The environmentally- and budget-friendly way to buy the gemstone.
It’s hard to think of diamonds without associating them with luxury — and some seminal pop culture moments. Think Marilyn Monroe in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Liz Taylor tossing a pile of precious stones onto a table during that iconic perfume commercial, and all those action-movie heists that revolve around someone stealing a glittering gem. But diamonds loom just as large in our collective understanding of courtship, engagement, and marriage.
While diamonds are often touted as a symbol of romantic love, their high price tag has made them too pricey for many, whether they’re buying an engagement ring for a partner or shopping for some sparkly studs for themselves. On the latter note, more women have been buying their own diamonds in recent years, leading the stone to become less of a sign of being engaged and more of a sign of having cash to spare.
Diamond prices remain high, but there are ways to purchase these precious gems without blowing your life savings. To slash the price down significantly, you can opt for a lab-grown (aka “engineered”) diamond in place of one that’s been mined. In fact, over the past few years, lab-grown diamonds have surged in popularity, thanks to their affordability and availability. That’s to say nothing of the larger conversation around “blood diamonds” — the negative social and environmental impacts associated with the diamond trade. All of that has made the lab-grown path a lot more appealing.
According to SuperJeweler, an online diamond retailer, lab-grown diamonds are visually indistinguishable from “real” diamonds, because they technically are real diamonds. Despite their distinction in name, lab-grown stones still maintain the same 4 Cs of quality (cut, color, clarity, and carat), and the main difference between them and the standard gems is how the diamonds are harvested. Both types — old-school and lab-grown — are formed under high pressure and high temperatures, but one is made with modern technology, while the other is formed beneath the earth’s crust. That distinction makes lab-grown diamonds up to 50 percent cheaper, despite being nearly identical in terms of toughness, sparkle, and scintillation. (SuperJeweler offers a pair of 1/2 carat natural diamond earrings for a cool $1,000 while their similar-sized lab-grown counterpart is a mere $200.)
Engineered diamonds can be prepped and displayed in exactly the same way as mined ones — cut, polished, and set into rings, necklaces, earrings, and bracelets. So if you’ve been wanting to add a little flair to your jewelry box but don’t want to break into your 401K, now’s the time to take advantage of these more accessible gems and have your own Liz Taylor “White Diamonds” moment. Below are some of our favorite pieces — here’s hoping they bring you luck, too.
Our Favorite Lab-Grown Diamond Jewelry From SuperJeweler
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