Brilliant Earth Review: As Good as James Allen?

The Shopping Experience

The shopping experience with Brilliant Earth is usually smooth. Multiple options make it easy to quickly browse through available diamonds and find one that perfectly matches a customer’s budget.

The Return Policy: Brilliant Earth’s return policy is very helpful, with a free 30-day return period. It helps compensate for buying loose diamonds unseen because you can return them free of charge (now, with the introduction of 360 HD imagery, customers can shop confidently). They also have two-lifetime guarantees, one of which allows for a diamond upgrade, while the other covers any manufacturing flaws.

The Marketing

Brilliant Earth’s “Beyond Conflict Free” is its biggest selling point and greatly adds to its value. Customers report that they feel confident after purchasing from the diamond jewelry company, knowing that their money went to the right place. Brilliant Earth claims that its diamonds meet the following key criteria: 1) they are not used to fund civil wars and are free of human rights violations; 2) they are environmentally responsible and are mined using fair labor practices; 3) the mining activities that produce their diamonds contribute to community development.

The Website

The Brilliant Earth website is attractive. The website's attractive and polished aesthetics contribute to its clean and streamlined approach. Everything is properly organized, and navigation is simple. They also have a fantastic “education” section, covering everything from who they are and their mission to global problems, a helpful diamond selection guide, and other resources. Customers are happy with the website, making them feel at ease while selecting their ideal wedding/engagement rings. Overall, Brilliant Earth provides a smooth website experience.

Pricing

Customers opine that they pay slightly more for diamonds of comparable quality that are cheaper elsewhere. Brilliant Earth’s slightly higher prices may stem from its environmentally sustainable approach to diamonds, but not everybody’s budget allows this indulgence.

General Reviews

What do customers have to say about Brilliant Earth?

“If anyone wishes to purchase a diamond, they should not look beyond Brilliant Earth."

Customers appreciate the patience and kindness of Brilliant Earth’s staff, who are well-versed in their products and can conveniently navigate their diverse inventory.

Brilliant Earth is still fairly new in the online jewelry industry, founded in 2005. Based in San Francisco, Brilliant Earth has grown through great marketing, placing itself in a unique position in the market by claiming to provide eco-friendly products.

Brilliant Earth is a global pioneer in ethically sourced jewelry. With 15 active showrooms in the US, they sell Beyond Conflict-Free™ diamonds, engagement rings, and fine jewelry. It is a certified and audited Responsible Jewelry Council member, the industry’s top ethical standard.

Brilliant Earth’s business model is aimed toward the ethical diamond trade. They go the extra mile to offer support to enterprises that might need it.

The main selling point of Brilliant Earth —and what makes them unique in the industry—is their claim to only provide ethically sourced diamonds, besides having one of the largest online inventories of diamonds grown in labs.

Lab-grown diamonds are similar to mined diamonds and come with a 100% guarantee they were not unethically sourced. Lab-grown diamonds are also becoming very popular lately. Brilliant Earth promotes them due to their ethical sourcing and eco-friendly benefits, not contributing to global warming from mining activities (read more on lab vs. natural diamonds).

Brilliant Earth goes further, providing eco-friendly packaging for their rings. The packaging is made from handcrafted wood in New Zealand. Covering all their bases, Brilliant Earth is the premium online site for those who are conscious of supporting underprivileged communities and their environmental footprint.

Beyond Conflict-Free™ Diamonds – Brilliant Earth selects these diamonds because of their ethical and ecologically friendly origins. Their suppliers can trace and separate gems by origin and establish a strong chain of custody protocol for their jewels. Each diamond must be sourced from mine operators who adhere to globally recognized labor, trade, and environmental norms.

Blockchain-Enabled Diamonds – Brilliant Earth is among the few jewelers who sell blockchain-enabled diamonds on a large scale, allowing clients to track the origin and ownership of their gems. Choosing a Brilliant Earth diamond ensures that the origin of your diamond is entirely transparent. On the website, you can find over 20,000 blockchain-enabled gems.

Beautiful Engagement Ring Settings – Taking a step away from diamonds, Brilliant Earth offers some truly stunning engagement ring settings. The quality of the engagement rings is outstanding, created with incredible craftsmanship and attention to detail.

Ethical – All aspects of Brilliant Earth focus on being ethical and eco-friendly. This helps the consumer be sure they are making a responsible choice when purchasing a diamond or engagement ring.

Large Inventory of Lab-Grown Diamonds – Whether you are looking to purchase a lab-grown diamond for the eco-conscious side or to avoid paying a higher price for a naturally mined diamond, Brilliant Earth has one of the largest inventories of lab-grown diamonds to choose from.

100% Recycled Metals and Packaging – Brilliant Earth strives to use 100% recycled precious metals and packaging to minimize their footprint and help diminish the adverse effects of metal mining. Precious metals can be recycled repeatedly without degrading their integrity, which means quality or beauty is not compromised to make sustainable jewelry. The goal is to make incomparably beautiful jewelry focused on comfort, quality, and durability to ensure customers’ satisfaction for a lifetime.

FSC Certified Packaging - Their ethically sourced wood ring boxes are made from wood from Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified forests. These forests are appropriately maintained to safeguard the environment for future generations. Rings with diamonds or gemstones that cost more than $1,000 come with a free, non-toxic, biodegradable jewelry cleaning kit. However, it is not included for gemstones, such as pearls, that should not be cleaned with the kit.

Carbon-Free – Brilliant Earth is Carbonfree® as part of their commitment to sustainability. They have teamed up with Carbonfund.org to offset their carbon footprints by donating to the Brazilian Tropical Rainforest Conservation Fund. The project aims to safeguard 750,000 acres of tropical rainforest in Brazil. It helps reduce global carbon emissions, conserves habitats for many threatened and endangered plant and animal species, and improves local water quality.

Jewelry for a Cause – Brilliant Earth offers an additional dimension to online engagement ring and diamond shopping. They allow customers to contribute towards an incredibly meaningful cause and the feeling of being involved in something bigger than just purchasing a product.

While their diamonds and jewelry tend to carry a slightly higher price tag than Blue Nile and James Allen, it is important to remember that 5% of profits are spent uplifting communities once victims of unfair diamond mining, helping to support a fairer gold and diamond trade system.

Brilliant Earth offers a large range of lab-growns to save face on pricing, which are considerably more affordable than naturally mined.

Brilliant Earth offers custom options for building custom engagement rings. Many engagement rings can also be set with diamonds found on the site. It allows the customer to choose their perfect combination of diamond and setting, creating a unique ring.

You can choose your center diamond or gemstone, engagement ring setting, and metal on the site. Afterward, you will receive help from one of the knowledgeable design agents who will help you create a personalized engagement ring.

The Brilliant Earth website is relatively easy to use. It is free from clutter and simple to navigate through. The homepage is full of soft colors, allowing the rings and diamonds to pop.

The user interface is relatively standard and allows you to narrow your diamond selection by budget, cut, color, clarity, and carat. Over 80% of the diamond inventory has 360 HD videos to enable you to view your desired diamond from every angle possible.

One downfall is that not all diamonds are pictured on the site; they only have an illustrated picture of their cut and quality. To view a diamond, you must request images from Brilliant Earth.

Brilliant Earth has fairly reliable customer service. They look to keep their customers cared for and happy long after a purchase has been made and are always open to answering questions or seeing to queries if they arise.

Full-time Customer Support – You can contact Brilliant Earth with a query or request anytime during the day.

Lifetime Guarantees – Brilliant Earth offers two lifetime guarantees for purchases. The first is a lifetime upgrade on diamonds bought on the site, which allows customers to trade in a diamond in the future. However, the new diamond must be 50% more valuable than the diamond being traded. The second is the lifetime guarantee covering an engagement ring's manufacturing defects. If a ring is damaged from manufacturing, they will repair it for free.

Free Shipping – For customers based in the USA, Canada, and Australia, Brilliant Earth offers two-way shipping through FedEx, with a cover that extends to a return within 30 days of purchase.

For clients within the USA, Brilliant Earth offers interest-free installments on purchases. For other customers outside of the USA, flexible financing plans are offered, such as payments from multiple credit cards and layaway plans. 

Brilliant Earth is paving the way for other online retailers to become more conscious and supportive of ethical trade and the environmental footprint left behind by the diamond and engagement ring industry.

They offer comprehensive options for clients, with a meaningful view of supporting the industry from the grassroots level while providing some of the most gorgeous engagement rings and high-quality diamonds.

Reasons Why You Should Choose Brilliant Earth

• Eco-friendly and ethically sourced diamonds
• Large inventory of lab-grown diamonds
• High-quality, beautiful engagement ring settings
• Lifetime warranties with trade-ups offered
• Interest-free installments for USA clients