Your about to make a very important purchase when buying a diamond. You will be spending a large amount of money and the recipients reaction is paramount! You may have already looked at buying the diamond and been bamboozled by the different characteristics and prices. So how do you know what to buy? Lyes Jewellery has put together a guide on choosing your perfect diamond.

The 4 C's

You may have heard of the 4 C's, these are the characteristics of the diamond (cut, carat, clarity, colour).

Cut - The cut of the diamond describes the shape of the stone but also in the past few years it also describes how well the diamond has been cut but we will discuss this further in the page.

The most popular cut of diamond is the round brilliant cut. This has 57 facets or 58 if the diamond has a culet  and is the cut with the most brilliance.

The Princess cut is a square cut brilliant cut diamond and the shape helps enhance the colour of the diamond.

Cushion shape diamonds have grown in popularity in recent years as have oval cuts. These cuts have a lovely vintage look and look amazing when set in a diamond halo style ring.

Emerald cuts and Asscher cuts are the least sparkliest of cut diamonds with few facets you can see straight into the diamond, for this reason we would recommend you invest in a high clarity so any flaws wont be seen with the naked eye.

Colour - The colour is an important factor to consider when buying a diamond. This characteristic is quite visible to the naked eye. Diamonds actually come in a variety of colours including fancy yellows, browns, black, pink and blue. Pink and blue diamonds are very rare and will command very high prices!

When buying white diamonds you will not want to see any yellow in the diamond. Our most purchased colours are D - G. From I - Z you are going to see a slight to a strong yellow tinge.

 Clarity - This characteristic denotes the flaws of the diamond. Diamonds are a natural stone and very few actually have no blemishes. The flaws maybe little crystals or feathery lines, these are harder to see than the carbon spots which appear as dark blemishes. A cluster of pinpoint flaws can create a cloudy patch when a diamond has a large cloud this can greatly decrease the sparkle of the diamond regardless of the diamonds proportions and colour. Generally our customers will choose VS2 diamonds where no flaws will be seen with the naked eye when viewing the diamond from the top.

Carat - Is the weight of the diamond and therefore the size. Diamonds of a larger size are rare and therefore you will pay a lot more for a single diamond weighing 1ct than smaller diamonds with a total weight of 1ct. You may hear the size described as points, there are 100 points in a 1.00ct.

The Cut Grade

Regardless of which colour and clarity you have chosen if you get a poor cut your diamond is going to look dull. GIA have a scale of Poor, Fair, Good, Very Good and Excellent. Anything less then Very good is going to have its brilliance, fire and scintillation compromised! Do not be tempted by Good to Poor.

European certificates will describe Excellent Cut as the Ideal cut.

Certificates

Diamonds these days come with a certificate. This means the diamond has been sent to a laboratory and been graded. GIA (The Gemological Institute of America) is seen as the bench mark in diamond grading and is deemed one of the stricter laboratories. Lyes Jewellery therefore recommends when buying online to stick with this certificate. However if you are able to view the diamond before purchase we say as long as you like the diamond buy it regardless of the certificate.

So now your clued up on the grading systems of diamonds we hope this helps you with your decision with which diamond is best for you. Good Luck!

You can choose a ring from our online store and if you wish to pop in and have a chat and view some diamonds just pop in and say hello.