Color and clarity are the two grades clients fixate on, and the two where over-paying is easiest. Here is the practical version from our QC bench.
Color, face-up
| Grade | Look | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| D | Colorless, icy white | White gold / platinum, high-end bridal |
| E | Colorless, slight warmth only beside D | White metal, best balance |
| F | Near-colorless, warm near culet | Everyday wear, good margin |
| G | Noticeably warm in white metal, great in gold | Yellow / rose gold, vintage |
Clarity, eye-up
Our moissanite is lab-grown and almost always eye-clean face-up. VVS1-VVS2 matters when a customer will inspect under a loupe or you sell to a knowledgeable buyer. VS1-VS2 is completely fine for rings, studs and line work where no one loupes the stone.
Where to spend, where to save
Spend on cut and proportions - that drives 90% of the sparkle. Save one grade of color (go E instead of D) and one grade of clarity (go VS1 instead of VVS2) and your cost drops noticeably while the face-up look barely changes. We build tier pricing around exactly this trade-off.