Okay, so you won’t be the first one on your block if you decide to buy a natural fancy color diamond engagement ring, but guess what? Neither was J-Lo. Guess that why she sings, “I’m still Jenny from the block.” So there you have it from someone with experience, as both her former fiances bought her fancy color diamond engagement rings – Ben Affleck with a pink one and Marc Anthony with a blue one; a colored diamond engagement ring won’t change your life, but it will definitely have you stand out from the crowd.

Colored diamond engagement rings have already made the transition from the red carpet and the celeb set to Main Street. And the fact is that as recently as a decade ago, most celebrities wouldn’t have known what a fancy color diamond was; but that doesn’t mean that people weren’t in the know.

Fancy color diamonds have been around for centuries and coveted for centuries; however, given their rarity – they are 10,000 times rarer than the well-known colorless diamonds, their knowledge has been a well kept secret by royalty and the upper echelons of society. In these days of the Internet though and celebrities who love to flaunt their bling, colored diamonds are making up for lost time in the popularity stakes.

Colored diamonds are the most highly desired of diamonds with the best examples selling for millions of dollars per carat – much more than their colorless cousins. No two colored diamonds are exactly the same. How could they be with 9 intensity levels and over 90 secondary hues on top of the following colors – pink, red, green, blue, chameleon, white, black, gray, champagne, orange, yellow, purple, and violet?

The most popular colored diamond rings are pink diamond engagement rings, closely followed by yellow. Another well known recipient of a pink diamond engagement ring was Anna Kournikova. Famous recipients of yellow (canary) diamond engagement rings include Kelly Clarkson, Paris Hilton, Heidi Klum, and Carrie Underwood.

The prices of colored diamonds vary greatly depending on color and intensity of color, for although colored diamonds are graded using the same four criteria used to grade colorless diamonds – cut, clarity, color, and carat weight; whereas clarity is most important for colorless diamonds, color is most relevant with colored diamonds – the deeper and more intense the better.

You may think that because colored diamond engagement rings are all the rage in Hollywood and because colored diamonds are so rare that they may be beyond your budget; however, that may not necessarily be the case. Notwithstanding that the price appreciation of colored diamonds over the past decade has vastly outstripped that of colorless stones there are still fine examples of different colored stones – including the popular yellow ones, available for reasonable prices. The trick is to do your homework and find a reputable dealer like Toner Jewelers – diamond jewelry.

Assuming you decide to more carefully consider colored diamond engagement rings, you will still be well ahead of the trend curve as there are still many people out there who don’t know that colored diamonds exist and have not taken the initiative to learn about them, meaning that the most important ring they ever receive will more than likely be colorless. You on the other hand will know exactly what to look for when visiting a Diamond Jewelry Dealer and making a decision.

Written by Sharon from Leibish&co., a premier online resource for natural fancy colored diamonds