First of all, never forget that these are very small stones; I purchased them for my second ear piercings.  They would also work well for a young girl.  Even though these are small and somewhat inexpensive, they are still diamonds, and as such they need to have a certain level of quality.  After all, I did pay over $60 for them.  While it is true that you can assess the quality to a great extent by just looking at the earrings, it really helps me to have a jeweler's loup.  A loup is not that expensive, under $10, and it has saved me much more in avoiding stones which are too included or poorly cut.  These earrings passed my tests (based upon my poor experiences with other jewelry):

1.  Cut.  This simply means that the stones should have no nicks, chips, scratches, gouges, or any other abrasions, especially on the large facet.  Period.  I do not care how small the stones are; they should not look as if they were cut by someone who is learning the trade.  These earrings are cut with no such flaws, but again, because of the size, I was only able to determine this with the loup.

2.  Inclusions.  Expect some flaws, but there should not be something there that looks as if the entire interior of the stone has been shattered.  You can see flecks in these earrings, but they are not black and are "eye clean" meaning they cannot be seen unless you use a loup.

3.  Matching in size and color.  These earrings are the same size and color shade.  This is basic but so important.  There is no reason to accept mismatching.

4.  Sparkle.  I was pleasantly surprised to see that there is a fair amount of shine to these stones, which is helped by their being placed in open basket settings, allowing for more light.  Also, it should go without saying, but the stones need to be set correctly in the mountings, i.e., not crooked.

The earring backs are marked 14K otc, and the gift box is actually one that can be used.