Advice

 

It's important to balance the 4C´s in order to get the best looking diamond in your budget. 

The cut is possibly the most important of the 4Cs

Cut quality directly impacts the diamond’s beauty and brilliance. A poor cut will make any diamond look lifeless. An excellent cut, however, will make your diamond sparkle and scintillate in the most mesmerizing way. That’s why HONN only offers diamonds’ cut grade from good to excellent and we recommend you to get the best possible cut within your budget. 

Eye-Cleanliness is Paramount

The term “eye clean” means that the diamond’s inclusions are too small to see without magnification. If you want to get the best value for your money, is to have an eye-clean diamond. Any diamond with FL, IF, VVS1, VVS2, and VS1 clarity grades are guaranteed eye-clean. Clarity grades from VS2, SI1, and SI2 can be eye-clean. Therefore we recommend you never choose I1-I3 clarity grades. If you are buying a diamond over one carat or considering certain fancy-shaped diamonds, we recommend you to choose a higher clarity grade within your budget, because the larger the diamond, the easier it is to see inclusions. If you want to maximize your budget, we recommend you can start your search with SI and VS grades because there is a possibility to find diamonds in this grade with no noticeable inclusions with other words eye clean. 

Colour grade not recommended

We do not recommend colour grades L-Z due to noticeably yellow or brown tinting which do not meet the quality and value standards at HONN. Which diamond colour is best for you starts with your budget. Colour is more visible in large diamonds, so if you’re buying a diamond over 1 carat, we recommend H color-grade diamonds or higher. It’s also smart to consider the color of precious metal for your setting that best compliments the colour grade of your diamond. For example, yellow gold casts a warm glow and looks best with diamonds with faint colour. White gold will make a near-colorless diamond look icier. Therefore, we recommend you to buy a D-H colored stone if you want to use it in a white gold setting and a D-K if you are going to put it in yellow gold or rose gold setting. 

Diamond Color for Fancy Shapes.

The round cut is the shape that’s least prone to showing off body color. Princess, emerald, and Asscher cut diamonds are more likely to display some. So, it is advisable to choose one grade higher than what you would choose for a round cut diamond. All the other diamond shapes especially the elongated ones like oval, marquise, and pear cut diamonds are even more prone to body color. In these shapes, color can be easily seen near the pointed tips. Thus, you shall choose an even higher grade.

Carat

If you want to maximize your budget, we recommend you to select a carat weight slightly below the whole and half-carat marks. For example, instead of a 1-carat diamond, consider buying a 0.9-carat weight. This will save a considerable amount of money, and a slight difference will never be noticed.