Quick and Easy Buying Guide

Carat weight: 1 carat = 200 milligrams = 6.5 mm diameter. Doubling weight doesn't double diameter.

Diamond clarity: FL/IF/VVS/VS = super expensive, near perfect. SI = best value if you can check a photo for obvious inclusions (defects).

 

Color: D-G = colorless, expensive, only if you have money to burn. H-J = best value. Can go lower in gold metal settings than white metal.

Cut: Better cut ratings let more light into a diamond, making it sparkle more. Very important property, don't skimp here.

Set a budget and minimum cut (Premium). Go J color for gold and I/H for white metals. Go searching for SI1/SI2 clarity diamonds at James Allen. Pick a diamond with small/no inclusions. Choose a ring setting and buy it risk-free (60-day returns).

Actual Diamond Size of a 1.10 Carat Princess Shape Diamond

This article provides you with some concept of how large a 1.10 carat size princess shape diamond will look when seen on the hand of a woman. When searching on the web for princess shape diamond sizes, you may pick up that the numbers are slightly different across different sites - this is because the size (5.7 mm for this particular diamond) can depend on the cut, not just the carat weight. In order to provide you more of an idea of what's in this image, the ring shown is a size six in the US sizing system, which is equivalent to an L 1/2 ring size in Britain or Australia.

Sponsored Links

A good tip to follow is to use pictures like this one to initially narrow down your size range; then you can go into stores and actually try a few different sized princess shape diamond rings on, armed with this prior knowledge. Digits can vary in terms of their apparent width and breadth, which should influence your decision regarding diamond size and shape.