4Cs - Diamond Cut

There are many different cuts of diamonds to choose from. The cut essentially refers to the shape and proportion that the diamond is cut into and this has a great impact on how the much the diamond sparkles.

Diamond Anatomy, Shapes and Cuts
The most popular cuts are heart, marquise, oval, pear, princess, round, trillion, and emerald cuts, with the round cut being the most common of all:

The shape has an impact on how much the diamond sparkles, but the actual cutting itself – when the diamond cutter actually cuts the diamond into a particular shape – also matters a great deal. If the diamond is poorly cut, it will have poor proportions and symmetry and will lose its sparkle, which is essentially based on the amount of light being reflected to the viewer's eyes. The proportion of a round diamond includes its gridle diameter and thickness, table width, crown height, pavilion depth, and culet.

Common cutting problems include a missing or off center culet, misalignment, a diamond that is too thick or too thin, cracks, or broken culets.

Choose Shape First, Followed By Cut
It is almost impossible to manually measure the proportions of diamonds in typical jewellery stores because they are either too small (in carat weight) or already set into jewellery pieces. Therefore when shopping, you should of course choose the shape that you like the best, and then look at several different diamonds of that shape to find the one with the best cut – the one that sparkles the most, in all types of lighting.