The diamond cut, clarity, colour and carat are commonly referred to as the 4 Cs.  knowing a little about the 4 Cs is fundamental when buying a diamond or diamond engagement ring.  So here is a brief overview of the 4 Cs.

Cut – this is how a diamond is cut to form both its shape such and to create maximum sparkle. Of the many shapes such as Princess, Pear, Marquise, Asscher, Cushion, it is the Round (Brilliant) cut that reflects the maximum light and thus sparkle.  But even with each shape there are good and bad in how the diamond is cut to maximise reflected light.  Sometimes diamonds are cut shallow, thus looking down you see a bigger diamond, but you lose the sparkle and value.

Clarity – this is all about how pure the diamond is.  Almost all diamonds have imperfections, usually referred to as inclusions.  The more inclusions the lower the value of the diamond.  But its not just the size and number of these inclusions, it is about where they are situated and thus their visibility to the eye.

Colour – this can range from white (clear transparent) through to pink, yellow, brown and blackish colours.  The most popular and most common is white, but there are grades with D being the best, followed by E, F, G, etc, where the diamond starts to take in tints of colour, usually a faint yellow.  That said some coloured diamonds such as bright yellow and pink are very rare and expensive to buy. 

Carat – the weight of a diamond.  As the carat size increases so does the price per carat.  Thus a 10 carat diamond is worth much more per carat than a 1 carat diamond, simply because larger diamond are so rare.  You will also find that diamonds with carat weights of 0.99 or 1.99 (which look like 1 carat or 2 carat to the eye) are very rare, tihs is because the diamond cutters will sacrifice some of the cut characteristics to maximise the weight … on the principle a 2 carat diamond is worth more per carat than a 1.99 carat diamond.