April Birthstone - Diamond!!

"She who from April dates her years,
Diamonds shall wear, lest bitter tears
For vain repentance flow."

I do love a diamond, nothing bounces the light quite like them, but wow do they cost!  

Incidentally do you know how to spot a fake? Apart from weighing half as much as cubic zirconia (commonly used in place of a diamond and a whole lot cheaper) you can do the fog test. Put the stone in front of your mouth and fog it like you would a mirror. If it stays fogged for a couple seconds, it’s probably a fake. A real diamond disperses the heat instantaneously so by the time you look at it, it has already cleared up, or if it happens to be a little dirty, it still clears much faster than a fake. Use a stone you know is real next to the suspect stone and fog both. 

So if it's that hard to tell some other stones from diamonds, there are obviously alternatives that the April birthday girl could wear that look similarly stunning, without eating beans on toast for the next 6 months.

White topaz is a lovely alternative birthstone, which shines and shimmers, yet is affordable. And another alternative I'm using this month is rock crystal. I have some stunning new onion briolettes (and I mean stunning.... watch this space) on my bench which I'm using in designs at the moment. I'll hopefully get a few listed in the birthstone section of my new shop shortly!! 

I do feel slightly guilty for not offering any real diamonds in my shop.... maybe in a few years. But for now, I hope you'll agree these'll do just fine.