The new colour code: engagement rings featuring vibrant gemstones

If you're looking for an engagement ring featuring a coloured gemstone as the star attraction, we've compiled a collection of some of our favourites in one of our prettiest bridal galleries yet. The traditional diamond is still top of the engagement ring chart, but imaginative brides-to-be are painting a more colourful picture for their future. It's no coincidence that Pantone - the global authority on colour - named Emerald Green the official colour of 2013. This vivid gemstone, as worn by Naomi Watts at the Screen Actors Guild Awards 2013, is one of the most dramatic jewellery statements you can make.
Wills and Kate have been attributed with reigniting a passion for sapphire engagement rings (the future King of England proposed with his mother's blue sapphire ring). A durable gemstone - second only to the diamond in hardness on the Mohs Scale - they make an excellent choice for a piece of jewellery you will be wearing every day, and there is no need to restrict yourself to blue either when there are yellow, pink, green and purple sapphires to consider. Be inspired by the magnificent violet sapphire Hirsh London ring, below, and Theo Fennell's Butterfly ring, with its sapphire of startling pink.
Rubies, long associated with passion and love, make a dramatic choice. The incredible Van Cleef & Arpels Bonheur ring, above - launched at the end of last year as part of a new collection of solitaire rings adorned with coloured stones - is stop-you-in-your tracks stunning. Which is precisely the kind of reaction many women want from their engagement ring.
Beyond the big three - emeralds, sapphires and rubies - one of the biggest evolutions in jewellery has been the sheer magnitude of different-coloured precious stones. "This January we saw an incredible increase in sales of morganite," says Bec Clarke, Founder and Managing Director of luxury online jeweller Astley Clarke. "Our morganite and diamond cocktail ring from Astley Clarke Tearoom sold out immediately." Amethyst, rubellite, tourmaline, alexandrite, morganite - which could you picture on your ring finger?

Astley Clarke Tearoom Morganite ring in 14ct rose gold, featuring a 0.79ct morganite surrounded by white diamonds (£1,250; astleyclarke.com).
Pink tourmaline and diamond ring by Astley Clarke Tearoom, set with a 6mm pink tourmaline, framed by white diamonds (£3,950; astleyclarke.com).
Baroque 18ct rose gold ring, set with a rough red ruby (£POA; baroquejewellery.com).
Tiffany & Co diamond and gemstone rings in platinum, set with a cushion-cut green cuprian elbaite tourmaline, above, and emerald-cut alexandrite, below (£POA; tiffany.co.uk).
Boodles Vintage sapphire and diamond ring in platinum, set with a cushion-cut blue sapphire and surrounded by a further 1.20ct of round-brilliant diamonds (from £15,600; boodles.com).
Boodles Vintage Oval ring, featuring a 1.44ct oval-cut emerald, surrounded by diamonds in platinum (£10,560; boodles.com).
Anna Sheffield engagement ring in 14ct white gold, set with an inverted 8x6mm blue sapphire with 1/8ct white diamonds ($7,900; annasheffield.com).
Harry Winston Oval ring with a 5.40ct ruby and two tapered baguettes totalling 0.58ct in a platinum and yellow gold setting; Classic Winston round-brilliant cut diamond ring; and Oval Sapphire Ring.
David Yurman Classic Three Stone engagement rings in platinum, set with a ruby, emerald or two sapphires, with smooth or cabled bands (davidyurman.com).
Susannah Lovis Aquamarine and Diamond Deco Ring (£5,200 susannahlovis.com).
Cartier Diane ring, set with a 7.46ct sapphire and 0.68ct round-cut diamonds (£POA; cartier.co.uk).
Faberge Solyanka Vera ring in 18ct white gold, set with 129 diamonds totalling 1.81ct. The centre stone is an ethically mined 8.27ct Gemfields cushion-cut emerald (£POA; faberge.com).