Cubic Zirconia beads at ArtBeads.com

I was recently asked if I would like to try out and review some new cubic zirconia beads from Artbeads.com. As I am a bead junkie I can never say no to the opportunity to play with some new beads so I jumped at the chance.

I ordered some 6mm coins (cz-cry-cn6), 5x7mm ovals (cz-cry-lov7), 10mm stars (cz-cry-str10), 5mm stars (cz-cry-str5), and the 5mm princess cut post earrings (cz-ear5-dia). I combined these with some peacock pearls and 2mm sterling silver rounds that I already had in my stash and came up with this.

I think it turned out rather well. And if you are interested in purchasing this set you can see it on my ArtFire store soon.

Now for the review -

The cubic zirconia beads are much nicer than most of the 'crystal' beads coming out of China these days but they are still a far cry from Swarovski crystals. They don't have the same fire and the holes are not polished like they are in the Swarovski crystals so you have a big frosted tube in the bead instead of a polished hole.

The quality assurance, while better than most of the Chinese beads that are out there is not perfect. I did have some crystals that had a slant to the hole so that it went thru the bead at an angle front to back. Not everyone may find this to be a bother but since these beads are priced per bead I do expect a higher quality than what I received. The coin beads for example were $1.06 each so its a pretty expensive bead to have that sort of flaw in it.

I do have to say that I really like the earring posts I got. The cz in the post has a lot of sparkle and makes for a very attractive earring. I do wish the earring posts came with the nuts on them but that isn't a huge deal.

All in all, my recommendation is that while Artbeads.com has some really beautiful items, I would buy the Swarovski crystals they offer instead of the cubic zirconia beads. On the upside though, I do recommend the cubic zirconia post earrings. They are really pretty and have a lot of fire for the price.

Legalese -

I received the products mentioned in this post free of charge and am honestly reviewing them. I have not been paid or otherwise reimbursed for my time, talent, this post, or the supplies that came out of my stash to create the pieces shown in this post.