Lab-Grown vs Earth-Mined Diamonds

The option to wear lab-grown vs. earth-mined diamonds are becoming more common but a lot of people don't know much about lab-grown.  Questions from "are lab-grown fake or lower quality?" to "what's the difference?" are some commonly asked questions. So, here's a simple break down to make it easy on you:

GOOD NEWS, lab-grown diamonds are NOT fake. They are not lower quality, and you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between lab or earth mined with your naked eye.

Lab-grown diamonds are REAL diamonds with the same carbon arrangement and molecular composition. The only difference between lab and earth mined is the process of its formation.

Lab-grown diamonds are grown in a laboratory. They take at least one month to grow, sometimes longer. Earth mined diamonds take millions of years to develop throughout certain parts of the world. Because of this, earth mined diamonds are considered rarer than lab diamonds. 

The biggest difference between the two is there's finite number of diamonds in the earth in comparison to the unlimited number of diamonds that can be created in a lab within short time. Price reflects this, often greatly.

You cannot tell the difference between lab and earth diamonds by just looking at them side by side. It takes a highly trained professional with sophisticated devices to distinguish what is lab or not. With that said lab grown diamonds are evaluated the same as natural diamonds based on the four C's: Carat, Clarity, Color & Cut.

The most important consideration when diamond shopping is figuring out what's important to you. If you're shopping for an engagement/wedding and plan to keep it for your lifetime and beyond then, spending extra for an earth-mined diamond may not be your biggest consideration.

If you love fine jewelry but know maybe at some point in the future, you'll sell it as an investment piece then earth-mined may be the way to go for a larger return. Lab-grown diamonds are still fairly new to the market therefore long-term financial value is hard to determine or predict for the long future at this moment.

We do offer lab-grown (and earth mined) diamonds in most shapes and sizes. Most of our diamond color choices range from colorless to near colorless (D-H) and we are usually working with SI or better clarity. But the choice from color, size and clarity is entirely up to you.

NOTE: a lot of these factors also apply towards other lab-grown gemstones such as alexandrite, emerald, etc.