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 When buying a diamond, you must take into account the 4C's of that diamond. The 4C's determines its beauty & value, they are: Cut The way a diamond is cut and polished dictates the maximum amount of light the diamond will refract and reflect. The better it has been cut, the greater its brilliance, sparkle and fire will be.
Cut also refers to the diamond's shape. The most popular eight shapes are:
Colour Diamonds come in many colours, but the majority used in jewelery are near colourless to very light yellow or brown. The best colour for a diamond is totally colourless, which allows white light to pass through it, and is dispersed as a rainbow of colours. Most diamonds look colourless, but there are many subtle shade differences and the closer a diamond is to having no colour, the more valuable it becomes.  Clarity Most diamonds contain tiny identifying marks called inclusions. The fewer and smaller the inclusions, the less likely they will interfere with the stone's beauty. Minute traces of other minerals trapped during the formation of diamonds cause many of these inclusions. The number, color, nature, size and position of any inclusion determines the clarity of a diamond. The fewer the inclusions, the rarer it will be graded, and the more light it will reflect, thus making it more valuable. FL (Flawless) is the best, and I3 (Very Noticeable Inclusions) is the worst.
Carat Weight A diamond's weight is the easiest of its' characteristics to measure. The word carat originates from the natural unit of weight of a carob tree seed. A 1 carat diamond used to equal the weight of a carob seed, but today the carat is a metric weight of 0.2 grams, or 1/42 of a standard ounce. Each carat is divided into 100 points. A quarter carat diamond = 25 points, or 0.25 ct. A half carat diamond = 50 points, or is written as 0.50 ct. Generally, the greater the carat weight of a diamond, the more expensive it is. 
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