For anyone who’s reading this who wants to have beautiful, sustainable, and (let’s be honest, most importantly) economical fine jewelry pieces: You’ve come to the right place.
For some background: I love fine jewelry. I love unique pieces. I have what some would call expensive taste. However, I don’t want to spend thousands of dollars on jewelry that was the product of exploitation of other human beings- just to have a sparkly rock? No way.
This is what compelled me to do some research beyond the overrated, overinflated diamond.
I researched different gemstones and their qualities. I researched what colors would look best with my skin tone. I researched what gemstones paired best with what metals. I researched everything I could, and I just didn’t feel like anything was a perfect fit.
Until I found moissanite. Moissanite was the answer to all of my questions. It is ethically and sustainably sourced. It’s affordable. It is a clear gemstone, like a diamond, with a more brilliant sparkle. It is basically the unicorn I was searching for. Let’s get into a little more of what this stone is and why it’s basically perfect (at least in my book it is!)
The way I like to describe moissanite to people is that it’s basically a space diamond. Yes, you heard that correctly! Let me explain. We all know that diamonds are formed under a lot of pressure over a long period of time. This is also true for moissanite as well, but instead of forming in the Earth, they form in space rocks(!!!)
Moissanite is just about always made in a lab. That’s because it’s not every day that a meteorite comes crashing to Earth filled to the brim with this magical, sparkly stone. The fact that they’re lab-made is the reason why they’re ethically and sustainably sourced- we aren’t digging into the Earth extracting stones that take billions of years to form. Using up materials faster than we can produce them is not what we’re going for here! We can produce moissanite just as fast as we use it, which is the beauty of sustainable sourcing.
Some things that I love about moissanite are that it refracts light different than a diamond. In this case, moissanite gives a rainbow sparkle instead of the white sparkle that diamonds have. This comes down to personal preference, but I’ll take the rainbow sparkle of a moissanite over the white sparkle of a diamond any day. They are also just below diamonds on Mohs Hardness Scale. They are similar to diamonds in a lot of ways; they’re not like CZ stones. They’re precious gemstones that maintain their quality against the test of time.
My favorite place to find moissanite jewelry is Etsy. There are tons of unique pieces and supporting small crafters is just another bonus to this whole unicorn situation!
Stay posted for more tips and advice on advancing in life on a budget. See you next time!
An Olive Writes 