One of the main problems most shoppers have with the bowtie effect is that it isn’t listed on the grading report. No grading report states whether the diamond has a bowtie or how pronounced the bowtie is.
This means that if you purchase your diamond blind, ήτοι, without seeing images and videos of the actual diamond, you could be buying a stone with a severe bowtie effect and not even know it until you receive the diamond.
A lot of customers are unfortunate to make that mistake even in physical jewelry stores. If the lighting of the diamonds showcase is set up in such a way that minimizes the effect of bowties and other appearance problems – which it always is – you can easily not notice just how strong the bowtie effect is until you’ve already brought the stone home.