The Montare Journal

Brilliance, Fire and Scintillation Explained
MBy Vish Singh, Founder · Montare Diamonds, Toronto. Built on three decades of family jewellery-making. Every diamond is personally reviewed before it ships.Published September 6, 2026 · Updated November 3, 2026 · 12 min read IGI-certified diamonds Triple Excellent standard Lifetime setting upgrades Free, fully insured shipping Made to order in Toronto "Sparkle" is not one thing — it is three, and they compete with each other. Brilliance is the white light a diamond returns. Fire is the coloured light. Scintillation is the flashing pattern you see when the stone... Read more...
Crown Angle and Pavilion Angle Explained
MBy Vish Singh, Founder · Montare Diamonds, Toronto. Built on three decades of family jewellery-making. Every diamond is personally reviewed before it ships.Published September 6, 2026 · Updated November 3, 2026 · 12 min read IGI-certified diamonds Triple Excellent standard Lifetime setting upgrades Free, fully insured shipping Made to order in Toronto Crown angle and pavilion angle are the two measurements that decide whether a diamond returns light or leaks it. Table and depth percentages get quoted far more often, but they are downstream of these two angles — the... Read more...
Hearts and Arrows Diamonds Explained
MBy Vish Singh, Founder · Montare Diamonds, Toronto. Built on three decades of family jewellery-making. Every diamond is personally reviewed before it ships.Published September 6, 2026 · Updated November 3, 2026 · 12 min read IGI-certified diamonds Triple Excellent standard Lifetime setting upgrades Free, fully insured shipping Made to order in Toronto Hearts and arrows is a pattern that appears in a round brilliant diamond cut to near-perfect optical symmetry — eight arrows seen from the top, eight hearts from below. It is not a grade, it does not appear... Read more...
Cathedral Wedding Bands: How to Pair One With Your Ring
MBy Vish Singh, Founder · Montare Diamonds, Toronto. Built on three decades of family jewellery-making. Every diamond is personally reviewed before it ships.Published September 6, 2026 · Updated November 3, 2026 · 12 min read Third-party appraised diamonds D–E, VVS diamonds 14K, 18K or platinum Free, fully insured shipping Made to order in Toronto A cathedral wedding band is either a band with arched shoulders of its own, or — more often what people are actually looking for — a band designed to sit flush against a cathedral engagement ring.... Read more...
Pear vs Marquise Diamond: How to Choose Between Them
MBy Vish Singh, Founder · Montare Diamonds, Toronto. Built on three decades of family jewellery-making. Every diamond is personally reviewed before it ships.Published August 16, 2026 · Updated November 3, 2026 · 12 min read IGI-certified diamonds Triple Excellent standard Lifetime setting upgrades Free, fully insured shipping Made to order in Toronto A pear-shaped diamond has one rounded end and one point — a teardrop. A marquise has two pointed ends and no rounded edge at all — a longer, sharper silhouette. Both are elongated fancy shapes that make the... Read more...
Diamond Depth Percentage by Shape: Ideal Ranges Explained
What diamond depth percentage means, how it differs from table percentage, and the ideal depth range for round, oval, cushion, emerald, radiant, pear, and marquise diamonds. Read more...
Lab-Grown Diamond Engagement Rings in Winnipeg
MBy Vish Singh, Founder · Montare Diamonds, Toronto. Built on three decades of family jewellery-making. Every diamond is personally reviewed before it ships.Published August 9, 2026 · Updated November 3, 2026 · 11 min read IGI-certified diamonds Triple Excellent standard Lifetime setting upgrades Free, fully insured shipping Made to order in Toronto Yes — Montare ships lab-grown diamond engagement rings free and fully insured to Winnipeg, and every ring is built to the same floor no matter which province it ships to. Lab-grown, D–E colour, VVS1–VVS2 clarity, Triple Excellent cut,... Read more...
GIA's New Lab-Grown Diamond Grading: What Changed
MBy Vish Singh, Founder · Montare Diamonds, Toronto. Built on three decades of family jewellery-making. Every diamond is personally reviewed before it ships.Published August 3, 2026 · Updated November 3, 2026 · 11 min read IGI-certified diamonds Triple Excellent standard Lifetime setting upgrades Free, fully insured shipping Made to order in Toronto On October 1, 2025, GIA stopped issuing specific colour and clarity grades for lab-grown diamonds and replaced them with a two-tier label: Premium or Standard. IGI, the laboratory that certifies the large majority of lab-grown diamonds on the... Read more...
Lab-Grown Diamond Engagement Rings in Ottawa
MBy Vish Singh, Founder · Montare Diamonds, Toronto. Built on three decades of family jewellery-making. Every diamond is personally reviewed before it ships.Published August 2, 2026 · Updated November 3, 2026 · 11 min read IGI-certified diamonds Triple Excellent standard Lifetime setting upgrades Free, fully insured shipping Made to order in Toronto Yes — Montare ships lab-grown diamond engagement rings free and fully insured to Ottawa, and because Ottawa sits in the same province and time zone as our Toronto workshop, the buying experience is functionally identical to buying from... Read more...
4 Prong vs 6 Prong Engagement Ring: Which to Choose
Six prongs are more secure, four expose more of the stone — and neither changes sparkle. How to choose prong count by diamond shape, carat weight and daily wear. Read more...
Do Lab-Grown Diamonds Get Cloudy Over Time? The Truth
Lab-grown diamonds do not cloud, haze or dull with age — the material cannot degrade. Here is what actually causes a cloudy-looking diamond, and how to buy one that never will. Read more...
Cathedral Engagement Ring: Pros, Cons and Who It Suits
MBy Vish Singh, Founder · Montare Diamonds, Toronto. Built on three decades of family jewellery-making. Every diamond is personally reviewed before it ships.Published July 29, 2026 · Updated November 3, 2026 · 10 min read IGI-certified diamonds Triple Excellent standard Lifetime setting upgrades Free, fully insured shipping Made to order in Toronto A cathedral setting raises your centre diamond above the band on arched shoulders, the way a cathedral ceiling rises above a nave. That height gives the stone more presence and adds structural support to the prongs — but... Read more...