationship with the twins in January of this year and has remained faithful to Crystal since.

To seal their future together, Hefner presented Crystal with a large diamond solitaire ring with diamond shoulders similar to the one pictured in the early hours of Christmas Day morning.

He said: “When I gave Crystal the ring, she burst into tears. This is the happiest Christmas weekend in memory.”

New Year’s Eve is a time of new beginnings and fresh starts so it is the perfect time to pop the question and present the someone special in your life with a New Year engagement ring.

If you are going to be out and about at a large gathering and you suspect that she might not want a lot of attention it might be wise to wait until New Year’s Day. But if she loves attention and being the centre of attraction then proposing at a New Year’s Eve party is a great way to make her feel special with midnight being the right moment to make your grand gesture.

A New Year’s proposal deserves a ring with a big impact and plenty of sparkle, so apart from the usual diamond solitaire rings you might like to consider three-stone rings, five-stone rings or solitaire rings with diamond set shoulders. Princess cut stones like the one in the picture look particularly impressive on an engagement ring.

Whether you choose to propose in public or a more intimate setting make sure you choose a New Year engagement ring which lives up to the romance of this time of the year.

Princess cut diamonds are square in shape with pointed corners.  Princess cut diamond engagement rings are usually set into a four claw setting which is available in white gold, yellow gold and platinum.

Princess is a more modern cut for a diamond compared to the traditional round brilliant cut diamond. The proportions are considered to be better the more square the stone is cut, ensuring that there are 90º  internal angles on each corner; but princess cut diamonds can also appear to be slightly rectangular in shape. The popularity of the princess cut has grown in recent years because the additional facets give them more sparkle.

They also look fantastic when set in a shoulder ring like the one pictured which has baguette diamonds on either side.

I personally prefer princess cut engagement rings because they are a bit different.