How about adding a stunning piece of jewelry to your collection? Lab grown diamonds offer a beautiful, ethical, cost-effective alternative to earth-mined diamonds. But can you tell the difference between lab diamonds and mined ones?
Many people wonder if lab grown diamonds match the brilliance, quality and durability of their earth-mined counterparts. Learn whether you can distinguish lab-created diamonds from mined stones and why lab diamond jewelry from Grown Brilliance may be the better choice as a conscientious buyer.
Lab Grown Diamonds vs. Natural Diamonds
- All diamonds, including grown stones, are balls of carbon that have undergone the right environmental conditions to crystallize and form gemstones. The main difference between earth-mined and lab diamonds is how they are created.
Earth-mined Diamonds: These diamonds were formed deep within the Earth’s mantle under intense pressure and heat billions of years ago. Over time, volcanic activity pushed them to the Earth’s surface, where they are mined and extracted, often in areas with political conflict and poor labor conditions. Once extracted, they are shaped, polished and faceted to produce jewelry-grade gemstones.
Lab grown Diamonds: These gems are made using specialized presses and techniques to reproduce the conditions that turn carbon into diamonds. Examples include High-Pressure High-Temperature (HPHT) and Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD). The resulting gemstones are real diamonds with identical chemical properties, but produced under ethical, conflict-free conditions.
The Science Behind Their Creation
Two primary methods—High Pressure High Temperature (HPHT) and Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD)—allow scientists to reproduce the same conditions under which earth-mined diamonds form deep in the Earth’s mantle.
HPHT mimics the intense geological heat and pressure that crystallize carbon into diamond.
CVD involves layering carbon atoms on a diamond seed in a chamber filled with carbon-rich gases.
Both techniques yield diamonds identical in composition and structure to mined ones, offering a brilliant fusion of technology, artistry, and ethics.
Can You Tell the Difference Between Lab Grown and Mined Diamonds?
Both lab grown and earth-mined diamonds are real diamonds, boasting nearly identical structures and compositions. The GIA diamond grading system evaluates lab- and earth-mined diamonds using the same criteria—their cut and shape, color, clarity, and carat weight—highlighting the genuine qualities of both stones.
However, there are subtle ways to tell them apart, often requiring specialized equipment. Here are a few distinguishing features between the two:
Inclusions: Inclusions are tiny imperfections or foreign materials trapped inside a diamond. Lab grown diamonds typically have fewer and more consistent inclusions than mined diamonds. This means lab diamonds usually appear clearer and more flawless, making it easier to distinguish inclusions without magnification.
Color: Lab diamonds often have a more uniform color distribution, while earth-mined diamonds might exhibit slight variations due to their geological formation. This uniformity can give lab diamonds a more consistently brilliant appearance or vibrant hues, as compared to mined gems, which can be identified by specialized tools called spectrometers.
Fluorescence: Lab-created diamonds can exhibit different fluorescence patterns under UV light than earth-mined diamonds. This characteristic requires specialized equipment to detect and can help distinguish the two.
Clarity: Lab grown diamonds generally have high clarity because they are grown in controlled environments, which minimizes impurities and inclusions. Sharing the same refractive index of approximately 2.42 with mined stones, lab diamonds exhibit similar light reflection (brilliance) and light dispersion (fire).
Physical Structure: Lab diamonds have identical crystal structures to mined stones, giving them the same appearance and hardness (a 10 on the Mohs scale). However, a polarized light microscope tool can reveal a stone’s internal strain patterns to determine if a diamond is lab grown.
Lab Signatures: Lab grown diamonds can have microscopic inscriptions that are invisible to the naked eye but detectable with specialized microscopes. These markers can help gemologists identify a lab diamond and attest to its certification and quality.
Why Choose Lab Grown Diamonds Over Mined?
Since lab diamonds and earth-mined stones are identical and can only be distinguished with advanced technology, why choose a lab grown stone with Grown Brilliance? Here’s why we believe high-fashion lab diamond jewelry is the better option:
Affordability: Lab grown diamonds offer bigger and better-quality stones at 50 to 60% of the cost of comparable earth-mined diamonds. This means you can get a dazzling, high-quality, high-carat diamond without breaking the bank. Consider a 2-carat halo engagement ring. For an earth-mined stone of similar size and quality, you’d pay upwards of $31,000. With Grown Brilliance, you can get this design for less than $4,000.
Customizability: Lab grown diamonds offer more customization options. You can choose elements like metals, settings and diamond cut or design your own unique piece to match your style and preferences. For instance, use our interactive website to see what a lab diamond tennis bracelet would look like in white gold or rose gold, and create your ideal accessory.
Exciting Designs: Lab grown diamonds offer a variety of exciting designs, including vibrant colors like pink, blue and yellow and unique patterns like crossover settings. This flexibility allows you to create eye-catching and innovative jewelry pieces.
Ethical Option: Lab created diamonds are produced under controlled conditions that ensure safe and fair labor practices. This choice helps avoid the ethical concerns associated with some mined diamonds, such as unsafe working conditions and dangerous labor conditions.
Sourcing and Certification: Lab grown diamonds come with clear and transparent sourcing information, ensuring you know exactly where your diamond originated. Our loose stones at Grown Brilliance come with certifications that guarantee their quality and authenticity, giving you peace of mind with your purchase.
Find Beautiful Lab Grown Diamond Jewelry at Grown Brilliance
Grown Brilliance carries a wide range of jewelry featuring ethically sourced and produced diamonds, from wedding bands to men’s rings and tennis bracelets. Our collections feature the highest-quality lab diamonds, rated VS2 and above for clarity and Excellent for cut grade.
Shop our selection today or design your own ring, bracelet or wedding band with the help of skilled artisans for a one-of-a-kind accessory.
