Crazy Caratage Continues at Cannes

TGIF, jewelry hounds!

If you want something to take your mind off of the horrible excuse for a Grey's Anatomy finale last night, you've come to the right place. Nothing like a little diamond shock to put you in a good mood for the weekend.

With Chopard as a main sponsor, I've been salivating over the crazy jewelry statements that are likely to make a splash at Cannes until the festival ends on the 25th. Here are a few of my favorite looks from today's premieres.

What do you guys think? Too much or not enough?

Rare Blue Diamond Sets Record!

Colored diamonds are coveted by jewelry lovers everywhere, and despite the economic woe affecting the luxury industry, sales for big, rare stones are still going strong.

While nothing can compare to the world's most expensive blue diamond, The Wittelsbach, which sold to diamond dealer, Laurence Graff, last year for $24.3 million, Sotheby's just unloaded another blue bauble for a stunning $9.4 million.

"The price achieved is a world record by value per carat. This will certainly increase consumers' confidence in buying sparkling stones," said KK Sharma, executive director, Indian Diamond Institute (ID

African miner, Petra Diamonds, unearthed the gem from the Cullinan mine in South Africa, famous for yielding most of the world's best blue diamonds. The fancy vivid blue gem weighs 7.03 carats and is rated internally flawless by the G.I.A. - high praise for a natural stone.

According to the Natural Colored Diamond Association, only one diamond in 10,000 possesses a natural color so strong that it can be classified as fancy color diamond, with reds and blues being the most rare.

Colored diamond fans who don't have millions lying around to snatch a natural stone for their own jewelry box, can find more affordable treated diamonds in every color of the rainbow.

Treated colored diamonds are actually natural white diamonds that are subjected to intense heat to give the stones a range of different hues - from black and pink to yellow and blue. And you don't have to have an auction paddle to snatch one of your very own.

Cure your case of the blues on Jewelry.com, where you can shop for many treated colored diamond styles from the coffers of the retailers you trust.

Then take a look at this video of the real thing. And die a thousand deaths.

Cannes 2009: Couture, Cinema and Chopard

Cannes you dig it? The yachts are docked, the champagne is flowing and the jewelry is already incroyable as the 62nd annual Cannes Film Festival gets underway in the south of France this week.

I just love this film festival. Known for booing crowds and unmatched extravagance, it’s no wonder the fashion police are on high alert as the world’s biggest stars put their best 'pied' forward.

And while many fashion sponsors like Fendi and Swarovski have bowed out this year due to that pesky economy, thank the skies above that Chopard has hung in there. Why? Because they designed 62 couture pieces of jewelry this year to be worn by The Croisette’s biggest stars.










































Pixar’s latest entry, UP, already premiered and Chopard made big jewelry statements on co-President, Caroline Gruosi-Scheufele and model du jour Eugenia Silva.

Cannes juror and Sean Penn ex, Robin Wright Penn, is quite simply always a stunner and tonight was no exception as she appeared in a silvery gown with diamond spray earrings. Who knows how much she had to put up with all these years, but it certainly doesn’t show. Bravo.

Fellow juror, Shu Qi, upped the ante with a vintage diamond statement piece, and gemstone earrings dusted the shoulders of beauties Alessia Piovan and Jaydy Michel.




























And this is just the beginning, jewelry hounds. Cannes darling, Quentin Tarrantino, is here with his Brad Pitt starrer, Inglorious Basterds, and everyone is scrambling to make an appearance.

So stick with the old 'JI' here to see all the crazy Croisette fashion carnage as the week progresses, and be sure to visit the Jewelry.com Facebook page to gawk at an album full of more drool-worthy Cannes jewels.

Diamonds and spray-tans and yachts! Mon Dieu!