Size Isn’t A Big Factor When Shopping For Diamond Jewelry

Diamond shopping hasn’t changed in decades. We all know to look for cut, color, clarity, and carat weight to determine the quality of the stone, but most of us don’t do it enough to stay proficient at it. I’ve always been a proponent of studying up to refresh myself on all of the variations and their meanings before I go shopping for diamonds of any size. If you’re going shopping or diamond jewelry any time soon, you could probably stand a quick refresher lesson too.

Almost everyone has a preferential diamond cut. The majority are variations of round and square. Square-cut diamonds include, among others, emerald, princess, cushion, and radiant. Round-cuts are mainly confined to round, oval, or brilliant. Of course, there are the specialty cuts like marquise, pear, and heart-shaped. Believe it or not, a diamond’s cut is its most important feature, because it sets the basis for the number of facets that can be put on the stone, and facets are all about sparkle. The other important part of the cut is its depth, which can range from ideal to poor. A diamond with a lot of facets still won’t sparkle if it is cut too shallow or too deep. Light with either reflect off the surface or pass through the stone without diffracting at all. The ideal cut diamond has an enormous number of facets and the stone is cut to the exact proper depth to maximize the diffraction and make the stone sparkle.

Next in importance is color. Diamonds come ranked by color grade from D to Z, with D being absolutely colorless, and Z being visibly brown or yellow. Every letter in between represents a slightly increasing amount of color, from "almost colorless” to "noticeable color.” For most laypeople, it’s almost hard to tell a D from an F unless you hold them up side-by-side. How the diamond is set, whether in white or yellow gold, will have a huge impact visible color.

Clarity is more about the amount of "stuff” in the stone than anything else. Clarities range from flawless to very included (cloudy, cracks, or pieces of coal that didn’t convert). Anything up to "slightly included” is barely visible to the naked eye, and is a great value. Anything above that can be seen with the naked eye and should be avoided.

Unless you’re rich, you’ll have to compromise on some or all of these factors to buy diamond jewelry. You want to purchase the best cut with the least amount of color and fewest flaws you can afford. If it comes down to weighing the three of those against carat weight, go for the first three every time. A smaller, glistening diamond is much prettier than a big clear rock.

You can find the full article about choosing the best diamond jewelry and much more jewelry advice and information on Jewelrista.com