Diamond Earrings

For the pair, in almost all cases. A listing describing diamond earrings as one carat normally means one carat total across both - two stones of roughly half a carat each.

Where the design includes a halo or accent stones, the total covers every diamond in both earrings, not just the two centre stones.

This is the most common misunderstanding in diamond earrings, and it matters when comparing prices. Check the millimetre dimensions alongside the weight, since those describe what you will actually see.

Think in millimetres rather than carats. As a rough guide for round brilliants, a quarter carat is around four millimetres across, a half carat around five, and a full carat around six and a half.

Smaller stones suit constant everyday wear - they are light, they do not catch, and they go unnoticed under a helmet or on a pillow. Larger stones read as occasion pieces.

Holding a ruler against the stated dimensions gives a far more reliable sense of scale than a photograph, which has no fixed reference for size.

Because a halo makes a centre stone read considerably larger than it is. A ring of small diamonds around the centre is seen by the eye as one bright object rather than as a stone with a border.

That means the same total carat weight covers more of the ear as a halo than it would as a single solitaire.

The effect works especially well in earrings, which are seen at conversational distance and in movement rather than examined closely.

They are selected to match, and matching is more demanding in earrings than anywhere else because the two stones sit either side of a face and get compared constantly.

A good pair agrees in colour, in eye-clarity, in cut quality and in millimetre size. A stone slightly larger or slightly warmer than its partner is immediately noticeable.

Natural diamonds vary from one to the next, so a well-matched natural pair reflects real selection work. Laboratory-grown stones are more consistent, which is one practical reason they suit earrings.

On cut, and on how well the two stones match each other. Those are the two things visible at the distance earrings are actually seen from.

Cut governs how much light each stone throws back, and that reads across a room. Clarity above eye-clean is invisible on an ear at any grade, and colour matters mainly in that the two stones agree rather than in where they sit on the scale.

Because every specification decision is made twice in a pair, directing the budget at those two factors rather than at the top of every scale produces a noticeably better result.

Both natural and laboratory-grown diamonds appear across the range, and each listing states which a particular pair uses.

A lab-grown diamond is the same material as a mined one, with the same structure, hardness and optical behaviour, graded on the same scales.

Lab-grown stones have a practical advantage specific to earrings: because growth conditions are controlled, matched pairs are easier to produce consistently.

Smaller hoops and huggies are, and they are among the most-worn diamond earrings for that reason - there is little standing clear of the ear to catch on hair or clothing.

Larger hoops swing and catch more, and they carry more weight on the piercing, which makes them better suited to occasions than to constant wear.

If a hoop is intended for daily use, the size of the hoop matters more than the carat weight in deciding whether it will actually get worn.

Yes. A white metal - platinum or white gold - sits beside a diamond without adding any colour of its own, which shows the stone's own colour grade honestly.

Yellow gold reflects warmth into the stone and masks a slightly warmer colour grade, so a near-colourless diamond can look perfectly white in yellow gold.

For earrings specifically, this matters less than for a ring, since earrings are seen at greater distance and against skin and hair rather than at arm's length.

Quite different, and it is worth expecting. A ring is held up, examined at arm's length and seen against a hand. Earrings are seen in motion, at conversational distance, against skin and hair.

That favours a stone that throws light readily over one that scores well on paper. Movement does a lot of the work - an earring catches light from angles a ring on a still hand never will.

It also means a diamond that would read as modest on a hand can read as entirely sufficient on an ear, which is why earring sizes tend to be smaller than people first assume.

Warm water, a little mild soap and a soft brush, cleaning the front, the post and the back, then rinsing thoroughly and drying with a soft cloth.

Diamonds attract grease, and earrings collect more of it than any other piece because hair products, cleansers and skin oils all reach them. A diamond earring that looks dull is almost always dirty rather than damaged.

Check friction backs for grip while you are cleaning, and put earrings in after hairspray and perfume rather than before.