FACETS DON’T AFFECT BRIGHTNESS

Light It Up!

Many people are under the assumption that the more facets a diamond has, the brighter that diamond will shine.

It makes sense

But it isn’t true!

Whether your diamond has 58 facets (the norm on a brilliant cut round diamond), or 100 facets (like the centillion super cut diamond), the extra facets won’t make the stone brighter.

The only thing it will do, is give you more smaller flashes of light and color (brilliance and fire)… Versus average (regular) flashes of light and color.

It’s the same amount of light, just broken up into smaller pieces (distributed).

Fancy too!

The same goes with fancy cuts (i.e. princess, radiant, cushion, marquise), they are all faceted different than a round, but they won’t be any brighter. Usually the brightest cut is the brilliant cut, but that’s only because it’s symmetrically round and transfers light evenly.

So what does make a diamond brighter?

A couple of things can make a diamond appear brighter (have more sparkle).

They are:

• The diamond is clean – A dirty diamond doesn’t reflect light. So keep your stone as clean as possible and it will shine like the day you bought it (get yourself a dazzle stick).
• A better cut – If you get an “excellent” cut (GIA certified), along with an “excellent” grade in both polish and symmetry, then your diamond will bounce light and make the diamond shine like crazy (like these diamonds at James Allen).
• A whiter diamond – Believe it or not, but if you purchase a pure white diamond, that extra whiteness tends to help light up the stone as well. It makes it appear brighter.
• A larger carat weight – The bigger the diamond is, the bigger the flashes of light (also called scintillation). Hence, the diamond will be brighter and exhibit more sparkle.
• The mounting – If you set your diamond up high in a 4 prong head (for a round stone), versus 6 prongs, it will bring more light into the stone and make it appear brighter. Likewise, if you have your diamond set low, or imbedded into the mounting (like a tension set, channel set or bezel set stone), the mounting will block light and make the diamond appear darker. So the trick is, don’t hide your stone, show it off!
• White gold – Set your diamond into a white gold or platinum mounting, and the diamond will look brighter. That’s because it isn’t drawing a yellow hue from the mounting into the stone. A white diamond just appears brighter.

And that’s the Secret!

It’s not the facets, or the amount of facets, it’s mainly the cut and color that will make a diamond “POP!“

Keep your diamond visible and clean (purchase a ultrasonic jewelry cleaner or jewelry steam cleaner), and it will look beautiful and bright!

Cheers! :)