Diary 2: You Never Know What Is Waiting For You

People always say, “Just try, take action, don’t overthink—if you put yourself out there, you’ll get what you want.” So I did. I jumped in without much research, and boom—I ended up with three pretty lab-colored rings. The problem? They all turned out to be fake.

The First Three Rings

I was scrolling through Rednote (the Chinese version of Instagram) looking at jewelry, but noticed there wasn’t much about lab-grown stones. Out of curiosity, I turned to Alibaba and Taobao to see if I could find some pretty rings and stones. The search was honestly frustrating. A lot of shops used flashy, misleading titles to get clicks, but once you read the description, it turned out to be something completely different. I really dislike that kind of fake advertising.

For my first try, I set a budget of ¥200–¥600 ($28–$85). I wanted something affordable but still decent. After browsing around, I found a shop that sold both ring bands and lab stones, and even offered stone-setting services. That felt convenient—I wouldn’t need to worry about scratching the stones or trying to set them myself. Plus, I could choose the stone colors and pair them with different ring styles.

Even though I usually make decisions quickly, it still took me a while to finally place the order. The only thing that worried me was that the stones didn’t come with certificates. I messaged the seller, asked for a discount, and checked the reviews. The boss seemed nice enough, so at midnight I finally bought three rings with different stones. Before checking out, I left a note asking for good-quality stones, and the seller replied “yes.” That simple response made me feel a lot better—I went to bed hoping I’d actually get something nice under $85.

Unboxing Day

You know the feeling when you’re waiting for a package—you keep checking the tracking info and hoping it arrives tomorrow? That was me. To my surprise, the shop shipped my order the very next day. That gave me some confidence—maybe DIY jewelry isn’t as complicated as I thought.

The shipping itself was slow though. I tracked the package every day, and finally, it arrived on Saturday. The outer box looked fine, but when I opened it, I found just a plastic bag with three small transparent pouches inside, each holding a ring. My heart sank for a moment—“Oh no, what if these stones are fake?”

But I’m not the type to lose my temper over reality (I'm INTP/INTJ/ISTP mix). I already knew the risk, so I accepted it quickly. The good news? The stones looked better than I expected—definitely nicer than basic cubic zirconia. I couldn’t wait to try them on.

A Closed Look

I ordered three colors: sakura pink, clear, and Fanta orange.

• Clear stone: I chose this one to compare with the real diamond ring. Honestly, unless the lab diamond comes with certification, I wouldn’t recommend buying a plain clear one. The brilliance and texture just don’t match real diamonds. Still, I set it in a teardrop-shaped band, which gave it a simple, modern, elegant look.

• Sakura pink: This pairing was fun. The band design looked like a little sunburst. If I had picked yellow or orange, it would have been too ordinary. I wanted something soft and comfortable, so I went with light pink. The effect was actually nice—perfect for cool, fair skin. Since my skin tone is warmer, I ended up giving this one to a friend, and it looked amazing on her.

• Fanta orange: This was the one I looked forward to the most. I had seen in an F1 documentary how striking bright orange looked against darker skin tones. And it’s true—this stone looked vibrant and warm. I paired it with a rose-gold band, which made the whole ring shine beautifully. It turned out to be the one that suited my skin tone best.

Learn From The First Try

From my business experience—I once managed a Shopify store for my boss and scaled it to $1M in 2.5 years—I’ve learned that building something from scratch is never just “zero to one.” It’s more like 10,000 small steps. Some people might reach their goals in 100 steps, or even 50 if they’re smart or lucky, but for most of us, it’s about patience and consistency. Sourcing, design, marketing, inventory, shipping, customer care—there’s always more to do, and you never know what challenges are coming next. The key is to stay calm and just keep going.

For this jewelry experience, I realized I need to be more careful with sourcing quality lab stones. Next time, I’ll start with cubic zirconia and silver-plated bands to lower the sampling cost.

To be continued…

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