Clarity.  Fire.  Brilliance.  You’ve heard the terms applied to diamonds, and know that the more of each of these qualities a diamond exhibits, the more expensive it is going to be.

Still, you’re searching for a jewelry gift, and would love to find a colorless, clear, fiery, brilliant gemstone without facing a price tag in the thousands of dollars.

You’ve seen Cubic Zirconia pieces, but don’t know exactly what a Cubic Zirconia stone is, or how it compares to a natural diamond.

There are two categories of “artificial” diamond.  One, the synthetic diamond, is produced when carbon is dissolved in molten iron.

The iron is then cooled, and as its exterior hardens, the still-soft interior iron pressurizes the dissolved carbon until it crystallizes. Diamonds are simply crystals of carbon, and synthetic carbon-based diamonds are true diamonds.

Synthetic diamonds have been used industrially since 1960, and, in very limited amounts, as larger gemstones.  Simulated diamonds, on the other hand, are not carbon-based.