Hey trendsetters, it’s your time to shine — literally. One of the big jewelry trends on the up and up in 2019 is colored diamonds, and for good reasons. Not only are colored stones brilliantly beautiful, but they’re also daring, unique, adventurous, and bold — just like you! In the words of famous jewelry and colored gemstone expert Sally Morrison, “Colored diamonds are not for ‘regular’ people.” We totally agree — you have to be non-conformist to rock colored stones. While Ms. Morrison may have been referring to cost in the context of this quote, that is no longer the case, thanks to lab-created diamonds.
You probably already know that colored mined diamonds are much more expensive than white diamonds. Just recently, the Pink Legacy diamond made headlines for being sold at a staggering price tag of $50M. Fair enough, that diamond weighed in at almost 19 carats, but even for a 1-carat colored diamond, you’re looking at a price tag of around $591,000! That’s one of the reasons we are so excited about our colored lab-grown diamonds. When you opt for a shade of pink, orange, or gray in our colored diamond collection, you only pay a fraction of the price that you would for the same mined diamond. For example, our Fancy Pink Lab Created Diamonds selection that costs $1000 or less (and can be personalized in a beautiful setting). Beyond cost, colored diamonds are a unique entity that we find fascinating. In this blog, we’ll look at some facts that make them so special.
1. How are colored diamonds made?
Interestingly enough, colored diamonds actually form due to a glitch in the diamond-making matrix. “A totally and completely pure diamond would possess only the element carbon, and nothing else. However, impurities are usually present in trace amounts, giving most diamonds a very minor color shade such as yellow and brown. When the impurities form in a certain way, they can cause the deep and rare colors presented in fancy diamonds.” Yep — it’s impurities in the elements that cause the beautiful shades of color that are so highly valued and sought-after when it comes to diamonds. Here’s a quick guide to the various shades, as formed by respective elements:
- Yellow, Brown, and Orange Diamonds: These shades are all created due to various amounts of nitrogen being mixed in with the carbon.
- Blue Diamonds: When boron mixes with carbon, it forms various hues of blue. Yes, the world’s most famous diamond, the Hope Diamond, was formed all thanks to small amounts of boron!
- Green diamonds: Strangely enough, green diamonds are formed due to natural gamma radiation.
- Pink and Red diamonds: Although it’s still a bit of a mystery to scientists how stunning pinks and (exceptionally rare) reds form, they have a pretty strong theory that it’s due to higher pressure: “Scientists speculate that the stress and strain experienced by rough diamonds when they are in the Earth’s mantle causes the diamond’s lattice to be distorted. This distortion creates graining and pink color zones to occur within the diamond.”
The creation process is the same whether you get a colored mined diamond or a colored lab-grown diamond. Scientists simply replicate the processes found in nature in order to create the beautiful colors that we offer. Another huge advantage of colored diamonds that are created in the lab is the fact that it’s much easier for scientists to experiment in a controlled setting (than it is for Earth to naturally produce these colors). Therefore, you can nab never-before-seen colors in lab-created diamonds — and our scientists are experimenting daily to produce more unique hues!
2. Are colored diamonds rare?
Yes, mined colored diamonds are rare, with only 1 out of every 10,000 carats mined being colored (that’s 0.0001%!). Therefore, the price tag is so astronomical on colored diamonds. Colored lab-created diamonds are, of course, not as rare — which is the reason why the cost is that much lower. The optical, physical, and chemical properties are the same; it’s simply the setting in which the diamonds are created that makes them different.
3. What are the rarest colors?
In order from least rare to most rare: yellow, brown, pink, blue, green, black, orange, red. Again, this is only true for mined diamonds, as colored lab-created diamonds are more readily available in gorgeous shades.
4. Where are colored diamonds found in Earth?
Various pipelines around the world produce different colors of diamonds. From what we’ve mined so far, we’ve learned that purple mined diamonds originate in Northern Asia, while blue mined diamonds come from Southern Asia. Orange mined diamonds come from Africa, pink from Australia, and green from South America!
5. Why do the different colors of diamonds symbolize?
The various colors of diamonds are known for symbolizing certain personality characteristics. This is fun to know when you’re gifting a diamond — either to someone you love or to yourself! According to the Cape Town Diamond Museum, here’s what each color symbolizes:
- Orange diamonds represent courage, energy, and enthusiasm.
- Pink diamonds represent femininity, romance, and tenderness.
- Yellow diamonds stand for humility, hope, friendship, and happiness (making for a great gift for a best friend!)
- Red diamonds symbolize strength, passion, confidence, and power.
- Brown diamonds are believed to connect the wearer to Earth and nature, and they symbolize order, stability, and clarity.
- Green diamonds represent youthful strength, nature, abundance, and prosperity.
- Blue diamonds represent peace, truth, devotion, eternity, chastity and spirituality.
- Black diamonds traditionally symbolize passion, action, and energy, whereas the modern meaning of the diamond is power, creativity, and purity.
With all these fun facts and interesting tidbits about colored diamonds, we’re sure that you’re ready to hop on to the 2019 trend and start rocking colored stones. Whether you want a gorgeous pink, a happy yellow, a mysterious smoky gray, or a passionate orange, we have colored diamonds that you’ll love. We also have lab-created diamond stud earrings in a rainbow of colors, as well as eternity bands that feature beautiful hues. For a more curated shopping experience, you can also check out our Colored Diamond Gift Guide.
