| ic zirconia jewelry is beautiful in its own right. | | | | same way as a diamond, we use the four |
| The days of cubic zirconia being a cheap diamond | | | | C’s (cut, colour, clarity and carat) to grade |
| substitute has long gone and it has become a | | | | the quality and value of a cubic zirconia, The |
| beautiful stone in its own right. Today many top | | | | difference between cubic zirconia and a natural |
| jewelry designers are using cubic zirconia as a | | | | diamond is the weight, a cubic zirconia is about |
| favorite to make beautiful jewelry, at a | | | | 75% heavier than a natural diamond, that is why |
| affordable price. | | | | when purchasing cubic zirconia’s you would |
| It was first discovered by two German | | | | buy by the physical size rather than the carat |
| Mineralogist in 1937, it was not until the | | | | weight as you would when purchasing natural |
| 1980’s that cubic zirconia took off | | | | diamonds. |
| commercially when it went into mass production | | | | As with natural diamonds, cubic zirconia can be |
| for the retail market. | | | | cut into any shape, whether it be a brilliant round |
| To the untrained eye it is very hard to tell the | | | | cut or a nice heart shape any cut you desire is |
| difference between a cubic zirconia and a natural | | | | possible, also as cubic zirconia are synthetic they |
| diamond however a cubic zirconia can be seen to | | | | can be made in almost any colour red, yellow, |
| have a slightly less brilliance than a natural diamond | | | | pink, green, blue and violet, and a variety of |
| and seem to have more fire than a natural | | | | shades are available. |
| diamond, the difference is very slight and even | | | | Cubic zirconia’s are quite a hard stone |
| for someone with a trained eye they can be | | | | witch makes it a good stone for everyday wear, |
| wrong at times. | | | | they rate around 8 to 8.5 on moh’s scale |
| Most cubic zirconia’s are created flawless | | | | of hardness. You can ware it without the worry |
| unlike natural diamonds that have imperfection and | | | | of it discoloring, scratching or chipping easily, and it |
| impurity’s, although now they are available | | | | is easy to clean, it will take cleaning in a ultrasonic |
| with man made imperfections which makes it | | | | jewelry cleaner without the fear of the stone |
| harder to distinguish from a real natural diamond. | | | | being damaged. Regular cleaning will keep your |
| Also manufactures have developed ways of | | | | cubic zirconia’s sparkling like the day you |
| improving a cubic zirconia’s by coating the | | | | purchased it. |
| stone with a film of diamond-like carbon (DLC) | | | | So the next time you see jewelry made with |
| resulting in a harder, more lustrous stone, due to | | | | cubic zirconia stones, don’t think that it is a |
| the high percentage of diamond bonds within the | | | | piece of costume jewelry, but a piece of jewelry |
| (DLC), the finished cubic zirconia will be very | | | | with a quality cubic zirconia stone that will last a |
| difficult to distinguish from a real natural diamond. | | | | life time if it is looked after. |
| The quality of a cubic zirconia is determined the | | | | |