Well, I have received the earrings in question. So, for someone who's never seen VGs, here's my opinion on them:

I. SETTINGS:

The first thing I *have* to compliment is the settings. Mine are from Wink, but look very much like the scroll ones Juan has on the VG webpage. I got them in 14k white gold, and they are *beautiful* They are substantial and feminine, and from looking at the settings, no one would ever question whether the stone was a real diamond or not. Generic CZs are rarely set in settings this nice- even the backs are pretty. *No* complaints there.

II. COLOR

When comparing the color of the Van Graffs to my D diamond, they are indiscernible. "White" is really the wrong word to use for D color - "colorless" is much better. They are absolutely clear and have the "liquid mercury" look to them that everyone always talks about. Some people have said that the Van Graffs are "whiter" than even a D color, and thus look fake. In my experience, that's not true. They match the D quite nicely.

III. THE VAN GRAFF STONES:

The stones themselves match my diamond perfectly. They are very brilliant, and my only slight disappointment is that I haven't seen any fire from them yet.

However, they behave exactly as my diamond does, given the lighting conditions. My diamond has not put off any fire in any of the conditions I've experiemented with in the past hour or so, and neither has the Van Graffs. I feel fairly confident that, when in a situation where my ring is fiery, the VGs will be too.

All in all, a beautiful set of earrings.

IV. CUSTOMER SERVICE:

No complaints here, either. Wink was a pleasure to work with, the setting cost *very* reasonable, and he was always prompt in answering email.

V. MISC:

- Because of the setting, you cannot do the "ink dot test" (where you can tell a stone is CZ by whether or not you can see the ink through the stone when it is upside-down. Point being, no one could quickly tell it's a CZ that way.

- It passed my "fog test" where you fog the stone with your breath. Diamonds dissipate the fog very quickly b/c of their unique heat-dispersing characteristics. If there was any difference b/t the VG and my diamond in dissipating the fog, I couldn't tell.

So basically, the VG will pass the little Mom-In-Law/Friend type of tests to see if a stone is real. Obviously, the VG would be quickly detected by any jeweler with their heat-pen-thingy.

- 1cttw is a great size. I was worried about it before, but I really like this size. Any larger would not look realistic for my age, but these are great.

- In certain lighting situations where the stones are flooded with light, my generic $10.00 CZ earrings (of the same size) look almost exactly the same as the VGs. In most other lighting conditions, you really can see that the VGs are cut much better than the generics. You can sort of see where the arrows are.

- Pictures WILL follow shortly. Must get hubby's help with them.

- Can I just emphasize again how much I like the settings?

Tara