Clarity is more important in shapes like emerald, princess, and asscher. Colour is important for cushion, radiant, pear and oval. Generally speaking, as long as you choose an eye-clean diamond, your diamond will still look beautiful in terms of clarity.
Clarity is not without its merits but it's the least important of the Four C's. SI2 or higher diamonds are classed as “eye-clean”.
FL (or Flawless) is the highest grade for clarity. An FL diamond has no imperfections even when magnified 10x by a professional. For color, D or completely colorless diamond is the highest grade.
Does Diamond Color Matter? Color is the second most important of the 4Cs because the color grade directly affects the stone's appearance. Diamonds with a poor color grade can appear slightly yellow instead of the desired brilliant white.
Bottom Line: VS2 clarity diamonds offer the best value. VS2 diamonds have small inclusions, but are usually not visible to the naked eye. It will look like a flawless diamond. VS2 diamonds can cost as much as 30% less than Flawless clarity grades.
Clarity is more important in shapes like emerald, princess, and asscher. Colour is important for cushion, radiant, pear and oval. Generally speaking, as long as you choose an eye-clean diamond, your diamond will still look beautiful in terms of clarity.
A VS1 diamond has slightly fewer and smaller inclusions than a VS2 diamond. In other words, a VS1 diamond is slightly better than a VS2 diamond.
Out of the 4 C's of diamonds, the cut of the diamond is the most important. This is followed by color, clarity, and carat weight.
G color diamonds are the best, whitest, and most expensive of the Near Colorless class of diamond color grades that includes H, I, and J colors as well.
While a whiter diamond doesn't necessarily compensate for size, it makes for a more beautiful and impressive diamond. However, differences between color grades are very slight and hard to see with the naked eye, which means you can compromise a little on color and still buy a beautiful diamond.
Round Cut Diamonds Sparkle The Most
The standard round cut diamond comprises 57 facets (58 including one on the bezel). This cut heightens the diamond's sparkle and shine. Because round diamonds have the largest number of facets, they create the most sparkle.
Since a round diamond is thought to hold the most value when compared to the other shapes, it will almost always be given a higher price than any other shape with similar clarity, color, and carat weight.
The most brilliant, or sparkliest, diamond cut is the round brilliant cut. Round brilliant diamonds are cut to have 58 facets (including the culet), allowing light to enter the diamond and reflect off of every facet to create a beautiful sparkle.
You may think: the larger the diamond, the more sparkle. But in reality, diamonds with identical proportions, color and clarity have the same amount of sparkle regardless of size.
While a diamond's clarity can affect its sparkle, you'll find that it ultimately doesn't play a major role. When shopping for diamonds, you may ask which carat diamond is best, but it's also important to remember the effects of the other grades.
I Diamond Clarity
I1 diamonds have visible inclusions to the naked eye. The inclusions of I3 diamonds can be identified across the room.
Because diamonds reflect white light, colorless diamonds produce the best sparkle and fire. In fact, the more color a diamond has, the less likely it is to reflect white light. And as a result, will produce less sparkle. A D-color diamond is the highest quality, and will offer the greatest sparkle.
D colour diamond is the highest grade and is extremely rare—the highest colour grade that money can buy.
If you are choosing a larger round cut diamond (say 1.5 carats and up), it may be better to stick to I color or better as color tends to become more visible as the carat weight increases. That said, I've seen plenty of great J color diamonds that face up white in diamonds larger than 2.5 carats.
What do Clarity Grades Mean? Flawless diamonds have no inclusions or blemishes visible under 10x. Internally Flawless diamonds have no inclusions visible under 10x, but can have very minor blemishes (marks and features confined to the surface only).
In terms of clarity, the most popular range for a diamond engagement ring is the VS1-VS2 diamond. Color is also a factor to consider when thinking about clarity. For example, it will be much easier to spot imperfections in a very clear white diamond than in a yellow diamond.
Because With Clarity offers lab-created diamonds and moissanites, there's plenty of opportunity to save some money when buying an engagement ring. Lab-created diamonds, for instance, have the exact same molecular structure and chemical composition as natural diamonds, they've just never been buried in the dirt.
Diamond color is graded on a scale from D to Z, with D being the highest and most colorless grade, and Z being the lowest and most visibly yellow or brown grade. F falls near the top of this scale, and it is considered to be a very good color grade for diamonds.
H color diamonds are considered near colorless and are an excellent value. Their faint yellow hue is virtually impossible to detect unless the diamond is set directly next to diamonds of higher color grades.
On the GIA's diamond grading scale an SI1 clarity grade is one level worse than a VS2 clarity grade, but an SI1 diamond may not always look worse than a VS2 diamond - it all depends on the types of inclusions and their locations.