When shopping for a colored gem, consider price and rigorousness of your lifestyle.

• Naturally colored diamonds are graded on a scale ranging from Faint to Fancy Vivid. Those with more saturated color are rarer and typically pricier. But they are comparatively durable to white diamonds.

• Sapphires and rubies are the second-hardest stone after diamonds.

• Emeralds are fragile and can be more expensive than diamonds because of their rarity. Rubies and the purple-blue tanzanite also are very pricey. Tanzanite is similar in durability to an emerald, only slightly less brittle.

• Opals are a lovely stone, but they too are fragile and legend has it that it's bad luck to wear one if it isn't your birthstone.

More practical stones, both for price and strength, include aquamarine, blue topaz, citrine, tourmaline and lemon quartz.

• The setting is, of course, up to you, but certain variations have proven more popular when using colored gems.

Three to five years ago, most brides went with the three-stone look. Often this meant a diamond solitaire with two smaller colored gems on the sides, or perhaps the colored stone in the center with diamond baguette accents.

Now, brides are going back to one stone or opting for designs that make the stone look bigger than it is, such as a colored solitaire surrounded by a circle of pave diamonds.

• If you opt for the traditional white diamond engagement ring, you could go with something more colorful for the wedding band, such as a channel-set eternity band with alternating diamonds and sapphires. Wear the two rings together or wear them on different hands.

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