Carat is a unit of weight used in the jewelry industry. Most single diamonds do not weigh much, so one carat is split into 100 points. A 0.8-carat diamond equals an 80-point stone, and a 0.3-carat diamond has the same weight as a 30-point diamond. One full carat diamond weighs 0.2 grams. The word “carat” comes from the Ancient Greek word keration. It refers to the seeds of carob trees widely grown across the Middle East. These seeds weigh almost exactly 0.2 grams, equal to one carat. People used them as a easy measuring tool for weighing gems, so carob seeds became a standard weight reference for jewelry for a long time. It was not until 1907 that international authorities officially set one carat as 200 milligrams, or 0.2 grams. This measurement rule has been used all over the world up till today.
How to Pick the Right Diamond Size
First of all, you need to make sure the diamond has an Excellent cut grade. On this base, pick the lowest clarity and color grades that look clean to naked eyes. Then choose the largest possible carat size within your budget. Many buyers hold a wrong idea. They think a diamond with a bigger table surface must have a higher carat weight. You have to stay away from so-called “flying saucer diamonds” with oversize tables. These stones cost less money, but they carry a poor cut grade. Bad cut ruins the fire and sparkle of a diamond heavily. I saw a diamond from Bluenile with a Good cut level before. Its diameter reaches 8.51 millimeters, but the pavilion depth ratio is only 55.3%. Compare it with another Excellent cut diamond. Its pavilion depth ratio hits 61.8%, and its diameter stays at the standard size of around 8.1mm.
One of the four C standards: Carat
Rare things cost more money. In theory, gem-quality diamonds get more expensive as their weight grows. When people look at a diamond ring on a hand, the two most obvious things they notice are how shiny the stone is and how wide its diameter looks. For fancy shape diamonds, viewers focus on the stone’s length and width. The height of the diamond is hidden inside the ring setting. There is a rough linear link between a diamond’s carat weight and its diameter. A 1-point diamond will always have a smaller diameter than a 2-carat stone, for example. But cut quality changes everything. Two diamonds with the same carat weight can show totally different diameters. This creates many oddly proportioned stones. Some are tall and narrow, others short and wide, all with non-standard cutting ratios.
How Big Is a One-Carat Diamond?
Lots of romantic TV dramas have classic scenes. Male leads get down on one knee and propose with a one-carat diamond ring. These scenes feel warm and touching. Many watchers start to wonder: just how big is a one-carat diamond actually? A standard round brilliant one-carat diamond has a diameter of 6.5 millimeters and a height of 3.9 millimeters. Its weight is 0.2 grams, which is the same as 200 milligrams. There are pictures online of a model with US ring size 6.5 wearing diamonds of different point sizes to show real visual effects.
Which Ring Styles Make Diamonds Look Larger?
Many shoppers want ring styles that make the center stone pop out. These designs offer great value for money and create strong visual impact. You can choose rings with heavy pave setting or large-sized metal bands. Young people who love unique styles can custom-make rings based on their own ideas to show their special taste. Pictures online clearly show huge visual gaps. They all use center diamonds of the exact same carat weight, but different ring frames make them look totally different in size.
Blune nile and James Allen merge into one single brand together in 2026, this article get updated because of this big change. All discount codes will expire as time goes by, so we can not make sure they still work when you read this post. If you got any questions about picking diamonds or using discount offers, feel free to message us anytime.
Recently, Bluenile roll out a limited-time promo code that specially made for platinum jewelry items. With this code, you can get 15 percent off, total 276 kinds of jewelries are qualified for this discount. It not only works on platinum wedding rings and engagement rings, some necklaces, earrings and bracelets can also use this offer too. A small number of gemstone accessories are included in this promotion as well. When you finish fill your cart and ready to submit your order, just type the promo code PLATINUM17 into the discount box, then the system will cut down your payment amount right away.
The coupon’s valid deadline is May 31, 2017. If you plan to buy any related platinum jewelries recently, now it is a good chance to place your order. Many customers already grab this cheap price before the deal gone.
Platinum is a rare white precious metal with very high density. People usually short write it as Pt in jewelry industry. It widely used to set high-end jewels and costly diamonds. Lots of people love platinum jewelry a lot, because it wear soft on skin and own a bright beautiful shine. More and more shoppers choose platinum accessories as their daily wear or marriage jewelry these years.
Bluenile 15% off discount code: PLATINUM17
Valid until — May 31, 2017
Beside the above platinum exclusive discount, there also have a brand new 30 percent off promotion launched in 2026, it is the newest offer right now. I put the direct link of discount page here, you can click it and jump to the activity page directly. This promotion cover almost all jewelry types, include stud earrings, diamond rings, chain bracelets, pendant necklaces and many other accessories.
You can match your jewelry with natural mined diamonds or lab grown diamonds, two choices all support this discount. If you are fan of special colored stones, black diamonds and yellow diamonds are both available for selection, they look really unique on platinum or gold bands. For metal bands, you have different precious metal options to pick from, such as 14K gold, 18K gold, platinum and other luxury metal materials. No matter you want simple thin rings or big stone statement earrings, this big sale can fit most of your shopping needs. Remember check if the promo code still active before you pay, all promotions will stop running once reach their end date.
Latest Update! James Allen and Blue Nile have merge together. If you wanna buy James Allen diamonds now, you can search them directly on Blue Nile official website. Reviews on James Allen Diamonds.
If you leave aside diamond quality and the craft standard of ring settings, the first impression James Allen’s packaging brings you is luxury and rigorous. This same strict style also show up in their diamond rings. They never sell diamonds with terrible low quality. Every single diamond comes with 40x magnified video clips. Shoppers can pick stones freely without any hassle.
James Allen, a world-famous custom diamond ring brand, was founded back in 1998. Just like lots of newly started businesses, the team only had two people at first: founder James Allen Schultz and his wife Michelle. The founder once suffered a really bad experience when shopping for diamonds himself, which push him to build this brand. Thanks to its super easy online shopping system and outstanding diamond quality, Jamesallen.com developed rapidly for nearly 20 years, and soon turn into one of the largest online custom diamond ring sellers in the whole world. Besides white diamonds, James Allen also deal with precious gemstones and fancy colored diamonds. For ordinary people, 20 years may sound like a short time, but within the internet diamond industry, this brand is already count as the pioneer of online diamond retail.
Every diamond listed on the site have both 360-degree footage and 20x zoom videos. This fully prove how confident James Allen is about every stone they sell. Forbes, one of America’s top well-known magazines, once commented on James Allen: it is the world’s biggest private online diamond retailer. You only need a few simple mouse clicks to customize your ideal diamond ring. The brand’s founding team owns more than 60 years of professional jewelry industry experience. What’s more, James Allen is also a diamond supplier for many famous luxury jewelry labels, including Tiffany & Co. So if you want diamonds with the same high quality as Tiffany’s collections but have a tight budget, James Allen’s stones will be a wonderful choice for you.
It is no overstatement to say James Allen own the best diamond display technology among all jewelry brands up to now. After you finish your sign-up on James Allen’s website, you can use the Super Zoom function to magnify diamonds up to 40 times. All tiny flaws and tiny marks on the diamond surface will be fully visible right in front of you. You don’t need to read boring cold data printed on diamond certificates anymore, what you see on screen is exactly what you get in real life. The viewing effect is even clearer than checking diamonds in offline physical jewelry stores. In this way, customers can find the most reliable, highest-quality diamonds that fit their personal spending limit.
What Future Goals Does James Allen Have?
Every brand sets clear plans for its future development, so what targets James Allen want to reach in the coming years? From official information, James Allen plan to invest more money on digital display technology, so that they can lift up customers’ overall shopping experience online. Apart from technical upgrades, the brand also aims to further raise the standard of all online diamonds they provide, and grow into the absolute leading brand in high-end online jewelry market. Their core dream is simple: when any couple start to look for an engagement diamond ring, James Allen will be the very first brand that pops into their mind immediately.
Now that Blue Nile and James Allen have completed their combination, the brand has taken a steady solid step forward on its path toward this more high-end long-term goal.
Need more diamond reviews or have troubles in picking ideal diamonds? Feel free to contact us anytime.
Bluenile and James Allen merge into one single business in 2026. The new combined firm still stay the world’s biggest loose diamond online store. As technology and internet industries grow fast, online diamond retail market become really competitive. Every diamond brand got its own strong points, just like characters in martial arts novels. Each brand own a special trick to stand out from all competitors.
James Allen is one global online jewelry brand that can show every single diamond with full 360 high-definition views. It keep putting efforts to improve customer experience all the time. This multi-angle clear display tech is James Allen’s key advantage that make it hard to beat in diamond business. Normal visitors can zoom every diamond up to 20 times to check tiny details without signing up. After you register and log into your account, you unlock the superzoom tool. It let you magnify stones 40 times bigger to compare diamonds side by side.
No other online diamond sellers can offer such clear ultra HD footage for every loose diamond. This also show James Allen fully trust the quality of their stones. Shoppers can pick diamonds without worry. They will not accidentally buy low-grade gems or stones with obvious flaws. Now let’s take a closer look at this trend leader of diamond industry.
James Allen never only focus on adding more diamonds to its inventory to draw buyers attention. Its long-term goal is to help every customer find a ideal diamond that fits their taste. Up till now, James Allen store more than 120,000 certified conflict-free diamonds for shoppers to choose. You can filter and compare fancy shapes freely, including princess cut, pear cut, oval cut, heart cut and more special shapes. Customers easily get top quality diamonds with the lowest possible cost.
Besides great diamond supplies, James Allen/Blue Nile also provide excellent after-sale service. It have full refund policy if you feel unsatisfied with your order, lifetime warranty for diamond rings and more benefits. The brand run 24/7 customer service every week, which support all high-quality shopping experiences.
In short, James Allen gain lots of positive feedback from buyers all over the world thanks to years of experience and steady development. Tap this link to read more real customer reviews about James Allen diamond rings.
James Allen is now part of Blue Nile. Their parent company merged James Allen and Blue Nile to promote the sound development of the diamond industry. Let’s take a look back at Jamesallen story and history.
James Allen is a high-end custom jewelry brand from the United States. It was one of the first brands to creat online custom diamond ring services. The brand use a special Super Zoom function, which let customers see every detail clearly. It makes online shopping just like checking real products in stores. Today, it has become the world’s largest website that provides 360° real video views of diamonds. The website is only more than ten years old, but its founder has over sixty years of professional experience in the jewelry industry.
Besides selling its own products, James Allen also work as a manufacturer for many luxury retail brands. It makes well-crafted jewelry and custom accessories for them all year round.
In the second half of 2016, James Allen launched a set of funny and interesting ads to get ready for Black Friday and Christmas holiday. Let’s learn about the idea behind these ads.
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The ad tells a warm and fun story. When a man get down on one knee and pulls out a diamond ring to propose, the girl will put on the ring at once. The first thing she thinks is to show this beautiful ring to her parents, grandmother, friends and everyone she meets. If all people say the ring looks amazing, then this proposal is totally successful.
Do you hope to have a perfect and unforgettable proposal? A unique ring design and fine craft are really necessary. If you need such a wonderful diamond ring, you can choose James Allen. Recent mergers in the diamond industry is common strategic moves. By integrate resources and combine strengths, major retailers like James Allen and Blue Nile try to improve operational efficiency and market competitiveness. Such cooperation also help build a more stable and transparent market, and support the long-term healthy development of the whole industry. Now you can find all James Allen products inside Blue Nile.
Leibish company was founded in 1979 by Leibish Polnauer, the head office of Leibish & Co. is locate in Israel diamond exchange 21 Tuval St. Yahalom Bldg., Suites 674-677 Ramat Gan, Leibish is also has branch offices in Belgium, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, New York, Taiwan, Shanghai, Mumbai, Beijing and Shenzhen, etc. As the leading company of fancy color diamonds in the world, Leibish can customize color diamond jewelry as customer’s requirement, which can also design and manufacture classic and luxury series (sunflower, canary, lilies toujours, cocoa, etc.) depend on the natural color of the diamonds for customers, with excellent workmanship and good quality, the super one to one customer service and consulting, make the company became more and more perfect as time goes by, keep high quality and authenticity of each natural color diamond is Leibish company’s business card. Leibish & Co. is a manufacturer integrating research, development, design, manufacturing and sales, all the diamond jewelry from Leibish & Co. is made of natural colored diamonds, which offers a wide range of colorful series including pink, red, green, yellow, blue, orange, gray, purple, black, violet, argyle, chameleon and champagne. Leibish & Co. not only sells loose colored diamonds, but also in the field of rare gemstones and color diamond jewelry, such as ruby, emerald and sapphires high-end jewelry.
Leibish & Co Diamond Advantages
Unconditionally refund in thirty days
All conflict free diamonds and gemstone
International free shipping
We purchase logistics insurance for every order
Free professional evaluation
Natural diamond guarantee
Exquisite packaging
Many setting species, such as halo, solitaire, etc
Don’t worry about your personal information will be leaked, because Leibish’s payment page have been using WEB security configuration and 128 – bit SSL encryption, which is the most advanced encryption technology at present
In order to certify the authenticity and quality of each diamond, Leibish & Company provides GIA appraisal certificate for every color loose diamond, in order to make Leibish’s customers feel safe and comfortable, the diamond jewellery from Leibish & Co. must strictly and accurately proofreading diamond color, carat weight and clarity grading. Leibish Company listens to the needs of customers carefully, and helping them designs the jewellery that meets customer’s requiement. Colored diamond is to be considered as a stone that is being gifted by your loved ones on your wedding day. Even your hubby can arrange a surprise for you by gifting a beautiful fancy diamond ring on your wedding day, which may be the most memorable gift you have ever got. But shopping for a beautiful colored diamond ring can bring you hasty experiences as you would not be able to compare the size and color ratings for the diamonds you desire along with the specific price tags, even after visiting a long list of jewelers. Also, problem may occur when you try to buy a brand new fancy diamond engagement ring from the diamond merchants or the jewelers, because it may seem to you that all the designs are pretty much same from the looking aspect. Then the only option remains is to plan for a custom diamond engagement ring which will be designed as per your requirement and desire, with the ultimate uniqueness signified for it.
As the member of the Israel Diamond Association and the International Association of Colored Diamond, the company take part in many exhibition such as Argyle pink diamond bidding meeting, all assessment reports signed by GIA gemstones experts, so all the colored diamonds are quality guaranteed. Leibish & Co. promises the must include information of a diamond as follows:
Fancy Color Diamond Grading Certificate
The valuation retail price
The carat weight, color and clarity of the gem
The shape of the gemstone, such as heart-shaped, pear-shaped, princess-cut, radiant cut, emerald-cut, round shape, marquise-cut, asscher-cut, oval-cut, trillion shape, and so on
Describe the jewellery completely and accurately
Materials of the jewellery setting, such as platinum, 14K gold, etc
You can create your own colored diamond engagement ring risk free at Leibish, the famous fancy color diamond and rare gemstones team is located in Ramat Gan of Israel, and there are sub offices in USA, Belgium, China and Hong Kong.
All the color diamonds are mined in Australia, Africa, India and Russia, which all legal and international confirmed, only a handful of gems can be included in the column of Leibish’s treasures, and each gemstone is carefully selected by the experts, Leibish Polnauer has more than 50 years rich experience in color diamond field, and Shmulik Polnauer, the famous gemologist graduated from Gemological Institute of America, they all believe in that the design should following the heart, every diamond from Leibish & Co. is provide with accurate product description, which is consisted of detailed actual 3d video and images. Moreover, Leibish & Co. official website is available in Australia, English, Deutsch, Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese.
Leibish company review
Depending on the size and the fittings which will match your colored diamond most, is also conveyed upon your choice, while you will have to provide pictures on the design that you require to the jeweler. But, at first, make it sure that the jeweler that you choose has the capability to fulfill your requirement and understands your needs regarding the design aspects of the colored diamond engagement ring. Picking up an old diamond from your some other old jeweler and creating the design based upon it may be another option for custom diamond engagement ring procurements.
Because of the super satisfaction guaranteed and 30 days free returns policy, Leibish has become one of the top fancy diamonds jewelry and rare gemstones supplier online, they can make the gems and fittings in your choice, custom fancy diamond rings can always be bought, but with the involvement of a little more amount of money. Nevertheless, the happiness of getting a unique colored diamond ring is always better when compared with paying a little bit more money. Custom fancy diamond engagement rings can be ordered to be designed by the renowned jewelers, such as Leibish & Co. which may meet as you just need to provide the information on the design as you desire. Now we introduce the pros of Leibish company for you.
Why choose Leibish & Co
Free Shipping & Easy Returns
Satisfaction Guaranteed
Exquisite Quality & Perfect Fit
Transparent Pricing & Good Quality Warranty
Responsibly Sourced Gems & Metals
Workmanship warranty & 30 days free returns policy
Expert Shopping Advice & GIA Certificate
Full Insurance & Free Professional Assessment
Concierge Service to Countries Other than USA and Canada
In a word, if we are wishing to design the colored diamond engagement ring within our budget and at a lower cost, just choose the natural colored gemstone jewelry from Leibish, as the pioneer in fancy diamond industry, which makes you more beautiful and healthy. Moreover, the package from Leibish was wonderful and beautiful-looking, join the Leibish and company newsletter list and get special offer and coupon code, then start custom our colored diamond wedding ring.
Leibish & Co Diamond Disadvantages
Because of every computer display different, Leibish & Co. does not guarantee the display we see is 100% consistent with the entity
The delivery time mainly depends on the country, it takes about three to ten business day, so you should better have free time in the next ten days to sign for your expressage.
Hello, I am Jennifer, the author of Leibish & Co diamond review, as one of the customers of Leibish company, it’s my honor to share with you my honest review. All in all, never to buy a fancy diamond before have a visit Leibish Polnauer diamonds. Contact me anytime if you have any question in fancy diamond buying.
Latest update for all diamond shoppers! You do not need to compare James Allen and Blue Nile separately anymore, these two famous brands have merged into one single enterprise. After this powerful combination, all services will be provided uniformly on Blue Nile’s official website for global buyers. We apologize in advance if some information written below turns outdated as time goes by.
When people plan to buy diamonds online, they will always search reliable online diamond retailers to hunt for premium stones with cost-effective price tags. Among dozens of online diamond sellers, two brands stand out from the rest, they are Blue Nile and James Allen. Both of them are large-scaled online diamond businesses that have completed their merger recently, they carry solid market reputations and a massive inventory of diamonds for customers to pick from. James Allen and Blue Nile are two of the world’s most well-known and trustworthy online diamond vendors, people constantly put them against each other for comparison. Both brands break the traditional offline diamond retail model, they cut down redundant middleman links so they can offer far more competitive pricing to consumers.
Business Model: Both brands run online-focused sales systems. Online operation greatly cuts operational costs, so their prices are generally cheaper than physical jewelry stores.
Inventory Scale: They own hundreds of thousands of loose diamonds in stock, and cooperate directly with diamond suppliers all over the world without third-party dealers.
Diamond Certifications: Almost all diamonds sold here come with authoritative grading reports issued by long-established gem labs including GIA, IGI and AGS. These formal certificates fully guarantee each diamond’s authentic quality and unique grading features.
Brand Reputation: Blue Nile and James Allen are both industry giants in online diamond sales. They maintain extremely high customer satisfaction ratings and long-term good standing, earning countless positive reviews on mainstream review platforms like Trustpilot and independent consumer review websites.
Custom Jewelry Service: Both platforms support custom diamond rings and fine jewelry by matching loose diamonds with customized ring settings. Shoppers get abundant style choices to design their dream rings or accessories, meanwhile thousands of finished jewelry pieces are ready for direct purchase on both websites.
Blue Nile was founded in 1999 by Mark Vadon. He built this online diamond brand out of dissatisfaction with the poor shopping experience in offline diamond boutiques. Blue Nile runs a pretty straightforward business strategy: they sign exclusive supply contracts with diamond wholesalers, which limits those suppliers to only sell their diamonds through Blue Nile’s channel. However, buyers often face frequent stock shortages of popular diamond specifications, this situation shows Blue Nile has relatively weak controlling power over its diamond supply chain. James Allen created a totally new operating mode for online diamond sales. They arrange global suppliers to keep their stones stored near James Allen’s New York office space. Under this arrangement, James Allen’s staff can easily visit supplier warehouses and shoot high-definition video footage for every single loose diamond they supply.
Detailed Comparison Between James Allen and Blue Nile
Core Advantages
James Allen owns the industry’s top visual viewing technology, which brings shopping experience almost identical to visiting physical jewelry stores.
Blue Nile holds the largest diamond inventory across the whole market, it provides unmatched options and ultra-competitive pricing.
James Allen equips every diamond page with Super Zoom ultra-high magnification lens and full 360-degree HD video clips. Buyers can examine cut quality, clarity features and sparkle performance from every single angle. Their exclusive Real-Time Diamond Inspection service is James Allen’s biggest selling highlight.
Blue Nile launches Virtual Appointment function, clients can check their target diamonds anytime anywhere with one-on-one professional consultation from certified diamond specialists.
Inventory & Selection Range
James Allen stores hundreds of thousands of loose diamonds, yet its total stock volume is usually slightly smaller than Blue Nile.
Blue Nile is widely recognized as the king of diamond inventory, with more than 500,000 loose diamonds available. It has unparalleled selection, especially for customers hunting stones with rare and specific grading parameters.
Price Competitiveness
James Allen’s pricing stays highly competitive, its quotes rarely differ much from Blue Nile. Minor price gaps may exist on certain individual diamonds, so shoppers still need to cross-check prices for specific stones.
Blue Nile is famous for extreme price advantages, many industry insiders regard it as the overall price benchmark of the online diamond sector.
Website User Experience
James Allen’s website adopts modern, intuitive page layout, users can filter and browse diamonds effortlessly, paired with high-definition stone videos to deliver top-tier shopping experience.
Blue Nile’s official site packs powerful filtering functions with super detailed parameter options, but its overall interface design looks a little more old-fashioned.
Ring Setting Designs
James Allen releases a huge collection of exclusive, modern ring styles with trendy and fashionable appearances.
Blue Nile also supplies abundant ring settings, yet most of its designs belong to classic vintage styles, its creative designs seem relatively conservative.
Customer Support
James Allen provides 24/7 online chat, phone and email customer service, its support team is well-known for patience and professional gem knowledge.
Blue Nile also runs round-the-clock phone, email and live chat support, their service representatives are equally professional and responsive.
Physical Showrooms
James Allen runs offline physical showrooms in New York and Washington D.C., customers can book appointments to view stones in person.
Blue Nile operates nearly 20 showrooms across American cities including New York and Boston, local US buyers can visit the nearest showroom conveniently. Maps marking all Blue Nile US showroom locations are available on its official page.
Blue Nile VS James Allen: Which Diamond Brand Is Truly Better?
I once talked with a friend from Taiwan who shared his personal opinion on these two brands. He admitted both are outstanding custom diamond ring retailers, but he thought James Allen outperforms Blue Nile slightly. His reasoning was that James Allen designs its service system with stronger humanization and genuine user-centered logic. Its official website carries rich filter tools and countless diamond options, plus every single diamond gets a dedicated 40X HD video shot by James Allen’s team. This function lets customers shop with far less stress, instead of staring at dry, complicated certificate parameters for hours. Apart from viewing footage, James Allen also shows stricter standards in ring craftsmanship and product outer packaging.
Nevertheless, this is just one personal subjective judgment, and the shopping experience he received only reflected the brand’s status at that time, it cannot represent all consumers’ thoughts. Just as the old saying goes, a thousand readers have a thousand versions of Hamlet, Blue Nile and James Allen keep updating and upgrading their services all the time. Now these two brands have merged into one single group, and both platforms carry diamonds with mixed quality levels. If a buyer picks a well-cut, clean stone, they will naturally praise the brand, on the contrary, customers who receive cloudy, milky, green-tinted diamonds or stones with obvious noticeable flaws will hold negative views against the brand they bought from. For this reason, shoppers still need to screen diamonds carefully on both platforms to avoid low-quality defective stones.
Both James Allen and Blue Nile take pride in their 24-hour all-day customer support teams, because their management fully understands most ordinary buyers lack professional jewelry knowledge. If you purchase an engagement diamond ring for the very first time, you might easily get confused by various diamond grading parameters. James Allen’s certified gem specialists stay online around the clock to answer all your questions and resolve any shopping worries. Its price tags also hold strong advantages compared with local offline jewelry boutiques. If you refuse to shop diamond rings at physical stores, James Allen will turn out to be your ideal shopping destination. You can finish all your custom ring demands quickly and smoothly on James Allen’s website, supported by its complete, premium diamond collection. Dynamic diamond videos display three key light performance features directly: fire, brilliance and scintillation. This viewing tool is a must-have function for anyone chasing the sparkliest diamonds. If you feel uneasy buying a stone without seeing its real visual performance, James Allen’s 360-degree video function has no equal alternatives. It plays a critical role for buyers to check clarity characteristics such as obvious internal inclusion positions and cut performance, including light leakage issues and overall sparkle levels. On the other hand, Blue Nile’s unmatched massive inventory makes it much easier to locate diamonds with extremely rare parameters, such as unique color grades, specific clarity and carat weights, special flaw types, uncommon stone shapes and customized fluorescence levels.
As the wedding day draws near, most ladies hope to own a big and shiny wedding diamond ring. As the flawless king of all gemstones, diamond is more than a symbol of loyal and exclusive love. To sort diamonds into different quality grades, GIA is a non-profit gemstone research institute based in United States. It devotes itself to offering professional gem education in jewelry industry, and it created the famous 4C standard to judge diamond quality. The four Cs stand for cut, clarity, color and carat of a diamond. If you wanna buy best quality diamonds with the lowest budget, you must fully understand what the 4C standards really means.
Cut
Diamond cut is the most important factor among all four Cs, and it’s also the only one that fully controlled by human hands. The quality of cut directly decides how sparkly a diamond can be. One thing people often mix up is that cut grade has nothing to do with diamond shape. A normal round brilliant diamond has three basic parts: crown, girdle and pavilion. Suppose two diamonds share same carat weight, same color grade and same clarity grade, but their cut grades differ a lot. Their market value will have a huge gap, this fully tells how powerful cut can affect diamond price.
Cut changes a diamond’s fire and sparkle directly, so it is a core judging rule of diamond 4C system. GIA split cut into five fixed grades, all printed clearly on official diamond certificates. GIA, short for Gemological Institute of America, release the most authoritative diamond grading certificates all over the world, it built a detailed full system to grade diamond cut. From top level to bottom, the ranks are Excellent, Very Good, Good, Fair and Poor. Diamond cutters polish stones follow fixed design proportions. Table percentage, pavilion depth ratio, pavilion angle and crown angle all together decide a diamond’s final cut grade. When all proportions hit perfect balance, the diamond will glow with amazing bright sparkles.
Poor cut: This grade cover all diamonds that fail standard cutting rules. Such stones usually have too wide pavilion or too deep body. Any light enters the diamond can easily leak out from its sides or bottom, so almost no light bounce back to people’s eyes.
Fair cut: Roughly 35 percent of all diamonds fall into this grade. Even though it look a little better than Poor cut stones, light refraction still can not reach ideal level. A large amount of light still escape without reflecting back.
Good cut: This is high quality standard for diamond cutting. Around 25 percent diamonds get this grade. Most light that goes into the stone can reflect out through the top table surface successfully.
Very Good cut: About 15 percent of diamonds own this cut grade. Its fire and sparkle are almost same as Excellent cut diamonds. However, its selling price is much cheaper than top Excellent grade stones, so it got really good cost performance for regular buyers.
Excellent cut: It is the highest cut rank you can get. Only nearly 3 percent of natural diamonds reach this standard. It can reflect almost every ray of light that enters inside the stone, so diamonds of this grade always show outstanding bright fire.
Clarity
Diamond clarity describe how many internal flaws a diamond carries. All clarity test work under 10x magnifying glass. Common flaw types include crystal inclusions, feather fractures, cloud marks, pinpoint spots and many other tiny marks. GIA sort clarity into eleven different grades, judging by inclusion’s size, total amount and their position inside the stone.
The full clarity rank list from top to low: FL (Flawless, no flaws at all), IF (Internally Flawless, only tiny surface marks exist, invisible to naked eyes), VVS1 (Very Very Slightly Included, ultra small inclusions, extremely hard to find without magnifier), VVS2 (Very Very Slightly Included, tiny inclusions, hard to spot by bare eyes), VS1 (Very Slightly Included, minor inclusions, almost impossible to see naked), VS2 (Very Slightly Included, small inclusions, hard to see without tools), SI1 (Slightly Included, small inclusions, invisible to human eyes), SI2 (Slightly Included, clear small inclusions that naked eyes can catch), I1 and I2 (Included, obvious inclusions visible without magnifying glass), I3 (Included, huge obvious flaws easy to find with bare eyes at first sight).
Color
Diamond colors are mainly separated into three big series: fancy color diamond series, brown diamond series and Cape series. Fancy color diamonds contain stones with bright, vivid tone such as black, pink and green diamonds. Brown diamond series cover all shades of brown stones with different color saturation. The colorless to pale yellow diamonds people see everyday all belong to Cape series. In natural world, most raw natural diamonds fall into colorless to light yellow Cape range.
Letters D, E and F stand for pure colorless diamonds. G, H, I and J grades are near colorless with almost unnoticeable yellow tint. K, L, M diamonds carry obvious light yellow tone. N through Z belong to stones with strong pale yellow color.
Carat
One carat equals 0.2 gram or 200 milligrams. This word comes from ancient Greek word keration. Carob tree seeds have steady uniform weight close to one carat, so ancient people use these seeds as weight measuring tool for gemstones. One carat can split into 100 points, so a 40-point diamond equal to 0.4 carat. If a diamond’s cut, clarity and color grades are higher, the carat weight will create much bigger difference on its final market price.
Scope & Usage of Blue Nile UK & Europe Promo Codes
Blue Nile no longer operates separate UK and European regional websites; all shoppers now use one unified global English site. Below is the historical information about its former UK and Europe discount coupons for reference.
These old promotional codes were valid for Blue Nile’s wedding jewelry collection on the retired UK and European sites. Eligible items included ruby, sapphire and emerald jewelry, men’s and women’s wedding bands, anniversary gifts, wedding party favors, necklaces, earrings, bracelets and other gift-style accessories.
They applied to pieces crafted with all kinds of gemstones, silver, gold, pearls, platinum, 14K and 18K white and rose gold. The vouchers also covered ornaments made from palladium, tungsten, cobalt and other premium precious metals.
How to Redeem Blue Nile UK & Europe Promo Codes
Promo code: >>>> Obtain via contact email <<<<
Step 2: Add your target jewelry to the shopping cart. If your cart contains unrelated items, remove all existing goods before re-adding the eligible products.
Step 3: Enter your exclusive promo code and tap Apply instantly to unlock the biggest available discount for your order.
When people buy jewelry, besides thinking about gemstones, they also need to think over and pick ring styles or materials. The main metals for ring settings contain platinum, K gold, palladium and other stuff. Let us learn all details about these setting materials together.
Platinum
Platinum is a extremely rare natural white precious metal. It has special traits: it will never fade after you wear it, and its chemical character is stable. That makes it a perfect pick for ring holders. Platinum has high density, so it can hold and protect diamonds or other jewels really well. It will not bring allergic reaction to people who wear it, so people with sensitive skin can wear platinum jewelry without any trouble at all. Besides, it is a pure white metal, so it will not mess up the color of inlaid gems. For example, diamonds look more clear and bright when they are set on platinum rings.
If you want check what metal your ring setting is made of, you can look for the platinum mark “pt” carved on the band. They are divided into pt990, pt950, pt900, pt850 and more, it all depends on the percentage of platinum inside the metal.
Gold
Gold is a traditional precious metal, and it also take an important part in old wedding jewelry. Just like its name tells you, gold’s original color is yellow. The mark for gold on ring settings is “Au”. If pure gold jewelry have gold content over 99 percent, they get marked “pure 990”. If gold content pass 99.9 percent, the mark will be pure gold “999”.
Natural gold metal is quite soft, this make it hard to fix gemstones tight inside the ring. Usually people mix other precious metals such as copper, nickel to add extra hardness to gold. Different mixed materials create different colors, so ring settings can be silvery white, yellow or rose gold color. People call this mixed metal K gold. The most common types are 18K gold and 14K gold.
Because some K gold looks silvery white, some people name it “white gold”. But they are not natural white metal. Factory put a layer of silvery metal plating on its surface. Many people think 18K gold will lose its color as years go by. If the production craft is good enough, fading do not happen easily. Even if it fades someday, shops can re-plate it to get back its original color. K gold’s hardness is a little higher than platinum, and its price is cheaper than platinum too. So it is also a common material for diamond ring holders.
Rose gold is an alloy mixed by gold, copper and other metals. When makers add more copper into the alloy, the rose tone become richer and more obvious. There are two main reasons why many people love rose gold. First one is its hidden meaning: white K gold stand for friendship, yellow K gold stand for loyalty, and rose gold stand for love. Second, rose gold matches all kinds of skin tones well, it looks pretty no matter light or dark your skin is.
Palladium
Palladium is another silvery white metal, it is one member of platinum group elements. Factories use palladium widely in aerospace and other high-tech industries. Palladium share many same features with platinum: it will not lose shine or fade, the material is very soft, and it will not cause skin allergy to wearers. But its density is lower, so it get worn down easily after long time wearing. Compare to platinum, palladium’s color look a little duller.
The mark for palladium on ring settings is “pd”. According to the metal percentage, palladium ring settings are sorted as pd990, pd950 and other types.
Many shoppers only focus on how big or clear their gemstone is when shopping jewelry, but ignore how important the ring setting metal is. A bad metal can scratch your skin, lose color quickly or fail to hold your expensive gem safely. Before you pay money for a ring, you should think about your skin condition, daily wearing habits and your budget, then pick the most suitable setting metal for yourself. Platinum fit people with sensitive skin who want long-lasting bright white rings without re-plating. 18K gold is a budget-friendly choice with strong hardness to lock gems tight, and rose gold satisfy people who love romantic looks. Palladium is lighter but easier to wear thin, so it suit people who do not wear rings every single day. Knowing these metal facts can help you make a smarter choice next time you shop fine jewelry.
