Q&A: Help Finding a Round Diamond for Around £2,000 Budget

1) Choosing the setting is a question of personal taste and style. If their Classic Solitaire setting suit you the best then there’s no reason to go with anything else. It’s timeless and elegant, I like it a lot myself.

2) J color is the way to go. There wouldn’t be any yellowness and it allows you to spend more on the diamond itself. We recommend Excellent/Ideal cut (and we also further limit the search parameters to make sure we recommend diamonds with the best brilliance).

3) Re: clarity: I agree. The way we approach diamond buying is to separate the two categories; Negative characteristics to avoid and positive characteristics to focus on. The trick is to get closer to the line (without crossing it) on color and clarity. This drops the price dramatically and so long as don’t cross the line, has zero impact on the look of the diamond. I always search in the SI-IF range and pick the best/largest eye-clean diamond I find. Sometimes it’s an SI, sometimes a VS or VVS, there is no rule. I never recommend a diamond with a high clarity grade unless I have a good reason for it.

Eye-cleanliness is a bit tricky. The actual clarity grade is not so important. Clarity grade only tells you the size of the inclusion. That is one factor in determining eye-cleanliness. But harshness, location and reflection matter as well: https://www.diamonds.pro/diamond-clarity/. You can find an SI1 (even an SI2) diamond that’s eye-clean as well as a VS2/VS1 that’s not. It always depends on a particular diamond and its inclusions. Generally said, large and dark inclusions (such as crystals or large feathers) often are noticeable while twinning wisps are fine in most of the cases. Sometimes the diamonds look just perfect but the ‘clarity grade is based on clouds not shown’ note is an issue. That means that there’s a large cloud that saps the brilliance from the stone. I also recommend avoiding diamonds with knots and cavities and diamonds <1ct with clouds – they don’t have a clarity plot in the certificate so you wouldn’t know the size and location of the cloud and the diamond might end up being hazy and less brilliant.

On to the diamonds you found:

I would exclude the first two as they are very cloudy.

Blue Nile LD13632242
I’m not a huge fan of the cut on this one. It’s a bit off. Ideally, the depth % should never exceed 62.5%.
Blue Nile LD13546362
The same issue here + the diamond is not eye-clean.
Blue Nile LD13330514
Not eye-clean.
Blue Nile LD13581402
Not eye-clean.

I looked around and found this one:
Blue Nile LD13646568
It has nice cut parameters and is eye-clean.

You’re welcome, I’m glad I can help.

How do you feel about something like this?
Blue Nile LD13447188 

Feather is a small fracture within the diamond. There are many types of feathers, some of them are colored (usually black), some of them are transparent and unnoticeable (just like in the case of the diamond I suggested). It’s, of course, important to avoid large and deep feathers (usually found on SI diamonds), but the one on my diamond is tiny and not at all an issue. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have recommended it. Let me know if you have any more questions!

My pleasure.