The 4 Cs of Diamonds Explained
Buying a diamond isn't about chasing the biggest stone or the highest grade on paper—it's about understanding how the Four Cs (cut, color, clarity, and carat) work together to create beauty, value, and presence.
Cut — The Only C That Creates Sparkle
Cut is everything. It controls how light enters, reflects, and exits the diamond—determining brilliance, fire, and sparkle. A perfectly cut diamond will appear brighter, look larger, and outshine a bigger diamond with a poor cut.
Color — Less Matters Than You Think
Diamond color measures how colorless a diamond appears, graded from D (colorless) to Z (visible yellow or brown tint). What you should know: Differences between D–F (colorless grades) are subtle, even side-by-side. G–H diamonds (near-colorless) appear white once set in jewelry. Color is more noticeable in larger carat stones and white gold or platinum settings.
Clarity — Invisible Imperfections Are Still Imperfections
Clarity measures internal inclusions and surface blemishes visible under 10× magnification.
Reality check
Most inclusions are not visible to the naked eye
Higher clarity grades don't always mean better-looking diamonds
Practical clarity scale
FL–VVS (Flawless to Very Very Slightly Included): Technically perfect, rarely necessary
VS (Very Slightly Included): Eye-clean, excellent balance
SI (Slightly Included): Can be eye-clean if chosen carefully
Black Pearl of Queens uses VS clarity
VS1–VS2 diamonds are eye-clean without paying for perfection nobody sees
Carat — Weight, Not Size
Carat weight measures a diamond's mass, not its visual size.
Two diamonds with the same carat weight can look completely different in size and perform differently depending on cut quality.
What affects a diamond's visual size
Cut proportions and symmetryTable size (the flat top facet)
Depth percentage (height relative to width)
The truth:
A well-cut 1.00 carat diamond can look larger and more brilliant than a poorly cut 1.25 carat diamond with the same clarity and color.
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|Dimitrios Koukoulis
