Brinkley’s wears seem to have launched at the absolute perfect time – her line includes plenty of color, lots of movement and each and every piece is certainly capable of turning heads.  Christie Brinkley seemed to learn something from her past days in the fashion industry and has managed to stay completely current with today’s trends in her 1st attempt at jewelry design.

As an added bonus for shoppers on a budget, the Uptown Girl has managed to keep the majority of the pieces accessible to even those of us with overly wallets and purses  – with prices as low as forty five dollars, this is certainly a line that has the ability to sell despite the still lagging economy.

Affordability seems to another more recent trend in the fashion and jewelry world, and hopefully it’s not one of the ones that will be short lived.  More and more designers are recognizing that people simply don’t have the money to spend on accessories that they did a few years ago and are responding with excellent low cost efforts that don’t sacrifice quality.

Instead of using natural diamonds, rubies and emeralds, designers are turning to the much more affordable and readily available cubic zirconia and lab created versions of these gems to bring down the costs of their finished products.  Cz lets a designer put together a piece or an entire collection that is just as beautiful as anything with a natural diamond, and still make a profit with a much smaller price tag.  With Cz and other lab created gems, anyone can look like a celebrity or super model, regardless of their line of work.

Jewelry Television has a Gemstone Adventure Series collection of DVDs and Tanzanite is the latest gem to be highlighted.  The forty-five minute documentary style film will take viewers  on a journey to Eastern Africa, the lone place in the world that Tanzanite is naturally mined and then follows the process through to India where stones are cut, faceted and polished in preparation for sale.

This documentary will no doubt be very entertaining for fans of not only the incredibly rare gem, but for jewelry lovers, designers and retailers as well – and once the documentary has been available for view for a little while it will certainly spark even more interest in Tanzanite.

Due to the fact that there is only one place in the world that Tanzanite is naturally mined and that the natural supply is very limited, the buying price for naturally mined Tanzanite can be pretty high, but there are alternatives for jewelry lovers who are on a budget.

Cubic zirconia Tanzanite is every bit as stunning as it’s naturally mined counterpart and like all cz gems, cubic zirconia Tanzanite has a hardness of 8.5 on the Mohs scale so it is very durable.  In fact, the only noticeable difference you’ll be able to see between naturally mined Tanzanite and cubic zirconia Tanzanite will be in the price.

Cubic zirconia can be produced to closely mimic a wide variety of natural gems allowing jewelry lovers of virtually any individual taste procure the jewelry of their dreams for far less than it would cost to buy a piece containing natural gems.

The beautiful pieces are only available to Hawaiian law enforcement officials and each comes engraved with the officer’s personal rank and badge number.  This is another way for the already tightly knit community of police officers to share something special and uniquely their own and these amazing pieces of fine jewelry are sure to be a hit among the Hawaiian police.

Though this particular line from Designs ‘n Gold isn’t available to the public, but if it does take off as is suspected it wouldn’t be too much of a surprise to see lines of jewelry honoring the police from other states, firemen and members of the armed forces.  It also wouldn’t come as too big of a surprise to see replications of the line offered to the public at some point – the creations reserved to honor our nation’s heroes could come in the 14k gold with beautiful naturally mined diamonds and the replications could come gold plated with some equally beautiful cubic zirconia diamonds.

Cubic zirconia is the perfect raw material to allow jewelry manufacturers to create replications that are every bit as amazing and stunning as the natural diamond clad originals for a much smaller investment.  Manufacturers can then pass on these saving to the retailers and the retailers can offer a broad client base beautiful high quality jewelry at prices that are affordable.  Cubic zirconia is a resource that is consistently readily available and therefore not subject to the fluctuations of price caused by supply and demand.  Creations from cz are perfect for retailers to stock in their stores because they always offer a high quality and affordable alternative to natural diamond jewelry.

Though there have been some reported increases in sales and profits among some major jewelry retailers, we haven’t quite seen the economic bounce back that many individuals and businesses would probably have liked.  This may hamper some people’s ability to keep up with the trends exactly as predicted because the cost of natural gems could put costs out of reach of shoppers who are on a budget, but thankfully for those who are fashion conscious and budget limited, lab created gems can help us keep up with the trends regardless of income.

The cost of real diamonds does fluctuate, unfortunately even when natural diamond prices are at their lowest, they can still be out of the financial reach of many people, but cubic zirconia can mimic the look of the most brilliant and flawless natural diamond for a tenth of the cost.  So it doesn’t mater how big and bold the trends go, because with cz and other lab gems, you’ll be able to achieve the biggest and boldest looks for a fraction of the price.

Unlike many attempts to replicate fashion that fall short, cz so closely mimics the look and feel of a natural diamond that it takes the trained eye of a professional with special equipment to accurately tell them apart.  So even though you’ll be spending hundreds (or even thousands) less, you’ll still be able to achieve the very same look and quality of someone who opted for natural gem jewelry.  You don’t have to have a celebrity’s salary to keep up with trends, just opt for cz over natural diamonds and you can achieve any look while remaining within your budget.

Though it would be nice to have an extra eight million lying around to spend on some beautiful jewelry, much of the US consumer base has difficulty putting together a spare eight dollars on accessories like jewelry these days.  Fortunately, for those of us who have big and bold tastes, but are a little more budget restricted, there are perfectly viable and affordable options out there that can still make an impact.

Lab created gems give anyone the opportunity to wear brilliant, eye catching jewels without worrying about taking a second mortgage out on the mansion.  You could get your hands on the most perfect, inclusion free lab created blue diamond and you certainly won’t have to pay a million dollars a carat for it, because cz and lab gems can often be purchased for about 1/10th the cost of their naturally mined counterparts.

With lab created gems, you can look and feel as though you scored the biggest sale of the day at Sotheby’s Auction but you’ll actually be able to keep the majority of your money where it belongs, in your pocket.

Red diamonds are very rare, so the estimated price may very well be low due to the fact that this could a once in a lifetime opportunity for an eager buyer – especially if the excitement of a bidding war takes hold, but you don’t need to spend more than a million dollars to get your hands on a gorgeous red stone.

Once the final bid has been voiced and the sale becomes final, there will likely be a good bit of publicity for this one of a kind buy, at which point it wouldn’t be surprising at all to start to see some replications made from wholesale red cz.

Cubic zirconia can be crafted in a wide variety of colors, so the most brilliant and beautiful red diamond can be replicated for a fraction of the cost of what it would take to buy a naturally mined red diamond.  This means that a retail jeweler could purchase loose red cz in a bulk lot for below wholesale price then have it turned into replicas that were just as stunning and sell them for a fraction of the cost.

This gives retailers the opportunity to increase sales and increase profits while simultaneously broadening their customer base and making as many customers as possible happy.

The collection promises to be stunning and all of the materials used, including brilliant emeralds, sapphires, and amethyst, were mined in Aire’s native Nigeria in an effort to stimulate the economy there.

Though the average person would be hard pressed to afford even one of the least expensive pieces coming out of the latest collection of the man known as the King of Bling, one thing is certain – it won’t be too long before some resourceful retailers are using colored cz and lab created gems to mimic some of the designs in this incredible collection.

The beautiful thing about lab gem recreations of these designs, aside from the fact that they will actually be affordable, is the fact that lab gems are just as stunning as the most beautiful mined gems.  You’ll get an ultra high quality piece for a fraction of the price and from the naked eye you won’t even be able to tell it apart from an identical piece that contains a natural gemstone.

We all aren’t celebrities with giant Hollywood paychecks but thankfully, with affordable wholesale lab gems that can be crafted into jewelry as beautiful as any piece from a natural gem collection, we can at least look and feel like it.

How does it work? From a large inventory of custom settings, the salesperson guides the customer in selecting a basic setting. Using simple click and drag slider controls, CounterSketch Studio allows the salesperson to instantly change the type of cubic zirconia gem selected and the size and cut of each loose cz stone. The profile, size and positioning of both center and side cubic zirconia gems can be changed individually, along with the angle and height of all cz stones. Shank width and profile of the jewelry setting is also adjustable. As choices are made, the program adjusts all aspects of the design proportionately in real time so that the customer sees a three-dimensional picture of how the piece of jewelry will actually look when crafted.

As the salesperson and customer work together to create a unique piece of cubic zirconia jewelry, the program tracks pricing of loose cz gems and design elements, allowing the salesperson to provide an accurate price quotation. Once the jewelry design is finalized, manufacture takes only a few days with delivery within the week.

Gemvision is preparing to launch the national release of the new software program next month.  In anticipation, webinars on product features and use are now being conducted on Gemvision’s website and the company is accepting advance orders for CounterSketch Studio.

CounterSketch Studio will allow retail jewelry customers to create uniquely personal custom cubic zirconia jewelry. Retail jewelers who want to offer their customers the greatest selection of high-quality cubic zirconia gems can find the quality, selection and wholesale prices they’re looking for at www.Pehnec.com.

PehnecGems offers excellent wholesale prices to the jewelry industry and others who use large quantities of loose cubic zirconia. Our clients include jewelry manufacturers, jewelry importers and exporters, jewelry retail shops, jewelry dealers, custom jewelers, jewelry sales agents, fashion factories, shoe manufacturers, dentists and dental labs, jewelry wholesalers, the movie industry, artists, volume crafter and many others who use loose cz stones in quantity.  

In this space and on Twitter we often talk about trends and interesting applications for the loose cubic zirconia we sell. To promote the wholesale cz product we sell, we share information about selecting and using cubic zirconia to educate the general public about the advantages of cubic zirconia and lab created gems. We discuss trends and applications that are of interest to our wholesale clients and their retail customers. We may specialize in wholesale sales of white AAAA cz, but our  interests run the gamut of the worldwide jewelry industry.

You won’t find finished jewelry on our website at www.pehnec.com, but you will find loose cubic zirconia and lab created gems in every size, cut and color. Loose cubic zirconia and lab gems offer wholesale buyers a full range of beautiful colors and cuts from traditional round, square and octagonal to popular oval, marquise and trillion and unusual fancies like pears, stars and hearts. On the PehnecGems website you’ll find a wide range of sizes from 1.5 mm side stones to gorgeous 50 mm showpieces.

We have been pleased to discover that so many retail customers are reading and enjoying our blog, but we did want to clarify that we are not a jewelry store. PehnecGems is a wholesale seller of loose cubic zirconia and loose lab created gems. To view our extraordinary selection of loose cz and loose lab gems, please visit our website at www.pehnec.com.

1. Color is a primary factor in selecting lab created gems. Wholesale cubic zirconia and lab crafted gems can be created in virtually every color of the spectrum. It is their diversity of color and the ability to dependably produce precisely identical colors that makes lab crafted gems so popular with jewelers, artists and crafters. Hue, tone and saturation determine the desirability of both natural and lab created gems. Loose cz stones in bright, vivid colors of a medium tone are currently the most popular, but a wide variety of hues are available to meet the individual needs and preferences of wholesale buyers.
2. The interaction of light with lab created gems is another important factor determining selection. Colors can look different under different types of lighting. Lab created gems should be selected for the lighting conditions under which they will most often be worn or displayed. For example, red lab created rubies glow beautifully under incandescent lighting while blue lab sapphires take on extra luster under fluorescent lights.
3. Clarity is where lab created gems are clearly superior to those found in nature. Internal inclusions are imperfections that occur during the creation of natural gems, marring the crystalline transparency of the stone and, with a few exceptions, decreasing its value. Because they are created under tightly-controlled ideal conditions, fine cubic zirconia and lab created gems offer perfect clarity in every stone.
4. The cut of a cz diamond or lab created gem determines its brilliance. Cubic zirconia diamonds and wholesale lab gems are available in all the popular cuts and a variety of fancies. Precision laboratory cutting guarantees perfect symmetry and brilliance in every stone.
5. Carat weight is another important consideration in the selection of cubic zirconia and lab created gems. Loose cubic zirconia and wholesale lab gems are offered in a wide variety of carat weights to meet customer demand. Wholesale lab gems make weights that may be rare and quite expensive in natural stones easily and affordably obtainable.  

For more information on lab created gems and to place a wholesale order, please visit the PehnecGems website at www.pehnec.com.