In this part of the world, the first question at any jewellery counter is usually some version of is it real? It is a fair question in a region that grew up around the gold souk, where value is weighed and stamped and you are expected to know what you are buying.
So let's answer it properly. The stones in most of our pieces are cubic zirconia. Here is what that means, how to tell a good one from a cheap one, why we set it, and what it does and doesn't cost the planet.
The Short Answer
Cubic zirconia is a crystal grown in a laboratory from zirconium oxide, melted at around 2,700Β°C and cooled until it sets into a cubic crystal structure. It is genuinely a stone, cut and faceted the way a gemstone is cut. It is not glass, and it is not a diamond.
Nobody set out to imitate anything, either. The material was developed in Soviet laboratories in the 1970s for optics and laser work. The jewellery trade adopted it afterwards, because a colourless crystal that takes a sharp facet is a beautiful thing regardless of what it was made for.
If You Are Buying a Diamond, Get the Certificate
A well-cut cubic zirconia looks close enough to a diamond that some dealers will quietly let you believe it is one. This is not a rare scam, and it is not only a souk problem. It happens at every price level.
So the rule is simple, and it applies to any seller anywhere: if you are buying a diamond, ask for the grading certificate from a recognised lab before you pay. A trained eye can also tell by weight, since cubic zirconia is around 1.6 times heavier than a diamond of the same size, and a thermal tester settles it in seconds. But the certificate is the version you can hold.
We tell you the opposite way round. Our stones are cubic zirconia, we say so on every product page, and nothing here is pretending to be something else.
Five Things to Check Before You Buy
The gap between good cubic zirconia and the kind that looks flat within a season is enormous, and almost all of it is visible if you know what to look at.
1. Turn it in the light
This is the whole test, really. A well-cut stone refracts light from every facet and looks like it cost more than it did. A low-quality stone sits there dull and slightly grey, and it reads as cheap from across a room. Same material, completely different result.
2. Look at the facet edges
Under a light, the edges where facets meet should be crisp lines rather than soft ones. Precision cutting is the first cost a manufacturer drops, and it is what causes that flat look.
3. Turn the piece over
You are looking for metal holding the stone: prongs, a channel, a bezel. Glue-set stones lift at the edge, trap dirt underneath, and eventually come out. The back of a piece tells you more about it than the front.
4. Ask what the metal actually is
A beautifully cut stone in cheap base metal is a piece with a short life, because the setting fails long before the stone does. Ours are set in 925 sterling silver with rhodium or 18k gold plating, and every product page lists the exact materials.
5. Compare the stones to each other
In a multi-stone piece, every stone should read the same brightness and the same colour. Mismatched stones in one design mean stones bought loose by the bag rather than specified to a grade.
Lustra Hoop Earrings, AED 999. Rows of marquise-cut stones, each one set in metal.
Who Chooses Our Stones
Every piece we carry is designed and curated by our creative director, Mamta Valrani, a certified gemologist of twenty years. Two decades of grading real diamonds, which is to say two decades of knowing exactly where the line falls between a high-quality stone and a low-quality one.
That eye does not switch off because the stone is cubic zirconia. The same grading standards decide which stones go into our pieces and which get sent back, and it is the reason the checklist above is one we are happy to hand you.
The Part That Never Came Out of the Ground
Every stone we set was grown in a furnace, and in a region where the jewellery conversation usually starts and ends with gold, this part deserves more attention than it gets.
A mined stone begins with a mine. Recovering diamonds means moving an enormous quantity of rock and earth for every carat, with the water use, land disturbance and tailings that come with any operation on that scale. Then there is the chain of custody, the part no seller can fully show you: where the stone came from, whose hands it passed through, and whether the paperwork followed the actual rough.
Cubic zirconia has none of that behind it. No pit, no tailings, no waterway, no origin question.
We are not going to call it impact-free. Growing crystals at 2,700Β°C takes real energy, and overstating it would undo the point of a post like this. But a furnace and a formula is a genuinely different footprint from a landscape, and it is one we can actually account for.
There is a longevity argument underneath it too. The most wasteful jewellery is the piece that fails and gets binned, so the useful question is whether you will still be wearing something in five years. A properly cut stone, set in metal, on a base that survives this climate, is the version that stays in your rotation.
Why We Set It
Stone size is the most expensive variable in jewellery. Design around mined stones at our prices and you design small, discreet and slightly apologetic. Lab-grown stones remove that ceiling, which is the only reason the Ayla Chandelier Earrings can be set with stones the whole way down and still sit at AED 499.
There is a consistency argument too. Mined stones vary from one another, so matched sets carry a premium. Cubic zirconia is grown to a formula, so a pair looks like a pair and the piece you buy this year matches the one you bought last year.
And the money that isn't going into stones goes into the parts you feel: sterling silver posts, plating thick enough to survive daily wear, settings made of metal. On a piece between AED 299 and AED 999, that is what decides whether you are still wearing it in two years.
Cubic Zirconia, Moissanite, and Crystal
Three things that get lumped together and shouldn't be.
Crystal, of the Swarovski kind, is cut leaded glass. It is around 6 on the Mohs scale, so it scratches and clouds far sooner, and it is usually foil-backed and glued rather than set.
Moissanite is silicon carbide, harder at around 9.25, with even more fire than cubic zirconia and a distinctly different flash. It also costs several times more, which is why it tends to appear in engagement rings rather than everyday jewellery.
Cubic zirconia sits between them at 8 to 8.5 on the Mohs scale: hard enough for daily wear, and, when it is cut properly, the version that lets you own the piece you actually wanted.
Living With It in Gulf Heat
The stone doesn't mind the climate. What our weather is hard on is the metal around it, and the film that builds up on the facets.
- Jewellery goes on last, after perfume and oils. Oud oils and alcohol-based scents are the fastest way to dull plating.
- Take pieces off before the pool, the sea, and the hammam. Chlorine, salt, and steam all shorten the life of plating.
- Wash with warm water, a little mild soap, and a soft toothbrush around the settings. Dry completely, since humidity trapped against metal is what starts tarnish.
- Store in the pouch it arrived in rather than loose in a dish, where stones knock against each other.
- Avoid ultrasonic cleaners entirely. They are hard on plating and they loosen glued stones.
We wrote a fuller guide to this, including what the summer months actually do to silver: How to Take Care of Your Jewellery in the UAE Heat.
Questions We Get Asked
Is it better for the environment than a mined stone?
It removes the mine, and with it the tailings, the land disturbance and the origin question. It is not impact-free, because growing crystals takes considerable energy, but the footprint is a furnace rather than a landscape, and there is no chain of custody to take on trust.
Will it go cloudy?
The stone doesn't degrade. What clouds is a layer of oil, sunscreen, and product across the facets, and warm soapy water removes it. Cloudiness that survives a proper wash usually means the surface was abraded by an ultrasonic cleaner or a harsh polish.
Can I wear it every day in this climate?
Yes, with the plating treated as the fragile part rather than the stone. Off for swimming, showering and the gym, on after perfume, and it will hold up.
Which of your pieces use it?
Most of them. The Stella Crescent & Star Earrings at AED 299, the Orchid Bloom Stud Earrings at AED 399, and the Aya Bliss Adjustable Ring at AED 399 are all stone-set, and each product page lists its materials in full.
Ask the Question
Asking what is in a piece is not rude, it is the correct instinct, and any brand worth buying from will have a straight answer ready. Ours is cubic zirconia, graded by a gemologist, cut well and set in metal.