Diamonds or Cubic Zirconia?

Have you always dreamed of owning a diamond bracelet, or necklace? You are not alone. Most women would love to own their very own diamond bracelet, but few these days can ever expect to have enough money to be able to. However, there is hope for all who love the look and feel of diamonds. Diamond look-alike gem, cubic zirconia, so closely resembles a real diamond that it is sometimes even difficult for a jeweller to tell the difference unless he uses special equipment to aid in this.

Since the advent of cubic zirconia stones on the scene, many fashion jewellers and designers have been using this stone in place of diamonds to make affordable jewelry. While some market for real diamond jewelry remains, there is now new markets opening up for cubic zirconia jewelry, and this has given a real lift to the ailing jewelry market.

There are some differences that the trained eye can note, regarding their sparkle and radiance. Also, real diamonds are rarely totally colorless whereas many times the cubic zirconia stone is, unless it has been colored artificially. Aside from those few differences, however, even a jeweller would need to put the stone through some rigorous testing to tell the difference.

One very real difference, however, between the two gems is the price. While a real diamond can cost thousands of dollars, jewelry made using cubic zirconia stones is much cheaper. Depending on the type of jewelry you buy, you can pick up some very nice rings and even charms for bracelets for little more than the cost of the silver of the piece of jewelry. Usually, with jewelry that is set with cubic zirconia stones, the main expense revolves around the material used to make the jewelry from, as is the case with cubic zirconia bracelets, for example Gold still costs more than silver, of course, but the quality of the stone is not a deal breaker when it comes to buying cubic zirconia jewelry.

The nicest use I have seen of cubic zirconia stones is the gold cz tennis bracelet. Tennis bracelets consist of a band of metal that is inlaid with precious stones, historically this was diamonds. You can imagine how that bracelet would shine and sparkle, when covered with diamonds. They are beautiful pieces of jewelry, but even if you could afford to buy one it wasn't always such a good idea to wear such an expensive piece of jewelry out. But now, you can buy tennis bracelets inlaid with cubic zirconia stones for only a couple of hundred dollars, and they look every bit as stunning as a diamond bracelet.