Diamond Color Guide: What Is the Diamond Color Scale

Selecting the perfect lab-grown diamond can be both exciting and overwhelming. Choosing your favorite diamond shape is only the beginning. Understanding the 4Cs - cut, color, clarity, and carat - is essential when buying a diamond. Diamond color will have a major impact on the overall beauty and value of your center stone. But what does diamond color mean and what’s the best diamond color for your engagement ring setting?

What Is Diamond Color?
Diamond color actually refers to the absence of color. It helps determine a diamond’s beauty, quality, and value.

Gemologists grade a diamond on the absence or presence of color to give each diamond a letter grade that corresponds with the color scale — from D, a truly colorless diamond, to Z, which is brown. The closer to colorless a diamond is, the rarer and more valuable it becomes.

While diamonds can come in a variety of colors, such as white, yellow, and pink, diamond color grades are what is listed on a diamond certificate, not the physical color of a diamond.

Does Diamond Color Matter?
Diamond color is essential for determining the quality of your diamond, the diamond price, and its overall appearance. How much diamond color matters, however, depends on your preferences, the diamond shape, and the ring setting.

Each diamond shape shows color differently and certain ring settings will enhance any hints of yellow, so the diamond color grade will matter more or less depending on these details. However, moving up and down the color scale will always affect a diamond’s price.

Our diamond experts can help you decide on what color grade range works best for your budget, diamond shape, and setting.

Diamond Color vs. Clarity
Diamond color and clarity are often confused with one another. This is because both color and clarity affect a diamond’s general appearance. But where diamond color measures the lack of color, clarity measures the lack of inclusions and blemishes.

You can use both the diamond color and clarity chart to select your diamond. If you’re unsure whether to prioritize color or clarity, speak with a caratice diamond expert who can give you personalized guidance in choosing the right diamond grade. But generally, which one is more important depends on the diamond shape and the engagement ring setting.