Willie Evans
This is a simple, elegant solitaire necklace featuring a large, very sparkly gem. The gem is attractive and the setting is understated, leaving all of the focus on the gem itself contained within. It's provided on a very short and very thin chain, so for those who need or prefer a bit of extra length, you should plan on swapping the necklace chain for a longer aftermarket one. I like the design a lot.I reviewed this product in the largest available size, 5 carats. That's... a lot. This is large and showy enough that I suspect few people will mistake it for a true diamond; if you're going for realism, I'd suggest sizing down a few carats. A 5 ct diamond equivalent should be about 11mm wide, and this measures at almost exactly that diameter, so the size at least is as represented.As you're probably aware, sparkly gems are made out of a variety of materials. Diamonds are obviously the most costly, and cubic zirconia offers a reasonable simulation at a very cheap price point. Moissanite sits somewhere in the middle, with ethical lab sourcing and construction close enough to diamonds to actually pass many diamond identification tasks. A true Moissanite is a great compromise.The issue here is that market value for a true moissanite stone of this size is usually many times what is being charged here in this listing, so the default expectation is that this is probably a different material and that the description might be inaccurate. A certificate of authenticity is provided, but the packaging here is hilariously amateurish: your ring comes in a literal Ziploc bag, for starters, and the report/certificate is so riddled with errors there's no way it's from a real lab. My gem was declared as "slightiy thick" (sic), and the document promised a "holigraw security" feature that they didn't even bother to include. The report number I received - 107230746, in case you want to check if all 5ct gems have the same number - does validate on their web site, but the web site is "XY Gems Report" and claims to be a different organization. (The paperwork is from the "Global Gemological Research Association", but the web site is from the "International Gem Testing Association".)The whole thing is clearly intended to evoke real diamond reports from the legitimate GIA, right down to the graphic design and color scheme, but it definitely falls down in the details. The warranty from Keepstar isn't much better, referencing "intregity" of "coverd" "jewellary", "consiquental" damages and "naccessary" repairs without including any contact information.I tried some at home tests to see if I could validate the gem type with inconclusive results. In the 'line test', where you try to see a line through the gem, I was unable to see a line because the gem reflected too much internally (that's a good thing and doesn't rule out moissanite). Visually, I wasn't able to see anything obvious that distinguished it one way or another. Subjectively, it's less reflectively sparkly than a true diamond I compared it side by side with, but both were still quite pretty. I would really need professional equipment to know for certain if this is a true moissanite or a different simulated gem.So we're left with a very pretty necklace of uncertain provenance. I'd approach it assuming I was getting cubic zirconia and planning for the residual value of the necklace to be zero, and if this does happen by some miracle to be true moissanite, I'd consider it to be a very pleasant surprise. But the good news is that this is priced very fairly, even for simulated jewelry, so if you're looking for a timeless necklace that has some nice sparkle to it, I think you'll enjoy it for what it is!Just maybe pop the so-called 'certificate of authenticity' in a drawer and take the necklace out of the Ziploc before gifting it...
