FAQs

Why choose a salt and pepper diamond for your engagement ring or fine jewelry? 


Salt and pepper diamonds are completely unique. Each diamond is one of a kind, beautiful, captivating, special, and as durable as a flawless diamond. The gems are very sparkly because of the natural refractoriness/hardness. The look is alluring, with their dark colors and smokey inclusions. There is a wide range to choose from in shape, style, color hues, the sky is the limit, vs. the traditional white/clear diamonds that have mostly similar looks.  


Cons: They may not hold their value if you want to re-sell. All diamonds are going to lose initial "retail value", but if you are looking to resell your salt and pepper diamond ring, it is a niche market, and it may be even more challenging to find a buyer who is wanting a used salt and pepper ring. But, beauty is always in the eye of the beholder. 


Are salt and pepper diamonds, real diamonds? 


YES, Salt and pepper diamonds are real natural diamonds with inclusions! These appear as color hues, pepper like specs, swirls, feathers, and clusters. They can be mostly clear with little specs and swirls, icy grey, or almost black, and every color in between.  The mineral and stone is the exact same mineral as the traditional diamonds you think of- that have been praised by the commercial jewelry industry as “flawless”, but Salt and Pepper diamonds, are the diamonds that have visible inclusions, and a lot of them.. 


Although the commercial diamond industry has praised a clear diamond to be the most beautiful, a new generation has become captive by the natural beauty that included diamonds behold. Like a miniature galaxy within the stone itself. And unlike flawless diamonds, no two are exactly alike. Your salt and pepper diamond is uniquely yours, just like your own individuality, and the uniqueness of your love story! I LOVE salt and pepper diamonds for engagement rings for this reason. Another benefit to Salt and pepper diamonds, is they are a bit more affordable per carat, without sacrificing quality and beauty! Salt and pepper diamonds are incredibly durable due to the natural hardness, and still offer a gorgeous sparkle because of a diamonds natural refractive index. 


Is my salt and pepper diamond cracked?


What you are looking at, is called a surface inclusion. These appear as veins, color patches, pits, and crevices. Features like this are incredibly common on salt and pepper diamonds. All salt and pepper diamonds will have characteristics like this in varying degrees and locations. This does not affect the integrity of your diamond, and has been there since the diamond was formed. When the diamond is cut and polished, it is impossible to have a heavily included "salt and pepper" diamond without any features like this, because the inclusions are so abundant. 


These inclusions are what makes the diamonds unique, beautiful, and captivating, but some of the inclusions that run throughout the freeform natural diamond, will cross the man made polished surface. Sort of like, if you imagine trying to shape a 3d box in the middle of a galaxy, you are probably going to hit a few stars. I carefully select diamonds where these features are at an absolute minimum. You can definitely find salt and pepper diamonds on the market with much more distracting features, but I only use stones where they are not as noticeable, and will not affect the integrity of your diamond.



Do Salt and Pepper Diamond Rings Sparkle ? 

YES. Because Salt and pepper diamonds are made of the exact same mineral, diamond, a 10 on the Mohs scale, they have a very high refractive index and are very sparkly. With salt and pepper diamonds, you will also see color and inclusions within the diamond, vs. clarity. You can view a video of a salt and pepper ring in natural light on our salt and pepper pear diamond ring page 


How rare are Salt and Pepper Diamonds ?

Salt and pepper diamonds are not very rare, and neither are flawless diamonds. They are all incredibly beautiful, and durable, due to the natural mineral hardness, but they are not rare. 


What are Salt and Pepper Diamond and their characteristics ?

Salt and pepper diamonds are real natural diamonds with inclusions! These appear as color hues, pepper like specs, swirls, feathers, and clusters. They can be mostly clear with little specs and swirls, icy grey, or almost black, and every color in between.  The mineral and stone is the exact same mineral as the traditional diamonds you think of- that have been praised by the commercial jewelry industry as “flawless”, but Salt and Pepper diamonds, are the diamonds that are not "flawless", have visible inclusions, and a lot of them.. Although the commercial diamond industry has praised a clear diamond to be the most beautiful, a new generation has become captive by the natural beauty that included diamonds behold.


 Like a miniature galaxy within the stone itself. And unlike flawless diamonds, no two are exactly alike. Your salt and pepper diamond is uniquely yours, just like your own individuality, and the uniqueness of your love story! I LOVE salt and pepper diamonds for engagement rings for this reason. Another benefit to Salt and pepper diamonds, is they are a bit more affordable per carat. Salt and pepper diamonds are incredibly durable due to the natural hardness, and still offer a gorgeous sparkle because of a diamond's natural refractive index. 

You can view and array of handmade salt and pepper diamond jewelry and engagement rings on our website