Heart

The Heart Shaped Brilliant bears some similarity to the Pear Shape, except that there is a cleft at the top. In fact, often the reason cutters may choose a Heart shape over a Pear may be that the Rough Diamond contained an inclusion located in the cleft.

The skill of the cutter can make a great difference in the beauty of this cut. The "Shape Appeal" is especially important with Hearts.

Romantic perfection for the special occasions. The perfect stone for the special occasion requirements. The Heart shaped brilliant is the hit item on Valentines day. Usually the width will be 10% wider than the head-to-point length.

Radiant

The Radiant Cut Diamond is a straight-edged rectangular or square stone with cut corners. Radiant diamonds show resemblance to emerald cut diamonds with respect to shape.

The radiant cut diamond has 62-70 facets. Radiant are principally used for important center stones primarily for rings but also for pendant. They are rarely used for earrings or as side stones because they are hard to calibrate and match.

These diamonds are also square or rectangular in shape. But they glitter more than the emerald shaped diamonds because of the difference in the number of facets. Since radiant diamonds have more number of facets than the emerald diamonds, they look more stunning.

It is cut with the combination of the step-cutting towards the culet that the princess and emerald cuts display, and some of the triangular faceting of the brilliant cut.

This is extremely effective as a solitaire but also works well in combination with other stones, particularly cut into baguettes, trillions and princesses. Usually, a radiant-cut stone is set with special prongs to ensure that the blocked corners are securely held.

Emerald

This is considered among the most classic of diamond shapes. It is always cut with blocked corners, usually to a rectangular outline, although some are cut to be more square.

Because of its simpler faceting, larger inclusions tend to be more visible to the naked eye, so diamonds cut in this shape need to be of a higher clarity. Diamond 'purists' love the emerald cut for its simplicity.

The flat planes of the outside edges allow for a variety of side stones shapes. Typical pairings would be two or three side baguetts,two half-moons, and other smaller emeralds, but not trillions ,as their sparkle makes the center emerald cut look flat. The length-to-width ratio should be between 1.5:1 to 1.75:1.

Princess

This has become particularly popular over the last few years - developed in 1970, the Princess is now second only to the round in popularity. The Princess Cut Diamond is a brilliant style shape with sharp, uncut corners. This is the perfect choice for a combination between a square or rectangular outline with the brilliance of a round cut.

Brilliant style refers to vertical direction crown and pavilion facets instead of step style horizontally facets. A princess Cut Diamond generally has 76 facets, giving it more brilliance and fire than the round brilliant. The Princess Cut diamond is fast becoming one of the most popular cuts in the United States.

This gives a classic shape and beautiful sparkle. Although a square outline is largely preferred, some stones are cut in a slightly more rectangular shape. The princess cut works excellently as a solitaire, but is also particularly attractive paired with side stones such as trillions or smaller princess-cut diamonds.

Princess cut diamonds are amongst the smallest diamonds in the diamond pool. They are inverted pyramids and carry most of their weight at the bottom. Though they are small, they look electrifying.