1. Moissanite is a relatively recent discovery.
  2. Moissanite’s usage in jewellery started only 20+ years ago.
  3. A manufacturing patent only expired a few years ago. One company had the control of it until recently. That company is based in USA.
  4. Even if you never heard of it, you might have one. Some jewellers have been selling moissanites at the price of diamonds and telling their customers that they are diamonds. Moissanites pass as diamonds when you use a traditional diamond tester and some use that to trick people.
  5. Moissanites are way cheaper than diamonds, so the margins for the jewellers are much lesser. Promoting moissanites would put their margins at risk.

Natural moissanite is extremely rare and too small for its usage in jewellery. For this reason, moissanite for jewellery is created in laboratories.

Lab-created stones in general are less expensive to produce than mined stones (mining operations are very expensive). Likewise, in the twentieth century the company De Beers ran an aggressive marketing campaign that inflated people’s perception about diamonds, making it look okay to charge outrageous amounts of money for 1 carat of this gemstone. One carat is equal to 0,2 grams…

Yes, in most aspects.

When it comes to beauty, moissanite outperforms diamonds in the 3 parameters used in their evaluation: shine, dispersion and brilliance.

When it comes to durability, moissanite is the second hardest gemstone with 9,25 on Mohs Scale of hardness, only second to diamond which is the hardest one.

NO. Buying moissanites or diamonds can only be considered an investment if:

  • You buy extremely rare pieces
  • You buy it from someone famous
  • You are very famous

Just like buying a car, buying moissanite or diamond-based jewellery is NOT an investment. They will start losing value the moment you receive them.

On the other hand, the precious metals of the jewellery will hold their value and even increase over time. For this reason, we provide information on the grams of gold each our pieces weighs.

Because moissanite production is more expensive, it’s more difficult to work because of its superior hardness and because much more effort is put into cutting a stone that is worth it.

Cubic zirconia is a commercial product invented with the only purpose of imitating diamonds, produced in mass and meant to satisfy customers on a budget. They are often used on trendy designs that will get outdated quickly. In a few months of daily use, cubic zirconia jewellery will scratch, look cloudy and lose its sparkle. Moissanites and diamonds shine is forever.

Lab-created or synthetic gems are not bad; they are great for the following reasons:
  1. Top quality: the only difference is how they are made
They are not plastic; they are not glass; they are not fake imitations, they are replicas. The only difference is how they are made. While natural gems are the result of a geological process, lab-created stones are the result of a technological process. Just like the cultivated pearls.
  1. They look better: most natural stones have visible inclusions (cracks, bubbles, etc.) and most people don’t like that.
    1. Natural stones are not created by Nature to look nice; lab-created stones are created with that purpose and it’s rare to find an ugly looking lab-created stone.
    2. When it comes to diamonds, most people can only afford smallish natural diamonds with serious inclusions and poor color. Those same people can afford big moissanite stones with more shine and brilliance, great color and no inclusions and the same level of durability.
    3. In regards of rubies, sapphires and emeralds, most natural stones look rather opaque and have visible inclusions. They cost a fortune and they look like dirty cracked stones.
  2. Better for our planet.
    1. Natural stones are mined. Mining is a key industry for our development but it impacts negatively the environment. Mining operations are expensive to run, and the high cost of natural stones is more related to these costs (and speculation) rather than the beauty or quality of those stones. Most of the stones found are the dirty looking cracked ones we mentioned earlier. The only rare thing is to find one that is clear and good looking.
    2. The high prices of natural stones have led to wars and conflicts between people fighting for their control. Instead, nobody dies for lab-created stones.
  3. More affordable: Lab-created gems are much cheaper than their natural counterpart and, therefore, less profitable for jewellers. Many demonize lab-created/synthetic stones for this reason (and many of those will be selling lab-created stones at the price of natural stones; the negative speech is part of their strategy so that you think that indeed they sell natural stones only).
  4. Easier to trust: to distinguish a lab-created stone from a natural one, you need to ask an expert to do an evaluation and they will need several equipment. Most people buying jewellery do not bother to certify their jewellery and many companies (even big ones) take advantage of it.

Yes, colored moissanites exist. Several colors are being sold: blue, green, yellow, brown, grey and pink.

Unfortunately, most moissanite colored stones are coated; however, there are some permanent colors (i.e. yellow, blue).

Our favorite permanent moissanite color is yellow.

Because:

  1. Moissanites shine more.
  2. Moissanites spark more.
  3. Their shine and spark are beautiful and will last forever.
  4. Moissanites are extremely rare in nature. Rarer than a diamond.
  5. Moissanites cost way less than a diamond, natural or lab-created.
  6. Because moissanites cost way less, you can afford amazing jewellery.
  7. There is no ethical concern when you buy moissanite.
  8. Many people will assume you are wearing cubic zirconia anyway. But at least you will know moissanites shine and sparks will last forever.
  9. You can still tell it’s a diamond, because it looks pretty much the same.
  10. More and more people are buying moissanites, so more and more people will assume you bought a moissanite even if you swear it’s a diamond.
  11. Buying a good diamond without getting tricked or ripped off is way more complex.

The gas you put in your car is the result of a geological process of millions of years and it’s becoming rarer to find and more difficult and expensive to produce. It’s also mined and the ultimate reason behind many armed and not-armed conflicts. Just like natural diamonds. Does anybody think of petroleum as a glamorous product?

With their origin linked to meteorites, natural moissanites are way rarer than natural diamonds. The obvious evidence is that most women have at least one natural diamond and almost any jeweler sells them. Diamonds are not rare. There are diamond reservoirs in many countries. The only rare thing about natural diamonds is to find a good looking one.

Fine jewellery is jewellery of the best possible quality and beauty. It’s something to celebrate joy and prosperity. Fine jewellery is something to feel proud about. The combination of recycled precious metals and lab-created stones checks all the boxes. Who would be proud of wearing something linked to war atrocities and destruction of ecosystems?

About FARO

FARO is founded by a female mining engineer that discovers moissanites through a friend, studies their properties and gets fascinated by their quality and beauty. Finally, she is able to make her dream jewellery come true without compromise in quality or beauty.

During this process, she realizes how difficult is to buy nice moissanite jewellery in Europe: online shops available are few, have poor designs or do not seem trustworthy. Physical shops can be counted with the fingers in one hand and the experience is often very clandestine.

The offer is much bigger in USA and UK and she gives it a try; but again, her experience is not positive either, as she has to wait long time for her jewellery to arrive, deal with customs, pay VAT and other custom taxes that are always more than she expected, and the returns are way more difficult, if possible at all.

She soon gets complimented about her jewellery, gets a lot of questions and finds a strong interest between her friends and colleagues. The adventure begins…

Mining is a key industry for our development; however, no matter how many efforts we put in mitigating its impact, it leaves an undeniable mark in the environment and, often, in local communities.

Our founder believes that mining efforts must be optimized and limited to resources that cannot be obtained in any other way or for which there is no reasonable or valid alternative.

When it comes to precious stones, there is an alternative. Lab created stones are a perfect beautiful replica of the same chemical and physical properties as their natural counterparts at a lesser cost, with no ecosystem destruction and without senseless wars.

This means that there is a choice. We can have beautiful perfect stones in our ears or fingers without destroying the planet or putting people lives at risk and for much less money.

No, we are not against diamonds. We find diamonds amazing and beautiful precious stones with a very interesting and successful marketing history behind.

We are against continuing to mine natural diamonds and other precious stones when there is a perfect alternative without negative impact on the society or environment.

We don’t sell lab diamonds for three reasons:

  1. We simply like moissanites more.

If there is a stone that looks beautiful, has great durability, shines more and cost less, what’s the reason to content ourselves with poorer shine and sparks?

  1. We like big stones.

Lab diamonds are cheaper than natural diamonds but still very expensive, and the prices increase exponentially with the size of the stone.

For this reason, most of the fine diamond jewellery available for the big public has very small stones and often poor-to-average clarity and color. High quality moissanites with perfect clarity and great color cost a fraction of a lab diamond, and it’s much easier for anyone to afford bigger stones and, probably, their dream jewellery.

  1. There are many sellers of diamonds and diamond-based jewellery already.

We want to be the leading moissanite jewellery in Europe.

We sell and ship our jewellery to most European Union member countries, Switzerland, Norway, Liechtenstein, Andorra and United Kingdom.

For European Union members, DHL Express shipping is for free. 

There are several aspects making our jewellery special:

  1. Timeless designs

Our designs are inspired on classical timeless pieces and adjusted to better match European tastes.

  1. Best precious metals

We only use 18k solid gold and platinum

  1. Best lab-created precious stones

Nature is amazing and precious stones are proof of it; however, Nature does not create stones with the intention of being beautiful and suitable for their use in jewellery. The only rare thing about natural precious stones is to find a good looking one. With lab-created stones, the rare thing is to get a bad one. This is because laboratories offer controlled environments for the minerals to grow with one unique intention: create perfect beautiful stones for dream jewellery.

  1. Better prices

We can’t change the price of gold or platinum, or reduce the cost of the labor required to make fine jewellery, but we keep our prices under control by staying exclusively online, keeping a limited stock and reducing secondary expenses.

  1. Made in Europe by experienced jewellers

We are a company selling jewellery for Europeans made by Europeans.

Our support team speaks English, Spanish, Galician and Italian. Support in Romanian or French can be arranged.

We work exclusively online, we keep a limited stock, especially of size-dependent items and keep margins as low as reasonably possible.

Besides, we aim at selling the best moissanites, not the most expensive.

Indeed, in our continuous search for the best available moissanite, it has never happened that the most expensive moissanite got the best results. Currently, our providers are on the upper intermediate side of the price range, and they give us the best results consistently. The fact that a medium price range provider has proven (for us) to provide the best moissanites was a very sweet discovery, as it means more people will be able to afford amazing jewellery.

If at some point we find better moissanites at a significantly higher price, we will make the decision of increasing our prices accordingly or keep two lines: standard and premium.

We aim at making the best possible jewellery, neither the most expensive nor the cheapest.

Our product descriptions are quite detailed, and you should consider all parameters when comparing our products with others. For example:

  • We only do solid 18K gold or solid 950 platinum and that’s expensive. It’s also meaning your jewellery will always retain some value if you decide to sell it.
    • The gram of pure gold is around 60 euros and our 18K solid gold is 75% pure gold.
    • Many companies might do similar designs in solid 14K and even 10K gold. This is especially true for USA, UK and some Asian companies. That means that only 50% or less is gold. The rest are cheaper metals. For this reason, the similar design might cost less in other sites.
    • Likewise, more and more companies use vermeil or, in other words, sterling silver jewellery with an extremely fine layer of gold on top. The gram of silver is well below 1 euro and, therefore, this type of jewellery is very cheap to make and has nearly no re-sell value. For the most famous brands selling this kind of jewellery, the packaging costs more than the jewellery itself. This kind of jewellery is good for 6 months – 2 years of daily use in the best-case scenario. It is not fine jewellery.
  • We are generous in size and that means more grams of gold or platinum.
    • We like high-impact jewellery. This often means big stones and big stones need proper support and proportionate bands. For this reason, our designs tend to have several grams of gold.
    • Very few companies will tell you how much the jewellery weight. Indeed, many companies design their jewellery with one thing in mind: minimize metal use and maximize margin.
  • Our finishes are those of fine jewellery, not commercial jewellery.
  • Our jewellery is designed and made in Europe.
    • The design of our jewellery takes place between Italy and Spain.
    • All of our jewellery is made in Spain.
    • Quality control is performed in Italy.
    • While Spain or Italy are not the most expensive countries in Europe, labor rates are more expensive than in other countries. Many companies outsource the manufacture of their jewellery to countries where labor rates are significantly lower.
  • We do not buy moissanites in bulk, for a good reason.
    • A common problem we see in many sellers of moissanite is that they buy very big volumes with the objective of reducing costs and maximizing gains; this often means they are still selling moissanites created using older technology that present poor color and quality.
    • As part of our selected stones, FaroGems, we prioritize stones of high quality created with the latest technologies and improvements. As technology advances fast, we prefer to keep our stock of moissanites relatively low and continuously monitor the latest updates to ensure we have the best.
    • We do spend money though in getting our moissanites constantly certified by independent institutes to control and ensure quality.
  • Our prices include VAT and shipping for European customers.

No, we don’t do sales. Our margins are kept as reasonably low as possible all year round.

We do issue discretionary discounts to existing customers to reward their loyalty or referrals.

Our products are designed and manufactured with the expectations of a European customer in mind, and this means we must ensure quality and provide good value for the money.

18k gold is an alloy with 75% of the weight being pure gold and the rest other valuable metals. If our customers ever get tired of our jewellery, they will be able to get some money for the gold in it. Likewise, the more the gold, the less susceptible your piece of jewellery will be to alterations, corrosion and other problems derived from the usage of certain metals in the alloy.

Likewise, while many consumers around the world like the color of 14k gold, most European customers prefer the colors of 18k gold-based jewellery. Yellow 18k gold looks much richer and golden than lower versions and 18k rose gold offers a much nicer soft rose gold than the very coppery and less shiny 14k rose gold.

Last but not least, we believe our selected gemstones deserve the best precious metals and we find that in 18k gold and platinum.

If you have questions or not concerned covered in this section, please drop as an email at info@farogems.com