The 4Cs are the universal language for describing diamond quality. Understanding them helps you compare stones fairly and put your budget where it makes the biggest visible difference.
Cut
Cut is about how well a diamond's facets interact with light. A well-cut diamond returns light to your eye as brilliance, fire and sparkle. It has the greatest impact on beauty, so it is the one C we never recommend compromising on.
Colour
White diamonds are graded from D (colourless) down the alphabet as a faint yellow or brown tint increases. Once set in jewellery, stones in the near-colourless range look beautifully white to most eyes, and yellow or rose gold settings can make a slightly warmer stone look whiter still.
Clarity
Clarity describes tiny internal features (inclusions) and surface marks (blemishes). Many inclusions are invisible without magnification. An eye-clean diamond, one with no inclusions visible to the naked eye, is the sweet spot for value.
Carat
Carat is weight, not size. Two one-carat diamonds can look different in size depending on their cut and shape. Elongated shapes such as oval, pear and marquise often look larger than a round of the same weight.
Where to spend your budget
- Prioritise an excellent cut for maximum sparkle
- Choose an eye-clean clarity rather than a flawless grade
- Pick a colour that looks white in your chosen metal
- Then choose the largest carat weight that fits your budget
