Like all diamonds, cut, clarity, color, and carat are all very important factors to consider when choosing your radiant cut diamond. Radiant cuts have unique features that distinguish the shape from other fancy cuts, such as their brilliant facet structure and distinct shape.
When evaluating the cut of a radiant diamond, the ratio and the shape of the corners on the cut should be considered. It’s best to avoid radiant cuts with overly truncated corners, because these will appear misshapen. The length to width ratio of a radiant cut is also important, with 1.20-1.30 being the optimum ratio for a rectangular radiant, and 1.05 being the optimum ratio for a square radiant cut.
As with oval, pear, and marquise cut diamonds, the radiant cut can be susceptible to what’s known as a ‘bow-tie’ effect within its facets. A bow-tie is characterised by dark flashes in the center of the gemstone caused by a poor cut. A radiant cut should have an even sparkle throughout the entire stone without any dark areas, so pay close attention to your radiant cut diamond and make sure your gemstone does not feature a large bow-tie.
Lastly, always look for eye clean clarity in a radiant cut diamond. The radiant cut diamond is extremely brilliant, so inclusions can be hard to spot, meaning that you can find eye clean radiant cut diamonds with an SI1 and SI2 clarity.