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, that is, 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.