the ombré fade.

Ombré (from the French world "ombrer" meaning to shade) is a colouring technique when the shade fades from light to dark. The gradient colours are stunning when used in hair trends, nails and billowy silky fabrics. I've even used the ombré trend with lipstick with a dark purple/red fading into a natural pink in the inner lip. You can say I'm a little obsessed. I adapted the hair trend a number of years ago now because of it's easy up-keep and beach hair look but I'm in love with bright spring coloured ombré jewelry this spring. 

The idea is to have a gradual change between gems with a smooth transition without a distinguished line between shades. I love ombré faded jewelry on big bold gems for statement pieces and and small gradual fades on gems of the same size. We recently had a client who inherited a number of pearl pieces from her grandmother that did not suit her taste. We restrung the pearls of different colours to a subtle ombré fade that incorporated her grandmother's heirlooms with an unexpected twist of today's look. We loved how elegant and trendy the pearls looked! 

 

single vs full cut diamonds

Single cut diamonds began in the 1600's with just a few facets to catch the light. Consumers and jewellers have more recently moved back to single cut diamonds because of the shortage and cost of the diamonds today. Single cut diamonds can still refract light and when set properly, give a brilliance to jewelry in a more cost effective manner.




The difference between single cut diamonds and regular round brilliant diamonds is the number of facets (cuts). The classic round brilliant (full cut) will have 58 facets while single cut diamonds have 16-18 facets; 8 facets on top, 8 facets on the bottom and additional facets on the culet, facet or the crown. Single cut diamonds are small and usually under .10 carats. Some jewellers prefer to use single cuts on small stones because there are fewer cuts making the facets more visible compared to round brilliants having 58 facets within one very small stone.