Is Brilliant Cut the Most Expensive Cut of Moissanite?

When shopping for jewelry, most buyers focus on a gemstone’s shape—but the quality of its facet cuts is just as important. The shape refers to the gem’s outline (like round, oval, or cushion), while the facets are the flat, polished surfaces that control how light bends and reflects inside the stone. It’s this light performance—how rays enter, bounce off the facets, and exit through the top (the crown)—that creates that dazzling sparkle everyone loves. For moissanites, the precision of these facet cuts is a major price factor alongside color and clarity, since skilled craftsmanship directly impacts the stone’s brilliance.

Facet cuts are the toughest to evaluate in gemstone grading because it’s not an exact science.The gemologist has to rely on their own judgment to assess the symmetry, proportions, and arrangement of the facets, as well as how they interact with light.

If you’re thinking about custom jewelry, it’s crucial to buy your loose moissanite only from trusted vendors. A poorly cut stone won’t look nearly as stunning once set in jewelry compared to a well-cut one. Ask the jeweler if you can inspect the stone under a loupe. A high-quality cut will have minimal to no dark spots, with evenly spaced, well-proportioned facets.

Types of Facet Cuts

Brilliant Cut

Brilliant cut stones reflect the most amount of light and will appear to have a well defined facets. A round brilliant cut would be the most popular, most recognizable but also one of the most expensive because this cut requires the most amount of time to make and it sheds the most amount of weight out of the rough material. A round brilliant cut Moissanite will have about 57 to 58 facets and produces the most fire and brilliance out of all the other types of facet cuts. The shapes that commonly use brilliant cuts are round, oval, marquise, radiant and cushion.

Vintage Cut

The Vintage cut – also called the ‘Old European’ cut – has a unique facet pattern that plays with light differently, giving off a warmer glow. Instead of throwing off sharp, fiery flashes like a brilliant-cut moissanite, it creates bigger patches of light and dark – kind of like a checkerboard effect. Some folks who prefer more understated jewelry dig this look over the super-sparkly brilliant cuts.

Step Cut

Step cut has a sleek and elegant look with parallel rectangular facets graduating from the Moissanite’s table. This type of cut is used for Emerald, Baguette and Asscher shapes that have open tables and allow for you to see clearly into the gemstone. Though this type of cut has less facets and will not give you as much fire as a brilliant cut or crushed ice cut would, it showcase for the gemstone’s clarity. When choosing this type of cut, make sure that you get no lower than a VVS2 clarity, otherwise the stone’s inclusions would be easily visible to the naked eye.

Crushed Ice Cut

Crushed ice cut may look similar to a brilliant cut and the same shapes of Moissanite could use either brilliant or crushed ice facet cuts. Crushed ice cut has short, broken up facets that looks very similar to a broken glass or crushed ice, hence the name, while brilliant cut has well defined and longer facets. Why you should choose one over the other is really a matter of personal preference. Some may view crushed ice as more brilliant because of its smaller, shorter light reflections but some prefer the broader and longer light dispersion. Price wise, crushed ice and vintage cuts are less expensive than brilliant cut because less of the rough material weight is shed when these types of facet cuts are used.

Hearts and Arrows Cut

Hearts and Arrows cut is a precise-cut version of a brilliant cut. Because of their exact angles and symmetry, they show perfect arrows visible from the top of the gemstone’s table, and hearts visible when the gemstone is face-down displaying the skill of the lapidarist who shaped and polished the stone. Be prepared to pay premium price for this very exacting and detailed cut–yes, this is the most expensive type of facet cuts of all–significantly more expensive than a brilliant cut. Is it worth it, you may ask? Again, it’s a matter of personal preference, but it may help you decide if you know that this very distinct pattern is only visible under a special gemologist’s magnifying tool and not to your naked eye.