Jewelry is consistently the best-selling big ticket Valentine’s Day gifts—after greeting cards, roses and chocolate, jewelry gifts are the number one way to say I love you on Valentine’s Day, year after year. But sometimes it’s hard to tell what these sparkles and baubles mean. Does getting pair of diamond stud earrings mean a diamond ring is next? Are there special meanings in the gemstones used in jewelry gifts? Here is a handy list og the most common Valentine’s Day jewelry gifts and their hidden meanings.

Diamond Studs Diamond stud earrings are a classic gift because every woman loves them and looks great in them. If your boyfriend surprises you with a pair of simple diamond stud earrings on Valentine’s Day, he may be trying to show how serious he is about you—they’re a pretty classy and luxurious choice, after all—but he may not know enough about your style sensibilities to pick out something more personalized. If you think a proposal may be on the horizon, use the opportunity presented by the diamond studs jewelry gift to give him a better sense of the styles and settings you really love. He’ll thank you later, when he’s trying to pick out the perfect diamond engagement ring for you.

 Heart Pendant Getting a heart-shaped pendant as a Valentine’s Day gift can mean one of two things—either your boyfriend is serious romantic, or he thinks you are. If he has an incurably mushy and romantic side, wear your Valentine’s Day heart necklace with pride throughout the year to show your appreciation of having a boyfriend who watches romantic comedies and isn’t afraid to show his feelings. If he’s not a romantic, he may have given you that heart necklace as a present for Valentine’s Day because he thinks its his duty as your boyfriend to provide you with all your mandatory Valentine’s Day heart-bedecked apparel. If hearts aren’t your thing, exactly, you can let him know—but first wear your necklace for long enough that he isn’t offended!

Diamond Solitaire Necklace Receiving a rock on a chain means only one thing—the rock for your finger is next. The symbolism of that single center stone is just too strong to ignore, so if he surprises you on Valentine’s Day with a simple, elegant diamond solitaire necklace, prepare to be surprised with a proposal sometime soon. In fact, he may even be using his Valentine’s gift as a test run, gauging your reaction to the necklace style as a way of planning the perfect engagement ring for you.

Gemstone Jewelry You’ve probably come across a magazine article or blog post that touted the specific symbolic significance of every gemstone—steadfastness and loyalty for sapphire, love and passion for ruby. Besides for the questionable authenticity and relevance of these legends, chances are strong that your boyfriend has never heard of them. So if you get a pair of garnet earrings or a topaz ring as a gift for Valentine’s Day, don’t start an Internet search to uncover the hidden coded message in that particular gemstone. Most likely, your boyfriend chose a gemstone jewelry gift for Valentine’s Day because he’s really serious about you and wanted to show it without going for the overwhelming symbolism of the diamond. He probably chose that particular gemstone because he thought it was pretty or because he noticed you like that color. A gemstone jewelry piece is his way of showing you that he thinks you’re a gem!