Brilliant Earth Diamonds Review

Bottom Line Up Front

I’ve spent more than 25 years in the diamond industry, and I’ve secret-shopped hundreds of stores looking at their diamonds up close. Brilliant Earth stands out for one main reason. You get a real choice.

Natural or lab-grown. Loose stone or a finished ring or a piece of fine jewelry. Every diamond comes with an independent grading report, and Brilliant Earth’s Beyond Conflict Free™ standard goes further than what most stores offer. If you want a diamond you can see clearly before you buy, with a vast assortment of options across natural and lab diamonds, Brilliant Earth is one of the best places to start looking.

Here’s What We’ll Cover:

• Diamond Shapes, Carats, and Colors: What’s Available
• Diamond Quality: Cut, Brilliance, and Proportions
• How Brilliant Earth Sources Its Diamonds
• Diamond Pricing: What Affects the Cost
• Brilliant Earth’s Online Diamond Search Tools
• Diamond Grading and Certification
• In-Person and Virtual Diamond Guidance
• Customer Service, Warranties, and the Lifetime Diamond Upgrade Program
• The Overall Diamond Buying Experience
• Bottom Line
• FAQ

Diamond Shapes, Carats, and Colors: What’s Available

Let’s start with the basics. What can you actually buy at Brilliant Earth?

Brilliant Earth sells natural diamonds, lab grown diamonds, and colored diamonds, both natural and lab grown. You can buy a diamond loose, add it to an engagement ring setting, or choose a finished piece of diamond jewelry that’s already built. That flexibility matters if you’re not sure yet whether you want a ring, a pair of earrings, or a necklace.

On shape, Brilliant Earth carries every popular cut. Round, oval, princess, cushion, emerald, pear, marquise, radiant, and asscher are all in the lineup. Round is still very popular, but if you or your partner want something less common, like a marquise or an asscher, the selection is there.

Carat weight ranges from small accent stones all the way up to multi-carat center stones. You can search by a specific weight or set a range, so if your budget caps out at a certain size, you can filter down to just what fits.

Color and clarity work the same way. Is a colorless diamond always the right call? Not necessarily. Brilliant Earth lets you filter by color grade, from colorless down through near-colorless, and by clarity grade, from flawless down to included. We’ll cover what those grades actually mean in the certification section below.

You can browse the full range on Brilliant Earth’s natural diamonds page.

Diamond Quality: Cut, Brilliance, and Proportions

A diamond’s cut is the single biggest factor in how much it sparkles. Cut is not the same thing as shape. Shape is the outline, round or oval or pear. Cut is how well the facets are angled to bounce light back to your eye.

Brilliant Earth grades cut using the standard scale: Good, Very Good, Ideal, and Super Ideal. A diamond with a low cut grade can look dull even when the color and clarity numbers are strong. That’s why I tell readers to prioritize cut over almost anything else on this list.

Proportions matter too. Table percentage, how wide the flat top facet is compared to the whole diamond, and depth percentage, how tall the diamond stands, both affect brilliance. Brilliant Earth lists these specs on every diamond’s product page, along with a diagram of that specific stone’s proportions. That’s more detail than a lot of stores give you.

For fancy shapes like oval, pear, and marquise, the length-to-width ratio also changes the look. A longer, skinnier oval reads differently than a rounder one. Brilliant Earth lists this ratio on every fancy-shape diamond, so you know what you’re getting before you buy it.

How Brilliant Earth Sources Its Diamonds

Where does the diamond actually come from? That’s a question most stores can’t answer with any real detail. Brilliant Earth can.

Brilliant Earth’s Beyond Conflict Free™ standard traces natural diamonds back to specific mine operations in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, and Canada. Less than 1% of the world’s natural diamonds meet this standard.

Brilliant Earth also offers blockchain-verified diamonds. Here’s what that means in plain terms. A blockchain record tracks a diamond’s journey from the mine to your finger, step by step, in a way that can’t be quietly edited or faked later. If you want proof of where your diamond came from, not just a company’s word for it, this is what gives you that.

Lab grown diamonds skip the mining question altogether. They’re grown in a lab using heat, pressure, or a carbon vapor process, and they come out chemically and physically identical to a natural diamond. Some of Brilliant Earth’s lab grown diamonds are grown using renewable energy, which cuts the carbon footprint down even further.

Diamond Pricing: What Affects the Cost

Diamond prices are not random. A few specific factors drive the number you see on the price tag.

Carat weight is the most obvious one. Price does not rise in a straight line with carat weight. It jumps at certain sizes, like 1 carat or 2 carat, because more buyers search for round numbers. Choosing a 0.9 carat stone instead of a full carat can save you real money with almost no visible difference in size.

Color and clarity grades matter too. A diamond doesn’t need to be flawless or colorless to look great to the naked eye. Most people cannot tell the difference between a VS2 clarity diamond and a flawless one without a jeweler’s loupe. Buying one grade down from the top often saves money without changing how the diamond looks on your hand.

Natural versus lab grown is the biggest price factor of all. Lab grown diamonds cost less than natural diamonds of the same size and quality, sometimes significantly less. That gap is why more buyers today choose lab grown when they want a bigger stone or higher grades for the same budget. Neither option is better than the other. It comes down to what you value and what your budget looks like.

Brilliant Earth prices every diamond individually, based on its specific carat, cut, color, and clarity. There are no rotating storewide sales that make you wonder if the sticker price is even real. The price you see is the price you pay.

Brilliant Earth’s Online Diamond Search Tools

Shopping for a diamond online can feel overwhelming if the website just hands you a spreadsheet of numbers. Brilliant Earth built its search tools to fix that problem.

You can filter diamonds by shape, carat, color, clarity, cut grade, price, and origin, all at the same time. That lets you narrow thousands of stones down to a handful that actually fit what you’re looking for.

Every diamond also comes with a 360-degree video, so you can rotate the stone and see how it actually looks, not just a still photo from one angle. That’s a real upgrade from stores that only show a single image or a certificate number.

Brilliant Earth also has a comparison feature built in. You can pull up two or three diamonds side by side and check their specs against each other before you decide. If you’ve ever had ten browser tabs open trying to remember which diamond had which clarity grade, this solves that problem directly.

Diamond Grading and Certification

Every diamond needs a report from an independent lab to back up its claims. Without one, you’re just trusting the seller’s word for it.

Brilliant Earth’s diamonds are certified by labs like GIA (Gemological Institute of America) and IGI (International Gemological Institute). These labs grade the diamond’s cut, color, clarity, and carat weight, known together as the 4 Cs, and issue a report listing the exact results.

The report matters because it’s independent. The lab has no financial stake in whether you buy the diamond. If you ever want to resell it, insure it, or just confirm what you bought matches what you paid for, that report is your proof.

Brilliant Earth links the actual certification for each diamond right on its product page, so you can check the numbers yourself instead of taking anyone’s word for it. If you want a full breakdown of what each grade means, Brilliant Earth’s 4 Cs buying guide is a good place to start. That’s the kind of transparency I look for when I evaluate a store.

In-Person and Virtual Diamond Guidance

Some buyers want to see a diamond in person before they commit that kind of money. Others are comfortable buying everything online. Brilliant Earth covers both.

Brilliant Earth runs stores across the US where you can sit down with a jeweler, look at diamonds under a loupe, and compare stones side by side in person. Appointments are typically recommended, so you get one-on-one time instead of competing for attention on a busy weekend.

If a store visit isn’t practical, Brilliant Earth also offers virtual appointments. A jeweler walks you through diamonds over video, answers questions in real time, and can pull up specific stones based on what you’re looking for. This works well if you already have a rough idea of what you want and just need expert eyes on the final decision.

Either way, you’re talking to a real person who can explain what you’re looking at. That’s different from clicking through a website on your own with no one to ask.

Customer Service, Warranties, and the Lifetime Diamond Upgrade Program

A diamond purchase doesn’t end the moment you check out. What happens after matters just as much.

Brilliant Earth offers free shipping on orders, along with a 30-day return window if the ring or stone isn’t right. Resizing is available too, typically within 60 days of purchase, so if the fit is off, you’re not stuck.

Every purchase comes with a lifetime warranty covering manufacturing defects. If something about the setting or construction fails under normal wear, Brilliant Earth will repair it.

Then there’s the lifetime diamond upgrade program. Here’s how it works. If you want to trade up to a larger or higher-quality diamond down the road, Brilliant Earth will apply the full value of your original diamond toward the new one, as long as the new diamond is worth at least double the value of what you’re trading in. That’s a real benefit for someone buying a smaller stone now with plans to upgrade later, maybe for an anniversary or once the budget allows for it.

Ongoing care is covered as well, including cleaning and inspection services that help keep the setting secure and the stone looking its best for years.

The Overall Diamond Buying Experience

So how does all of this come together?

Buying a diamond involves a lot of decisions. Shape, carat, color, clarity, natural or lab grown, setting style, budget. Brilliant Earth’s approach is to give you real information at every step instead of asking you to just trust a salesperson.

The education is built right into the shopping experience. Brilliant Earth explains what each of the 4 Cs means while you’re browsing, not buried in a separate help article you have to go dig up. If you’re new to diamond shopping, that matters more than it sounds like it would.

Support doesn’t stop after the sale either. Between the return window, the warranty, the upgrade program, and ongoing care services, Brilliant Earth is set up for a buyer who wants a long relationship with the store, not just a one-time transaction.

For a purchase this personal and this expensive, that combination of selection, transparency, and follow-through is what I look for. Brilliant Earth delivers on all three.

Bottom Line

Brilliant Earth gives you a genuinely wide range of diamonds to choose from, natural and lab grown, in every shape and price range most buyers need. The sourcing standards go further than what you’ll find at most stores, and the online tools make it possible to actually understand what you’re buying instead of guessing.

Add in real grading reports, in-person and virtual guidance, and a service package that includes free returns, a lifetime warranty, and an upgrade program, and you’ve got a diamond buying experience built to support you well past the day you check out.

If you’re starting your diamond search, Brilliant Earth is one of the first places I’d point you toward.

FAQ

What diamond shapes does Brilliant Earth offer?

Brilliant Earth carries all the popular diamond shapes, including round, oval, princess, cushion, emerald, pear, marquise, radiant, and asscher. Each shape is available in both natural and lab grown diamonds.

Does Brilliant Earth sell lab grown diamonds?

Yes. Brilliant Earth offers a large lab grown diamond selection across every shape and the full range of the 4 Cs. Lab grown diamonds typically cost less than natural diamonds of the same size and quality.

Are Brilliant Earth diamonds certified?

Yes. Brilliant Earth diamonds are certified by independent labs like GIA and IGI. Each report grades the diamond’s cut, color, clarity, and carat weight, and you can view the actual certification on the diamond’s product page.

What does Beyond Conflict Free™ mean?

Beyond Conflict Free™ is Brilliant Earth’s sourcing standard for natural diamonds. It traces diamonds back to specific mine operations in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, and Canada. Less than 1% of the world’s natural diamonds meet this bar.

Can I see Brilliant Earth diamonds in person before buying?

Yes. Brilliant Earth has store locations across the US where you can view diamonds in person with a jeweler. Virtual appointments are also available if an in-person visit isn’t practical.

Does Brilliant Earth offer a diamond upgrade program?

Yes. Brilliant Earth’s lifetime diamond upgrade program lets you trade up to a larger or higher-quality diamond later on. The full value of your original diamond applies toward the new one, for natural diamonds this must cost 1.5 times more and lab diamonds this must cost 2 times more than the original.

What is Brilliant Earth’s return policy on diamonds?

Brilliant Earth offers a 30-day return window on diamonds and engagement rings, along with free shipping both ways. Resizing is also available, typically within 60 days of purchase.

About the author

kyle Kristoffersen