When shopping for gemstones, generally, cut is very important – that is how you ensure the maximum return of light, brilliance and sparkle. However, natural alexandrite is so rare and precious, they will almost always be cut to maximize their size, therefore usually having a less-than-perfect cut. That is standard and acceptable more with alexandrite than with most stones generally. With natural alexandrites, the stones most of us will ever see are tiny – under .5 carat – and therefore slight imperfections are harder to tell.