I’ve been wanting a ‘Success Ring’ for over a year now, even as I struggled with what to call it—a baller boss* ring? Badass ring? Something to “show” that I work hard and to flaunt it (sometimes). But it all feels cheesy at the same time. Nonetheless, an external symbol of success, even from someone who works remotely and rarely dresses up**, seems like a reasonable thing to want.
So, the search began. I love traditional royal blue sapphires—and it’s my birthstone—but am also digging on other colors of sapphires and even emeralds lately. I don’t want anything that might be confused for that other milestone for which you wear a ring, so non-traditional shapes and arrangements are ideal. There’s also the finger: I wear my college ring on the pinky of my right hand, and have no interest in changing that. So a righthand ring-finger ring can look a little crowded; but a big gemstone on my lefthand middle finger is a bit aggressive. A conundrum.
Here are the top three places I looked:
- Everything But the House – an online estate-sale site that works like an auction, this site has beautiful vintage rings all certified by independent gemologists following GIA guidelines. I also like the idea of a ring with history versus a new one (dirty hippie and all). But because of the auction format, you have to be vigilant, and I missed out on some great rings. I did ultimately snag a ring here.
- The Natural Sapphire Company – to make custom jewelry, this is the spot. I love their Curiosities section; when I thought I wanted to spend thousands of dollars on myself, this was my plan.
- The new D2C/DTC (direct to consumer) jewelry companies like Stone & Strand, Noemie, Mejuri, Vrai & Oro and other brands that will definitely start popping up on your instagram if you visit any of these sites. They seem to cater to, well, me: someone looking for quality jewelry but not actually ready to spend thousands.
After a big misstep (I would not advise ring shopping on poshmark; I bought a complete piece of junk and had to fight hard with poshmark to get a refund; they still have not banned the fraudulent seller), I did have a better idea of what I wanted: a “fancy” ring and an “every day” ring. I originally thought I wanted a (potentially ostentatious) gemstone to wear every day, but I don’t need all that. So I landed the fabulous sapphire from EBTH for my righthand ring finger, and picked up the teeny-tiny star ring from Stone & Strand for my lefthand middle finger, for rarely-take-it-off every day wear.
Featured are some of the other options I considered (shop them here), but ultimately I kept mine each around $120 (versus the thousands I thought I wanted to spend at one point … turns out I’d rather travel). I am currently coveting this band from Noemie ($50 off with this link), and trying to convince myself that someone doesn’t need three small success rings … also is it supposed to be a wedding band? I don’t care, it’s cute.
*I keep wanting to call myself a “boss babe” but that doesn’t feel right.
**Ironically this post was written and scheduled before the changes that are happening which will put me back in an office, which is laughable and perfect at the same time.