What You Should Know About Accent Diamonds
The beauty of jewelry is in the details. When buying diamond jewelry, have you ever noticed smaller diamonds added for extra sparkle? These small stones enhance the large center diamond. We’re talking about accent diamonds. While most customers focus on the main diamond – the center stone – accent diamonds often get overlooked.
WHAT ARE ACCENT DIAMONDS?
Accent diamonds (or sometimes called diamond accents) are smaller diamonds that are placed beside or around a large diamond in a jewelry piece to enhance its look, volume, sparkle, and design. They are an accent – an added piece and in a way, an elaboration to amplify the beauty of a jewelry piece. These small diamonds are available in different shapes. Accent diamonds are real diamonds. They are graded for color, cut, clarity and carat weight, just as large real diamonds. They are just smaller diamonds and hence less valuable individually.
TYPES OF DIAMOND ACCENT SHAPES
The cut and shape of diamond accents can vary, but usually, they are found in a straight baguette, tapered baguette, trapezoid, trillion, bullet, half moon and classic round cuts. These shapes best complement different types of center gemstones while maintaining a reasonable price point.
STRAIGHT BAGUETTE DIAMOND
A straight baguette diamond is perfectly rectangular, with two perpendicular sides.
TAPERED BAGUETTE DIAMOND
A tapered baguette diamond narrows on one of the two ends, resulting in a unique trapezoidal shape.
TRAPEZOID DIAMOND
TRILLION DIAMOND
A trillion cut diamond is a diamond that's cut into a triangular shape. A typical trillion cut diamond will have three sides of equal length, with a flat table at its surface.
BULLET DIAMOND
The bullet cut diamond is traditionally a step cut diamond used as matched pair to center stones. The name comes from the shape of a bullet.
HALF MOON DIAMOND
The half moon diamonds are used mainly for side stones and have the profile of half a round or half an oval diamond. They have a straight edge on the side and curved side on the other half.
ROUND DIAMOND
A round cut diamond is the most popular diamond accent shape. While most people might pick standard pairings when they look for accent diamond jewelry, you can customize yours to your design choice. You can go bold, by pairing different accent diamond shapes to create unique designs.
IMPORTANCE OF COLOR AND CLARITY IN DIAMOND ACCENTS
You do not need to exactly match each accent stone in color and clarity, but there are some aspects to be considered. Most smaller accent diamonds have low clarity, such as SI (Slightly Included) or I (Included). However, since accents are small enough, their inclusions can hardly be seen with the naked eye. If the stones are bigger, look at them using a loupe. Make sure they are not damaged and do not have visible inclusions that can spoil the appearance of the jewelry piece.
The color grade of accent diamonds should not differ dramatically from that of the center stone as the contrast will always be visible and not nice to look at. Accent diamonds are usually in the 'Near Colorless' grade. Stones in this grade are good enough to not make the setting and the center stone appear yellowish.
Always remember that the purpose of accent diamonds is to accentuate the look of the center stone and not overpower it. So make sure the color, clarity and size are in harmony with the center gemstone.
DIAMOND ACCENT STYLES
There are a lot of diamond accent styles but the two most common categories are larger accent diamonds and diamond melee accents. For example, two larger accent diamonds can sit on either side of a three stone diamond engagement ring creating a unique look. An example for diamond melee accents would be a diamond halo around the center stone, small diamonds going down the shank or even diamonds hidden under the gallery of a ring.
ACCENT DIAMONDS IN BOCA RATON
Accent diamonds are often overlooked because of their small size, but they play an important role in jewelry design. Just like selecting your center diamond and ring design, the quality of accent diamonds DO matter. If you want the overall jewelry piece to have the best possible brilliance, every tiny detail will matter. Even though accent diamonds are small, they can make or break the look of a jewelry piece. And most often, customers tend to ignore these smaller diamonds. Accent diamonds can help you take the sparkle and shine of your jewelry to another level.
If you’re considering creating custom jewelry, reach out to Devon's Diamonds & Decor. We specialize in designing custom engagement rings, wedding bands, and other custom jewelry in Boca Raton. Our family of fourth generation jewelers loves helping customers bring their dream jewelry to life.
