Hey, guys, I'm excited for you guys to join us.
So today we're gonna dive into clarity.
We're going to explain what it's referring to.
We're going to look at a few stones underneath the microscope.
And most importantly,
we're going to give you guys tips on how to hack this part of the four C's.
So what is clarity?
Clarity refers to how clean or how dirty a diamond is.
So clarity is denoted on a scale.
It starts in the I range,
and that's included diamonds all the way up to flawless.
So first thing I'm going to start off with that's very important to understand.
The first thing is diamond grading is not scientific.
So really important to note this.
Take a look at what these scales actually stand for.
You're going to see a term like very, very slightly included.
What the heck does that mean?
It's not a scientific term.
If anything, it kind of shows you more about the marketing background behind it.
So before, when they're trying to come up with what do we want to call these things?
Do we want to call it a flaw or an imperfection?
They didn't really want to go into that because it had a negative connotation.
So came up with this word inclusion, which is a really weird word.
You guys will never have probably heard this word being used in this context.
And it was used.
It was really smart because it didn't really have
a good or bad connotation to it.
So what is an inclusion?
Inclusion is just a fancy word of saying dirt mark or birthmark.
Well, I have a lot of birthmarks, so I like to refer to them as beauty mark,
but it's something that's unique to the diamond.
There are no two diamonds that can be alike,
and the imperfections or lack thereof
can be identifying features of the diamond itself.
Just going back to the original point, it's not really scientific.
So diamonds are not graded by machines.
They're given a grade by people.
It's extremely subjective.
It's based on our opinions.
You want to think of it kind of like grading an English paper.
It's not quite like grading a math test.
So you want to hold the grade loosely is the point that I want to make.
So what we want to do next is we're going to actually dive in
and actually show you guys three diamonds underneath a microscope.
So we've isolated the color.
They're all a G color.
We've isolated the cut. They're all triple excellent cut.
Where they're different is just on clarity.
So if you take a look at the first stone here
underneath the microscope,
you're going to notice there's actually a lot of imperfections in this stone.
Some parts are going to look like crushed ice.
Or maybe it might even look like scratches.
The one that's going to be quite obvious to most of you is
that black imperfection that you see.
Now, one side note, diamonds are extremely transparent.
That just means that whatever you see there, be it, let's say,
for a scratch or whatnot, it's not actually a scratch.
It's actually inside the diamond crystal.
It just appears like it's on the surface.
Now, this is pretty low on the clarity scale for me.
If I was to put a grade to this, I would kind of put this in the I2 territory.
Now we're going to show you another diamond.
It's actually one grade higher than the first diamond that we showed you.
And as you can see in the stone, it is much more clear than the first stone.
It still has an inclusion.
As you can see, it almost looks like a squiggly mark in the middle.
That's a type of inclusion right there that you're looking at.
But overall, it's much more transparent than the first one.
Now, the last one that you're going to see is going to be very clean,
even underneath a microscope.
You might not even see anything.
Honestly, the imperfections that you're going to notice here,
they're literally tiny dots.
They're like the size of dust, even underneath the microscope.
And honestly, some of it really could be dust.
So this last one here for me, if I was to put a grade to it,
I'm going to put it kind of in the the VS1 territory.
So take a look at these three stones now on my hand.
So what you'll probably be able to identify right away is
that the first stone, the I2,
looks very different from the two stones above it.
The second and third one are going to more or less look the same
to most of you guys.
Now, the best way to describe what you're seeing here.
So number one, you're going to probably notice
that the first one does not seem to sparkle and shine like the other two.
You're also going to obviously notice
that the first one looks a lot whiter than the other two.
Now, both of the things that I just mentioned,
they are actually being caused by the clarity difference in this case.
So first of all, I1 and lower I, think of it like a smashed window.
Not as much light is able to get through.
The imperfections are big enough
that they're blocking the light getting through.
And that's why it's not going to shine.
Because it doesn't shine, and one thing Mariam already mentioned,
these are all the same color.
They're all a G color.
Now, why does it look different in color is really simple as well.
It's because it's not shining.
The first one you're able to see actually the color of the stone itself.
The second and third one, you're not actually seeing a color.
You're just seeing a reflection of the environment.
And so really, you're not really able to easily see what color the stone is.
So what's the hack here?
So I'm going to break it up.
First off, a really simple one, a small one, but it's very important.
You need to buy your diamond loose.
If it's already set in a setting,
you're not going to be able to look at it quite so acutely.
Now, the second thing, basically, what's more important than the grade is
you want to focus on the type of imperfection.
Now, the reason is
some types of imperfections are easier for our brain to see than others.
There can be over 30 different types of inclusions.
And there are inclusions that are more favorable.
And there are inclusions that are less favorable.
Let's say a black inclusion, right dead in the middle.
That would be an example of a less favorable inclusion
because it would be very visible to the naked eye.
Then there's inclusions that I would say are more favorable.
They look like a feather or a wisp.
They completely blend in.
Then you have inclusions that I like to classify as chameleon inclusions.
You see them one angle, you turn the diamond slightly,
it completely disappears.
The opposite is also true.
I like to call it the mushrooming effect.
It's one inclusion,
but because of the facet that it's sitting on,
it actually looks like eight.
So everybody has different sensitivities.
Focus on the diamond that looks right to you.
So the three takeaways from today.
Number one, make sure you buy your diamond loose.
That way, you're able to inspect everything you need to carefully.
Number two, you want to focus on what kind of imperfections are in your stone.
That's much more important.
And number three, hold the grading loosely.
So from our end, we curate the stone to ensure
that there are no unfavorable inclusions in there.
And from a manufacturing perspective,
we just ensure that the setting elevates the stone that you've chosen.