How to chose a diamond

A diamond's characteristics can be summarized by the four C's - Cut,

Color, Clarity and Carat

The cut refers to the way the facets of a diamond are positioned. Cut is important because it determines the amount of light, fire and brilliance of a diamond. A diamond should be cut so that light is refracted internally from facet to facet and eventually reflected back out of the crown or top surfaces of the stone. If the facets' angles are not set properly the light will not follow the right path which means that less light is reflected to the eye. A well-cut diamond sparkles with brilliance and flashes with intense rainbow-colored fire. The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) classifies cut as Excellent, Very Good, Good, Fair, and Poor.

A diamond's color combined with its cut create the brilliant sparkle that is seen when light passing through the diamond is reflected back. No color is best as it allows the maximum amount of white light to pass through the diamond and be refracted by the facets before being reflected back. The Gemological Institute of America has a scale to categorize the color in a diamond. The less the color, the more valuable the diamond. The scale ranges from D (preferred) to Z.

Gemological Institute of America Color Scale

Colorless	D - F
Near Colorless	G - J
Faint Yellow	K - M
Very Light Yellow	N - R
Yellow Tint	S - Z

The clarity refers to the amount of flaws in the diamond. There are two types of naturally occurring flaws. The internal markings are called inclusions and the external markings are called blemishes. These markings interfere with the passage of light through a diamond, and affect the price, if not beauty of a diamond. Most diamonds contain some inclusions that can only be seen under magnification. The magnifying instrument that is used to examine and evaluate diamonds is called the jeweler's loupe.

Gemological Institute of America Clarity Scale

Flawless	FL	No flaws at all
Internally Flawless	IF	Has minor surface blemishes
Very, very slight inclusions (first and second degree)	VVS1 VVS2	Very small inclusions that are very difficult to see at 10 times magnification
Very slight inclusions (first and second degree)	VS1 VS2	Very small inclusions that are difficult to see at 10 times magnification
Slight inclusions (first degree)	SI1	Inclusions are fairly easy to see at 10 times magnification
Slight inclusions (second degree)	SI2	Inclusions are easy to see at 10 times magnification
Imperfect (first degree)	I1	Inclusions are visible to naked eye when viewed through top of the stone
Imperfect (second degree)	I2	Inclusions are easily visible to naked eye
Imperfect (third degree)	I3	Inclusions are very visible to naked eye

Carat is a measure of weight for diamonds. One carat represents 200 milligrams (0.2 grams or one fifth of a gram), and is divided into 100 points. One point is one 100th of a carat. For example, a 3/4 (0.75) carat diamond is a 75 point diamond

understanding wedding diamonds
Kauai wedding specialist