How to Choose the Perfect Engagement Ring for Small Hands: A Guide

October 2nd, 2023 / Alese Oldenburg

There are so many decisions you have to make when planning your wedding—choosing a venue, food, cake, music, wedding dress, colors, and decor. The vast options you get to choose from will feel endless!

Whether you are proposing at home or traveling somewhere to do it, one of the most important decisions is choosing the perfect ring. It’s important to take into consideration the wearer’s hands before making a purchase. This can be a lot harder if you are shopping for the ring by yourself and without your partner.

Remember that every woman is unique and that factors like the size of your hand and your finger shape can impact how attractive your ring looks. Even if the wedding ring is beautiful all on its own, the real litmus test is how it looks when you’re wearing it. What looks beautiful in theory may not be nearly as flattering once you try it on. Are you going to look at small engagement rings, or do you prefer unique, statement engagement ring styles? At Diamond Nexus, we’ll help you find a beautifully designed, lab grown diamond ring that is perfect for your bride-to-be.

From dainty accent rings to brilliant colorful gemstone wedding rings, our selection has something for every kind of bride. Read on for our top tips when picking out a ring for small hands.

Guidelines for Choosing an Engagement Ring

There’s a formula that’s popular to use when looking for the perfect engagement ring. That formula is:

Finger Length x Finger Width + Ring Shape + Ring Style

Basically, you’re comparing the size of your hand and the width and length of your finger against the style and width of the ring, as well as the size and shape of your center stone.

Don’t forget to think of your usual nail shape and length. If you keep them long and manicured, they make your fingers look longer. If you keep them trimmed short, your fingers will look shorter.

You also need to make sure your ring is sized correctly, whatever style you choose. There’s nothing pretty about an ill-fitting ring. Get it too small and your skin will bulge around the band. Definitely not cute! Get it too big, and you’ll find it slipping and sliding all over the place, or worse, possibly even sliding off your finger altogether.

Keep in mind that these are simply recommendations. If you absolutely adore a particular style of ring, then, by all means, go for it. You want a ring you love. We suggest trying it on, but also trying on other styles as well. You might find that you like another cut or style even better once you actually see it on your finger.

Best Engagement Rings for Small Hands

When choosing an engagement ring for petite hands, slim bands usually work the best and are the most attractive. Thick bands tend to take up too much space on the finger, causing a look that seems crowded.

A thin band actually helps create an illusion that visually elongates short fingers. Another benefit to a thin band is that it helps to make the center stone appear bigger and more prominent than it really is. That means you can get away with choosing a smaller stone and not lose too much wow factor.

Cuts for Small Hands

There are several different directions you can go in when choosing the cut of your stone. Many women love round diamonds, and they can look amazing on the right hand.

However, if your hands are tiny, you might be better off going with an oval shaped diamond instead. This is because an oval shaped diamond sits on the ring band vertically, which helps to make your fingers seem longer than they actually are. Marquee cuts when set vertically also help to give the appearance of length.

Virtually any cut that offers more length versus width will work well. You can try oval cuts, pear cuts, marquee cuts, and even experiment with an emerald cut engagement rings as long as you don’t go overboard on the width.

Pear cuts, in particular, are flattering for almost everyone, whether you have short fingers and small hands or longer fingers and larger hands.

Cuts to avoid that will make short fingers look shorter are:

• Square cuts
• Heart cuts
• Princess cuts

Round cut engagement rings can sometimes work, but it really depends on the ring and your hand shape. If you do go for any of these cuts, make sure you go with a more dainty center stone and keep everything in proportion.

Don’t be afraid to try on wedding rings with different cuts just to experiment and see what they look like. You won’t know until you know, and trying rings on may give you a better perspective on what looks good on your hand.

Stone Size for Small Hands

The wonderful thing about having little hands is that you don’t have to get a large stone for it to look beautiful and stunning. Stones that are too large can look out of proportion on small fingers anyway. A delicate and dainty ring will offer a beautiful shine and sparkle while still providing a perfect fit for the wearer.

Instead, go with a smaller center stone. Depending on what cut and setting you go with, you can make a smaller center stone look bold and impressive or look small and unassuming.

In an ideal world, choosing the size of your gemstone should be less about costs and more about aesthetics. While that 2 carat diamond ring might look good in the jewelry case, try it on for size. You might find it looks too big and overwhelming on your finger, and you love that smaller stone even more!

Styles of Engagement Rings for Small Fingers

There are so many styles to choose from when shopping for engagement rings, finding the perfect ring for small fingers really boils down to the cut of the diamond and the type of band that you choose more than anything else.

With that said, pavé is a great style that works with small hands, especially if you love bands that are covered in gemstones. Channel set bands are pretty too, but the extra metal on either side can make the ring look wider on your finger than it actually is.

Solitaires are another classic style that looks great on small hands. Solitaires often have thin bands already, so it’s only a matter of picking the right size and cut for your diamond so that it looks flattering when you wear it.

Stacked ring styles and ring styles with lots of details are very eye-catching. Unfortunately, most of the time, these are styles that don’t work well for women with small hands. When matching wedding rings & bands are stacked it can make them look crowded on your finger. It’s better to go with simpler styles instead.

Small Hands but Short Fingers

If you have short fingers, they may or may not be slender too. The goal is to help them appear longer, either way. Shapes like the emerald, pear, marquise, and oval engagement rings tend to work well with short fingers.

Just make sure you stick with a slim, delicate band to create more length and a gorgeous finish. If your fingers are a little more on the wide side, you can always go with a slim split shank and avoid a look that’s too clunky.

Note: It’s a good idea to skip thick bands and large stones with a round or square cut.

Small Hands but Long Fingers

Some women are blessed to have small hands and also have long fingers. That means you can experiment with different styles to find one that perfectly suits you. You can try on winding snake styles and experiment with a larger stone to see what it looks like.

You can also try on beautifully designed rings with larger bands since you have more finger space for the band to sit on. There aren’t too many styles that don’t look good on long fingers, so consider yourself lucky if that’s you!

Small Hands with Skinny Fingers

Some women have very slender fingers, especially women with small hands. You can try going with a smaller gemstone and set it into a wider band for the best aesthetic. This can help create an appearance of width and works well if your fingers are also long. However, if you have slender fingers but they are on the short side, look for styles that both make the finger look wider and longer, such as a narrow pear or marquise cut stone.

Note: It’s probably wise to avoid wide bands, large solitaires, and statement styles.

Small Hands with Wide Fingers

Women with wide fingers will want to skip stones that are too narrow. If you have too much skin showing on either side of the stone, it creates the illusion that your finger is wider than it really is, and you don’t want that if your fingers are already wide to begin with.

Experiment with a medium to thick band set with a cluster style or larger, round stones. Or try a cut that’s elegant and elongated, like an emerald cut to add length. You can also play around with shapes that are angular or asymmetrical. All of these options help to make wide fingers appear to be slimmer and longer than they really are.

Note: You may want to avoid shapes with narrow centers, like a marquise cut, and skip the thinner band.

Best Engagement rings for small fingers come in all styles, shapes, and sizes. At Diamond Nexus, we will help you find a style and cut you love and work backwards from there. Do your research on enough rings, and you’ll soon find the style that fits your small finger perfectly.

*Here at Diamond Nexus, we strive to provide valuable information while being clear and honest about our products. The Nexus Diamond™ alternative is a patented lab created diamond simulate that, among all simulants, most closely imitates the look, weight and wear of a diamond, with two exceptions – it is absolutely perfect in every way, and it costs significantly less. Price points and environmental facts expressed in this blog were taken from popular online retailers and may vary. Learn more about the environmental impact of mining by visiting our blog.