By Zoe Griffin For Mailonline
Published: 07:10 EST, 27 December 2021 | Updated: 09:12 EST, 28 December 2021
Products featured in this Mail Best article are independently selected by our shopping writers. If you make a purchase using links on this page, MailOnline may earn an affiliate commission.
If you choose to buy a piece of diamond jewellery, then you may spend hours researching the cut of the stone and the design of the piece to ensure you're happy with your investment.
But an increasing number of people, including Hollywood A-listers and royalty, are also looking closely at the origins of the stone.
One of the best ways to guarantee that no person, community or environment has been harmed in the crafting of your ring, necklace, ear-rings or bracelet is to choose a diamond that has been made in a laboratory rather than one that has been mined out of the ground.
The Lily Arkwright Halo rings are all made from lab grown diamonds and are available in round, princess and cushion cuts
Penelope Cruz, the Duchess of Sussex and Leonardo DiCaprio have all worn jewellery pieces featuring lab grown diamonds to red carpet event and glitzy celebrity parties, showing that there is no difference in quality between a diamond manufactured by scientists and one grown naturally in the Earth.
In fact, leading ethical jewellery brand Lily Arkwright say that diamonds that formed in a condition-controlled laboratory environment can end up being shinier than ones dug up from a mine.
'The benefit of growing a diamond in a laboratory under controlled conditions ensures optimal properties for the diamond,' explains a Lily Arkwright spokesperson.
'You can grow a diamond within the popular colourless and near colourless range with amazing clarity. Most customers seek out this specification due to the white sparkle, where diamonds with a progressively more yellow colour are less popular.'
The Lily Arkwright white gold Grace lab grown diamond ring is super sparkly and prices start at just £730
Under a microscope, you would struggle to tell the difference between a lab-grown diamond and something that grew naturally in Africa or Russia.
This is because they share the same chemical composition, optical properties and hardness as mined diamonds.
Lab grown diamonds are made up of actual carbon atoms, arranged in the same characteristic diamond crystal structures as natural diamonds.
'The lab grown diamond manufacturing process replicates conditions that mimic the natural diamond creation process, subjecting carbon to extreme temperatures and pressures,' explains the Lily Arkwright spokesperson.
A High Temperature High Pressure Method involves subjecting the diamond to extreme temperatures of 1400 Degrees Celsius and pressure of more than one million pounds per square inch.
Or the Chemical Deposition Process involves heating a diamond seed in a pressure chamber to in excess of 700 Degrees Celsius and mixing with carbon gases such as methane and hydrogen.
The process of growing the stone takes between one to two months and then cutting and polishing takes place to achieve that special sparkle.
Lab grown diamonds look the same as diamonds formed in a mine and have exctly the same chemical properties but have a significantly lower carbon footprint
As making a diamond in a lab is less energy intensive than mining it, prices of jewellery involving lab-grown diamonds are at least 30 per cent less than those featuring mined diamonds.
The beautiful Lily Arkwright Serenity ring is £1,250 for a full 1-carat diamond and looks stunning layered with other rose gold rings. Meanwhile, the popular Halo rings are full of sparkles and prices start at £1,147.
Celebrities and satisfied customers say it feels great to know that they're significantly reducing their carbon footprint by wearing lab grown diamonds.
Jewellery made from lab grown diamonds is around 30 per cent cheaper than mined diamonds, but nobody would guess these Lily Arkwright pieces were so affordable
It's estimated 80 tonnes of earth are moved in order to remove a single carat of diamond. As there were on average 148 million carats mined in 2018 alone ,it amounts to a huge disruption to the earth.
The energy needed to produce lab grown diamonds, on the other hand, is a fraction of the size.
Also, some diamond mines employ workers in unsafe conditions and on low wages, and can fund violent groups and conflicts.
As there are so many different people and processes involved in traditional mining there is a real issue when it comes to knowing exactly where a mined diamond has originated from and whether any people have been harmed in the process of getting it to you.
All diamonds that come from a lab, meanwhile, are fully certified by the Geological Institute of America or the International Gemological Institute and easy to trace.
The comments below have not been moderated.
The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline.
By posting your comment you agree to our house rules.
Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline?
Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual.
Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline?
Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual
We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook.
You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.
Published by Associated Newspapers Ltd
Part of the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday & Metro Media Group