Lab Grown vs. Natural Diamonds: Everything You Need to Know

Nope…unless you have expensive and high-tech lab equipment. Lab grown diamonds will look exactly the same to anyone looking at them, even a jeweler. Physically, they are the same. Side by side, you are not going to see any difference with the naked eye - nor will her judgey friend or your soon-to-be mother-in-law. However, if you ever take it to a jeweler or send it in to get certified, equipment will be able to tell the difference.

Yes. A lab grown diamond is a real diamond that has the same chemical, physical and optical features as a natural just grown in a machine rather than the earth. It will test as a diamond on a handheld diamond tester and by a gemologist because it is a real diamond!

Only with sophisticated equipment. Or by “cheating” and reading the laser inscription on the girdle of the diamond, which would say LG before the certificate number. Without looking at the inscription, it's very hard to tell the difference with regular testing equipment not found in a laboratory like GIA or IGI. Testing devices are becoming more popular for the industry, but they are still quite costly and don't always work 100%. It also depends on how much training the person has. If you take the stone to a Graduate Gemologist it may be easier for them to tell the difference versus a jewelry store salesperson or even a bench jeweler. We have often seen cheap handheld testers show incorrect results.

Yes, they are ethical. they are also a responsible, eco-friendly choice since no mining is required. While it does take a lot of energy to make them, they are perceived as the more sustainable option because of the environmental implications of mining diamonds (like anything you mine from the Earth).

Natural diamonds have a pretty unfortunate history where blood diamonds were present. Since then, there has been an international effort to get these out of the supply chain (called the Kimberley Process) - some activists argue the process is not effective enough, on the other end, some argue that mining provides livelihoods and export income for these countries… Regardless, all sellers listed on Rare Carat must have conflict-free policies, and we’re working with companies like Everledger so you can see the origin of your natural diamond.

You can search for lab grown diamonds on Rare Carat. But regardless of where you buy, GIA gemologists are available to help you.

Absolutely! Just because they don't hold value on the secondary market doesn't mean they aren't a great option. The old adage, spend 3 months' worth of your salary on a diamond has gone out the window. With a lab grown diamond, you can get a larger, higher-quality stone for less. The best part about it...nobody will ever be able to tell the difference!

Lab-created diamonds are made in a laboratory, not by nature - but it’s still have the same chemical structure. Lab grown diamonds can have inclusions just like natural diamonds. Lab grown diamonds can be flawless, but like natural diamonds, most are not. So you can go ahead and look for the same things (carat, cut, color, clarity).

It is harder for the lab process to make bigger and higher quality diamonds - so like natural, these are rarer.

In terms of the 4 Cs,

The larger the carat,

The higher the color,

The higher the clarity,

And the higher the cut,

… the rarer and more expensive.

Great question. It’s hard to see into the future, but in general, our honest opinion is not as much as natural diamonds.

When you go to sell a natural diamond, you are probably going to see a haircut on the retail value you spent. This is because the diamond wholesaler then has to go back and find a retailer to buy it, the retailer has to stock it and add a margin for their services. Depending on how much you shopped around & whether you ended up buying at a branded jeweler, we’d expect you to get something in the range of 40-75% of what you bought it for. (Branded jewelers will charge a higher margin so you’ll get less back). However, that underlying wholesale value has largely held steady over the years, and that is what is considered when buying a diamondback from a consumer.

On the other hand, valuing lab grown diamonds is tough because wholesale prices have been falling in the last few years as more supply has come into the diamond industry. Our general opinion is that we expect them to fall more over the next few years as more supply becomes available before diamond prices settle down.

Lab-created diamonds should definitely be less expensive than natural diamonds of the same quality in the first place, though.

Not as well as a natural diamond, no. Diamonds in general are not the best financial investment, natural or lab, but a lab will lose more monetary value faster than a natural stone.

There are two ways you can create a diamond in a lab: Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD diamonds) and High-Pressure High Temperature (HPHT). Typically the method of creation doesn't matter...at the end of the process, you still get a beautiful diamond!

The HPHT method is the closest to the natural process - it crystallizes carbon through (wait for it) high pressure and high temperatures. This is similar to the heat and pressure deep within the Earth. Fun fact: General Electric was the first to successfully grow diamonds in 1954 using this method (besides Mother Nature who precedes them by just a few billion years). Since this is the more expensive process, it's usually reserved to create lab-grown melee.

Created back in the 1970s, the CVD method is quickly becoming the preferred way to create diamonds since the machines are much smaller, use less energy, and cut down on growing time. The process starts with an HPHT seed crystal that is inserted into a CVD reactor chamber. A concoction of gases, primarily hydrogen (95%-99%) and methane gas (1%-5%), is injected into the chamber and heated by a microwave beam. The gas molecules split and are attracted to the cooler part of the chamber where the seed is carefully temperature controlled. The molecules literally rain down onto the seed, growing diamond in layers. When the final product comes out, it doesn't look much like typical diamond rough - it's in a cube shape and has black carbon surrounding it. Using a laser, the growers will cut off this excess carbon and usually treat the rough using the HPHT process to remove the brownish tint (this is a stable process known as post-growth treatment and will be listed on the grading report).

Get the full story about how HPHT vs CVD processes work.

‘Synthetic diamond’ usually refers to a lab grown diamond. And yes lab-created diamonds are ‘real diamonds’. Lab grown diamonds are chemically the same. Synthetic doesn’t sound as nice so not used as much. A ‘simulant’ usually refers to something like a moissanite or cubic zirconia. These are not chemically diamonds, but are designed to look like real diamonds - but are easily identified by professionals as fakes.

GIA does certify lab grown diamonds, however, the reports look different than the natural ones (aren't they so pretty?), but that's so people don't get them mixed up. The grading process is exactly the same, and the report still contains all of the same information that you see on a natural diamond report. Lab grown diamond reports are only available electronically (way to go GIA for being more eco-friendly), which means you will not get a physical copy of the report when you order a lab grown diamond that has been graded by GIA. You can access the report via their report check function online.

You will still see more IGI reports for lab diamonds though. Why? GIA just revamped their LDG grading reports back in October 2020 so there aren't as many GIA-graded stones on the market yet. Also, IGI took over the lab grown diamond market and became the leader in grading them. We're sure GIA will catch up to them, but it's going to take a little bit of time. Nothing to worry about though, all of our Graduate Gemologists are experienced in working with reports from both labs.