The best matching couples jewelry is made to be seen, whether that's a tennis-styled diamond bracelet, stunning solitaires stud earrings, sparkling wedding rings or affordable engagement rings.

If you want to make sure that a piece is going to be great, research its attributes such as the diamond's quality before making any decisions. If you choose the right diamond, your new earrings will remain stylish and fashionable for a long time. The best place to begin is with a diamond  guide, whether you are searching for real diamonds or lab grown simulated diamonds. This promise rings for couples guide will teach you the famous "4Cs of Diamonds" as well as other considerations that you should keep in mind while shopping for these eye-catching gemstones, online or at your local jeweler. Continue reading to discover how you can tell a good diamond from one that's not so great.

The 4Cs of diamond quality: color, clarity, Cut and Carat

couple necklaces Color

There are many shades of color and diamonds that aren't white. The Gemological Institute of America has established an official scale to determine a stone's color. This scale assigns diamonds a grade, from colorless (a clear, sparkling stone with no colour) to noticeable color. Diamonds at the more colorless end of spectrum are generally rarer, and therefore have a greater value.

Diamonds that are colored can be chosen to match certain styles. White diamonds are popular, but shouldn't always be considered the sole indicator of diamond quality. The canary yellow diamond is a good example of a diamond that can be considered the best amongst its sun-hued competitors. This makes it ideally suited as a centerpiece in ring or pendant. The addition of minerals or other treatment processes can produce other beautiful hues in a diamond. This could be anything from a rich emerald-green that seems to cover the stone, to a soft pink rose that gives it a lovely blush.

Although some settings, including the classic solitaire engagement rings, focus on a single stone, recent design trends have made it possible to choose from a stunning array of multi-stone setting options. If you are choosing a colored gem, take into consideration how it may (or may not!) interact with the other stones in your jewelry piece. When creating your ideal piece of jewelry, you can choose a stone that will interact with those around it. Would you prefer to have a clear, central stone surrounded with colors? You might want a stone with a slight color and accent stones that are darker. There are many different ways that colored stones and uncolored ones can work together in diamond jewelry and diamond alternatives.

Clarity

The formation of geologically mined stones is governed by the surrounding bedrock. As well as variations in soil types and pressure, certain treatments and procedures can cause fractures to the structure. Some of these damages and fractures are invisible, unless the stone under the microscope or loupe is examined by a trained professional. Others are visible.

The diamond clarity scale is an abbreviated system that uses letter-number scores to grade the inclusions.

On the other end of this scale, "FL", which is a grade that means "flawless," refers to diamonds with no visible imperfections inside or outside when magnified by 10x. These types of diamonds come at a high price and are extremely rare.

Further down, the VVS1 and VVS2 grades represent increasing degrees of "Very, Very Slightly Included," meaning that although the stone has imperfections, it is very difficult for an experienced diamond graders to notice them.

The VS1 and the VS2 grades fall under this category. They drop the "very", and are referred to as "Very, Slightly Included". This is easy for trained graders to detect when magnified. An untrained grader can see up to three inclusions on this scale without using magnification.

A little lower on the scale, SI1, SI2, SI3, and SI4 are applied to stones which are "Slightly included" and have flaws that are easily located under magnification. This area represents the point at which flaws can be seen without magnification.

Finally, the I1, II, and III are just "Included," which means that the flaws are not only visible, but can also have an impact on the durability of a stone. Note that these are not necessarily "bad diamonds," but rather speckled or flaws that can be seen by a casual observer. The setting can make even I3s look beautiful.

To minimize flaws that are visible, the diamond cutter may add extra facets to the stone or cut it a specific size or shape. Finding a mined diamond with a minimal amount of these issues and finding a skilled gem cutter to finish the stone is extremely difficult, which is why Couplesets(tm)alternatives are incredibly popular. Diamond simulants are used to remove from the sourcing the variables and imperfections that can be found in mined diamonds. This allows for every diamond-alternative stone to be created with the rating Internally Flawless.

Cut

The cut is one of most important factors when it comes to determining a diamond's quality. The cut can be measured according to the GIA's scale of diamond cuts which has six grades. It can be rated from Ideal cut to Poor cut depending on how the diamonds are physically cut. The cut of a diamond will influence how "sparkly", or high, the finished piece is. It also determines the aesthetic value.

Many people confuse the shape of a stone with the official diamond cut scale. A number of classic diamond shapes remain popular and timeless, but a crop of exciting, new shapes are gradually filling the ranks. Round Diamonds being the traditional shape, "fancy" shapes include all other shapes.