Find Your Perfect Diamond
Made to sit flush against the engagement ring it was designed for.
Every ring is made from start to finish in our Los Angeles atelier.
The shape of a diamond is its silhouette: the outline and faceting that give a round its blaze, an emerald cut its glassy calm, a marquise its drama. Eleven shapes live in our atelier, and each has a complete guide written by our gemological team. This page is the map.
The two words get tangled constantly, so we untangle them here. Shape describes the diamond itself, the outline you see from above and the faceting pattern inside it. Style describes the setting built around it: solitaire, halo, three across, pavé. A round diamond can live in any style; a vintage style ring can hold nearly any shape.
Shape is also not the same as cut quality. Two ovals with identical certificates can perform completely differently depending on their proportions, which is why every shape guide below spends as much time on how to judge the cut as on the shape itself. If the setting decision is where you are, start with our guide to engagement ring styles and come back to the diamond.
These are the shapes our clients choose, as a share of RockHer engagement rings. Read the table as a portrait of taste, not a ranking of quality. The round earns its lead honestly, but a superbly cut pear will outperform a poorly cut round every day of the week, and the guides exist to teach you that difference.
| Shape | Share | The Draw |
|---|---|---|
| Round Brilliant | 49% | The brightest geometry in diamonds |
| Princess | 16% | Contemporary lines, brilliant fire |
| Cushion | 14% | Soft corners, candlelight fire |
| Cushion Brilliant | 6% | A cushion outline, round brilliant light |
| Asscher | 3% | Stepped square, windmill pattern |
| Heart | 3% | The most literal romance in diamonds |
| Marquise | 3% | The largest face up spread per carat |
| Oval | 2% | Round brilliance, stretched |
| Pear | 2% | A teardrop with a point of view |
| Emerald | 1% | Long glassy flashes over sparkle |
| Radiant | 1% | Cropped corners, maximum life |
Each card links to the full buying guide for that shape, written by our gemologists, and to the collection of settings we make to order for it in Los Angeles.
Fifty eight facets refined over a century into the brightest light return ever engineered, and the only shape GIA grades for cut. Half of everyone starts and ends here, for good reason.
A square outline carrying brilliant style faceting: crisp, architectural, and lively. It typically trades below a round of equal weight, which is part of its quiet appeal.
Pillowed corners and larger facets give the cushion its warmth, a look descended from the antique cuts that lived by candlelight. Fire is its signature.
The soft cushion silhouette faceted like a round brilliant, trading crushed ice for bold, defined flashes. The guide explains exactly how to tell the two apart on a certificate.
A stepped square with cropped corners and a hall of mirrors depth, the definitive Art Deco cut. Its glassy, concentric pattern rewards high clarity and a patient eye.
The most demanding brilliant to cut well: two matched lobes, a clean cleft, and a defined point. Symmetry is everything, and the guide shows you how to judge it.
A regal navette silhouette with more face up presence per carat than any other shape. It lengthens the finger and reads dramatically larger than its weight.
The round brilliant drawn into an elegant ellipse: familiar sparkle, a longer line on the hand, and a bow tie shadow that the guide teaches you to evaluate on video.
Half round, half marquise, the pear is the most sculptural of the brilliants. Worn point up or point down, it flatters the hand and stands apart from every square and circle.
Long step facets exchange sparkle for broad, elegant flashes of light. It is the connoisseur cut: understated, transparent, and unforgiving of low clarity.
An emerald cut outline packed with brilliant faceting: durable cropped corners and intense, dense sparkle. The liveliest of the rectangular shapes.
Shape is taste; the ring around it is style, and the two decisions are easier made together. Our style guide walks the settings, and a gemologist can put both shapes side by side on video for you.
GIA assigns a true cut grade to one shape: the round brilliant. Every other shape leaves the lab with no light performance verdict at all, which is exactly where buyers get hurt.
A round carries a lab cut grade, but each grade spans a range of proportion sets, and two Excellent rounds can differ visibly. The certificate narrows the field; it does not finish the job.
Ovals, cushions, pears, and every other fancy shape are graded only on polish and symmetry. Their light performance goes unjudged by the lab, so someone has to judge it.
ROSI™, our gemological intelligence, built by our gemologists, evaluates the complete parameter set of every diamond we recommend, every shape, the way the light actually behaves inside it.
Considering a diamond, ours or anyone’s? Request a ROSI™ Score Report and get a straight answer on the diamond and its market position.
The most popular shape is not the best shape. The best shape is the one she already loves.
Popularity data is useful for exactly one thing: knowing what everyone else is wearing. Some buyers want that company; some want distance from it. Notice the shapes in the jewelry she already reaches for, the lines she pauses on, and let that decide. Then use the guide for that shape to make sure the specific diamond earns her.
Found a diamond you are considering, here or anywhere else? Send the GIA or IGI certificate number and our gemological team returns its ROSI™ Score and a read of where it sits in the current market. Complimentary, within minutes.
Score a DiamondWhere stones of the same exact specifications are trading on the open market right now. You get a straight answer, even when the diamond is not ours.
John Anderson, our Lead Gemologist, puts real diamonds of both shapes on video with you, in comparable weights and grades, so the decision stops being abstract. The consultation is complimentary and there is no obligation.
1-800-779-1726