For Real, the Winner of the Fake Face Off Is ...

In a landslide victory with 72% of the vote (Wow!!!), Diamonique was chosen by you as the best fake diamond!

Diamonique beat out HSN's Absolute (3%), ShopNBC's Brilliante (1%), Jewelry Television's Bella Luce (0% -- no love for JTV!)

The second biggest vote getter was "doesn't matter, they're all the same anyway" with 12% of the vote and there are still some of you (actually 10% to be precise) out there who "would rather go naked than wear fake diamonds." I can't say that I relate to that particular segment of the population! Put some clothes on people!

Honestly, I would choose Diamonique also. Not because I think it is necessarily better, but because of the lifetime warranty that they offer (but no longer promote). That guarantee is worth spending the extra money. Not too many jewelry items come with that kind of backing.

Technibond on HSN--the gold-plated silver line--also used to be worth the extra money too. But then they got rid of the warranty and now it's just like any other plated jewelry product. Check out the story behind Technibond in my post here.

Here's the thing though. Most of the CZ used in these lines is made by Signity. (Yes, there was a line on ShopNBC by that name that has gone by the wayside and will supposedly return after the beginning of the year under a different name. Apparently there was some confusion between the manufacturer of Signity and the line by same name. I thought that it was very good by the way! Especially the steel and the diamond-coated CZ.)

So, in reality, most of this stuff really is the same. Don't get me wrong though, there are definitely some stinkers out there that look like a piece of cloudy, shadowy, cheap glass.

Since most of the stones are in actuality the same, my main concerns are the quality of the setting and the carat weight. Those flimsy gold setting have got to go. I know that the price of gold has gone up, but trying to stretch one gram of gold over a big ring just ain't gonna work.

Also, those huge stones need to be used sparingly. I have one big honker ring that I bought for fun, but I normally look for low carat weights spread out over lots of stones. I don't know who keeps buying those big rocks, but puh-leeze--for the love of all that's holy--stop!

And to those of you that wouldn't touch a fake diamond with a ten-foot pole, I think that life is short and jewelry should be fun. Spending tons of money and worrying about losing an earring isn't fun to me. Besides, by the time they treat many of those natural stones there's not much left that's natural about it (think Playboy model fake--they've had their nose done, their boobs done, their hair is dyed, they've had lipo, they've been waxed from head to toe, and they have a fake bake--but technically they are real, right?) But to each her own. Whatever you have, enjoy it! :-)