Moissanite is known for it’s beautiful and active sparkle, but how much will that sparkle diminish with time? If you’re hoping to avoid a flat and dull-looking Moissanite ring, you’ve come to the right place. We’ll talk about the impact that age has on sparkle for Moissanite, and how to keep your stone clean and gleaming!
Does Moissanite Lose its Sparkle? Moissanite will not lose its sparkle as time passes. The clarity and color of the stone won’t change through the years. Dirt and grime are the only common elements that may inhibit a ring’s sparkle until it is cleaned. Damaging the surface of Moissanite can inhibit sparkle, as it would for any ring.
In the paragraphs that follow, I’ll quickly touch on the components (some important elements) of sparkle. We’ll then we’ll look at how you can protect and maintain the full potential of your Moissanite ring to sparkle the way they’re naturally inclined to.
Dissecting Sparkle
Before going further, I want to make sure that you understand what sparkle is, and the various components, the building blocks, of sparkle. It’s a helpful foundation to have as you study the maintenance and longevity of sparkle. I’ll also talk in a moment about how various elements of sparkle (like fire and brilliance) are different in Moissanite and Diamonds.
What is Moissanite Fire?
Have you ever noticed how crystal from a chandelier, for example, breaks normal light into a bright spectrum of color that it reflects back to your eye? Moissanite does that too. When regular white light enters the ring, it’s broken up as it’s channeled around the inside of the ring. Colorful light is then reflected back to your eye through the table (the top) of the stone. It’s a beautiful effect!
Stones that break up white light into colorful sparkles are said to be ‘fiery’. This ‘Fire’ isn’t something that’s unique to Moissanite. Diamonds and even Cubic Zirconia (CZ) also display fire as they interact with light. What is unique to Moissanite though, is the AMOUNT of fire that it has, and the stone’s durability over time (its ability to preserve its sparkle).
Fire is only ONE element of sparkle, but it’s the one that Moissanite is most known for.
Moissanite vs Diamond Side by Side
Fire is an important component of sparkle, but it isn’t the ONLY one. Brilliance and Scintillation two other elements that you should be aware of. I’ll quickly describe both of those terms for you, and then we’ll look at how Moissanite compares to diamond in terms of sparkle.
Brilliance has to do with your stone’s ability to reflect unbroken white light back to your eye. As light enters the ring, and is channeled about by the ring’s facets, some light will get broken up and reflected as fire, while other light will come back out through the table of your ring as white light. The refractive index of a particular stone determines its brilliance (how much white light it reflects back as sparkle). It’s the combination of fire and brilliance that we typically think of as sparkle. Both components work together and complement each other.
Here’s a side-by-side comparison of diamond and moissanite. Notice that Moissanite tops diamond for BOTH fire and brilliance. Because of these characteristics, Moissanite out sparkles diamonds.
Visual Characteristics of Moissanite vs. Diamond
| Characteristic | ||
|---|---|---|
| Refractive Index (brilliance) | ||
| Dispursion (fire) | ||
| Luster Index |
Luster just indicates how light interacts with the surface of the ring. You could think of it as the general radiance of the stone.
Moissanite’s sparkle is hard to take down. It sparkles right through the dirt—but still sparkles much more when clean. Have you ever cleaned your windshield, and only realized at that point just how dirty it was? It’s the immediate contrast that you notice. The same will sometimes take place with your ring. Maybe, you’re happy with it and think it’s sparkling well, then you clean it, and BAM—the sparkle cranks up several levels. You had no idea what you were missing until you cleaned it!
Does Moissanite Cloud?
Early Cubic Zirconia clouded with age, but Moissanite won’t. It’s a stable stone that will retain its clarity and beauty long term. It’s considered a ‘Forever Stone.’ Moissanite CAN get a temporary clouding effect though that mutes the natural sparkle of the stone.
Natural oils from your skin, external oils from your environment, dirt, hardwater, and other gunk can collect on the surface of your ring, causing a haze or cloud that can gradually start to block light flow and inhibit sparkle. It may happen so gradually, that you hardly notice a difference from day-to-day as it steadily grows worse.
Fortunately, this condition doesn’t permanently impact the look of the stone. All it takes to restore your Moissy e-ring to its full sparkle is a good cleaning. The most simple, and common, way to clean involves simply soaking the ring for a few minutes in a small bowl of warm water to start loosening up the grime that has accumulated. After a little while, you can pull the ring from the water, add a little mild dish soap (Dawn is a popular brand), and then scrub gently and thoroughly with a soft baby toothbrush. Be sure to get all sides of the rings and clean well around the prongs and along the underside of the stone.
After scrubbing well, rinse completely and dry the ring as well as you can. The entire procedure should take just 5 to 10 minutes. If your ring was fairly dirty going in, it should look SUBSTANTIALLY different now as it interacts with light!
The Impact of Surface Damage on Sparkle
CZ is a significantly softer stone than Moissanite, the ridges where facets come together can get worn down. As those facets get rounded, the ability of the stone to properly capture, break up, channel and reflect light is impacted—which means the stone’s ability to sparkle is permanently impacted. Because Moissanite is so much harder than CZ, the ridges between its facets won’t get worn down and rounded.
As scratches accumulate on the surface of a stone, they can start to block light from entering as it normally would. That’s especially true, when dirt and oils combine in the ridges, further inhibiting the flow of light. Fortunately, the hardness of Moissanite helps prevent scratches better than CZ—and many other types of stones.
Moissanite Solitaire Ring vs Other Styles to Maximize Sparkle
Some Moissanite shapes and setting styles will lend themselves to maximum sparkle better than others. Facets are the flat surfaces that are cut into Moissanite, diamonds, and other gems to reflect light and create sparkle. The most sparkly cut tends to be the brilliant round. That’s because the brilliant round has so many facets, and also because those stones are often worn as solitaires that have more of the stone’s total surface space exposed (sides and top). That exposure allows light to enter the ring from multiple angles, adding to the stones sparkle.
The science of facet placement and angles in the brilliant round channels light through the ring much more effectively than many other styles can. As a result, some stones with less favorable facet positioning can have less light channeled back through the table of the stone to your eye, instead, losing light to leakage out the sides of the ring.
I wrote an entire article evaluating ‘Which Moissanite Cut Sparkles the Most.’ If you’re looking for a ring that dazzles—even through the dirt between cleanings, you may want to spend a few minutes in that article.
Does the Issue of Sparkle Cause Moissanite Regret
I’ve honestly NEVER heard anyone complain about a Moissanite ring that doesn’t sparkle enough. There may be people are out there that have that concern, but I’ve interacted with thousands of Moissanite owners through the years and haven’t met them yet.
There are a few that have the opposite concern. They feel that Moissanite sparkles too much. They worry that all the fiery sparkle will tip people off that the stone on their ring isn’t a diamond. If you’re in that camp, a Moissanite ring may not be for you. While most people will naturally see the ring and assume that it’s a diamond—let’s face it…it isn’t. They look very similar, but not identical. I wrote this article several months ago talking about how diamond and Moissanite are like doppelgangers (strangers that look almost identical—almost). You may find it helpful. It goes into A LOT more detail in that area.
Moissanite is a beautiful and durable stone in its own right. Those that can’t get enough sparkle will LOVE owning Moissanite ring. Keep it clean, and it will keep up the bling!
In Summary
Moissanite is a ‘forever’ stone that will continue to sparkle just as intensely as decades, and even centuries, roll by if you take reasonable steps to care for it. In order to maximize the sparkle of your ring, you should clean regularly, as outlined above. The good news is that the sparkle of your Moissanite ring won’t be diminished with time, and can be maximized as you strive to keep your ring clean.
Related Posts: