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Top Engagement Ring Trends for 2026 in the UK: Lab Grown Diamond Style Guide
FREE TRACKED & INSURED UK DELIVERY
FREE TRACKED & INSURED UK DELIVERY
Engagement ring trends in the UK are evolving rapidly in 2025. With a strong shift toward personalised design, modern craftsmanship, and value for money, lab grown diamonds are leading the way. Here’s what’s trending, our predictions for 2026 and how to find the perfect engagement ring for you or your partner.
When planning to propose, one of the biggest financial questions is: How much should I spend on an engagement ring? In 2024, the average engagement ring spend in the UK was approximately £5,750, remaining consistent with figures from recent years.
However, a key trend is reshaping this market: the rising demand for lab diamond engagement rings. With more couples opting for affordable lab created diamonds, buyers are able to purchase larger carat weights and higher quality stones without significantly increasing their budget. This cost-effective alternative to natural diamonds is redefining what value looks like — allowing shoppers to invest in the ring of their dreams without overspending.
Lab grown diamonds continue to be the top choice for UK couples. They are real diamonds — chemically and optically identical to mined ones — but come at a fraction of the cost.
Why choose lab grown diamonds?
Expert Tip: Choose a 1.5–2ct IGI-certified lab diamond for show-stopping sparkle and excellent value.
Contemporary, design led rings are gaining ground in 2025. These styles appeal to couples who want something a little more unique and different to the classic diamond engagement ring.
Trending designs:
Expert Tip: Pair a lab grown emerald cut diamond with an East-West bezel setting for ultra-modern elegance.
It’s not just about the stone — the setting is just as important.
Modern setting styles include:
Expert Tip: Lab diamonds give you more freedom to invest in creative, one-of-a-kind settings thanks to their affordability.
Customisation is currently at the heart of engagement ring trends.
Popular personalisation's:
Expert Tip: When customising an engagement ring, think beyond aesthetics—consider lifestyle. For example, if your partner leads an active lifestyle, opt for a lower-set diamond or a more durable design and metal.
When it comes to choosing the perfect lab-grown diamond engagement ring, the solitaire setting remains a timeless favourite. It highlights the beauty and brilliance of a single diamond — but the shape you choose plays a huge role in defining the ring’s character. Below are the most popular diamond shapes chosen by UK couples in 2024 and heading into 2025/2026:
Round Brilliant Cut Lab Diamonds
The round brilliant remains the best-selling diamond shape for solitaire rings — and for good reason. This cut offers maximum sparkle thanks to its 58 expertly crafted facets, making it the most brilliant and light-reflective shape available.
Ideal for: Traditionalists, sparkle lovers, and timeless elegance.
Oval Cut Lab Grown Diamonds
The oval cut is a sleek, elegant alternative to the round, offering a similarly brilliant look but with a slightly elongated silhouette. This creates the illusion of longer, slimmer fingers — a key reason it's grown in popularity.
Ideal for: Modern minimalists, fashion-forward brides, and those who love a flattering shape.
Emerald Cut Lab Diamonds
The emerald cut is known for its clean lines and vintage appeal. Unlike brilliant cuts, emerald diamonds use a step-cut faceting style, which produces a sleek, mirror-like effect rather than intense sparkle.
Ideal for: Lovers of Art Deco style, understated luxury, and elegant symmetry.
Cushion Cut Lab Diamonds
The cushion cut combines a square or rectangular shape with soft, rounded corners, giving it a “pillow-like” appearance. It offers a romantic, vintage-inspired look while still delivering plenty of sparkle.
Ideal for: Romantic styles, antique lovers, and those seeking a unique twist on a classic shape.
Pear Shaped Lab Grown Diamonds
The pear cut, also known as a teardrop shape, is a bold, statement-making option that’s rising in popularity. With one rounded end and one pointed tip, it elongates the finger and catches the light beautifully.
Ideal for: Unique, trend-setting brides looking for something distinctive.
Finding the right engagement ring is a meaningful and exciting journey. At Labgrown.Diamonds, we're seeing clear trends that reflect changing tastes and growing interest in sustainable luxury. Here's a breakdown of the most sought-after engagement ring styles—and why they might be the perfect choice for your proposal.
Solitaire rings are experiencing a major resurgence, and lab grown diamonds are playing a big part in their comeback. Thanks to their affordability, lab grown diamonds give you access to larger stones without the premium price tag of natural diamonds. As a result, many couples are choosing to keep their design minimal—focusing on one stunning stone instead of a more elaborate setting.
Fashion is also influencing the trend. The sleek, minimalist styles of the 1990s have made a return, and solitaire rings fit perfectly into this aesthetic. While round and oval shapes remain top choices, more unique cuts like cushion and emerald are growing in popularity.
Celebrity engagements have also helped push this trend forward. Recently, both Kylie Jenner and Millie Bobby Brown got engaged with solitaire diamond rings—proving that sometimes, less really is more.
Why Choose a Solitaire Ring?
Diamond bands have carved out their place as a close second in popularity. These rings feature delicate pavé or channel-set diamonds along the band, adding subtle brilliance that enhances the central stone without overpowering it. They now make up 22% of our engagement ring sales, with year-on-year growth showing steady demand.
Why Choose a Diamond Band Ring?
Trilogy rings, which feature three stones, are gaining serious momentum—now accounting for one in five engagement rings sold at Labgrown.Diamonds. Their appeal goes beyond beauty: each stone represents a chapter of your journey together, making this a deeply meaningful choice.
From classic round diamonds to bold pairings with pear or oval side stones, trilogy rings offer endless customisation. Whether you're drawn to symmetry or a more avant-garde look, there's a trilogy ring to suit every style.
Why Choose a Trilogy Ring?
Halo rings, once a top choice, have seen a dip in popularity this year—now representing less than 10% of sales. However, they remain a stunning option for those who want maximum sparkle. The halo of smaller diamonds around the centre stone creates the illusion of a larger diamond and adds dramatic flair.
Interestingly, oval diamonds are more popular than round in halo settings, aligning with the rising “Old Money” aesthetic, which may give halo rings a trend revival in 2025.
Why Choose a Halo Ring?
Though still a niche choice (around 1% of sales), toi et moi rings are one of the fastest-growing styles. Featuring two stones—often a pear paired with an emerald or radiant cut—this design symbolises the coming together of two people.
Ideal for couples who want something symbolic and unconventional, this style offers standout appeal and endless creative combinations.
Why Choose a Toi et Moi Ring?
For those looking to add personal, unexpected details, hidden embellishments are booming in popularity. Over half of customers now choose some form of added diamond detailing, such as:
These features aren’t immediately visible, making them perfect for surprises and extra sentiment—a small but thoughtful way to show your love.
Why Add Embellishments?
Whether you're drawn to the timeless elegance of a solitaire, the meaning behind a trilogy, or the glamour of a diamond band, Labgrown.Diamonds offers customisable engagement rings to match every style, story, and budget. Our lab grown diamonds allow you to prioritise both size and quality—without compromise.
Ready to find the one? Explore our collection or speak with a design expert today.
For more information about our bespoke lab grown diamond jewellery, visit our sister company, Avanti. With over 40 years of expertise in fine jewellery, Avanti offers the talents of an in-house designer and certified gemmologist, along with one of the UK's leading Master Goldsmiths.
Getting an accurate ring size measurement can be challenging if you want to keep your gift or proposal a secret. Here are a few tips that can help you without giving away the surprise. Remember, it’s better to err on the side of caution and get a larger size than a smaller one.
We can resize our rings within a tolerance of finger sizes. To avoid disappointment, we recommend measuring your finger at different times of the day as fingers fluctuate in size, so you can get an average measurement.
If your partner wears other rings on a different finger this can help us to estimate the finger size required.
LabGrown.Diamonds offers a complimentary sizing for your LG.D ring. Since proposals are usually a surprise, you can bring the ring in after the proposal, for us to measure the finger accurately, ensuring the perfect fit.
For more in-depth information on finger sizes head over to our finger size guide.
The lifetime manufacturing guarantee does not cover damage caused by accidents or misuse of jewellery, including evidence of tampering with stone settings. It also does not cover normal wear and tear such as scratches or tarnishing.
Our jewellery is manufactured to rigorously high standards using the latest in lab grown technology, with our team monitoring the quality at every step in the process.
Our jewellery is inspected before delivery to ensure that every piece is despatched in pristine condition. In the rare event that a manufacturing problem is identified, we offer a Lifetime Manufacturing Guarantee, which covers the repair of your jewellery for a lifetime for free.
Please allow 4-6 weeks for manufacturing. If you require a shorter timescale, then please contact us as we will always try our best to get your order to you in time. Alternatively, check our in-stock page for items ready to dispatch within 1-3 working days.
Please contact our team if you have any questions or would like to return your jewellery for repair.
The guarantee covers any defects in the craftsmanship or materials, including cracks or breaks in the metal or loose stones, providing that this is related to issues with the manufacturing process.
For in stock products that require sizing, orders are usually dispatched within 3 working days.
Items which are made to order are around 4-6 weeks
Lab grown diamonds are produced in highly controlled environments that replicate the conditions which create natural diamonds. There are two methods used to create lab diamonds; CVD (Chemical Vapour Deposition) and HPHT (High Pressure High Temperature). Both methods are effective in creating high-quality, authentic diamonds, identical to those that have been traditionally mined.
Yes. Lab grown diamonds look and shine exactly like natural diamonds, including their ability to reflect light and sparkle! The shine and brilliance of a diamond are determined by the four Cs, cut, colour, clarity, and carat, all elements that apply to both lab grown and natural diamonds. This means that lab grown diamonds can be made inall of the same colour and look combinations as their natural counterparts. In fact, if you were to put one lab grown and one natural stone of the samespecification next to each other, it would be impossible to tell the difference between them without specialist equipment.
Yes! As lab grown diamonds have the same chemical structure as natural, mined diamonds (carbon), lab grown diamonds are real diamonds and so will pass a diamond tester.
Lab grown diamonds are diamonds that have been created in a laboratory using advanced technological processes that mimic the conditionsrequired for natural diamond formation. The diamonds created in this way have exactly the same chemical and physical properties as natural diamonds.
Yes. Lab grown diamonds are made of carbon in a crystalline form, however instead of developing in a natural geological setting over thousands of years, they are made in a matter of weeks through controlled technological processes in a laboratory.
No, you can only tell the difference between lab grown and natural diamonds by viewing the laser inscription on the girdle using a magnifying glass loupe. Although not all diamonds come with this, which is why it is important to choose a diamond from a trusted and experienced jeweller, as it will come with an IGI or GIA certificate. The only other way to tell the difference between lab grown and natural diamonds is by using specialist gemological equipment.
The time it takes to produce a lab grown diamond can vary depending on the size and quality of stone desired. Typically, it takes from two to four weeks for a lab grown diamond to form. After the initial growth process of the rough diamond, it must then be cut and polished. The timeline for this can vary depending on its size and complexity.
Lab grown diamonds are made in highly specialized laboratories where expert scientists and engineers operate cutting edge technology. LG.D partners with trusted suppliers all over the world in order to source the highest quality lab grown diamonds. Some of our partners are located in Israel, the United States, and India, however this list is always changing as we look to add to our list of highly reputable laboratories.
The physical and chemical properties of lab grown diamonds are identical to that of natural diamonds, making them every bit as strong. They may even be stronger, as they are not subject to the same natural flaws that can weaken the integrity of natural diamonds.
Lab grown diamonds can be subjected to much the same pressures as their traditional counterparts and are extremely resistant to damage. Natural and lab grown diamonds both sit at 10 on the Mohs hardness scale, which means they are the toughest mineral in the world. In fact, they are so durable that they can only be scratched by another diamond.
Choosing between white gold and platinum depends on your budget, personal style, and potentially allergies. White both metals are white, platinum has a more muted tone compared to the brighter colour of white gold.
White gold is generally less expensive than platinum depending on the purity of the gold. It is a softer metal and is mixed with other alloys. However it requires occasional maintenance in the form of rhodium plating approximately every 18 months to maintain its shine. White gold can also contain nickel, which is commonly used in its alloys. If you have a nickel allergy then we would recommend platinum, which is hypoallergenic.
Platinum is a more durable metal and is therefore less likely to scratch or lose its shine over time. It is a dense, heavy, and hard metal, meaning that it can be polished time and time again, and does not require any special maintenance.
We will always be discreet when contacting you about any product enquiries or orders that you place with us. Our packaging is unbranded and we’ll let you know in advance when you can expect your delivery. All our deliveries are tracked and we will provide you with a tracking code as soon as your ring is on its way.
Here are a few tips to help you to keep your ring order a secret:
Yes, as long as the order for both rings is placed at the same time they will be delivered together.
Here's our Top 5 designs for 2023
