There are a lot of diamond cuts and shapes to choose from when buying an engagement ring. Radiant cut and cushion cut are just two of those, which have been a hot trend in the gems and jewelry market recently. Although the diamond cuts share a few likenesses, there are some distinctions between the two as well. Below is a quick look at the key similarities and differences between a radiant cut diamond and a cushion cut diamond.
Cushion Cut vs. Radiant Cut
Both the diamond cuts feature a square or rectangular shape, and look much like the emerald cut when viewed from the top. While radiant cut diamonds have trimmed corners, cushion cut diamonds have slightly rounded corners that give them a pillow like appearance. In fact, the latter are also known as pillow cut diamonds because of their craftily designed smooth sides. What’s more, where the outline in radiant cut diamonds is rectangular, some of the cushion cut stones have their corners so rounded that they even look like oval diamonds.
The two cuts are forms of “brilliant” cut, which means that they have perfectly aligned facets to produce maximum fire and glow. However, cushion cut diamonds have bigger facts in comparison that reduced their light reflecting capability, in turn leading to a relatively low brilliance. Yet again, this is usually the case with the old designs in cushion cut gemstones, because diamond cutters take utmost care today when cutting a rough diamond to make sure that the resultant jewelry-grade stone flaunts maximum sparkle and fire.
When it comes to the clarity and color of the two, there is not much difference in how a radiant cut diamond and a cushion cut diamond shows or hides their color or inclusions. It is even said that if you hold two diamond rings closely, one having a radiant cut diamond and the other a cushion cut center stone, you cannot tell them apart if both have the same clarity and color grade and feature the same setting and design. Still, the cushion cut stone could give it away if both of them have yellow tints because the radiant cut would mask that flaw very easily.
So to conclude, we can say that differentiating a radiant cut diamond vs. a cushion cut diamond is not that simple. Only an expert jeweler can figure out the differences between the two, but that too, with the help of proper analytical tools and information about the stones.