Luminous Diamonds’ Debut Collection Celebrates Your Inner Glow

Luminous Diamonds

The new fine jewelry company is a leader in rare fluorescent stones.

All diamonds shimmer when light hits them. Under master hands, they are cut into interesting shapes that spark joy. Gems from Luminous Diamonds, a new fine jewelry brand, however, have an attribute that many precious stones don’t: They glow.

luminous diamonds

Luminous Diamonds’ parent company, Alrosa, is a leader in sourcing fluorescent stones, which are formed under unique geological conditions that leave trace elements during the carbon crystallization process. As a result, Luminous Diamonds shine extra bright in the sun and, most intriguingly, emit a blue glow under UV light.

luminous diamonds

“These diamonds are stunning, luminous, and make a statement,” says Rebecca Foerster, Alrosa’s president of North America. “They reflect the way modern women wear confidence like a rare jewel, and they dare us all to stand out by sharing our inner selves. Greatness in people, like diamonds, is made under pressure. When a woman follows her own inner light, others see it. Our diamonds are an enduring reminder of this light.”

luminous diamonds

To highlight this point, Luminous Diamonds enlisted female leaders from disparate industries to model its debut collection in a campaign titled Greatness Under Pressure. They are WNBA athlete Skylar Diggins-Smith, attorney and travel writer Cynthia Andrew, violinist Ezinma Ramsay, gender-fluid advocate Elliott Sailors, model Denise Bidot, and photographer Marian Moneymaker.

luminous diamonds

The 28-piece collection consists of brilliants and pavé diamonds on open-work hexagon settings. They include long necklaces with pendants, crawler and chandelier earrings, and bracelets. Each design comes with an illuminator charm that emits UV light so you can get that inner glow all the time.

Source: harpersbazaar

Fluorescence Has No Negative Impact on Diamond Colour

Fluorescence in diamonds

HRD Antwerp, a leading European authority in diamond certification, recently undertook a study entitled “The Effect of Fluorescence on the Colour of a Diamond”, concluding that even strong fluorescence does not negatively impact a diamond’s appearance. In fact, their findings demonstrate the contrary: under normal conditions and even when outdoors, strong fluorescence has a positive influence on the color of diamonds. This finding directly contradicts the common perception that fluorescence is a negative property of diamonds, driving down their value. Given HRD Antwerp’s findings, they conclude there is no justification for the price penalties that currently apply to fluorescent diamonds.

Fluorescence, along with the 4Cs (carat weight, clarity, color and cut) is an important characteristic of a diamond and influences its value. Typically, in the diamond trade, it is perceived as a negative property, which drives the value of fluorescent diamonds down. HRD Antwerp’s study found this common perception is not justified. To make this determination, the lab set out to identify how fluorescence influences the color grading results by gemologists in standard laboratory environments, as well as to assess how fluorescence influences the visual appearance of a diamond for regular consumers. The latter was in fact the main purpose of the study: to determine the impact on the appearance of a mounted diamond as observed by an end consumer.

The experiments HRD Antwerp conducted in its laboratory revealed several significant points, foremost of which is that diamond fluorescence has no influence on the color grading of a diamond in a laboratory environment, due to the insignificant UV content in conventional grading lamps. In short, fluorescence should not lower the official color grade. Furthermore, conventional grading through the pavilion (lower half) of a diamond in outdoor conditions actually improves the color grade for diamonds with a fluorescence grade above ‘medium’. As an example, a diamond graded in the HRD Antwerp laboratory as a J color with very strong fluorescence can appear as a D color when examined in outdoor conditions. When the diamond is examined through the table (face up), there is still an improvement in color, although this change is less significant.

The results of HRD Antwerp’s study thus support findings from earlier studies conducted by other labs, adding additional objective assessments. It confirms that even very strong fluorescence has no detrimental effect on the appearance of diamonds in a laboratory setting, and when viewed through the pavilion in outdoor conditions, it results in a clear improvement in a diamond’s color. For the wearer or casual observer, fluorescence has a neutral or even positive impact on the appearance of a diamond, making it appear to be more colorless. Given these observations, HRD Antwerp concludes there are no grounds on which to justify the price penalties that currently apply to fluorescent diamonds.