Forget the Diamond Myths. Here Are the Diamond Facts.

Your diamond is out there, and we know how to find it. Even if you never thought a diamond could turn your head. Even if you're worried about diamond mining's negative impact on people and the environment. Even if you're put off by our culture's messaging about diamond engagement rings (read: all those cringe-inducing, stereotype-enforcing, exclusionary myths about diamonds). We know we can find your diamond because we expertly and ethically source every one to order. Yep, that's right: We search out and choose each diamond for each custom jewelry client after we meet and talk about you and your ideas. Our Rose Cut Diamond Halo Ring has a center stone encircled by smaller diamonds in a pavé setting and all of them are traceable. If you're worried about the human and environmental toll of diamonds and confused by the diamond 4Cs, we've got you covered in this post. If you just happen to be shopping for a diamond ring, there's plenty of style inspiration below too! After all, choosing a new piece of jewelry or designing custom jewelry with diamonds should be a happy creative time, not a stress-maker. FINDING AN ETHICALLY SOURCED DIAMOND We love that there's more awareness than ever about bad labor practices and unjust economies tied to diamond mining. But we also get that many people have no idea where to start with making sure they are buying an ethically sourced diamond. That's where our diamond expertise and knowledge and determination come in. All of Bario Neal's diamonds are either recycled or fully traceable to an ethical source. An ethically sourced rough diamond awaits your dream custom jewelry design.  We've partnered with small suppliers who care as much as we do about ethically sourcing diamonds, big and small. Even with greater awareness about conflict diamonds, many suppliers don't want to invest in tracing smaller stones for, say, bands. That's not good enough for us. Our diamond suppliers are willing to go above and beyond to verify the standards of their stones. In South Africa, our supplier visits the mines in person to make sure we have conflict-free diamonds. (If you love our Baguette Diamond Band, read about how our search for ethical diamonds took us to Canada and Surat, India, in our blog post on traceable baguette diamonds.) Even though we're totally confident in our partners' ethical sourcing, we still reach for recycled diamonds (unless you ask otherwise) first. Using recycled diamonds in custom jewelry means less mining, less impact, more sustainability. Recycled diamonds can come from old pieces of jewelry or even the stock of a defunct jeweler. WHAT ARE THE 4Cs of DIAMONDS? The 4Cs of diamonds are carat, color, clarity, and cut. At Bario Neal, the diamonds we use in all our jewelry pieces have a color grade of I or higher, SI1 clarity, and a Good cut. What does all that mean? Read on for how to think about the 4Cs when you're shopping for a diamond. Diamonds are weighed in carats. Simple. One carat is one-fifth of a gram. (For those who've never been Star Baker on "The Great British Baking Show," it takes four grams of sugar to fill up a teaspoon.) Color is best known by letter grades for diamonds, from D to Z, with a D being the most colorless diamond and the end of the alphabet having the most color. The larger the diamond, the easier it is to see the diamond's color, so if your perfect diamond is .02 carat, you could opt for the middle range of the alphabet. Bario Neal uses diamonds that have a letter grade up to I in our made-to-order jewelry because diamonds up to the letter grade I appear colorless. Diamond clarity refers to natural parts (or lack of) of the stone that, counter to diamond myth, don't necessarily equal poor quality. Where some see "flaws" or "inclusions," we often see unique characteristics that make up your diamond's identity. Think of it like a fingerprint. When it comes to clarity, we use SI1 or better diamonds. The "SI" stands for "slightly included," but no matter how much of your coffee break you spend staring at your new stone (perfectly acceptable, we assure you!), you won't even see these natural parts of the diamond. Unless you're wearing a magnifying glass, which we do not recommend while drinking coffee. The cut of a diamond determines its overall appearance. Cut shouldn't be confused with diamond shape, but a diamond cut does affect how light plays off the stone. (There's a reason that in the jewelry business, the pros use terms like "fire" and "scintillation" to talk about cut.) Cuts get a grade too: Excellent, Very Good, Good, Fair, and Poor. As we mentioned, we don't go below Good.

When you consider the 4Cs, there are endless combinations. We know most of you don't walk around with a loupe (a jeweler's magnifier), so whenever we meet with clients, we make lots of time to chat about the 4Cs and how they fit into a client's style.

When it comes to considering the 4Cs, there's no one way to think about carat, color, clarity, and cut. Pictured above: Our Asymmetrical Avens Ring and Linea Band. CHOOSING A DIAMOND RING STYLE Naturally, you want a diamond ring to reflect who you are, what you love, how you see the world. To find your design groove, start by checking out some of our most popular diamond rings, sorted by style type below. Embrace these as is, or think of them as a starting point on the way to your custom-designed diamond ring. Classic Rings If you lean to classic design and your secret weapon is your quiet strength, check out our Avens Solitaire Ring. The round cut diamond ring has a delicate simplicity, but also the steadfastness of a lifetime-lasting look. We can use a family gemstone you provide in your custom cluster ring. Cluster Rings Cluster rings are super popular right now. Maybe it's a desire to escape today's crazy-making headlines? Because with seven ethically sourced diamonds, our Diamond Cluster Ring certainly has an ahhh-inducing, dive-into-this-waterfall feel. (Tip: You can make this ring even more you by mixing in your heirloom gemstones.) Halo Rings Some of us love to be the center of attention and some of us strive to be low-key noticed. For that second crowd, we've got the Senna Diamond Halo Ring, our take on the halo ring. It pops without a crazy-big diamond. For a more throwback halo ring, check out the antique style of our Rose Cut Diamond Halo Ring. Contemporary Rings We know not everyone wants a ring to be so, well, centered. So one of our contemporary diamond ring designs, the Pear Trillion Ring, turns the traditional diamond-in-the-middle look on its head by pairing pear and trillion diamonds. (P.S. We've designed in a little notch that makes this ring perfectly stackable.) Rings with Raw Diamonds We don't expect (or even really want, if we're honest) life to be perfectly smooth. Enter rough diamonds and their appealing ruggedness. Our Raw Asymmetrical Avens Ring is proof that "different" doesn't mean unstylish or inelegant. Eternity Rings Why limit yourself to one stone when you can have a pretty row of small, pave diamonds (jewelers often use the industry term "melee"), like our Channel Narrow Diamond Band. Remember, whether you want a contemporary diamond ring or a classic diamond band, a ring with a rough diamond, or a cluster ring, we take the time to get to know what our customers want before we start searching for your ethically sourced diamond and handcrafting your ring.