Every diamond we sell comes with two grades: a colour grade and a clarity grade. This guide explains both in plain English, shows you what they look like, and explains why our lab-grown and natural diamonds carry different grades.
Every diamond has two grades
It doesn't matter whether a diamond is lab-grown or natural. Both are graded on exactly the same two scales:
How white the diamond is. D is perfectly colourless; the further down the alphabet, the more yellow.
How clean the diamond is inside. FL is flawless; codes like VVS1 and SI1 sit in between.
So when a product page says "D colour, VVS1 clarity", the letter tells you how white it is and the code tells you how clean it is.
What you get with FSS
On many of our pieces you can choose between a lab-grown and a natural diamond. Each comes with its own pair of grades:
The whitest, cleanest stones, at a price that suits everyday fine jewellery.
A stone formed in the earth, graded where natural diamonds give the best balance of beauty and value.
Colour: see the difference
The colour scale, set by the Gemological Institute of America (GIA), runs from D (the best) to Z. Slide through the grades:
Good to know: colour is hardest to see in small diamonds like the ones in our jewellery, and yellow or rose gold makes any diamond look slightly warmer anyway. That's why near-colourless grades such as H look so good in yellow gold.
Clarity: see the difference
Almost every diamond has tiny natural marks inside, called inclusions. Clarity grades describe how many there are and how easy they are to find under a jeweller's 10x magnifier. Slide through the grades:
The key word is eye-clean: nothing you can see without magnification. Both of our qualities, VVS1 and SI1, are eye-clean.
Cut and carat, in brief
Cut is how well the diamond's facets are angled and polished. It's what makes a diamond sparkle, and it's different from its shape (round, pear, heart). On the small diamonds in pavé, clusters and stations, how evenly the stones are matched and set matters as much as any grade.
Carat is weight, not size (one carat is 0.2g). On pieces with several diamonds we give the total carat weight. "0.25ct total" on a three-stone necklace means the three diamonds together weigh 0.25 carats.
Lab-grown or natural?
Both are real diamonds: the same carbon crystal, the same hardness (10, the hardest there is), the same sparkle. The difference is where they come from and what they cost.
| Lab-grown | Natural | |
|---|---|---|
| Is it a real diamond? | Yes | Yes |
| Where it comes from | Grown above ground in a few weeks | Formed in the earth over billions of years |
| Hardness and sparkle | Identical | Identical |
| Can you tell them apart? | Only with specialist laboratory equipment | |
| Our grades | D colour · VVS1 clarity | H colour · SI1 clarity |
| Price | Lower | Higher, because of rarity |
| Resale value | Low — lab-grown prices keep falling | Holds value better |
| Choose it if you want… | The whitest, cleanest stones for your budget | A stone the earth made, with rarity and heritage |
Moissanite and cubic zirconia are not diamonds
Some of our pieces use other stones, and we always name them on the product page:
- Moissanite is a different gemstone (silicon carbide). It's very hard (9.25 on the Mohs scale) and shows more rainbow fire than a diamond.
- Cubic zirconia (CZ) is a man-made crystal. It's bright and affordable but softer (around 8–8.5) and can lose some sparkle over years of wear.
The colour and clarity grades in this guide apply to diamonds only.
Questions we're often asked
Is VVS1 only for lab-grown diamonds and H only for natural?
No. Every diamond gets both a colour letter and a clarity code. Our lab-grown diamonds happen to be D colour and VVS1 clarity; our natural diamonds are H colour and SI1 clarity.
Will a diamond tester show a lab-grown diamond as real?
Yes. A lab-grown diamond is a diamond, so a standard tester reads it as one.
Do lab-grown diamonds go cloudy or change colour?
No. Like natural diamonds, they stay the same for life. If a diamond looks cloudy, it just needs cleaning: warm soapy water and a soft brush.
Can I wear diamond jewellery every day?
Yes. Diamond is the hardest natural material, and our settings are solid 14K or 18K gold. Take pieces off for the gym and harsh cleaning products, and store them apart so they don't scratch each other.
Explore our diamond pieces: the Trio Diamond Necklace, the Diamond Station Bracelet, the Four Clover Diamond Necklace and the Trinity Diamond Stud Earrings.
Photos: Pexels and Unsplash (free licences). Diamond illustrations: FSS Jewellery.