How to find a diamond she deserves

Buying diamonds with confidence: The confidence she'll adore it and the confidence you're getting the best value for the price.

When you present the woman you love with a diamond, you hope her eyes will open wide, her jaw will drop and she'll utter a gasp of sheer delight. You adore her…she deserves it…and after all, a diamond is forever, as they say.

Emotion aside, you also hope that the diamond you've selected is worth every penny you've spent for it. Quality, craftsmanship and value are important in a purchase this expensive.

To buy the most beautiful diamond you can at the best value for our money, you need to learn a few things about buying diamonds.

Buying diamonds: What makes a diamond beautiful?

A diamond's beauty is the result of its inherent attributes – the quality of the rough stone – as well as the craftsmanship applied to it in the cutting and polishing process. You can determine a diamond's beauty up to a point with the naked eye. What you're looking for when buying diamonds is fire, sparkle and brilliance -- that flash of light that happens when a woman wearing a diamond ring moves her hand, so that light enters the stone from different angles and is reflected back to you. You're also looking for color and clarity, which are harder to determine with the naked eye, yet critical contributors to a diamond's beauty.

A master diamond artisan cuts a stone to maximize its brilliance, so that it reflects light efficiently and returns it back to your eye through the top of the stone. This is called Return of Light. If the artisan begins with high quality rough – a stone with good color and clarity – the potential for maximizing brilliance is even greater. However, a poorly cut diamond will have no life to it, no matter how big a rock it is or how fine a piece of rough it started out as. A diamond's beauty and brilliance, then, depend both on Mother Nature and the skill of the diamond artisan.

The Leo Diamond®, handcrafted by the master artisans at Leo Schachter, is an example of a patented diamond cut designed to maximize brilliance. It's the first diamond ever to be independently measured and certified for superior fire, sparkle and brilliance – superior to every other diamond of comparable quality. Every Leo Diamond must meet a specific quality standard in terms of color and clarity, as well.

See for yourself. Find an authorized Leo Diamond Jeweler.

Buying diamonds: How do you measure the value of diamonds?

Cut, color, clarity and carat weight are the diamond attributes, or characteristics, known as the 4Cs, and anyone interested in buying diamonds should learn all about the 4Cs before entering a store. Most diamonds sold by a reputable jewelers are accompanied by a diamond certificate that evaluates each of the 4Cs for that specific stone.

Diamond certificates – may be issued by one or more of the major independent gemological laboratories. Certification serves as written proof of a diamond's attributes and a basis for comparing diamonds and measuring the value of diamonds with similar attributes. Certification gives you the power to purchase a diamond with the characteristics you want at a fair market price.

Buying diamonds: How to buy the gorgeous diamond she deserves and really wants.

Presuming you've done your homework, you now know how to buy the best diamond at the best price. But of the millions of brilliant diamonds out there, which is the one she'll react to with the awe, excitement and appreciation you're hoping for?

Which of the diamond shapes will appeal to her? Round, oval, emerald cut, princess, pear or marquise? What diamond setting will best suit her particular style? Find out more about selecting the right diamond for the woman you love and making your proposal a romantic and truly memorable one.

Ready to start shopping for the perfect diamond? Find an authorized Leo Diamond jeweler near you.