When the average person purchases a piece of diamond jewelry, they will buy a setting that comes with a diamond already mounted in it. What people don’t realize is that there are many benefits to buying loose diamonds and having them set in the jewelry separately. Whether you are buying a diamond engagement ring or a solitaire pendant for a necklace, here are some reasons why you should look into buying loose diamonds for your items.

When you buy loose diamonds you are able to better inspect the diamond for any inclusions or flaws that it may have. Some jewelers know exactly how to hide any flaws that a diamond has with the setting. Flaws or chips in a diamond can easily ruin the stone and make it more susceptible to damage in the future. If you were to buy loose diamonds, you could easily inspect the diamond from every angle to find any problems with it.

Secondly when you buy loose diamonds for your jewelry, you can pick out your own setting and even customize your setting. You are not restricted to picking the right diamond but not liking the setting or vice versa. You can buy the perfect diamond and then go shopping for your favorite setting after you buy the diamond. This gives a lot more variety from which to choose and also helps your jewelry to be unique and not look like everyone else’s.

Lastly, you can save money with loose diamonds. When you set your budget, you can decide how much you want to spend on a diamond and then how much you want to spend on a setting. When you have your budget, you can determine just what kind of diamond you can afford and not have to worry about liking the setting. You won’t have to worry about getting the piece re-set since you are picking your own setting for it.

Diamonds are a girl’s best friend and no best friend can be a fake! Dodgy dealers may try to trick you into purchasing fake diamonds, which are in fact the less precious stone, cubic zirconium or even cleverly disguised glass. It is in fact very easy to distinguish the differences between a real diamond and a fake or less precious stone – so don’t be fooled in the future by having a quick look at a few methods of how to find real diamonds below.

If planning to purchase a real diamond, only go to reputable jewelers. You can generally tell if the jeweler is trustworthy and of good reputation simply by looking at the quality of what he sells, the prices and if he provides a certificate with diamonds, which note the quality of the diamond. Secondly, if he has awards or certificates and established date, the jeweler is very likely to be a true professional.

There are a few tests you can do if you want to test that what you’re handling is a real diamond. If the diamond is not set, place it on a newspaper, turn the stone over and try to read the newspaper. If you can read the newspaper, sadly it’s a fake. Diamonds refract light, hence they cannot be directly seen through.

A few of diamond’s properties can help you distinguish whether it is real or not. For instance, they conduct heat. It is generally not a good idea to place any precious stone near intense heat, so for this test all you need to do is gently breathe upon the stone. If it remains fogged up for more than 5 seconds or so, it is likely to be a fake. However, this test is not always accurate as it may be cubic zirconium capped with a diamond and moissanite finish.

Diamonds are a very hard element, hence they do not damage easily. A diamond is unlikely to have any scratches, whilst cubic zirconium – a much softer element – can be scratched really easily. Diamonds can easily cut or scratch something as solid as a mirror, whilst cubic zirconium is much more likely to be scratched or damaged by daily usage.

Moreover, look at the stone’s colour. Diamonds are generally not completely clear, like cubic zirconium; rather they are tinted with a yellow colour. Depending on the quality of the diamond, the tint will vary from stone to stone. A diamond’s coloured tinge is generally quite easy to see as professional jewelers cut accordingly to the colour in order to emphasise the unique clarity of the gem.

Furthermore you can check the validity of the diamond by looking at the mount. Diamonds are only mounted in precious metals such as gold and platinum because other metals, such as silver are considered to be too soft for diamonds. To check the precious metal is real, look out for hallmarks, such as the standard ’925′ mark, the maker’s mark, the Assay hallmarks and a purity hallmark. At least one of these should be present if the metal is truly precious.