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In this guide:
05 Coloured Lab-Grown Diamonds
06 Measuring your ring size at home
07 Necklace length
08 Choosing the Right Cut for Your Fingers
09 Be an Informed Shopper
Amara Lab
Fundamentals: a guide to fine jewellery
Luxury shouldn’t come with confusion - or sacrifice. Too often the jewellery industry hides behind jargon, pushing people to overspend on details that don’t actually matter.
At Amara Lab, we believe fine jewellery should be timeless and smart. That means giving you the knowledge, the shortcuts, and the insider tips we’d share with our closest friends.
This guide is designed to cut through the noise - so you can feel confident, informed, and secure when investing in jewellery that will last through every stage of your life.
Lab-grown diamonds are created in controlled environments that replicate the Earth’s natural conditions. Using HPHT (High Pressure High Temperature) or CVD (Chemical Vapour Deposition), carbon crystallises into diamonds identical to those mined from the ground.
What this means:
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Chemically, physically, and optically the same as mined diamonds.
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Certified by the same grading labs (IGI, AIG).
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Ethically and environmentally more transparent.
Lab-Grown Diamonds: Real Diamonds, a modern choice
✨ Our philosophy:
Lab-grown diamonds aren’t “alternatives.” They are real diamonds. We see them as the future of luxury - giving you beauty and brilliance without inflated markups.
💡 Amara Tip:
Lab-grown is the shortcut to the top: grades like D/E colour and VVS clarity are suddenly within reach, without the mined-diamond price tag.
Types of Gold: Why We Only Use Solid
Not all gold jewellery is created equal:
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Gold-plated: A thin layer over base metal. Attractive at first but fades quickly.
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Gold vermeil: Sterling silver with a thicker gold layer. Better than plating, but still surface-level.
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Solid gold: A true alloy through and through - enduring, valuable, and authentic.
✨ Our philosophy:
We only use solid gold because your jewellery should be timeless — carrying its luxury through every stage of life and embodying what fine jewellery is meant to be.
💡 Amara Tip:
The real insider trick? Solid gold costs more upfront but saves you from replacing plated jewellery over and over.
Gold Purity: 10K, 14K & 18K
Gold is blended with other metals for strength. The karat number shows how much pure gold is in the mix:
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10k (41.7%): Extremely durable, with a paler tone.
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14k (58.3%): Balanced — 1 rich in colour, strong for daily wear.
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18k (75%): Deeper tone, higher purity, with a more luxurious feel.
✨ Our philosophy:
All three are fine gold. It’s not about better or worse, but about which purity suits your lifestyle, aesthetic, and budget.
💡 Amara Tip:
Think of karats as different paths to fine jewellery. The shortcut? Choose based on how you’ll wear it every day - not what the label says.
Diamond clarity
and colour :
what really matters
Lab-grown diamonds are graded on the same scales as mined, but lab-grown makes higher grades more accessible. The key is knowing where the differences matter, and where they don’t.
Clarity:
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IF (Internally Flawless): Perfect under 10x magnification. Rare, but unnecessary for beauty.
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VVS1 / VVS2 (Very Very Slight): Both exceptionally clean; the distinction between them is minor and only visible on paper.
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VS1 / VS2 (Very Slight): Small inclusions are invisible without magnification. To the naked eye, VS looks just as flawless as VVS.
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SI and below: Visible inclusions. At Amara, we do not consider these suitable for fine jewellery.
Colour:
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D (Colourless): The highest grade - icy, bright, and timeless.
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E (Colourless): Nearly identical to D to the naked eye. A confident choice if you want “top colour.”
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F (Colourless): Still colourless, but often impractical - harder to source, costly, and visually the same as D/E once set.
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G–J (Near colourless): Can show warmth compared to higher grades.
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K–M (Faint colour): Noticeably warm tones, sometimes chosen for vintage or yellow-gold designs.
✨ Our philosophy:
With lab-grown, VVS and VS clarity are attainable impeccable to the eye and timeless in quality. You don’t need IF or VVS1 for a diamond to look flawless.
💡 Amara Tip:
The insider shortcut? VS1, VS2, and VVS2 all face up beautifully in real life. Save your budget for size or design, not microscopic distinctions.
✨ Our philosophy:
One of the benefits of lab-grown is that D and E - the most desirable colours - are within reach. F is technically colourless, but rarely worth the premium since it looks the same as D/E once set.
💡 Amara Tip:
The shortcut to timeless whiteness? D or E. They give you the crisp look of top colour without paying extra for grades you won’t see.
Coloured Lab-Grown Diamonds: Bold and Exclusive
Lab-grown diamonds can also form in extraordinary colours:
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Yellow: Caused by nitrogen.
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Blue: Caused by boron.
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Pink, champagne, cognac: Caused by structural changes or rare trace elements.
Some shades are harder to grow consistently, which makes them rarer — and all of them feel distinctive compared to classic colourless stones.
✨ Our philosophy:
Coloured diamonds are about individuality. They’re expressive, luxurious, and increasingly in demand — a growing trend among those seeking jewellery that feels personal and unique.
💡 Amara Tip:
In natural diamonds, fancy colours often start in the hundreds of thousands — unattainable for most. Lab-grown changes that: coloured diamonds are now within reach, while still carrying rarity, exclusivity, and luxury. With demand for colour rising, don’t shy away from exploring this option — it’s a beautiful way to own something truly distinctive.
Measuring Your Ring Size at Home
Practical ways to measure:
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Wrap a strip of paper around your finger, mark it, and measure in millimetres (mm).
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Compare with a ring that already fits.
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Measure at the end of the day when your fingers are naturally larger.