A Bling Lover's Guide to the Different Types of Diamond Cuts
Are you a bling lover who knows exactly what Marilyn Monroe meant when she sang the famous line, "Diamonds are a girl's best friend"? Who can blame you? Today's diamond industry is booming, worth almost $27 billion worldwide. The ability to show off your personal taste and style with diamonds is endless, making them enduring and timeless no matter what you choose.
You're probably familiar with the four C's of diamond quality (color, clarity, carat, and cut). What you may not know is that a diamond's cut can help bring out the brilliance, fire, and scintillation in a stone in order to show it off to its best advantage.
Are you still confused as to which diamond to choose? Read on for your definitive guide to the different types of diamond cuts available and which one you should choose.
What Are the Different Types of Diamond Cuts?
At its most basic, types of diamond cuts can be sorted into two categories: round cuts and fancy cuts.
Round Brilliant Cut
Round diamonds traditionally have 58 facets, or faces, that help these diamonds to be one of the most enduring and popular diamond cuts available. Round cut diamonds make the most of a diamond's brilliance and sparkle, look stunning as a solitaire stone or with accent stones, and its classic beauty won't go out of style.
Fancy Cuts
Every other diamond shape other than round is considered a fancy cut. Here are some of the most popular:
Princess Cut: Princess cut diamonds are basically the square equivalent of the round brilliant cut. They're cut with varying numbers of chevron patterns (usually between three and four) to help show off the stone's brilliance in a more modern way.
Emerald Cut: Emerald cuts are not just for emeralds! This rectangular-shaped stone had facets cut into the sides and bottom half (known as the pavilion) that showcase a diamond's clarity. Nowadays, Emerald cut engagement rings are considered to be more elegant and classic, which makes it a popular choice for those who want a traditional engagement ring.
Asscher Cut: An Asscher cut is not all that different from an emerald cut, but more of a square than a rectangle. It also has a smaller table, or top, of the stone.
Radiant Cut: Do you want to combine the sleek, modern look of an emerald cut with the brilliance of a round cut? Then a radiant cut diamond may be the answer. This diamond shape is square-shaped, but with trimmed corners.
Cushion Cut: With a more rounded shape than either an emerald or radiant cut, the cushion-cut stone has been around for centuries. Its larger facets also display more brilliance, yet without looking as traditional as a round cut.
Oval Cut: These stones are shaped exactly as they sound, in an oval shape with rounded edges. The benefit is that this cut makes stones appear larger and still contain the brilliance and shine you associate with a brilliant-cut diamond.
Marquise Cut: This stone shape can be compared to an oval cut, but with pointed ends similar to a football. Also similar to an oval cut, this diamond shape can make the stone appear larger and your fingers seem longer!
Lab created Diamond vs Natural diamond
Most of the people get confused in lab created diamond and natural diamond as there is not such major difference in both of them. The only difference is that natural diamond is extracted through mining on the other hand lab created diamond is grown in the lab. So lab grown diamond is relatively cheaper in price as less labor cost is included in the mining process.
However, you get more glitter in lab grown diamond engagement rings then natural diamond as they work more on removing impurities.
Choosing the Best Diamond
Simply put, the best cut of a diamond is what you like the most and what fits your personal style. After all, can you go wrong with something so classic and timeless?
If that's not enough to get you started, you can also look at different types of diamond cuts such as pear-shaped, heart-shaped, or even trillion-shaped! When you're ready to buy, be sure to check out israeldiamond.com to help you make your selection.