The AVRA Times
Diamonds
Pear, Oval, Emerald: How Each Cut Catches the Light
Same diamond, three very different personalities. A short guide to how pear, oval and emerald cuts throw light, and which one suits the way you wear jewelry.
Give three cutters the same rough diamond and you can get three stones that look nothing alike. The shape decides how light enters, where it bounces, and what comes back to your eye. Here is how our three favorite shapes behave once they are on you.
The pear
A pear is a brilliant cut: dozens of small facets that split light into quick, bright sparkle. One end is rounded, the other comes to a point, so the stone has a direction.
Worn point down, a pear draws the eye along the neck or the earlobe and makes both look longer. It is why the Pear lab diamond necklace and the Pear Stud are two of the pieces we reach for most.
Look closely at many pears and you may see a soft darker band across the middle, called a bow-tie. A well-cut pear keeps it faint. It is part of how the shape holds light, and a little of it gives the stone depth.
The oval
Also a brilliant cut, so it sparkles like a round, but stretched. That stretch matters: an oval looks larger face-up than a round diamond of the same carat weight, because more of the stone faces you.
It is the easiest fancy shape to wear every day. Soft edges, no point to catch, and a quiet elegance on the Oval Solitaire Necklace or the Oval Solitaire Studs.
The emerald
A step cut, which is a different idea entirely. Instead of many small facets, an emerald cut has long, flat, parallel steps. The light comes back in broad flashes, slower and cooler, the effect people describe as a hall of mirrors.
Those open facets also show everything inside the stone. An inclusion that would hide in the sparkle of a pear sits in plain view in an emerald cut. It is the main reason we hold every diamond to VS clarity or better: the Emerald Solitaire Studs and the Emerald Cut Hand Chain Bracelet only look this clean because the stones are.
Or both
If you can't choose, the Toi et Moi Emerald & Pear Studs put a step-cut emerald and a brilliant pear side by side, so you get the flash and the sparkle in one ear.
The right shape is the one you notice yourself looking at. Try them in the light you live in: daylight at your desk, candlelight at dinner. That is where the difference shows.
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