This article is for anybody looking to buy a loose diamond (either by itself or with an engagement ring as a “build your own” set) online at one of the many online diamond vendors. You need to juggle the 4 Cs to find the perfect blend of quality and value. For example, we recommend buying a diamond in the H-J color range. The setting style you put your diamond in determines whether you should spend a little extra on an H-color diamond or go for a larger J-color diamond.
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Sometimes I forget just how difficult it is for a consumer to juggle all the information when figuring out if something is a good price. My team and I have so much experience selecting diamonds (each of us selects hundreds every month), navigating the minefield becomes second nature for us.
One of our readers was working with Annie recently and asked her about this diamond from James Allen. Her first reaction was that the diamond was stunning. But then she asked what setting it would go in. When the reader responded with this setting, we realized that buying this diamond would have been a terrible mistake.
How to pick a diamond
1. Choose your diamond shape 2. Select your diamond carat weight
3. Select your diamond cut quality
4. Select your diamond color grade range
5. Select your diamond clarity grade range
6. Compare similar diamonds
7. Verify the diamond lab certificate
8. Choose an engagement ring setting
Best place to buy an engagement ring
Do you need insurance for your diamond ring?
Getting the ring size right
Get an expert opinion
Here is an example to get us started. If you were to ask me for a 1 carat round brilliant cut diamond to put in a halo engagement ring, it would take me about 30 seconds to find this gorgeous diamond on James Allen for you. Another 20 seconds, and I’d add this great alternative on Blue Nile. But searching on your own can be excruciating and filled with doubt. If you want a little peace of mind, feel free to for some personal advice.
If you’ve been around our site before, you’ll see that we generally recommend buying from Blue Nile or James Allen. For an explanation of why that is, you can read our individual site reviews for James Allen and Blue Nile.
Choosing a beautiful diamond involves narrowing down your shape and selecting high-quality options for the diamond 4Cs — without overpaying. We’ll go into the four Cs in more detail below, but for now, they are:
You’ll then compare individual diamonds to see which one offers you the most brilliance and fire. Follow our step-by-step guide below to find a stunning diamond while staying within your budget. Budgets can vary a lot from one person to another, so make sure you’re comfortable with the money you want to spend (for example, if your budget is around 4k, hop in our $ diamond engagement ring article after you read this 9 step guide to get inspired).
We recommend reputable online diamond jewelers. Based on our years of experience, James Allen and Blue Nile have proven to offer the best selection at the best prices (see the full list of Best Online Jewelry Retailers here).
Because their overhead costs are low and they don’t keep an inventory in-house, you’ll find the best deal with these two retailers. Both James Allen and Blue Nile provide HD and 360° imagery so you can compare diamonds up-close before purchase.
With this key information out of the way and the holiday season upon us, let’s get started with the most important steps in the process of buying a diamond.
The shape of your diamond is the launching point of your ring’s design. No shape is better than the other—it’s up to your personal preference (or your partner’s). Round brilliants are the most popular diamond shape for engagement rings and give off the most brilliance.
Others prefer a more unique shape like a cushion cut or an oval. If you’re unsure what your partner prefers, you can ask her family and friends.
It’s important to choose your desired shape first, since this will determine the target parameters for cut quality, color and clarity. Select a shape to narrow down your search and compare diamonds.
Is your fiance-to-be expecting a 1 or 2 carat diamond? Are you looking for a stone that’s noticeable but not over the top? There’s no “perfect” carat weight for a diamond, meaning this part of the process is completely down to your personal preferences.
Choose the carat weight range you’re open to considering, such as a 0.95 to a 1.08ct diamond. As carat weight increases, so does the price.
Blue Nile:
James Allen:
Carat weight impacts how large a diamond will appear (as does its shape and cut quality). You can learn more typical carat weights and diamond sizing in our guide to average diamond size to help you make an informed buying decision.
The aspect that most greatly impacts a diamond’s beauty is its cut quality. Cut grades aren’t standardized across all retailers, but in general, we recommend only Excellent (if a diamond comes with a GIA certificate) and Ideal cut (if graded by the AGS) diamonds.
You can limit your search for these cut quality grades using the tools provided by our trusted online diamond vendors.
For example, on Blue Nile’s site for round diamonds, you should limit your selection to Ideal and Astor Ideal diamonds. On James Allen, choose Ideal and True Hearts cut.
Our Advice
Our advice for diamond cut is this: If you are looking for a round brilliant diamond, only search for “Ideal/Excellent” grade diamonds. If you are searching for a fancy shape, however, then it might pay to either include “Premium” or to disregard the cut grade altogether.
This is not to say that cut grade is not important – on the contrary, it’s of utmost importance. It’s simply saying that many jewelers don’t correctly report fancy shape cut grades, so why filter out many results from your search that might be great choices?
The goal with diamond color is to choose a diamond that appears white. But contrary to popular belief, you don’t need to pay for a D color or E color to get a colorless stone. In general, diamonds in the G to I color range appear colorless to the naked eye, but cost far less.
It is important to remember that different shapes reflect color at different strengths, so your choice of optimal color, balancing the diamond’s appearance with the diamond’s price, will depend greatly on what diamond shape you’ve chosen.
For clarity, you should look for a diamond that’s eye-clean, meaning you can’t see any blemishes or inclusions with the naked eye. Depending on the shape, you can usually find an eye-clean diamond in the VS1-VS2 range. There’s no need to pay for a FL/IF clarity diamond when you can get a lower graded diamond for much less.
With most jewelers, you can see the diamond up close to review its clarity. For example, with James Allen’s “Virtual Loupe” you can evaluate a loose diamond before you buy it. Blue Nile has also begun to offer high quality photography. Look at the diamond closely to see if you notice any blemishes.
For an informative overview of the different clarity grades, take a look at the diamond clarity scale.
Eye-Cleanliness is Paramount
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In our opinion, a consumer’s goal should be to find the cheapest (in regards to clarity; other factors matter as well) “eye-clean” diamond you can find. We use “eye-clean” to describe diamonds that may have inclusions if you look at them with a magnifying glass (or microscope or loupe), but the typical person can’t see the inclusion with their naked eye.
We have recently developed Ringo, a patented artificial intelligence model, that can examine videos of diamonds and determine if they are eye-clean. Ringo will also filter for other parameters like making sure the diamond is well-cut, doesn’t have fluorescence issues and will match the style setting you choose.
Once you’ve narrowed down your preferred specs for a diamond, compare similar stones to determine which one to buy. You’ll want to consider aspects like how brilliant the diamond is, if it’s eye-clean, and what the price is in comparison to similar diamonds.
Other characteristics like fluorescence, polish, and symmetry affect a diamond’s value and appearance to some degree, although much less than the 4 C’s. For an in-depth discussion of these three factors, check out these individual articles: diamond fluorescence, polish, and symmetry.
Diamonds are evaluated and graded by professional labs, referred to as grading entities. These are the organizations that give each diamond its specific cut quality, clarity and color grades (as well as many others).
Some diamond grading labs are extremely strict and consistent, while others have questionable standards and are much less reliable. You should consider only GIA certified diamonds and AGS certified diamonds in your search for a loose diamond.
Stay away from IGI, EGL, and HRD grading reports because we’ve found in our professional experience that their results are not reliable due to their inconsistent diamond grading. Also, do not confuse GIA reports with an appraisal by a GIA gemologist. Those are not the same thing.
You can learn more about GIA diamonds here.
Luckily, James Allen and Blue Nile both make it easy to limit your search to GIA or AGS certified diamonds.
On James Allen, click the “advanced options” button under the other diamond parameters, then select the “GIA” and “AGS” checkboxes:
With Blue Nile, all loose diamonds are certified by the GIA, meaning there’s no need to filter out diamonds with lower quality certificates from your search.
Engagement ring settings range from elegant and simple, like the solitaire setting, to ornate and eye-catching, like the halo setting. Each setting offers its own unique identity, as well as distinct advantages and disadvantages.
For example, simple settings such as a solitaire ring are very affordable and great for creating a visual focus on the center diamond itself, while settings that contain halo diamonds can produce the appearance of a larger diamond.
There’s no “best” engagement ring setting, nor is there any “four Cs” for settings — instead, this part of the process is totally subjective. Choose a setting that matches your tastes, preferences and budget and complements the diamond you’ve selected.
Follow our insider tips for how to determine the type of setting she’ll love.
Our full list of ring settings and styles covers all of the most common engagement ring settings, as well as their major pros and cons.
Finally, once you feel confident in your diamond, buy it online along with an engagement ring setting of your choice.
With most online jewelers, they offer hassle-free returns within 30 days. If you or your partner aren’t 100% satisfied with the ring, you can get your money back. Almost every reader that goes through our process for picking a diamond is extremely satisfied with their purchase.
If you’ve read our guide to the best places to buy an engagement ring, you’ll know that we’re big believers in purchasing your ring online.
Buying online has several advantages. The biggest is that you’ll get significantly better value for money due to the economics of e-commerce vs. brick-and-mortar retail. In our experience, most brick-and-mortar jewelry stores charge anywhere from 30 to 100% more for their diamonds than trusted online vendors.
The second advantage of buying online is that you’ll have access to a vastly larger inventory of both diamonds and settings. This larger selection makes it easier to find a diamond that meets your specifications.
We recommend buying from the following trusted vendors:
A diamond ring is a major investment, and like other valuable possessions, it’s something that you’ll want to insure.
If you have homeowner’s or renter’s insurance, you might be able to add your engagement ring to your existing policy. It’s best to contact your insurance carrier to check if your diamond ring is covered, and if not, if it can be added to your existing policy at an additional cost.
Our guide to insuring your diamond engagement ring provides more information about how you can insure your engagement ring and other jewelry.
Some diamond vendors also offer insurance coverage. For example, James Allen and Blue Nile provide the option of insuring your engagement ring through partnerships with Jewelers Mutual, a personal jewelry insurance company that’s been around for over a century.
Although it is possible to resize an engagement ring after purchase, one additional step that we highly recommend taking is working out your partner’s ring size before buying your engagement ring.
Online diamond vendors like James Allen and Blue Nile make this part of the process easier by providing free ring sizers that you can use to work out your partner’s exact ring size before you place an order for your ring.
This is the safest way, but it’s not always the most romantic, especially if you want to keep your plan to pop the question secret. We’ve shared a few other techniques that you can use to work out your partner’s ring size without raising suspicions in our guide to finding your ideal ring size.
Trusted online vendors such as Blue Nile and James Allen also offer free resizing for almost all engagement ring settings, meaning it’s usually not a big deal if you make a minor sizing error.
We understand that buying a diamond ring can be a confusing and stressful process, even with the information above. Diamonds are costly, and trying to find the perfect balance of cut quality, color, clarity and carat weight without exceeding your budget isn’t easy.
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