Diamond Education

The 4 Cs Explained

Understanding Cut, Color, Clarity, and Carat weight is essential to finding the perfect diamond. Our guide demystifies the universal standard for assessing diamond quality.

Cut

THE SPARKLE FACTOR

Often considered the most important of the 4Cs, cut determines how well a diamond interacts with light. An Excellent cut allows light to strike each pavilion facet, bounce back, and exit the crown, creating optimal brilliance and fire.

Excellent / Ideal:Maximum brilliance.

Very Good:Superior sparkle.

Good:Good sparkle, larger size for the price.

Color

THE ABSENCE OF COLOR

Diamond color is actually graded on the absence of color. The D–to–Z scale measures how close a diamond is to being completely colorless. Less color means higher value and brighter appearance.

D, E, F:Colorless. The rarest and highest quality.

G, H, I, J:Near Colorless. Excellent value, color is barely perceptible.

K, L, M:Faint Yellow. Noticeable warmth.

Clarity

PURITY BENEATH THE SURFACE

Clarity measures the presence of natural microscopic imperfections, known as inclusions (internal) and blemishes (external). Flawless diamonds are exceedingly rare. Most inclusions are invisible to the naked eye.

FL, IF:Flawless, Internally Flawless. No visible inclusions under 10x magnification.

VVS1, VVS2:Very, Very Slightly Included. Minuscule inclusions.

VS1, VS2:Very Slightly Included. Eye-clean, excellent value.

SI1, SI2:Slightly Included. May be noticeable to the eye.

Flawless vs Included Diamond Under Tweezers

Carat

MEASURE OF WEIGHT

Carat is a measure of the diamond's weight, not its physical size or dimensions. While a higher carat weight generally means a larger diamond, the cut also plays a massive role in how large a diamond appears.

One carat is split into 100 "points". For example, a 0.50 carat diamond is referred to as a "50-pointer". At Aarunya, lab-grown diamonds let you choose a bigger diamond for the same budget compared to a mined diamond.