Cut

Don’t confuse cut with shape. The cut refers to the reflective qualities of the stone whereas the shape refers to the outward appearance the diamond. Popular diamond cuts are Brilliant Cut Rounds, Princess - square in shape but shows more brilliance than a Square cut, Marquise (shaped like a leaf), Oval and Pear elongate your fingers. Others include Heart, Trillion – triangular, Cushion cut for a vintage look, Asscher, Emerald, Radiant, Baguette, Tapered Baguette, Bullet, Half Moon, Trapezoid and Fan.

Clarity

F means flawless and are extremely rare

IF means internally flawless but some surface flaws and are very rare

VVS means very very slight inclusions minute inclusions seen only with difficulty under a 10x magnification by a trained gemmologist; there are two grades within this 1 & 2.

VS means very slight inclusions minute inclusions seen only with difficulty under a 10x magnification, there are two grades within this 1 & 2.

SI means slight inclusions or small inner flaws naturally occurring in the formation of the diamond, there are two grades within this 1 & 2.

I means inclusions visible to the human eye there are 3 grades

Diamonds with a VVS or VS grading are excellent choices for both value and appearance and are Nest Creates preferred quality standard. The more affordable SI diamonds are a great choice for those on a budget.

Colour

It is measure in an alphabetic system and begins with D for the very rare colourless diamonds travelling down the scale to Z with off yellow and even brownish diamonds. They are also measured in brackets DEF (colourless) together and GHIJ (near colourless), KLM (faint yellow, NOPQR (very pale yellow), STUVWX (light yellow)

GH is the top end of a near colourless diamond and is therefore a prized colour for its rarity and value and is Nest Creates recommended quality standard.

Carat Weight

The word carat is taken from carob seeds once used in ancient times to balance scales, they are so uniform in size and weight that even with today’s modern instruments they cannot detect more than three one thousands of a difference between them!

Diamonds are again graded and priced in groups depending on the depth of the stones and the outward size. The guide below refers to brilliant cut diamonds

1 carat diamond to 90 points

¾ ct diamond 70-80 points

½ ct diamond 49-55 points

1/3 ct diamond 29 – 37 points

¼ ct diamond 23 – 28 points

1/5 ct diamond 18-22 points

1/6 ct diamond 14-17 points