Seems like everyone’s shopping for diamonds today. The reasons are almost as many as the customers themselves. But diamonds are the top gemstone for bridal jewelry and mark important milestones in anyone’s life.

Did you notice that there have never been more diamond options for consumers than that dazzling array of diamond types available nowadays? That’s because shoppers’ preferences have evolved so much over the years. That has shifted the public perception and it’s made different things more or less important to the consumer.

So Many Diamond Choices Now

There are earth mined diamonds of course, which everyone understands. But even in that niche, did you know that shoppers have a wide range of options? There are lasered diamonds, and fracture-filled stones, all of which offer good value by way of their treatments.

Today, however, consumers are getting very enthused about sustainable diamond options which are gorgeous (nearly flawless no less!) diamonds grown in a lab. They are in every way an actual diamond because they have the same optical, chemical, and physical traits as earth mined diamonds, but they were grown in a laboratory.

They are sold under several different names, which can be a bit confusing to the uninitiated. They are called synthetic diamonds, lab grown diamonds, man-made, or created diamonds. Make sure you don’t confuse the lab-grown diamond varieties with diamond simulants which are a completely different and inferior product. Diamonds simulants are any manufactured stone made to look like a diamond to the untrained eye but in fact, cannot be called a diamond. They might be CZ (cubic zirconium) or glass, even plastic. Whatever they are made of, they will not have the characteristics required to be called any variety of created diamonds.