Does Diamond Color Affect Sparkle?

Do you remember the first time you made an eye to eye contact with your girl and saw a sparkle in her eyes? 😍 That you said to yourself, “I could stare at this woman forever” over your dinner and almost ignored your food? Whether she has natural blue, black or brown eyes, there’s no denying that her eye color made a special impact when she captured your heart. 💘

Likewise, color affects a diamond’s sparkle. ✨ And this time, it’s your turn to make her speechless as soon as she sees the ring.

But how does color affect the sparkle of a ring really? 🤔

When you google about “diamond sparkle” the most common answer you’ll find is getting the “perfect diamond cut”, but we’re here to help you understand the effect of diamond colors to its sparkle.

Let’s take a quick and simple physics lesson here. Diamond sparkle depends so much on its interaction with light. The cut is responsible for how the light will be reflected in any direction whilst color is the one in charge of the amount of light that is reflected to our eyes.

The sparkle is caused by reflection which occurs when light bounces off transparent or opaque objects like mirrors. So even if you have the perfect cut, if the diamond color you chose absorbs too much light, it won’t reflect maximum brilliance. 😕

For example, when you put a mirror under the sun you’ll easily see the light bounce off and create a rainbow-like sparkle. 🌈 But once you cover the mirror with a colored cloth or solid material, you won’t see a reflection happen. This is because the darker the surface gets, the more light is absorbed than reflected.

Is diamond a transparent object like the mirror? Definitely, yes.

However, its transparency or opacity vary from its different color grades. So the more colorless the diamond is, the more it will give a brilliant sparkle like the mirror under the sun.

On the other hand, diamonds that have yellow tint tend to absorb more light, because yellow is obviously darker than white.

You see color is just as critical as the cut when it comes to sparkle, and there is a wide range of diamond color grades to choose from. So it is important to meticulously consider the best color-grade and which of them fits your preferred amount of brilliance.

Take note that the goal is not just to make her say “Yes” but to also hear her say “I could stare at this ring forever”, the same way you said it when you fell in love with her -- or even better.

Sources: The Diamond Pro, GIA