Brilliant vs. Crushed Ice Cut Moissanite

When envisioning gemstones like moissanite or diamonds, one often imagines a brilliant cut stone—radiant, scintillating, with regular and symmetrical facets. However, within the realm of moissanite, a less familiar cut style called Crushed Ice is gradually gaining traction and popularity.

Crushed Ice, renowned for its shimmering allure and marked contrast to the brilliant cut, serves as a stunning alternative. Each cut possesses distinct properties that significantly alter its appearance, lending individual beauty to each.

To comprehend these differences, let's delve into how light interacts with moissanite.

How Light Interacts with Moissanite

When light penetrates a substance such as moissanite, it undergoes refraction and reflection. The remarkable sparkle of gemstones results from their specific cuts, causing the light entering from the stone's top to bounce off facets (the stone's cut surfaces) and then reflect outward. The appearance of the gemstone, determined by the behavior of this light, relies significantly on the stone's cut. While the quality of the cut also impacts light interaction with the stone, our focus today will primarily be on the style.

Brilliant Cut Moissanite

The brilliant cut represents the traditional, relatively symmetrical style that generates the classic sparkling pattern. Characteristic of stones cut in the brilliant style are well-defined, arrow-like sparkling facets that fan out from the center of the stone when viewed from the front. They feature uniformly cut facets on the pavilion (the stone's bottom angle), optimizing the travel of light in the most efficient manner. Consequently, this facilitates the maximum amount of light to exit through the crown (the stone's top angle) back to the observer, resulting in the highest level of fire and brilliance achievable for the stone.

Crushed Ice Cut Moissanite

In technical-ish terms, this icy vibe comes from a more irregular-shaped facet on the pavilion.

Crushed ice cuts are a little different. In a crushed ice moissanite, the stone is cut to have more numerous, irregular shaped facets on the pavilion of the stone, bouncing the light within the stone in an irregular way. This means that although some light will bounce off two surfaces of the pavilion before exiting the crown, as is the case with the brilliant cut, some light will also bounce more times within the stone before exiting through the pavilion, as seen here. As a result, light is shooting in many scattered directions within the stone, causing it to look like – you guessed it – crushed ice. Due to these properties, crushed ice moissanite stones display a different sparkling pattern and a lower level of brilliance, fire and sparkle than a brilliant cut moissanite.

What is the Bowtie Effect?

The disparity between these two cuts is particularly evident in specific shapes of moissanite, such as oval or pear. Generally, an oval diamond exhibits a bowtie effect, which manifests as a darker band across the stone's width, caused by light loss through the pavilion. While an overly distinct bowtie might detract from the stone's appeal, it can provide a desired contrast level favored by some.

Due to moissanite's higher refractive index (dictating light bending within the substance), brilliantly cut oval moissanite stones can often be shaped to minimize this bowtie effect. Conversely, the faceting pattern of crushed ice moissanite tends to accentuate this bowtie effect, resulting in a more diamond-like appearance.

How Do They Compare?

The brilliant cut maximizes the use of light, resulting in the highest levels of fire and brilliance achievable in a moissanite. This exceptional sparkle often captures the hearts of many admirers of moissanite! With its uniform, larger facets, the brilliant cut stands out as a dazzling, immensely sparkly stone. However, for some individuals, striving for a moissanite that closely resembles a diamond is their primary objective. This is where the crushed ice cut becomes significant. Its faceting pattern exhibits less fire and brilliance, displaying smaller, scattered sparkles – a closer match to the appearance of a diamond. Additionally, the crushed ice cut may present a bowtie effect, further enhancing its resemblance to a diamond.

Which style do you prefer? Perhaps you seek the utmost sparkle? Or a stone that closely mirrors a diamond? Or maybe you're drawn to the subtle, scattered sparkle of crushed ice? Ultimately, the choice is entirely yours!