Fancy Light Blue - Not Blue Enough?

[Jax172]

I purchased this fancy light blue from LGD and it finally arrived today and I’m not impressed. I wanted to avoid it looking too fake blue so I went with fancy light but in person I don’t think it’s obvious at all that it’s blue. It looks the same as a K color with blue nuance I had awhile back.

For research purposes here it is next to some white diamonds. I guess I’ll have to step it up a notch on the fancy scale.
Sending this one back.

 

[Rockdiamond]

My post is general info- nothing about any specific vendor or stone
A number of issues are at play when looking at blue lab diamonds.
1) Blue grading in general: Blue is a "faint" color in nature. By contrast, yellow is a bright color.
This manifests itself in FCD color grading. A "Fancy Light Yellow" has more visible color than a "Fancy Light Blue"
Given the rarity of natural blue diamonds, it's even difficult to draw more broad conclusions.
For all these reasons, grading blue diamonds is among the most challenging tasks.
Many dealers can make very educated guesses about yellow diamonds, and how GIA will grade them.
Trying to predict what GIA will grade a blue?? FUGETABOUTIT

2) Lab Diamond grading: IGI is a fraction the price of GIA. And it's even more of a disparity when it comes to Fancy Colored Diamonds. For this reason the vast majority of lab diamonds have IGI as opposed to GIA reports.
GIA will not grade diamonds that have been treated for color. This means very few lab fancy colored diamonds are even eligible for GIA grading .
IGI, for whatever reason, uses white letter color grades- with a notation of faint or light blue.
We have submitted a "boron blue" to GIA and it did get the grade of Fancy Light Blue.

Put it all together and lab diamond blue color grading is all over the place.

Is there a lab report on your diamond?

 

[Jax172]

My post is general info- nothing about any specific vendor or stone
A number of issues are at play when looking at blue lab diamonds.
1) Blue grading in general: Blue is a "faint" color in nature. By contrast, yellow is a bright color.
This manifests itself in FCD color grading. A "Fancy Light Yellow" has more visible color than a "Fancy Light Blue"
Given the rarity of natural blue diamonds, it's even difficult to draw more broad conclusions.
For all these reasons, grading blue diamonds is among the most challenging tasks.
Many dealers can make very educated guesses about yellow diamonds, and how GIA will grade them.
Trying to predict what GIA will grade a blue?? FUGETABOUTIT

2) Lab Diamond grading: IGI is a fraction the price of GIA. And it's even more of a disparity when it comes to Fancy Colored Diamonds. For this reason the vast majority of lab diamonds have IGI as opposed to GIA reports.
GIA will not grade diamonds that have been treated for color. This means very few lab fancy colored diamonds are even eligible for GIA grading .
IGI, for whatever reason, uses white letter color grades- with a notation of faint or light blue.
We have submitted a "boron blue" to GIA and it did get the grade of Fancy Light Blue.

Put it all together and lab diamond blue color grading is all over the place.

Is there a lab report on your diamond?

It is IGI graded as Fancy Light Blue. It was not a letter grade with a faint or light blue note. It’s straight graded as Fancy Light Blue.

 

[Rockdiamond]

It is IGI graded as Fancy Light Blue. It was not a letter grade with a faint or light blue note. It’s straight graded as Fancy Light Blue.

Wow! Interesting
What’s the date on the cert? Maybe things are changing!

 

[Jax172]

Wow! Interesting
What’s the date on the cert? Maybe things are changing!

7/5/23

Verify Your Report

Ensure authenticity & accuracy of your report here. Verify your gemstone report online for complete confidence in your precious investments.

www.igi.org

 

[Rockdiamond]

I guess they're consistently inconsistent

 

[Karl_K]

Fancy light blue has never made sense to me, why pay a premium for a stone that on the finger no one is going to see as blue.

 

[Jax172]

Fancy light blue has never made sense to me, why pay a premium for a stone that on the finger no one is going to see as blue.

Well it’s hard to gauge how blue it is with the magnified video so now I know I guess

 

[lovedogs]

Well it’s hard to gauge how blue it is with the magnified video so now I know I guess

I really like light blue hues, I'm toying with getting a super ligjt one

 

[Karl_K]

Well it’s hard to gauge how blue it is with the magnified video so now I know I guess

Sorry if that sounded like a dig at you, that was 100% not my intent.

 

[glitterata]

Love your nails, @Jax172 !

 

[molecule]

I purchased this fancy light blue from LGD and it finally arrived today and I’m not impressed. I wanted to avoid it looking too fake blue so I went with fancy light but in person I don’t think it’s obvious at all that it’s blue. It looks the same as a K color with blue nuance I had awhile back.

For research purposes here it is next to some white diamonds. I guess I’ll have to step it up a notch on the fancy scale.
Sending this one back.

Thanks for this experiment! The lighter tones are also the ones most appealing to me and I likely would have chosen a similar grade. Do you have the vendor's video of the stone?

 

[oncrutchesrightnow]

Thanks for the demonstration. I hope people find it helpful. Good luck finding a new one and be sure to post it here for science!

I think it is cool how blue is such a barely-there color, and how it changes based on lighting conditions. Definitely something to be aware of when deciding how to spend one’s money, though.

@lovedogs Curious to see how you will like it.

@Rockdiamond Not to derail the thread but is green a faint or bright color? There are some diamonds that look like a pretty mint color in online photos but I wonder if green is like blue and would wash out easily.

 

[T L]

I think it looks blue on your hand. Here’s a photo of the stone. Most blues are often haloed with pink stones to bring out the blue. It’s still A pretty gem, but I’m partial to greyish blue. I’m not a fan of super white gems. Diamonds must always be warm or a bit greyish for me (I’m in the minority).

 

[Rowan Lane]

Why do I see it like a snowflake? It looks gorgeous on you, though.

 

[Jax172]

It only looked even that blue with natural light from the window. In total indoor lighting you couldn’t see it at all. I sent it back though so it’s available for purchase for anyone that did love it.

 

[T L]

Brilliance does not provide a video or the price though. I requested a video, but have yet to see it.

 

[0-0-0]

https://loupe360.com/diamond/586341068

 

[T L]

Gorgeous!!

 

[Dreamer_D]

Yes a beautiful steely color, but if you want BLUE that won’t scratch the itch.

 

[T L]

Yes a beautiful steely color, but if you want BLUE that won’t scratch the itch.

I would just want a few blue sparkles. I wouldn’t want an obviously blue FCD because it would be assumed fake. I mean how many people have a natural huge blue diamond? Also, if they did, I would imagine they had 20 bodyguards hanging around them when they wanted to wear it.

Besides I like steely color.