The Diamond Chart of Color Combinations

The wonderful thing about Fancy Color Diamonds is that they are found in a rainbow of colors. Though many people are now aware of these remarkable stones, many are less aware of all the secondary colors available. There are only twelve main diamond colors, but there are actually over 230 possible secondary color combinations(otherwise known as overtone colors) from which to choose!

An assortment of natural fancy color diamonds

Since not every secondary color is found combined with the twelve main colors, here is a short article reviewing the various color possibilities.

What Is a Diamond Color?

While many diamond shoppers believe the best diamonds are colorless, there’s something completely different to know about diamond color. Colorless diamonds are valued for their lack of body color, and those displaying subtle body tints have trace elements in the crystal. The 4Cs is a universally recognized system of evaluating diamonds. It this system, the more colorless the stone, the higher value it has.

Like other natural earth-mined gems, diamonds may exhibit various amounts of yellow, brown, or even grey tints as a result of slight impurities in the crystal. But when stones display a prominent extent of attractive tints, this variety is referred to as color diamonds, or even fancy color diamonds. These rare varieties are highly desirable owing to their scarcity and beauty.

When assessing a fancy color diamond, a grader includes the stone's actual color, whether it be green, violet, brown, yellow, pink, blue, or other hues. A gem's tone is expressed as the degree of color, from light to dark. The saturation describes that color's purity of hue. Because colorless diamonds have no saturation to evaluate. they are examined with the stone’s fire and brilliance.

The color scale

GIA (the Gemological Institute of America) devised a universal system of grading diamonds years ago that provided consumers and professionals with a uniform system of communicating its color. Organized in stages from D meaning the most colorless to Z representing the most body color (outside of fancy color diamonds).

The official GIA scale expresses the color range in white diamonds only --- the D to Z system is never used for fancy color diamonds, even though diamonds in this classification exhibit some body color as the stones get closer to the bottom –or Z—range of the ranking system. The D—Z designation is used to indicate the degree to which the colorless stones exhibit a yellow, brown, or grey body color. Trained diamond graders use diamond master testing sets that have examples of various diamond colors at intervals along the grading scale to determine the color of the stone they are grading.

D color diamonds are extremely rare and valuable, however those closer to the end of the scale, like those in the N to Z range are not often used in jewelry, unless to accent brown or yellow diamond pieces.

Best color and clarity for diamonds

When shopping for the perfect diamond, there are many aspects of the stone to consider. Color is one of them, especially in larger sized stones. The color of the metal setting also impacts the overall appearance of the diamond you choose.

It’s wise to get the eye acclimated to even subtle differences in color so you end up with the best stone within your budget. Look at a few different colors to find the most pleasing color diamond for you. You may be able to select a D color, and that is the highest designation on the color scale. But you may be surprised to discover that even stones in the G-H-I range show wonderfully white in certain settings. If you select a yellow gold setting. Then you can select a lower color diamond on the grading scale, and it will still glisten wonderfully as a white stone in that setting

Clarity is another component to evaluate with determining the best stone to purchase. The clarity grade is established using a 10x magnification to set the clarity grade, even though the stone will normally be viewed with the naked eye. GIA created a system of communicating diamond clarity to establish the number of inclusions or lack of them in the diamond. As part of the clarity grade, stones are assessed for their overall face up appearance. Do it show tremendous sparkle and display a brilliant play of light? Those are taken into consideration.

Similar to the color gradings scale, the clarity scale has rankings from completely flawless (F) or its close rating of Internally flawless (IF) all the way down to the most included (blemished) stone which is ranked included (I) with subcategories of 1, 2, 3. Stones lower than those designations would not be used in jewelry.

Diamond color rating

Naturally colored diamonds must be graded separately in the clarity sector. In reality, most diamonds, whether they are colorless or fancy color diamonds show some inclusions under magnification. There are instances where the natural blemishes (inclusions) are so minute or light colored that they are difficult to detect even under 10x magnification. Other more prominent inclusions (which then are lower on the clarity scale) are larger, more abundant, and perhaps darker. Those stones will rank lower on the clarity scale. The complete scale is as follows;

Diamond Color in Fancy Color Diamonds

Color diamonds can be found in twelve pure hues: yellow, blue, pink, orange, green, brown, gray, purple, violet, red, white, and black. Chameleon diamonds exist as well and are often categorized on their own, but those are essentially greenish or yellowish diamonds that temporarily change colors once exposed to light or heat.

The 12 primary colors, diamonds are found with. From left to right, yellow, pink, blue, green. orange, champagne, violet,gray, purple, red, fancy black, fancy white

Diamonds with one pure hue are the most desirable and are often more expensive. Only, because colored diamonds are actually combined elements, stones exuding two or more colors are seen more often and can also be exceptionally beautiful and the ideal diamond for many.

If the primary color of a diamond is yellow (meaning over 50%), and it also depicts a relatively strong orange hue (say 35%), once assessed it would be determined to be an orange yellow diamond. If the overtone color in the same stone was quite weak (say only 15%), it would be called an orangy yellow diamond.

Secondary Diamond Color Combinations

A color diamond possessing any one of the twelve main colors can also boast one or more secondary colors. Each main color has a number of possible color combinations. For instance, yellow diamondscan either a pure color or can be found containing secondary colors like brown, brownish, brown greenish, brownish greenish, green, greenish, orange, orangy, gray greenish, and brownish orangy. A yellow diamond with one of these secondary colors would therefore read for example as a “brownish yellow diamond,” “orangy yellow diamond,” and so forth.

Main Color - YELLOW
Pure	Yellow
Brown	Yellow
Brownish	Yellow
Brown Greenish	Yellow
Brownish Greenish	Yellow
Green	Yellow
Greenish	Yellow
Orange	Yellow
Orangy	Yellow
Gray Greenish	Yellow
Brownish Orangy	Yellow

Blue diamondsinclude secondary colors of gray, grayish, green, greenish, violetish, gray greenish, and grayish greenish.

Main Color - BLUE
Pure	Blue
Gray	Blue
Grayish	Blue
Green	Blue
Greenish	Blue
Violetish	Blue
Gray Greenish	Blue
GrayishGreenish	Blue

Pink diamondshave eight possible secondary colors besides its pure state. These can be purple, purplish, brown, brownish, grayish, orangy, brownish orangy, and brownish purple.

Main Color -PINK
Pure	Pink
Purple	Pink
Purplish	Pink
Brown	Pink
Brownish	Pink
Grayish	Pink
Orangy	Pink
Brownish Orangy	Pink
Brownish Purple	Pink

There are six secondary colors for orange diamonds: brown, brownish, yellow, yellowish, brownish yellowish, and pinkish.

Main Color -ORANGE
Pure	Orange
Brown	Orange
Brownish	Orange
Yellow	Orange
Yellowish	Orange
Brownish Yellowish	Orange
Pinkish	Orange

Aside from yellow, green diamondsare the only color that has ten possible secondary colors, which are yellow, yellowish, blue, bluish, brown, brownish, gray, grayish, gray yellowish, and grayish yellowish.

Main Color -GREEN
Pure	Green
Yellow	Green
Yellowish	Green
Blue	Green
Bluish	Green
Brown	Green
Brownish	Green
Gray	Green
Grayish	Green
GrayYellowish	Green
GrayishYellowish	Green

Brown, or otherwise known as champagne diamonds, as well as gray diamonds both have nine possible secondary colors. The brown options are yellow, yellowish, pink, pinkish, orange, orangy, greenish, purple, and reddish.

Main Color -BROWN
Pure	Brown
Yellow	Brown
Yellowish	Brown
Pink	Brown
Pinkish	Brown
Orange	Brown
Orangy	Brown
Greenish	Brown
Purple	Brown
Reddish	Brown

The gray diamondoptions are violet, violetish, blue, bluish, green, greenish, greenish yellow, greenish yellowish, and yellowish green.

Main Color -GRAY
Pure	Gray
Violet	Gray
Violetish	Gray
Blue	Gray
Bluish	Gray
Green	Gray
Greenish	Gray
Greenish Yellow	Gray
Greenish Yellowish	Gray
Yellowish Green	Gray

Purple diamonds, violet, and red diamonds all have three secondary color possibilities. Purple diamonds may include pink, pinkish, and grayish pinkish.

Main Color - PURPLE
Pure	Purple
Pink	Purple
Pinkish	Purple
GrayishPinkish	Purple

Violet diamondsare rarely found in a pure color, and often contain the secondary colors of gray, grayish, and bluish.

Main Color -VIOLET
Pure	Violet
Gray	Violet
Grayish	Violet
Bluish	Violet

Red diamonds, which are among the rarest diamonds on earth, can be found with purplish, brownish, and orangy.

Main Color -RED
Pure	Red
Purplish	Red
Brownish	Red
Orangy	Red

White and black diamonds not only come in just one color intensity level, Fancy, but they also do not have secondary colors, just a single pure hue.

Main Color - WHITE
Pure	Fancy White

Main Color - BLACK
Pure	Fancy Black

Chameleon diamondson the other hand can be green or yellow and can have a gray yellowish, grayish yellowish, gray, or grayish secondary color if green or a gray greenish, brownish greenish, or green yellow if yellow.

Main Color -CHAMELEON
Gray Yellowish	Green
GrayishYellowish	Green
Gray	Green
Grayish	Green
Gray Greenish	Yellow
Brownish Greenish	Yellow
Green Yellow	Yellow

The color possibilities for color diamonds are plentiful and can seem daunting to some. Once you understand the main colors as well as the possible secondary colors for each color diamond, it is a bit more understandable and less intimidating. Still, diamonds can have more than just one secondary color, leading the fairly understandable combinations to add up to more than 230 possibilities.Nevertheless, once you get the hang of it, it is quite easy to follow. Furthermore, many of these color combinations appear similar and are also not necessarily available at every selling point. Once you know the general color direction you would like to go in, and understand the make-up of a stone's color, you will be able to choose a diamond based on its color among other aspects, without the slightest hesitation.