It’s easy for me to share how to get a great deal on a diamond with maybe overcomplicating things…a bit. Once I get started on my 4 C’s, it’s just so easy to delve deeper and deeper into them, finding little subcategories in each one that could potentially save you hundreds – if not thousands.
But I know that can be overwhelming. When my brother in law started ring shopping I sent him a ZIP FOLDER full of info. A straight up compressed attachment, because I bombarded him with so much info. That’s too much. And I don’t want to enable anyone into engagement ring information overload.
So today, I want to try to keep it bare bones. I’m going to go through each of the 4 C’s, try to avoid getting long winded, and share exactly how to use each to get a great deal on your dream diamond.
Cut – Don’t skimp on the cut. Whatever you do, set your budget and start here. Yes, even before carat weight. A big whopping diamond won’t do you any good if it looks like dirty glass. Cut is what makes a diamond beautiful. And it doesn’t refer to a diamond’s shape – read more about cut in depth here. To get a great deal on a diamond using cut, don’t dip below a very good cut grade. Just don’t do it. Get excellent if you can.
Clarity – Next, you need to make sure your bright, beautiful diamond is actually beautiful! This means you want a diamond that looks eye-clean. Eye-clean is exactly what it sounds like – you can’t see marks in or on the stone. These marks are called inclusions and blemishes and almost every single diamond has them. You can see them under magnification in most cases, but as long as the diamond looks good to you, that’s what’s most important. This means it will probably have a grade of VS (Very slightly included) or better.
Color – This is category is very subjective. Some people prefer a warmer diamond. Others prefer the bright white of colorless stones. Still others don’t mind a stone with blue tones (fluorescence). The majority of people want a diamond that looks white in most situations. And for them, the answer lies in the near colorless grades of G, H, and I.
Carat Weight – This depends on what’s more important to you: quality or quantity. Most couples will say a balance between the two (duh.) But you’re looking to strike gold with a diamond near your ideal size that doesn’t compromise the rest of the above factors…or your budget. The best way to do this is keep your ideal size in mind as you tick through the rest of the diamond’s characteristics, to make sure you’re sticking to your price range. Once you’ve found a few potential stones, aim for a diamond just a few carat points shy of your ideal weight. So if you’re shopping for 2 carat diamonds, open your heart to everyone in the 1.80 ct range and up – you’ll be pleasantly surprised by both the price difference and your utter inability to tell the different weights apart without a scale.
