Real vs. Synthetic

Nowadays, there are very good imitations of real diamonds, and we can easily mistake them at first glance.

Would you like to learn how to distinguish them?

Here are some home tips to help you:

The Fog Test – Hold the stone you want to investigate in front of your mouth and fog it up as you would fog up a mirror. If it stays fogged for a couple of seconds, it's probably another stone. A real diamond disperses the heat of your breath instantly and won't fog up easily. Even in the time it takes you to fog it up and observe it, it will clear up much faster than a fake one.

You can use a stone that you know is real next to the suspicious one and fog both of them. You can observe how the real stone remains clear while the fake one stays fogged; if you breathe repeatedly on fake diamonds, you will see condensation begin to accumulate. With each breath, the fake stone will fog up more and more while the real one remains clean and clear.

Read the hallmark - If the stone is mounted, try to read the hallmark inside. Generally, a real diamond will not be mounted in a cheap metal. If it has a c.z hallmark, it means cubic zirconia, which means it is synthetic.

Use a jeweler's loupe to inspect the diamond – If a stone is VERY perfect, it is probably a synthetic stone. Natural diamonds usually have imperfections called "inclusions"; you can see small spots inside, black "details" (carbon) or white "details" (feathers). This indicates that the diamond is real, though imperfect. There is a low probability, but perfect diamonds do exist, so don't rely solely on this method.

Glass of water - Fill a glass with water and drop the stone in; if it sinks to the bottom, it's a diamond. If it floats or stays halfway, it's not.

Check for wear - Diamonds are known for their hardness; if they are scratched, it is probably a fake diamond.

Hold it up to the light - The way a diamond sparkles is unique. A real one will have gray tones inside the stone, while it will cast rainbow colors. In a fake diamond, you will only see rainbow colors within the stone.

TIPS:

• Do not test or demonstrate a diamond's authenticity by scratching it with something. If it's real, nothing will happen to it, but you could chip or break it, as diamonds are hard but brittle. You can use sandpaper to differentiate some fake diamonds from real ones, but it is not a completely reliable test. Even if it's not a real diamond, it could still pass the scratch test, as many precious stones are very hard. On the other hand, if it fails, you would have unnecessarily ruined a piece of jewelry that looked like a diamond.

• If you take it to a jewelry store to have it tested to see if it's a real diamond, NEVER lose sight of the piece and always go with someone you trust.

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