Accessories

Fine Jewelry PH: My Experience Ordering from an Online Seller

December 21, 2017 by Tina Lee Leave a Comment

I was on the hunt for an eternity ring similar to my half-eternity wedding band. I know, it’s excessive but I hate how my wedding band spins, exposing the stone-less bits. It just ruins my look and I’m vain and shallow like that.

Good thing I found an insta-seller who can make the exact eternity ring that I wanted at a really great price! Even better, she accepts layaway payments.

The problem is, most e-sellers tend to treat customers who pay on layaway terms differently from those willing to pay in full. I talked to a couple of e-alaheros and let me tell you, they were accommodating until the word “layaway” crops up in the convo. Suddenly, they give you this weird vibe, like they’d rather not do it.

Let me tell you one instance when I was ignored by an online seller before choosing Fine Jewelry PH:

The insta-jeweler I was talking about, the one I originally wanted to buy from, actually ignored my questions re: her bank details as soon as she found out that I won’t pay in full. I pinged her on Instagram and Viber.

Initially, she was accommodating on Insta but when it came to the installment thing, she didn’t bother pushing through with the project, completely ignoring my questions. Funny enough, she pinged me on Viber on the same day thinking I was a different customer. When I told her I was the one she was talking to on Insta, she ignored my messages again. Why offer layaway terms when you won’t entertain customers?

I like the shop but I un-followed after that. No point seeing her ads on my feeds when she’s discriminating against certain customers. I won’t mention the business name but it is similar to Fine Jewelry PH’s Instagram name. So much you’d think both shops were owned by the same person. But they ain’t, thankfully.

Not meaning to rant but I’ve experienced this more than once. There were bag sellers who do the same too. The thing is, products like designer bags and jewelry aren’t cheap. There is always the risk that you’d get a fake or worse, someone actually running away with your money.

I don’t pay in full because I’m concerned about security, to be honest. I do it because I have a lot of wants and I tend to want them all at the same time. Paying in increments, to me, is not only a safe way of dealing online, it’s also a way for me to hold on to something that I want until I’m ready to get it. If that makes sense. Also, I work hard and I’ve had a great year, I deserve all the treats.

Fine Jewelry PH: Ordering Online

Glad I got that off my chest. Anyhoo! After being turned away by that jeweler, I pinged Via Alejandrino-De las Alas, the owner of Fine Jewelry PH and asked for the same thing. The good news was, she was not only nice, the price of the ring was actually same as the ring offered by the other shop.

In hindsight, I should’ve pinged Fine Jewelry PH first but I thought their products were more expensive than the other shop. Apparently, the prices were similar so that’s awesome.

Fine Jewelry PH is a Bulacan-based online store with a huge following on Facebook and Instagram. I connected with Ms. Via through Viber. After talking a bit about the ring, I asked Ms. Via if she accepts installment terms and she said yes right away. At that point, I was ready to wire the money and asked her to go ahead with the project.

I ordered the ring using my mobile phone so yes, the entire process was straightforward and easy. Ms. Via graciously answered all my questions right away and I never got the sense that I was being looked down for paying in increments. That was important to me because no one likes that shit.

To complete the order, I filled out an order form, sent the form via Viber and then made an initial payment. I wired the money within seconds via PayPal (love that she accepts PP payments, all Insta-sellers should) and that’s it.

I was supposed to get the ring in January because I paid in December (two gives, garnern) but I got too excited when she sent me a quick clip of the ring a few days later! I told you, Christmas puts me in a funky shopping mood. So to cut the story short, I paid as soon as I could and received my eternity ring before Christmas.

The Product

Now let’s talk about the product itself. You might find it weird that I ordered a ring similar to what I already have. But the spinning thing always bothered me. Also, my old ring deserves a little rest every now and then. I haven’t taken my wedding band/s off since I got married.

The ring was shipped via LBC (!) and I received the product a couple of days after paying for it. I was expecting delays because it’s the Christmas season and couriers all over the country are busy. I wasn’t even planning on getting the ring before Christmas but here we are. SO happy that I got my little Christmas treat so early!

The parcel was bubble-wrapped. The product itself was housed in a beautiful red box, which looks better than the box my engagement ring came in, lol.

The ring was crafted in 14k white gold and the setting is similar to that of my wedding band. I believe this is called the fishtail setting. The stones were a combination of lab sapphires and natural diamonds. The ring looked well-made, the stones felt secure and are so sparkly!

To compare, here’s what my old and new eternity rings look like side by side. The bottom is the older ring. Here’s how my new ring looks like when paired with my engagement ring:

They look so nice together no? I noticed that the stones used were smaller compared to my old ring. That’s fine because the new ring is much more affordable. It’s a dainty little thang, that’s what it is.

Here’s what the ring looks like when paired with a solitaire ring in yellow gold. I’m not too crazy about the contrasting colors but they sure look good together!

Final Thoughts

Buying anything online is tricky. It means opening yourself up to the possibility of being scammed, receiving shitty products, or experiencing the worst customer service ever. I’ve been there. But it’s nice to know that there are legitimate businesses on Instagram too!

Fine Jewelry PH is a trusted jewelry vendor, it’s the real deal guys! The prices were reasonable, I loved the variety and the craftsmanship. The seller, Ms. Via, was also nice and helpful. Highly recommended! I love my ring so much, I’m already planning my next order.

The Rings: Getting a Second Wedding Band

August 26, 2016 by Tina Lee Leave a Comment

Ever thought of getting a second wedding band?:D While I have the wedding set of my dreams, an extra band can’t hurt!

I had a lot of fun working with the fiance for our bespoke wedding rings and e-ring. But I realized that together, my set looks a little matchy-matchy for every day, plus, there are times when I don’t feel like wearing anything sparkly. So, I thought of adding a simple band to my set.

Of course, I know it is strange to want a second wedding ring but I did a little research and found out it’s fairly common.

Incidentally, our jeweler emailed us about the rings (cuz they just hit production) just as I was telling my husband-to-be about my plan. He was amused at the idea because he knew I was just looking for an excuse to get more rings, hahaha! Well, he’s not wrong.

So! To cut the story short, I got our jeweler to create an extra simple band. I just love options (and frivolous things). Both rings will be presented during the ceremony so there won’t be a main ring, both will be considered as the wedding band. As we say here in the PH, the more, the many-er!

Just like always, I knew exactly what I wanted: a simple and delicate white gold ring. I would’ve gone with gold but for the sake of my fragile mental health, I went with the same metal as the rest of the set (the mismatched metal will bother me forever). All the rings will be engraved with “J+T 111216”.

My plan is to wear the simple band alone on most days. Since the second band is plain, it goes well with my rather unique engagement ring. I love that I can mix and match my set. I can wear the band alone, stacked with the sapphire and diamond wedding band, paired with my e-ring or all three together! Since my rings are slim, they still look dainty when stacked 😀

For reference, I wear a size 5 but I opted for 5.5 (in case my fingers get bloated). My e-ring and sapphire/diamond wedding band are about 2.5 mm in width while the plain one is 2 mm.

Do I recommend a second wedding ring? Well, that depends. If you’re like me who loves options or if you’re a sucker for stacked rings then by all means, get one. If you’re happy with a traditional set, then good for you!

I will say that not a lot of guys would be understanding of this decision, especially if the budget is stretched to its limit. My advice is, if you really want an additional ring, don’t include the extra expense to the total budget of the wedding unless your beau offered to pay for said ring. That’s not tacky, that’s being considerate.

If you want a cheaper ring, get one in silver, rhodium, or titanium. I actually considered picking something from Pandora (their rings are perfect for stacking) but decided against it because I read somewhere that mixing metals can cause damage to the jewelry. Most of Pandora’s rings are in silver (not sure if they sell gold, white gold, or platinum rings). Since the rings tend to rub against each other when worn, the material will wear away eventually. If one of the metal is softer, it will sustain more damage from friction. Not sure if this is true, but just to be on the safe side, I went for the same material.

Do I think getting 2 bands is a little excessive? Somewhat, yes. A second wedding ring isn’t really a necessity but I’m not gonna tell you how to spend your monies.

My only problem now is waiting for my set to finish! We were supposed to pick up the rings on the last week of August but because I added another ring, the schedule was moved to the second week of September, le ugh. It feels like I’ve been waiting forever, my ghad! I can’t wait to get my grubby paws all over the rings and stare at them for hours (which may also entail posting gratuitous ringfies here, hahaa!) So yes, please pray for me while I wait for my rings, huddled in a corner, dying on the inside.

The Rings, Among Other Things

July 18, 2016 by Tina Lee Leave a Comment

As a lover of all things sparkly and girly, working on the wedding bands, to me, is the most exciting part of prepping for the wedding. And because I’m a control freak, I pretty much took over the entire preparations, including where to get the wedding rings.

So, my engagement ring features two natural sapphires as an accent and I want my wedding ring to match this specific design. I also wanted to get the half eternity design because there is less risk of the precious stones being bonked when worn. Here is my preferred design:

I specifically want a very dainty, slim band because I am quite petite and my fingers are, well, petite too! I truly hate chunky rings with a passion because they tend to make the fingers look like swollen sausages. Also, when you wash your hands often, the extra skin chunky rings cover will look icky so no. As for the husband-to-be, he wanted a simple gold band, which did not surprise me at all. For a wink of sparkle, he wanted a teeny tiny diamond in the center.

Our first stop were the jewelry shops at, of course, my happy place Mega Mall. The selection was amazing and the pre-designed sets were surprisingly affordable. My only gripe is that customization costs more and the extra charge is a huge jump from the pre-designed sets. I was not really surprised at the atrocious prices but I kinda wished things were a lot simpler, hahaha!

After combing through shop after shop, we decided to go for an independent jeweler. Initially, I chose Angeli, a jeweler based in Marikina. We discussed everything from the price to the payment method via Viber and everything went smoothly. That is, until we headed to the city to make it to our appointment.

Pardon me but I’ll totally go ghetto from here:

I don’t like badmouthing people because I’m from a family of entrepreneurs and I know how hard it is to please customers but lawrd almighty that woman Angeli put us through shit. Just to clarify, we’re no longer based in the city so we had to travel for almost four hours to make the appointment.I had to wake up at the break of dawn just to make that goddamned trip. Although we needed to get other things done, our schedule in the city was planned around said appointment.

And just when we’re 20 minutes away from the city, the woman called to say she’ll have to bump our meeting at a later time (three to four hours later than the agreed time) because she’s “meeting with another client.”

First off, are we not your clients also? Didn’t we just agree to set the appointment to pay off all the rings we will buy from you? Couldn’t you at least lie to us instead of saying you’ll meet some other client at the last possible minute straight to our fucking faces? Is this the kind of shitty customer service your clients deserve? You don’t go around wasting people’s time like that! Seriously, I could go on and on. My fiance and I felt totally disrespected.

UPDATE: I’ll be posting this Viber image here to show that we reminded Angeli about the appointment a few days before the event. On her FB page, she’s insinuating that we did not confirm the appointment, along with a half-assed apology. Hilarious, way to do business guys! Put the blame on your customers who did not do anything wrong, great job!

Anyway, this setback dampened our already complicated plans so we literally spent the next 20 minutes of the trip making phone calls searching for other independent jewelers in the area. I was so pissed that I left a scathing review on her Facebook page to warn other customers.

In hindsight, I was glad the appointment got canceled otherwise we never would’ve discovered a better jewelry shop, Diamond Fire Manila. Moral of the story: always have a backup plan.

Cherry, whom I think is the owner of the cute little boutique store on Jupiter St. in Makati, personally assisted us in finding the right designs for the ring. It was hard explaining everything from scratch to Cherry because the deal with the other jeweler went shit but she listened as I discussed how I want the rings to look like, what stones to use, and so on. I also got to try different rings just to get a feel of the finished product. Check out the picks. WARNING: my unkempt cuticles may cause nightmares.

I can’t tell you how happy I was being surrounded by these beautiful sparkly rings, hahaha! Oh and no, those gorgeous diamond rings look nothing like my engagement ring, I will post my engagement ring once I receive the wedding band set sometime next month! I kenat wait homayghad!!!

Watching For Watches

December 28, 2012 by Tina Lee Leave a Comment

You know what would complete my life? A really expensive watch. Preferably a Philip Stein watch. Teehee.

Or this super cute TechnoMarine watch. Perfect cuz I’m a Pisces! But at this point in time, I could think of better ways to spend 50 grand.

I’m a watch nut, btw. I think every person should own at least one expensive watch, not necessarily a Rolex. For those who have very deep pockets, you should invest on a great watch! They make great accessories and unlike el cheapo watches, they can last practically a lifetime, with proper care! Mind you, I have nothing against cheap watches. In fact, I used to have a pink Fossil watch and a retro Casio watch (because it’s uso, lol) plus two Guess? watches (which I never wear anymore since they ran out of batteries, hahahhaha!). But nothing feels as luxurious as a weighty, super expensive watch on your wrist, amiright?

The best watch I have so far is a Celine watch, which was gifted to me by my sister cuz she knows how much ~~I love the feel of fine jewelry rubbing against my skin, heeeheee~~ I appreciate fine engineering. Plus I got super inggit when my cousin bought a Philip Stein watch. Maybe this is her way of shutting me up, hahahah!

Hay nako, I swear if I managed to buy everything I want by the first quarter of the year (iPad mini, Rayban aviator shades and a Hello Kitty Instax mini 25 camera), I’m going to save my monies for at least a Technomarine watch.

Cuuuuuute!

August 30, 2012 by Tina Lee Leave a Comment

My sister gifted me a Celine watch! She gave this to me weeks ago but I only got to wear it tonight at the mall because I had the bracelet shortened. It’s perfect! Sana next time, bag naman hahahaha! Etchos.