Contentious CZ Rings
The cubic zirconia ring is certainly one contentious piece of jewelry. Jewelry snobs may think you are gauche to buy a man made stone. It's true that cubic zirconia is not found in nature, but it is a beautiful gemstone all on it's own. The sparkle and fire closely mimics diamonds so well that cubic zirconia rings fool the vast majority of people.
Since cubic zirconia stones are so cheap, you can get that fabulous ring that you could not afford in any other stone. I recently bought a cubic zirconia ring that was stunning and nearly fooled me. It was clear and yellow cubic zirconia in white gold in such a setting that made the ring look 'real'. It was a thick setting the kind you'd find in a jewelry store not the kind you'd associate with fake diamonds.
Jewelry manufacturers and designers are realizing that cubic zirconia rings would sell more if they upped the costs used to make them. We don't want cheap jewelry, we want nice expensive looking jewelry that will fool everyone. You are the only one that needs to know that a ring is not a 'real' stone dug up from the earth. Or even a lab created 'real' stone such as a lab created ruby or emerald. Why are those stones more acceptable as lab created than the lab created cubic zirconia?
When cubic zirconia rings first came out, they were so over the top that it was obvious they were fake. The pink cubic zirconia were called 'pink ice'. The stones were huge and the settings were outrageous. Now they've tempered their rings and settings down to look more like something you could pick up at a chain jewelry store. That has been what's made the rings more popular and more acceptable.
