Swarovski Lab-Created Diamonds Review – Are They Real? (2023)

Last Updated on July 12, 2023 by Rolf Hartmann

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Introduction to Swarovski lab-created diamonds review

Swarovski is one of the world’s most famous creators of jewelry, and their Swarovski crystals are ubiquitous and a household name. Swarovski Crystals even appeared in this SNL skit (caution, it’s a little racy). However, if you don’t know Swarovski Crystals, they are not diamonds. Instead, they are diamond simulants, similar to Moissanite or Cubic zirconia, and are meant to imitate diamonds.

But, unlike lab-created diamonds, they are not real diamonds. Their hardness on the mohr scale is between 6 and 7, while diamonds (mined or lab-grown) are 10. However, Swarovski Crystals are exceptionally sparkly, and while it’s relatively easy to tell them apart from real diamonds, they have their place in jewelry.

Swarovski Crystals were created as a cheaper alternative to mined diamonds. And it has not gone past the Austrian company that there’s a new and better alternative to mined diamonds: lab-grown diamonds. They offer the same beauty and quality as mined diamonds at a fraction of the cost. Lab-created diamonds also come with an assurance that they were created ethically, without any harm to people or the environment.

So instead of competing with real diamonds, Swarovski embraced the better diamond choice of lab diamonds and included them in their inventory along with their crystal diamond imitations. So, obviously, we had to take a closer look in this Swarovski lab-created diamonds review.

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Swarovski lab-created diamonds

With the introduction of lab-created diamonds, Swarovski enters the real diamond jewelry industry. This reminds us of Pandora Brilliance, who similarly graduated from diamond simulant and other non-precious gemstones to the real deal. Read our review of Pandora Brilliance lab-created diamonds to learn how they managed the transition.

So how has Swarovski fared? Well, let’s find out.

First of all, Swarovski lab-grown diamonds feature prominently on their website, unlike how lab-created diamonds are tucked away in sub-menus at Zales and Kay Jewelers, for example. This shows that Swarovski is dedicated to lab-created diamonds.

Swarovski has also dedicated space to educate shoppers about lab-grown diamonds and their benefits compared to mined diamonds. They right refer to lab diamonds as “The Diamond of the future“, and we couldn’t agree more. They feature an educational video and information, too. However, it’s just one page, and we miss deeper and more detailed content about lab diamonds, similar to what you will find at Clean Origin and Grown Brilliance.

And, as we shall discover in the next part of our Swarovski lab-created diamonds review, it indicates what is to come.

Swarovski lab-created diamond selection

In this part of our review of Swarovski lab-created diamonds, we’ll take a closer look at their selection of lab-grown diamonds and jewelry. Usually, we would start by looking at their inventory and the quality of loose lab diamonds, but Swarovski only sells pre-set lab diamond jewelry.

This is precisely the same as Lightbox and all the mall jewelers we have reviewed: Zales, Helzberg, Kay Jewelers, and Pandora Brilliance. With the exception of Pandora (due to their dedication to sustainability and reasonable prices), all the above have achieved our absolute lowest review scores.

And there is a good reason for that. The thing is that most jewelers will pair their jewelry with cheaper lab diamonds, not premium quality (Ritani and Grown Brilliance are notable exceptions, using high-quality diamonds).

And thus, we always recommend that you pair jewelry with lab diamonds from the jeweler’s selection of loose lab diamonds. This way, you can get the perfect diamond for the lowest possible price. Learn how to do that in our guide to buying a lab-grown diamond.

However, we are already skeptical when jewelers, Swarovski lab-created diamonds included, do not have that option.

Swarovski lab-created diamond selection of loose diamonds

Swarovski lab-created loose diamonds do not exist, sadly. This is where we would typically assess the ability to find the perfect lab diamond, but not being able to pick your own diamond makes it a moot point.

So, let’s move along with our Swarovski lab-created diamond review and instead look at Swarovski’s selection of lab-created diamond jewelry.

Swarovski lab-created diamond selection of pre-set jewelry

Instead, let’s turn our focus to Swarovski’s pre-set lab diamond jewelry selection. Navigating their inventory is a little tricky. For some reason, you have to go through their informational page first to reach it. But at least visitors are offered valuable information about lab-created diamonds.

Once you click the “Discover products” or “Shop now” buttons, you’ll see Swarovski’s selection of lab-created diamond jewelry.

In total, 18 products are on offer. Yes, that’s all! Even our lowest-rated lab diamond jeweler, Kay Jewelers, has 200+ lab-grown diamond jewelry pieces on offer, and Pandora Brilliance has 45 lab-grown jewelry products.

To be fair, Swarovski only recently started selling lab-created diamonds, so maybe, hopefully, they’ll add more in the future.

You can choose between the following lab-grown diamond jewelry at Swarovski offer:

• Earrings (8)
• Rings (7)
• Necklaces and pendants (2)
• Bracelets (1)

The lab diamond products at Swarovski span the classic stud earrings and solitaire pendants over more intricate and unique designs (like Vrai and Grown Brilliance).

Swarovski lab-created diamond studs

You’ll find classic lab diamond earrings at Swarovski, such as halos and martini studs. The martini studs do have a slightly more modern twist to their design, while the halos are comparable to what other lab diamond retailers sell.

Swarovski lab-created diamond earrings and pendants

Likewise, Swarovski’s diamond pendants feature a classic halo design and a more unique design that matches the diamond ear cuffs. Weirdly, the necklace is not to be found on their website, only the ear cuffs. That’s a shame because we quite liked those.

Swarovski also offers lab diamond rings and a bracelet (yes, singular form). We really like some of their more distinctive designs, reminding us of Vrai’s unique designs or Grown Brilliance’s Badgley Mischka collaboration.

But we wish there were a lot more of them. 18 jewelry designs really are a minimal collection.

In addition, all jewelry pieces are set with brilliant round diamonds. While it is the most popular diamond shape, it’s a shame that they do not offer any other ones, such as heart, emerald, or pear-shaped.

Swarovski offers only colorless diamonds and no fancy-colored diamonds, such as pink or blue. That is also a shame since fancy-colored lab-grown diamonds are especially cheaper than their mined counterparts.

Having learned that Swarovski’s selection of lab-created diamonds is minimal but does include lovely designs, we’ll compare the lab-created diamond quality next in our Swarovski lab-created diamonds review.

Swarovski lab-created diamond quality

So, the quality of the few designs they offer checks out, and we’re moderately impressed and hopeful that Swarovski will add more unique designs in the future.

But what about the diamond that they pair their jewelry with? As we learned in our Swarovski lab-created diamonds review, the quality is usually not great whenever diamond jewelers do not offer the option of picking and pairing your own lab diamond. That’s because, in most cases, jewelers will not pair with the highest-quality diamond but instead a sub-par (and non-descript) diamond.

So, what is the quality of the diamonds that Swarovski uses? Let’s find out.

Generally, diamond sellers will list the diamond grades on the product page. If you don’t know the diamond grades, we suggest you read our introduction to the lab-created diamond 4Cs. In short, they are

1. Diamond cut
2. Diamond clarity
3. Diamond color
4. Diamond carat

In that order of importance.

Regrettably, in this Swarovski lab-created diamonds review, we found that Swarovski does not list the diamond grade on their product pages.

Finding the grades requires you to scroll through their informational pages, where their video guide to lab diamonds notes which grades they use.

This is similar to what we found in our Lightbox Jewelry review. It’s a little odd. Why hide the diamond quality like that?

Watching the video, Swarovski tells us that the lab diamond grades are the following:

Swarovski lab diamond cut grades

The cut is the most important of all diamond grades, which you can learn more about in our guide to lab-grown diamond cut. You should always pick the highest grade, which is Excellent if graded by GIA and Ideal if graded by IGI (more on the grading of Swarovski’s diamonds below). So, anything below will lead to a low mark in our Swarovski lab-created diamonds review.

Well, Swarovski, in their video, tells us that the diamond grade used is the absolute best, ie. Excellent or Very Good. Now, as you may know, the grade “Very Good” is, in fact, not very good. So stay clear of that one.

But what about Excellent? Well, the reference to Excellent makes us think that Swarovski’s lab diamonds might be graded by GIA, in which case Excellent is indeed excellent. But, as we’ll get back to soon, we don’t know.

Swarovski lab diamond clarity grades

The next thing we consider in our Swarovski lab-created diamonds review is diamond clarity. While not as critical as diamond cut, clarity is still important, especially for brilliant-cut colorless diamonds, which are all Swarovski sells.

Diamond clarity refers to blemishes and inclusions in the diamonds, which are either visible or obstacles to the optimal light reflection (aka brilliance and fire).

We would generally recommend that you look for lab diamonds with a clarity grade around VS2 to VVS1. SI1 can be ok, too, if eye-clean (that is, you can’t see any blemished and inclusions). However, anything above VVS1 is a waste of money.

Swarovski explains that they only use diamonds with a grade between Internally Flawless (insanely expensive and rare) and Slightly Included (borderline acceptable). But, of course, that tells you nothing, and it’s a ridiculously wide range. But chances are higher that you’ll receive a Slightly Included diamond than Internally Flawless (you won’t, we’re 99.9% sure).

Swarovski lab diamond color grades

Lastly, let’s consider the lab diamond color grades. Again, Swarovski presents us with such a wide range of colors that their diamonds may fall within that it does not tell you anything.

We often recommend downgrading on the color grade, especially if your diamond will be set in a yellow-ish metal (such as yellow gold). However, color is an excellent opportunity to save, and there is rarely any reason to go beyond H or G, and you’ll likely be just as happy with an I or J-colored diamond.

So, even if you receive a lab diamond from Swarovski at the lowest end of the range, you should be fine. And that’s good because there’s an overwhelming chance that you will. D-colored diamonds are exceptionally rare, even when created in a lab, and are equally exceptionally expensive.

Summary of Swarovski lab-created diamond quality: Swarovski is extremely vague in their diamond grades, basically spanning the whole spectrum, but probably selling you something at the lower end. In addition, the diamond grades are well hidden. The biggest problem is that you may receive a lab diamond with a “Very Good” cut grade, which, confusingly, is not very good.

But wait, there are more problems with the diamond quality. We’ll examine that next in this review of Swarovski lab-created diamonds.

Swarovski lab-created diamond certification

The diamond grades are the only way to know the quality of the diamond you are buying. And as we’ve learned above in our Swarovski diamond review, the grades are ok to dubious.

But who determines lab diamond quality and assigns the grade? When buying at the best lab diamond jewelers, the diamonds are always graded by independent diamond institutes such as IGI, GIA, or GCAL.

However, some diamond sellers grade their diamonds themselves. That’s right, they grade their own homework and expect you to trust that they do so completely objectively.

Examples of diamond sellers who grade their own diamonds include Vrai, Kay Jewelers, Pandora Brilliance, and Lightbox Jewelry.

And Swarovski. Sadly, Swarovski has also decided that shoppers don’t need independent certification of their diamonds. And that you should trust them. We would not. Even if the independent grading adds several hundred dollars to the diamond price, it’s always worth it. The alternative is not having any idea of what you are buying.

Unlike Vrai, who is at least somewhat transparent about it, Swarovski doesn’t let you know. Instead, they refer to their diamonds as “certified”, exactly as Kay Jewelers does.

So it isn’t easy to assess the diamond quality that Swarovski offers. At best, if we trust their grading, it’s acceptable. Worst case, you’ll need to return your lab diamond jewelry to Swarovski (more on that later in this Swarovski lab-created diamonds review).

Before that, we’ll assess prices in our Swarovski lab-created diamonds review.

Swarovski lab-created diamond prices

As we have learned in the previous section of our Swarovski lab-created diamonds review, the selection is limited, but what Swarovski does have is not bad. However, the quality is, at best dubious.

But are their lab diamond jewelry prices reasonable? Well, let’s find out.

In our lab diamonds reviews, we usually compare the prices of loose lab-grown diamonds to attempt a like-for-like comparison. However, since Swarovski only sells pre-set diamond jewelry, we’ll instead compare the most common jewelry pieces.

First, we’ll compare the prices of Swarovski lab diamond stud earrings with prices from our best-rated places to buy lab-grown diamonds.

Price comparison for a pair of 1-carat lab-grown diamond stud earrings

Jeweler	Clarity	Color	Cut	Price
Swarovski	SI1+	I+	Very Good+	$1,400
Ritani	VS2	G-H	Ideal	$1,356
Grown Brilliance	VS2+	E-F	Very Good to Excellent*	$900

As you can see from the above comparison of Swarovski lab-grown diamond prices, they come out dead last. On the other hand, Ritani and Grown Brilliance are both cheaper, and the diamond quality is vastly better (and, importantly, independently evaluated).

Price comparison for a pair of 1-carat lab-grown diamond solitaire engagement ring

Jeweler	Clarity	Color	Cut	Price
Swarovski	SI	I+	Very Good+	$1,950
Ritani	SI	F	Ideal	$742
James Allen	SI	G	Ideal	$1,370

Again, Swarovski struggles to keep up with the competition. Both Ritani and James Allen are cheaper and better. And the grades are independently determined.

In conclusion, the prices at Swarovski, while not excessive like at mall favorites such as Zales, Helzberg, or Kay Jewelers, they are still higher than our recommended places to buy lab-created diamonds. Instead, Swarovski’s prices are closer to those of Vrai (also not independently certified) or Brilliance.com.

Having learned that prices are not excessive but also not great, we’ll consider Swarovski’s shipping costs and return policies next in our Swarovski lab-created diamonds review.

Shipping and returns

The shipping options at Swarovski are either standard or express delivery. All are with UPS (good), but standard takes 2-4 business days, while express takes a day (plus processing). And you pay for both options—$ 6.95 for standard and a whopping $20 for express.

None of our recommended lab diamond jewelers charge for delivery, and all offer expedited shipping (at no cost). That’s how it should be, considering your purchasing cost (and size/weight).

It’s cheaper than some of our lower-rated jewelers, but not great.

You can return your online order within 14 days. That is a very short period and half of the industry average of 30 days – much less than Clean Origin’s generous 100-day money-back guarantee.

In addition, exchanges are not possible. You must return whatever you have purchased and start a new order if you want something else. Not super convenient, and it may put a dent in your cash flow!

Sustainability

The last thing we’ll consider before wrapping up this Swarovski lab-created diamonds review is Swarovski’s dedication to sustainability.

Lab-grown diamonds are already the sustainable diamond choice compared to mined diamonds. So just by only selling lab-created diamonds, Swarovski is scoring high on the sustainability factor.

But, as we have learned in our Vrai and Brilliant Earth reviews, it’s possible to go even further by ensuring that the diamond creation is carbon neutral and that packaging, etc. is sustainable (something Grown Brilliance also does).

And this is somewhere Swarowski shines. Swarovski’s diamonds are carbon neutral through offsetting. While truly carbon neutral through renewable energy-led production is better, offsetting is still better than what most diamond jewelers offer, particularly those who sell only mined diamonds.

In addition, Swarovski’s delivery and returns are climate-neutral. Again, it’s by carbon offsetting, but it is the first time we’ve seen a diamond company promise sustainable logistics. Great job, Swarovski.

So, ending on a high note, let’s see where our Swarovski lab-created diamonds review lands.

Conclusion of Swarovski lab-created diamonds review

We have been both positively and negatively surprised throughout our Swarovski lab-created diamonds review. We’re excited to see Swarovski enter the lab-grown diamond market and their commitment to the sustainable diamond choice of lab diamonds. We’re also happy to learn that Swarovski does not hide their lab-created diamond jewelry but advertises it clearly in the top-level navigation.

However, the lab-created diamond jewelry that Swarovski sells is very limited in scope. A mere 18 jewelry pieces are currently on offer. And while we found many of them exquisite and appreciated their premium designs, the selection is way too small.

What’s worse is the quality of Swarovski’s lab-created diamonds. First, the diamond grades Swarovski guarantees span sub-par quality to the absolute premium. That’s useless information, but it indicates that quality is likely on the low end of the spectrum. So expect that.

Second, the grades they do promise are all set by themselves. Usually, lab diamonds are graded by independent diamond institutes. But Swarovski’s lab diamonds are not. Instead, they decided to carry out the diamond quality grading themselves and hope you’ll trust them. We wouldn’t.

But, if you want to go ahead and test Swarovski’s lab-created diamond jewelry, you can do that but note that you only have two weeks to return any purchase. And you pay for delivery.

The positive is that their delivery is carbon offset, as is the production of their lab diamonds. We applaud Swarovski’s dedication to sustainability, which is better than most diamond jewelers, but other lab diamond sellers, namely Brilliant Earth, Vrai, and Grown Brilliance, are also focused on sustainability.

Summing up our Swarovski lab-created diamonds review, we don’t find that the pros outweigh the cons, and we can only give Swarovski’s lab diamonds our limited recommendation. We land at 3.9 stars out of 5.

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