Tracy Allen Fine Jewelry

We came to know Tracy Allen from a recent trip to Vegas where we met some friends for a birthday celebration and relieved ourselves of excess cash.

We met this terrific couple, and we were constantly dazzled by the wife's jewelry... she told us all about each piece, including her incredible engagement ring - all designed by Los Angeles jeweler Tracy Allen. We haven't met anyone so loyal to one designer, and her excitement was so impressive that we asked her to write a review.

We couldn't capture her experience better......Here's her story:

My husband proposed with a ring from Tracy Allen Fine Jewelry in Los Angeles.

I was familiar with her designs from other gifts he had given me, and it makes perfect sense that he chose her to make my ring, since I have loved everything he has chosen from her so far.

He later told me that at first he was so nervous choosing a ring, he went to several places before he went to Tracy - he thought she would be more expensive since she has such a nice store, etc.

She has an interesting story about how she has evolved as a jeweler. When she first started, she sold privately, only through word of mouth in LA.

She would either have you come to her house, or she would bring small rolling suitcases to you and open her cases and show you row after row of rings, earrings, pendants and bracelets.

She designs everything herself, or if you bring her a picture of something you saw in a magazine or loan her an piece of your own, she will have that copied exactly! I know a couple who found the wedding rings they wanted, but they were only in platinum, and they asked Tracy to make them in 18k gold. She had them completed in less than a week. She works with craftsmen in downtown LA in the jewelry district.

When she was showing privately, her prices were amazing. I remember when she would come over, and open her case, and I would fall in love with something, but be afraid to ask the price because it looked so beautiful and expensive. She would tell me the price, with this wonderful, "Can you believe it?" look in her eyes, and I would relax.

She would pack up her cases and almost every time, loom at my husband and say, "Now when you're ready to marry this beautiful girl, you call me, I'll take care of you." I would blush excitedly every time she said that.

In 2008, she opened the Tracy Allen Fine Jewelry boutique in the Grove shopping center in LA. This is an incredible outdoor shopping area, with glamorous shops and restaurants, dancing water fountains and a trolley.

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July 2012 Update: Tracy is no longer at The Grove. She's relocated to Beverly Hills on Wilshire Boulevard (new telephone no. 310-276-8125). Don't let the address fool you, her prices are still as good as ever!

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I thought for sure that our "secret" jeweler would now be out of our price range, and would raise her prices since she now had this high end store. I had been getting a "feeling" that my husband was going to propose soon, and when I imagined the ring, I always remembered Tracy's classic, clean engagement ring designs.

When she was still a private jeweler, sometimes I would buy gifts for my sister and girlfriends for special occasions or holidays - Tracy has really cool pieces that cost from $75-200, which amazed me, and delighted the recipients - they were always thrilled with her impressive designs.

Sometimes when she opened a case looking fro a pair of earrings, she would "accidentally" open a case of engagement rings.

I don't know if that was her intent, but we would stop her from closing it and look at those terrific rings, oohing and aahing - and my husband is not an ooher and aaher!

She didn't mind if I took my time, trying some on, always on my right hand, I'm a little superstitious. Of course I dreamed of getting a Tracy Allen ring as my engagement ring, but I actually never mentioned it to my husband-to-be.

I was completely caught off guard when my husband proposed. We were on our way to NYC for a wedding, and were on the plane. I was sitting on the aisle, and my husband got up to to go the restroom. The man sitting behind me tapped me on the shoulder and handed me a box, and said "You dropped this." I told him it wasn't mine, and just then my husband showed up, took the box and said it was his. I didn't think anything about it, until my husband knelt down on one knee, and opened the box, revealing the most beautiful ring I had ever seen!

He asked me to marry him, and the whole plane stared cheering. The flight attendant came on the intercom and said, "Well, he asked you a question." I said yes, and the whole plane clapped and cheered - it was amazing! I was too excited to even be embarrassed. The flight attendant served us champagne, and that was the smoothest flight ever.

Once back in LA, I couldn't wait to go see Tracy - the ring was little big and she sized it for me. She was honestly excited for me, and we talked about all the time my husband had spent looking at her line, trying to make his decision. (He had told me when we got engaged that if I didn't like the ring, I could exchange it for something else - but there is no way you are getting that ring from me.)

Oh, it turns out we had the wrong thought all along about prices - Tracy's prices are more than fair. My husband will be the first to tell you that he got more for his money from Tracy Allen than he could have from any other store he visited. All I know is I have an amazingly wonderful engagement ring.

She told me that I could stop into her shop anytime, and she would clean the ring for me for free (great move on her part, while she cleans it I ogle the jewelry in the store).

She also gave me all kinds of care tips - including reminding me whenever I took it off, to put in in a separate box, to make sure it never touched another diamond. I never thought of that, but she explained that only another diamond could hurt another diamond.

One wrong clink of stones and my stone could be harmed. She told me that the big diamond that Richard Burton gave Elizabeth Taylor was no longer perfect, as Liz had occasionally tossed it in a box with other rings, and it got dinged. Good to know!

I have another girlfriend who got a Tracy Allen ring as well, based on our recommendation. We were at dinner not too long ago, and were discussing the whole process.

My girlfriend said that Tracy has everything, and she would be happy having no other jewelry by any other store or designer. I agreed, but I think our husbands got a little nervous!

I am a lucky woman, there is not one day that passes that I don't look at my ring many times, and each time I pause, smile, and think of how lucky I am to have such a good husband, how beautiful my ring is, and how perfect the entire process was, because of Tracy Allen. (You guys have to know I am not being paid to write this review!)

I hope each girl getting engaged has a wonderful experience - but I think mine is going to be pretty hard to beat..

Although we knew of her enthusiasm for Tracy Allen we couldn't quite get over what a 'fan' she was so we checked out some other online reviews and they were all pretty similar—seems like Tracy Allen puts a spell on everyone who owns a piece of her jewelry. Visit her on Facebook.