Billions of years ago, deep in the earth, natural color diamonds were formed. These breathtaking, wondrous stones were subject to such incredible heat and pressure, its amazing they found their way to the earths surface so intact and uniquely beautiful.

Natural color diamonds are renowned for their incomparable brilliance and broad palette of colors, including pinks, champagnes, cognacs, yellows, greens, and blues in an almost limitless variety of shades. The presence of color in these diamonds is an entirely natural process, ensuring that every stone is one-of-a-kind.

Natural color diamonds are a unique, contemporary fashion twist on the standard white diamond. They exude an unmistakenable warmth, beauty and sophistication; making them an ideal way for a woman to express her own unique personality.

Naturally Rare, Uncommonly Beautiful

The Physical conditions necessary to color a diamond naturally occur very scarcely, making natural color diamonds extremely rare. How rare? For every natural color diamond, there are 10,000 colorless ones. The formation of natural color diamonds is a process that requires the presence of trace elements as well as distortions to the typical diamond crystal. If an element interacts with carbon atoms during diamond creation, the diamonds color can change. Radiation and pressure on a diamonds structure can impact its color as well.

The presence of nitrogen can impart yellow or orange shades to a diamond, while boron colors it blue and hydrogen produces unique violet hues.

Tremendous pressure exerted on a diamond deep in the earth can compress its structure, creating a red, pink, purple or brown stone.

Natural radiation over millions of years generates green and blue diamonds ranging from aqua to teal.

Guidelines for Buying Natural Color Diamonds

Diamonds are bought on the basis of the 4 Cs: Cut, Clarity, Carat, and Color. But the value of the natural color diamond usually depends on the rarity of its color than on any of the other 3 Cs, including carat weight. This is because some colors occur in a wide range of sizes and shapes, while others are rare even in the smallest sizes.

Since natural color diamonds come in such a wide range of colors and no two are identical, it is difficult to develop a grading system that can capture the special character of each individual stone. Experts at both the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) and the International Gemological Institute (IGI) have three parameters by which they describe color for these exquisite diamonds:

1. Hue

Hue refers to the dominant color of the stone, such as pink, blue, or yellow. There can also be modifiers, or tints, which imparts more one color to a stone. For instance, a purplish-pink diamond indicates a stone with a principal pink hue and a slight purple tint. If no modifiers or tints exist in a stone, then the hue is said to be pure.

2. Tone

Tone refers to how much lightness or darkness a stone appears to retain. Tones can range from light to dark.

3. Saturation

Saturation describes the strength and intensity of the hue. The saturation of light diamonds can vary from pastel to vivid to intense. Dark diamonds can range in saturation from dark to deep.