Clarity of a diamond is the degree to which a diamond is free of blemishes or inclusions. Blemishes are found on the outside, whereas inclusions are found on the inside. Included crystals and feathers are the most common inclusions. When a diamond forms in nature, it is formed under enormous heat and pressure, and as the earth cools, the diamond crystallizes. An included crystal is actually a piece of rough diamond that the main crystal has hardened around. A feather is a break in the crystal structure. Both of these happen when the diamond forms in nature, between 90 to 110 miles below the earth and will not affect the durability of the stone. At Carbino's we try to teach people how to get the best value for their money when buying a diamond. People can get confused by clarity, thinking that if a diamond has an inclusion in it, it is a bad thing. All diamonds have natural inclusions in them. Even a flawless diamond is only flawless at 10x magnification; if you zoom in at a higher power, you will find natural inclusions.

Color of a diamond determines up to fifty percent of what the price of the stone is going to be. When we talk about color, we are not talking about all those little sparkles; we are talking about the body color of the diamond. The less color a diamond has in it, the more valuable it is and the more beautiful the diamond will be. The most common occurring colors in a diamond are yellow, brown and gray. Diamonds that are yellow have nitrogen atoms in the crystal. As we all know, white light is a natural blend of different colors and the nitrogen atoms, through selective absorption, absorb all the colors out of white light, except yellow. As for the brown and gray, they are also caused by crystal structure and chemical make up. When you look at the color scale for grading diamonds, it ranges from the truly colorless stones, graded D, and continues through the alphabet, gradually gaining more color the further they go. The closer a diamond is to being colorless, the rarer and more beautiful it is. D, E and F are in the colorless range. Most of what is commercially sold is near colorless diamonds which are G to J color (see color scale). You will not begin to really see any color present in a stone with the naked eye until it gets down to about J color. However, there is color present and what happens the closer down the color scale you are to J, the more color there is in the stone. Although this color is not visible to the naked eye, it does affect the beauty of your stone. The color puts a strain on the crystal and slows the speed of light going through the stone. So, even if the stone is well cut, the rays of light can not all bend fast enough to come back up and out the top of your stone, which would give you the flashes of color and the brilliance. With color, just like clarity, the closer you go to the best grade; the stones are rarer and more expensive. However, unlike clarity, the better color stone you buy will add a lot of beauty to your diamond. This is why we advise you to buy SI1 clarity stones and take the money in your budget you save and put it into better color.

Cut of a diamond is the one thing that most jewelers fail to teach the customer about. Above all else, the main thing we are told by our customers is that no one explains cut to them the way we do. By not understanding this one thing, you can waste thousands of dollars on a diamond and think you're getting a much better deal than you really are. When diamonds form in nature, they are under enormous heat and pressure. The earth then cools and the diamonds crystallize. The shape of the rough crystal determines two things. First, what shape the diamond will be cut into, and secondly, whether it will be a good cut or not. The reason for this is the diamond cutter's main job is to retain weight, not cut the stones to ideal proportions. They do this because people perceive a stone to be more valuable if it weighs more. Leaving the extra weight adversely affects the beauty of the stone; therefore stones cut like this do not have the time to bend light enough to come back up through the top of the stone to your eye. So, the extra weight actually takes away from the beauty of your stone (see image under cut). The weight of the diamond is simply that - a weight measure (see weight scale). It has nothing to do with the quality of the diamond. A one carat diamond weighs 100 points. I tell people that if I weight 100 pounds, and all the weight is in my left ankle, I still weigh 100 pounds, but I am not very well proportioned. This is why you need to understand cut. The most important thing is depth of the diamond. The bottom of the diamond is called the pavilion. The key thing your need to know is pavilion depth. This one thing will tell you if the diamond is too deep or shallow. At Carbino's, we teach our customers what the proper depth is under the microscope, and in five minutes, how to tell this. It is very easy to see. When you talk about fancy shapes like oval or marquise, the bow tie reflection tells you about the depth of the stone. This also is very easy to understand. Another factor of cut that determines beauty and value is the shape outline. Remember, you can buy a D color, flawless diamond that is a poor cut and it will not be as beautiful as a diamond with lower color and clarity that is well cut.