As they say, the greater the sparkle, the brighter the smile.
But not all diamonds sparkle alike. Their brilliance depends on a multitude of factors and we’re going to deep-dive into all of them today.
Let’s Talk About the Sparkle…
This is the result of a gem’s ability to reflect light that has been aimed at it. The more light it reflects, the brighter its sparkle.
The sparkle is usually sectioned off into three categories.
1. Brilliance
Brilliance is born when a ray of light shines through the stone and creates a bright, white light. This white light enhances the beauty of the diamond and might make it look larger than it actually is.
2. Fire
The diamond’s fire signifies its ability to disperse light. Instead of simply exiting the stone, the light is broken up into a spectrum of colours, like orange, green, violet, blue and yellow. This adds to the character of the stone and increases its value.
3. Scintillation
The sparkle of a diamond is highlighted through the scintillation effect. This element refers to the fluctuation between the stone’s brilliance and fire in reaction to light and darkness that surrounds it.
Attributes That Influence the Sparkle of a Diamond
1. Cut
Just like a mirror, the light reflects off the facets of a diamond to create sparkle. Here, the facets refer to the flat surface on the geometric shape of the diamond, usually with three or four sides. They essentially act like prisms to refract light.
The round cut is believed to be an excellent option that radiates a wonderful sparkle. This cut features 57 to 58 facets and was supposedly created to intensify the brilliance and fire of the diamond.
You can also opt for diamonds with a cushion-cut, radiant-cut or the princess-cut as those too will offer roughly the same level of sparkle as the round-cut.
2. Colour
In some cases, even white or colourless diamonds contain light brown and/or yellow tints. To categorize this, the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) released a diamond colour scale.
- D: Absolutely Colourless
These diamonds are exceptionally rare as they are absolutely colourless in nature. This is the highest grade this gem can receive.
- E-F: Colourless
Diamonds falling in this category are still rare, but they have minute traces of colour that can be detected by an expert gemologist.
- G-H: Near Colourless
These diamonds offer excellent value for money. Their colour can only be detected when placed next to other diamonds of better grades.
- I-J: Near Colourless
Even though the warmth or tone of diamonds belonging to this category is slightly detectable, they still offer good value and are used frequently in jewellery.
Note: Diamonds that fall under the D category are known to have the best sparkle.
3. Clarity
A diamond’s clarity is based on its visual characteristics and can be broken up into the following two types.
- Blemishes
These are the small imperfections or spots that can appear on the face of the stone.
- Inclusions
This refers to the defects that are present within the structure of the diamond.
To measure the clarity of the stone, the GIA uses a scale which is split into six categories and 11 grades. The categories range from Flawless (FL) and Internally Flawless (IF) to Included (I). Each of them is further divided into grades from 1 to 3.
While diamonds with the most sparkle fall under the FL and IF category, they are extremely rare and equally expensive.
Diamonds last a lifetime and with all the information presented to you above, we hope you’ll end up picking the best one.
Also read – Which Jewel is called the ‘Queen of Gems’?
