1. Round Diamonds Look Bigger than All Other Sizes

• It’s true – in terms of surface area per carat, the round / brilliant diamonds give you more bang for your buck.  Compare a 1.0 carat round diamond to a 1.0 carat diamond of any other shape.  The average length to width ratio in millimeters for a round diamond would be 6.3 x 6.3mm.  For a 1.0 carat cushion cut diamond, the average length to width ratio is in the 5.5 x 5.5mm range.  That is a significant difference!

2. A Sparkly Diamond Always Looks Bigger than a Dull one

• Look for a diamond shape that naturally reflects the most light.  Round will top the list every time, because of the way that the facets are cut, but close behind the round diamond for “sparkliness” is the marquise (I was shocked by that one), oval, pear, heart, and then Princess.  From there, sparkle tapers off rapidly, but if you are like me, and kind of hate the fancy shapes (marquis, pear, heart, etc) then stick with the round, oval, and princess – all safe bets.  
• Do not sacrifice cut for carat – the result will be a dull, cloudy, or dark diamond.  In the first post, I talked a lot about the importance of a quality cut – going for an ideal or excellent cut will give you the most sparkle – substituting a good or fair cut for a slight increase in carat size is a very bad idea.

• A non-symmetrical cushion cut that is rectangular can fake people out for a larger carat.  Especially if you have thin fingers, the length can create the illusion of a larger diamond. Also on this list of elongated shapes are the emerald cut (not a personal favorite of mine), radiant cut, and oval diamonds.  I’m not fully sold on this idea, but if you love this look, go for it!

4.  Settings with Additional Diamonds Enhance the Size of a Diamond

• Extra embellishments on a ring do exactly what they promise – they enhance a center stone, so whether it’s opting for a three stone ring, (with two sizable diamonds on either side of the center stone), or if it’s having a micropave band that adds just a bit of extra pizzazz to your ring while still leaving the center stone as the main focus, or whether it’s going all out for a micro-pave halo setting (having even more diamonds encircling the center stone and band), these are all great ways to enhance an already beautiful engagement ring.

Marilyn Monroe sang, “diamonds are a girl’s best friend”, and lately I have been doing a lot of thinking about the most important diamond a girl will receive… an engagement ring.  Most recently, I have been noticing lots of really different but amazing rings on other women and in the window’s of my neighborhood jewelers that are not what I have traditionally liked.  I’ve been thinking about, how to save money when buying a diamond, what makes it most sparkly, and what the priorities should be…


Deciding to do some research, I think I have narrowed it down to my top “engagement ring essentials”.  Because there is so much to learn and think about when buying a diamond, I wanted to break out these essentials into a series of posts to avoid an overwhelming amount of information.  It’s really interesting and really helpful in terms of understanding priorities when you are looking since there are SO MANY options, so many things to weigh, and of course since it’s costing several month’s salary.


1.  SPARKLE:  Bigger is not better if the diamond doesn’t shine.  This is not to say that I don’t want a big rock flashing about on my left hand, but recently I have seen some women with very large stones, that are dull, and not very pretty.  I’ve never been a diamond expert, but wanting to know what causes this dullness, lack of sparkle, and even cloudy appearance, I’ve done some research…  The factors that most affect a diamond’s sparkliness are CUT, SYMMETRY, DEPTH, and TABLE. 

• CUT: This one is pretty easy to remember – the better the cut, the more light enters the diamond (meaning more sparkly).  This is probably the most important part to getting a sparkly diamond, so ALWAYS go for  the best cut possible (either ideal, or excellent).  Anything below that, and you will be losing significant sparkle. 

• SYMMETRY: This refers to specific aspects of a diamond’s cut; with poor symmetry, light can be lost as it enters and exits the diamond – a good rule of thumb, symmetry and cut go hand in hand, so if you stick to an ideal/excellent cut, you will end up with good symmetry.  This diagram gives a good idea about how this works and why poor symmetry can be a BIG problem:

• DEPTH: This is really a matter of quality control – if the diamond is too shallow or too deep, light is lost and the diamond looks dull – something really interesting that I learned was that a too deep diamond adds carat weight without looking bigger – shady!  The best diamonds are considered to range in depth percentage from 58% – 64%.  Be sure you specify this when looking and you’ll be good.
• TABLE: Similar to depth – this is all in the cutting of a diamond, and is more mathmatical than anything; the ratio of the table width to diamond diameter and affects how much a diamond sparkles – the best diamonds range in table percentage from 53%-64%.  Stick to this, and you’ll be fine.

So much to learn, so little time!!!  Next up, the how to maximize the impact of your diamond!