Ultimate Guide to Heart Cut Diamond Engagement Rings NZ

If you ever wanted to show you love someone with all your heart, the heart cut engagement ring would be the most literal representation of that.

In this article, we will talk about what you need to know, what we love about them and what you need to watch out for.

Why We Love The Heart Cut Diamonds

Inclusions are not so visible

Because of its shape, imperfections are harder to spot. Light reflects and refracts in ways that help conceal otherwise visible imperfections. In saying that, we still recommend ensuring that you get a VS2 or VS1 diamond.

It’s bold asf

If you think the East-West emerald cut engagement ring is bold, then the heart-cut diamond oozes it. The heart cut is unique, and looks dazzling either as a solitaire or three-stone.

Coloured diamonds are hot right now. And the heart cut works well with colours.

Diamonds actually come in a variety of different colours. The heart cut looks beautiful in black, red, or blue. Complimented with other stones and you are onto something special.

What To Look Out With Heart Cut Diamonds

The cut needs to be impeccable

Heart-cut diamonds look awesome when they are shiny, symmetrical and don’t have any visible inclusions. And unlike round brilliants, the cut for heart cut diamonds is not standardised. And for you to know, you need to actually see the diamond. Even better — work with a respected jeweller like Four Words.

Work with a designer to balance bold with elegance

When you buy a heart-cut diamond, you are signalling that you have a particular design taste. The worst thing that you could do is make it look tacky. You don’t want your ring to look like it was bought from an everyday jewellery store. Work closely with a designer to get a custom engagement ring that you can flaunt with confidence.

What You Need to Know About Picking Heart Cut Diamonds

First and foremost, it should have a 1-1.20 length-width ratio so that the diamond is symmetrical on halves of the heart. Secondly, the profile of the ring should actually be heart-shaped. Some jewellers end up trying to cut a heart shaped diamond but they end up looking like a pear or squashed oval. This is a visual test as much of a technical one.

The Heart Cut Diamond and the 4Cs

Cut

When it comes to heart cut diamond cut, the most important things to pay attention to is shape and symmetry. This is best understood visually. We say this because heart shaped diamonds don’t have a standard cut profile like the round brilliant when it comes to the Four Cs.

Shape

Here is an example of two diamonds classified as a heart shaped diamond. Both of these look nothing like a heart, but more towards a squashed round.

Symmetry

The main thing to keep in mind is making sure the sides of the heart are balanced. Otherwise you can run into stones which look uneven or misaligned.

Work closely with a respected jeweller like Four Words to ensure you get the best diamond that you can see.

Clarity

When picking Heart Diamonds, we go for ones which are VS2 or higher. While they can hide imperfections better than the likes of emerald or pear cut, you want to optimise for shape and symmetry.

Colour

Colour is a personal preference. If you are after a classic white diamond, we highly recommend choosing a diamond between the colours D and G. This range is colourless to the naked eye.

If you want to choose a coloured diamond, then talk to your jeweller about how to go about finding a colour that works for you.

Carat

When buying a heart cut diamond, you want to make sure that it is big enough so that you can actually see the heart shape. Unlike other cuts, size is a factor here. We recommend anything larger than 0.5 carats.

The reason is (depending on the setting), that the prongs can cover areas of the stone, affecting the heart outline. A bezel setting is one way to get around this.

At Four Words, we take care of all of this for you. We pick the best diamonds visible to the naked eye, as standard.

The History of the Heart-Shaped Diamond

The heart cut diamond is also an antique cut. The popularity of the ring is traced back to the middle of the 15th century — kickstarted by a private exchange of the diamond cut between the Duke of Milan, named Galeazzi Maria Sforza, and the duke’s confidante Nico Demo. Later on, the Diamond cut worn by a number of individuals within the royal courts in the 16th century.

Where to from here?

We recommend buying a lab grown diamond. They are physically, optically and atomically exactly the same as a mined diamond — except it doesn’t come with the ethical and sustainability baggage. All our diamonds are climate positive. This means that we offset more carbon than we produce. We do so by a factor of five.

We suggest you go through all diamond cuts and start putting together a collection of engagement rings that you like. You can also get in touch with us and we can help you put together a couple of designs together for you.