When it comes to choosing a diamond for an engagement ring or other piece of jewelry, you have a lot of options available to you. You can opt to have a real diamond, a synthetic diamond or a diamond simulant. Each choice has its own special characteristics that may make it more appealing than another. Synthetic diamonds are man-made, real diamonds and created two different ways, whereas diamond simulants can be either natural, artificial or a combination of both.

Synthetic diamonds are created in a lab from an actual diamond seed, or human ash. One way that synthetic diamonds are created is from human ash after cremation. The diamond is created when heat is applied to the dark powder that is left over from the carbon during the cremation process. The heat produces dark graphite, which is then sent to a lab to be manufactured into diamonds. Diamonds created in this fashion can be left as lasting mementos to loved ones and several diamonds can be manufactured from one set of remains.

Synthetic diamonds that are created in a lab are created in two different processes and can come in a variety of colors such as orange, yellow, blue or white (colorless). The high-temperature high-pressure (HTHP) technique places a diamond seed into a growth chamber and applies a combination of heat and pressure, replicating the natural conditions of the diamond seed. The Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) process uses a lower-pressure growth environment once a diamond seed is placed within the growth chamber. Along with the heat and pressure combination, a vaporized carbon-plasma that has been combined with hydrogen is applied to the substrate in continuing layers. Both processes take several days in order to create a diamond.

Diamond simulants must have a variety of diamond-like properties in order to be considered a true diamond simulant. Even though the characteristics that the simulants share with real diamonds, the marked differences they have are what set them apart from the real thing. The most popular diamond simulant that can be found already manufactured into jewelry is cubic zirconia. Others include: gadolinium gallium garnet, strontium titanate, synthetic rutile, synthetic sapphire, synthetic spinel and yttrium aluminum garnet.

Synthetic and simulant diamonds can all have the same look as real diamonds. Synthetic diamonds are in fact actual diamonds, but are man-made rather than having been mined from a naturally occurring resource. Diamond simulants are 'fake' diamonds that have the same look and some of the same characteristics as real diamonds. Even though a diamond simulant is not an actual diamond, it may still have some value for what it is rather than what it is being portrayed as.