Everything you need to know about Cubic Zirconia jewelry

Cubic Zirconia jewelry – or “CZs” – is heating up as the super-smart option for anyone who loves their “bling.” And there are some very good reasons why CZ jewelry is the hot ticket among those who could afford pricier diamonds or gems, or anyone who wants dazzling (but affordable) jewelry.

Colorless cubic zircon is known for its brilliance and flashes of multicolored light, called fire. These cubic zircon properties are close enough to the properties of diamond to account for centuries of confusion between the two gems.

BUT WHAT IS CUBIC ZIRCONIA?

Cubic zirconia is the best synthetic stone of all diamond´s substitutes. It is an ideal raw material for the production of jewelry thanks to its hardness coming close to the hardness of ruby or sapphire, and optical properties close to those of diamond.

The man-made answer to natural diamonds, it boasts perfect structure, extreme hardness and incredible light dispersion. Made with only the highest quality, inclusion-free rough, Preciosa Cubic Zirconia stones are individually polished to achieve an even brighter fire than their naturally occurring counterpart

HOW WAS IT CREATED?

American and Swedish researchers found out, in the 1950s, how to turn carbon and molten iron into diamonds in a lab. For a while, these weren’t good enough to put on a nice ring or to wear on a necklace. But eventually they got to that point Now, most cheap diamonds you get were created in a lab. But this doesn’t really make cubic zirconia synthetic—actually cubic zirconia come from natural materials, just as mined diamonds do.

They just get a boost from technology.

WHY CHOOSE CUBIC ZIRCONIA OVER DIMONDS?

Something formed millions of years ago in the Earth’s mantle is pretty amazing. In fact, some diamonds were formed from the impact of asteroids. What an amazing thing to wear on one’s ring finger, in addition to just how pretty they are!

Cubic zirconia doesn’t share that sort of origin. However, these days, a lot of diamonds are created in a lab anyway, (making it guilt-free for us here at AYEZI, since we know exactly where our gems come from and is 100% ethically made) and that might level the playing field just a bit. So where does cubic zirconia come from? Its origin is zirconium oxide.

Zirconium oxide is a white crystalline powder. One use of this element is in glazes and ceramic colors. When it is melted at an extremely high heat, it creates crystals, which are then polished and known as cubic zirconia. Stabilizing agents are added to Zirconium oxide to form cubic zirconia. Like diamonds, cubic zirconia is clear and colorless, with a good degree of hardness (with a Mohs score of 8-8.5).

DIFFERENCES

Clarity is one of the characteristic that sets diamonds and cubic zirconia apart. It’s the place where the synthetic nature of Zirconia works as an advantage. Diamonds, as you know, are products of the depths of the Earth. Because of that, they often have flaws. There are many stones brought out of the Earth that won’t be able to be used for jewelry.
if you are looking for great clarity, that desire may drive you toward Zirconia. Then again, flaws can make people endearing, and one might look at jewel stones the same way.

Cubic Zirconia vs. Diamond: Diamonds Dispersion

Dispersion is the way light is reflected by an object: light hits an object—a diamond, for example— and is then split into different little bits of the color spectrum. These fragments of color are then beamed into the viewer’s eye—so that’s what we see. When a diamond disperses light in this way, the light is called its “fire.”

What determines how this lovely display of light will appear is the configuration of the diamond’s facets. These are, of course, what split the light into different fragments.
Diamonds have a dispersion rate of 0.044.

This is an area in which zirconia outshines diamonds—see what we did there? cubic zirconia has a dispersion rate of 0.058-0.066. This means that this “fire” or rainbow effect is greater with cubic zirconia than with diamonds, so if that’s a priority, you have a reason other than price to go for zirconia. The difference in dispersion level between diamonds and cubic zirconia is more obvious in larger carat sizes. Thus, if you’re worried about the bling being out of control, you can go with a smaller zirconia.

Cubic Zirconia vs. Diamond: Diamonds Brilliance

So, we’ve just looked at dispersion, or light of different colors shooting from a stone, like colors of a rainbow. But there’s another big factor for gems, and that is how bright—or brilliant—they are. This refers to the depth of their sparkle or brightness, and not different colors.

The technical word for measuring brilliance is refraction or the refractive index. Diamonds have a refractive index of 2.42, higher than any gem except one called Moissanite. On the other hand, cubic zirconia is at 2.16.

This means that diamonds are brighter than cubic zirconia, but not by a large amount. You can decide how you’d like to trade brilliance for price.

Some interesting facts about cubic zirconia

CZs ARE HEAVIER THAN DIAMONDS

A cubic zirconia stone is about 75% heavier than a diamond of equal size. Check it for yourself.

CZs HAVE A PEDIGREE

Cubic Zirconia is so impressive in its makeup that even the high-ticket company, Swarovski, uses it in their expensive crystal items.

THE RICH LOVE THEIR CZ JEWELS…

One of the biggest markets for CZs are rich people. Not only do they get more “bang for the buck,” if a CZ piece is ever lost or stolen, the financial pain points are a lot less painful. Celebrities and high-rollers can “look the part” without excess worry. Insurance companies also love CZ owners for not putting them on the hook for a big-ticket item. That means big insurance savings.

The other cold, hard fact is that diamonds tend to lose 50% of their value after purchase. Here’s a dirty secret: diamonds are marked up anywhere from 100 to 200 percent, so retailers aren’t anxious to buy them back at the same cost.

CZs OFTEN STUMP THE EXPERTS

If anyone worries that cubic zirconia pieces somehow stand out (in a bad way) from actual diamonds or gemstones, know that the experts themselves need to employ some pretty serious equipment to distinguish them from the real thing. Today’s technology has made it such that high-quality CZ’s are nearly indistinguishable from their real mineralogical counterparts. So as you flash that gorgeous ring or earrings, know that pretty much everyone will just think, “Wow!”