We do a lot to our engagement rings—after all, they’re something that goes through each and every part of our day (every day!) with us. And it all has an effect: Everything from applying lotion to scrubbing dishes can dull the sparkle of engagement rings, causing an otherwise crystal-clear diamond or gemstone to appear cloudy.
“The reality is, if you wear your rings every day, you absolutely need to clean them,” says Ryan Elbaz, founder of Majesty Diamonds.
Keeping your ring clean, however, isn’t just about keeping it sparkly. You’re going to want to take a minute while you clean to make sure the ring’s still looking as perfect as the day you got it.
“[Cleaning] also gives you a way to inspect your ring on a regular basis,” explains Stephanie Maslow-Blackman, owner of Metalicious. When it’s sparkling, you’ll be better able to inspect its stones and prongs, looking for a loosening setting or chips in your stone’s surface. And if you do find something, you’ll be able to take it to your jeweler before it’s too late.
Our experts recommend cleaning your engagement ring every couple weeks—or more, if you’re wearing it during household chores and strenuous activities, such as outdoor sports. Simply put: “The more of this you do, the more often you should clean your ring,” says Elbaz. And no, there’s no such thing as cleaning it too much.
That being said, when you clean it, avoid using harsh chemicals (think bleach, chlorine, and acetone) and commercial silver and gold cleaners whenever possible. You don’t need to buy some super-fancy product to get the results you need: Our experts suggest good ol’ soap and warm water to get your ring shining again.
Fill a small bowl with warm water and a squeeze of dishwashing soap, then drop your ring into the dish for a 15-minute soak. “This will loosen any dirt, lotion, or dried soap that has settled into any crevices or behind your gemstone,” says Maslow-Blackman. Once it’s had its bath, take your ring out for a rinse: Run it under a steady stream of warm water—making sure your sink drain is stopped—and turn it around so the water can run over the top and bottom of the ring.
If you want a “slightly deeper, but still natural” clean, Vanessa Stofenmacher, co-founder and creative director of fine jewelry company Vrai & Oro, recommends soaking your engagement ring in witch hazel or white vinegar “for about five minutes.” (She uses half a cup of white vinegar, FYI.)
If you spot any lasting residue, take a soft-bristled or old toothbrush and gently scrub around the stone, taking care to hit the bottom, where the light shines through and really gives your gem its sparkle.
Although Meghan Markle is still very much on maternity leave, she took a little break to honor Queen Elizabeth’s 93rd birthday at the royal Trooping the Colour ceremony in London on Saturday (June 8). This was her first public appearance since introducing baby Archie to the world—and as happy as everyone was to see the new mom, it was her ring finger that caught everyone’s attention. As Markle waved to the crowds from her carriage, it didn’t take long for sharp-eyed fans to notice she was wearing a third band on her wedding ring finger. Of course, this prompted speculation about the meaning behind this new piece of jewelry—and whether it’s a push present from Prince Harry.
There is no official word from the palace about what the ring signifies, but fans and experts believe it might be an “eternity ring” because of the diamonds set all the way around the band. Rings with similar designs are sometimes given to signify eternal love and the commitment shared by couple, with the ring’s circle of diamonds visually representing the sentiment, according to UK-based The Diamond Store. Considering the Duke and Duchess of Sussex just celebrated two major milestones—having a baby and their one-year wedding anniversary—it seems like a pretty solid explanation.
As you can see below, Markle is wearing the new band on her ring finger, alongside her engagement and wedding rings.
Gareth Fuller/Getty Images
Here’s a closer look:
Gareth Fuller/Getty Images
Markle’s first official post-baby appearance was perfectly timed—after all, Trooping the Colour is one of the royal family’s biggest public appearances. They all gathered on the balcony of Buckingham Palace for the traditional Royal Air Force Red Arrow flyover—and the resulting photos captured a smiling Markle standing next to her husband.
Not only is the rock stunning, but it’s massive. (Though, to be honest, we didn’t expect anything less with these two.) Lopez’s diamond is an emerald cut—the same stone shape seen on the engagement rings of celebrities like Amal Clooney, Beyoncé, and Anne Hathaway. The Art Deco style has been cropping up again in recent years, both among the A-list crowd and regular-old shoppers.
A.Rod popped the question during a couple’s getaway in the Bahamas, shortly after the pair celebrated their two-year anniversary.
According to Page Six, Rodriguez apparently spent seven months looking for the right ring. “He knew for a long time that he wanted to propose to Jennifer,” a source said. “He wanted to get it right. The proposal has been a long time coming, Alex knew she was the one and has been painstakingly planning everything.” He reportedly sourced the stone outside the U.S.
Neither A.Rod nor J.Lo have revealed the jeweler who created the ring. Speculation as to its value and its weight has been non-stop since Saturday night, with some experts estimating it could be worth anywhere between $1 million to upwards of $5 million.
Speaking to another anonymous source, People reports that the proposal was “very much a surprise to Jennifer,” which was “just how Alex wanted it.”
“Jennifer is ecstatic and so are their families and friends,” the source said. You know who else was “ecstatic”? Most of Twitter.
As I wrapped my hand around a pole on the subway a couple of weeks ago, an older lady pointed at my left hand and said, “Fabulous ring.” It would’ve been a welcome compliment on its own, but it was doubly so because I bought my engagement ring myself.
If this is a surprise, it shouldn’t be, but even in 2019 it feels like a weirdly bold statement.
It’s no secret that marriage is still a particularly traditional institution, and one that’s accompanied by a long list of things small and large that are expected of people (but mostly women) who enter into it. Some of those assumptions have, thankfully, evolved over the years. (Can you imagine being forced to give up work just because you’re married?) As many of us are choosing to keep our names and get married on our terms, these norms are dissolving. For example, it’s no longer expected that a bride’s family will automatically foot the bill for the wedding. And yet, for all the progress we’ve made, it still feels as if engagement rings are a frontier we haven’t breached.
Even as women have started to increasingly outearn their partners, the thought of a woman paying for her own ring still feels wildly taboo. Maybe it’s because of the myth that any woman who plays an active role in facilitating her engagement is tragic or desperate—thirsty to lock a man down or a demanding shrew. Instead, we’re left to wait and wonder near every Christmas, Valentine’s Day, and anniversary if this is the moment. For plenty of women, a surprise or grand gesture is romantic. For others, the whole thing is about ceding power to a man (and is made worse by well-meaning friends and family who ask, “Do you think he’ll do it then?” before every big vacation).
I wouldn’t expect or want my partner to choose my wedding dress for me. To get the style, the color, and not to mention the fit so right that it’s perfect. Why should a ring be any different?
Over the past year and a half, various people have, sweetly, asked me how my now-husband proposed. I feel like I’m short-changing them when I tell them there’s no story because there was no proposal. Or rather, the proposal was a conversation about whether we wanted to get married (yes) to each other (yes), when we wanted to do that (maybe late summer or early autumn?), and a mutual agreement that maybe a year ahead of that rough date we would need to start planning. This is not a good romantic story.
The romance is all the other bits of our relationship. It’s how he makes me laugh every day before I’ve even gotten out of bed. It’s how I’ve never made my own coffee in our home because he always does it for me. It’s never asking me to go to a gig with him, because he knows I hate live music. It’s his handmade birthday cards and making sure I appreciate the significance of every achievement I make, which I have a tendency to downplay. It’s even, I would argue, in respecting my preference to be actively involved in the planning and logistics of things that happen to me—like getting engaged. My husband is the kindest, sweetest, best person I’ve ever met in my whole life. And the best part is, he knows exactly who I am.
Our timeline of starting to think about a wedding roughly coincided with my receiving the advance on my debut novel. It was a pleasant but not life-altering amount of money, which weirdly made me feel more inclined to do something at least semi-impulsive with it. So I decided the least-frivolous frivolous thing I could do with that chunk of money was to buy an engagement ring.
The author’s engagement ring
I looked at a few gorgeous Georgian pearl cluster rings, but given that I’m fat by today’s standards, I’m certainly fat by vintage ring standards. And although they can be resized, I wasn’t willing to commit to something for which I had no idea what it’d look like on my hand.
After that, it didn’t take long for me to go back to an old favorite: Tessa Metcalfe, whose style seems to perfectly encapsulate the rough decadence of London. I’d bought a Tessa Metcalfe ring before. It was a gold-plated band made of two pigeon claws holding a freshwater pearl. I wore it so much that the gold plating came off and the metal turned silver. It was big, bold, and beautiful and just felt so right for me. A perfect solution, then, seemed to be a version of this ring, except one actually made to be worn every day. I asked Tessa to make one of her ready-to-wear rings but in solid gold so it wouldn’t tarnish, clasping a huge rose quartz with natural rubies set into the claws. It’s so perfectly me that I’m not surprised old ladies on the subway want to tell me how fabulous it is.
Never once did it occur to me during this process that it was inherently my partner’s responsibility to handle.
I would’ve felt guilty at the thought of him spending several hundreds of dollars on something that would only benefit me, when I was perfectly capable of buying it myself.
I very much know what I like. I work with clothes, I love fashion, and I occasionally design collections of my own. Through a combination of my day job (I work in marketing for a plus-size fashion brand) and the money I make from writing and hosting events, I earn more than my husband. This isn’t uncommon, and it doesn’t cause any friction or difficulty in our relationship. (In 2019, why should anyone assume that the man in a relationship is the breadwinner?) I would’ve felt guilty at the thought of him spending several hundreds of dollars on something that would only benefit me, when I was perfectly capable of buying it myself.
We talked about it briefly, and he was fine with it. It wasn’t a huge blow to his male pride or ego, because he is a sensible, rational person. To me, it felt like a particularly neat solution: I get something I want using money I earned myself, and he doesn’t even have to worry about guessing what I might like enough to wear for the rest of my life. It simply didn’t make sense for him to pay for it, let alone choose it.
PHOTO: Courtesy of Bethany Rutter
The author and her husband on their wedding day
Think of it this way: I wouldn’t expect or want my partner to choose my wedding dress for me. To get the style, the color, and not to mention the fit so right that it could be described as perfect. I took so much pleasure in picking out my dress—a kelly-green satin 1940s-inspired midi that also bucked tradition—and my ring feels no different. Although it’s absolutely the most expensive thing I’ve ever bought, it was still considerably less than most engagement rings (probably due to the lack of diamonds) and a tiny fraction of the number that would result from the outdated wisdom that an engagement ring “should” cost “your man” three months’ salary.
I’m thankful that for the majority of people in my life, this was unquestionably just another decision on our path to being happily married. The only people who have been surprised or taken aback when I’ve tried to explain it are people who are either quite a bit older than me or people who don’t know me very well. Women my age in particular have been overwhelmingly supportive of my choice to buy my ring myself.
It doesn’t take a royal expert to notice that Meghan Markle’s life—and wardrobe—has changed since becoming a Duchess. Gone are the bodycon dresses and bubble skirts she wore on her Suits press tour just two years ago. Now, it’s strictly prim bateau necklines and sensible footwear, or whatever protocol might call for. There’s one sartorial habit, though, that Markle brought with her to Kensington Palace (and soon Frogmore House): always stepping out in a perfectly-mismatched selection of stacked rings.
It’s an accessorizing technique of the Instagram age, wearing an assortment of delicate but distinct rings in a way that makes it seem like you didn’t really plan it—you just threw them on. And even with the Crown Jewels at her disposal, Markle continues to fall back on the signets and stackable bands from her pre-royalty days, from brands like Catbird and BaubleBar.
“Meghan has worn her stacking rings for many years now, long before she met Prince Harry,” Susan Courter, author of royal fashion blog What Meghan Wore and Markle style expert, tells Glamour. “I don’t ever recall Kate or another royal wearing similar rings, so it is certainly unique in regards to royal fashion.”
Whenever Markle is photographed, my eyes go straight to her hands for that very reason: No other royal seems to do this—and though it’s an easily missable detail, it feels incredibly relatable and easy to copy. (The custom Givenchy looks, not so much.)
“This is Meghan’s way of injecting some of her personal style into royal fashion,” Courter says. “I think it’s another way for her to show how you can still be yourself, keep a bit of that fashion flair she is known for and at the same time show respect for royal dressing practices, like wearing longer hemlines.”
I have to agree—and that’s what draws me to Markle’s ring collection. They’re a testament to authentic style in an environment where, as far as I can see, personal style has professional ramifications. With Markle as a guide, I’m looking to start my own collection of rings for tiny, personal touches to my wardrobe. Shop some of the jewels I’m eyeing—all under $100!—ahead.
Actress Zoë Kravitz first announced her engagement to fellow actor Karl Glusman in her Rolling Stone cover story last month. (You know, the one where she recreated mom Lisa Bonet’s famous nude shot.) In it, she dropped a little bomb that largely passed unnoticed: “Oh yeah, I’m engaged,” she casually said in the interview. “I haven’t told anyone yet—I mean, I haven’t told the world. I wanted to keep it private.”
But now that the news is out, she’s celebrating it on social media—and showing off her stunning diamond engagement ring. “♥️ ? ♥️,” she captioned a photo of her and Glusman at the premiere of her latest film, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald in Paris. Fans soon flooded her comments section with congratulations.
The couple met two years ago at a bar via a completely relatable non-setup setup by friends. Apparently Glusman already had a crush on Kravitz but was too nervous to talk to her for most of the evening. But he eventually did, and things kicked off. Fast-forward to February, when he popped the question: “I was in sweatpants,” Kravitz told Rolling Stone. “I think I was a little drunk. I could feel his heart beating so fast—I was like, ‘Baby, are you OK?’ I was actually worried about him!”
But, she says, “he nailed it,” she said. “And I love that it wasn’t this elaborate plan in Paris. It was at home, in sweatpants.” And the ring? It was exactly the one she’d fantasized about.
“I can be my weirdest self around him,” Kravitz added in the interview. “It’s so relaxing to be around someone where you can be a hundred percent how you feel.”
No word yet on a wedding date or location, but we’re guessing the reception might just include a performance by father of the bride Lenny.
