You’ve decided, a Swarovski tiara is the only one good enough for you.  Now where to buy a real one from and more importantly how do you know it really has been made with Swarovski crystals and not just glass?

Let start by clarifying a few terms

• Swarovski – A brand of Crystal
• Crystal – glass with lead added to change its opticial properties and value
• Glass – bog standard glass that you’ll find in your windows

So since Swarovski is a brand name, like Coca Cola, Tiffany’s etc, a tiara can’t actually be name Swarovski Tiara unless it’s designed and made by the company.  It’ a trademark issue.

Swarovski Tiaras made with Swarovski Elements

A tiara can be described as being made with Swarovski crystals which are under the Swarovski Elements branch of the company. These are often referred to as Swarovski Tiaras but shouldn’t be (see above).

Swarovski Elements can be categorized into 2 distinct areas, stones and beads.  I tend to use beads as they work better for my designs.  Here’s a photo of clear Bicone Beads (that’s what the shape is called -bicone, there are many other shapes of crystals but this tends to be the most popular one for tiaras ).

When I’m making a tiara I’ll thread a thin piece of silver wire through the hole and twist the wire on itself to secure the bead where I want it.

How to spot a fake Swarovski Tiara

I’ve seen this same shape of bead in various different forms, in simple glass (they don’t sparkle the same) in other types of crystal such as generic chinese crystal, Austrian crystal or czech crystal.  I’ve seen them available under other brand names such as Preciosa and Celestial Crystal, however I’ve never bought these so I can’t tell you if they are the same quality as Swarovski elements.

What I can tell you is how to spot this type of Swarovski crystal bead from other generic crystals, so you know you’re not being fobbed off with a copy.

Check the crystal shape

The Swarovski bicone bead has a particular shape, it was altered ever so slightly back in 2009 and the new shape was patented by Swarovski.  So while the shape is very similar to other brands, there is a very easy way to tell.   The Xillion shape has extra facets (that’s the flat sides) you can see it in the line drawing below.  The #5301 is the old The generic bicone shape, you’ll see this shape in other crystals and glass beads. The  #5328 is the new Xillion style, you can see where some of the edges of the crystal have been flattened to create extra facets and edges creating more sparkle.

So the first things to look for is the use of the #5328 shaped of crystals if tiara seems to be created from this shape of crystal.

If the tiara uses the stone type of crystal, it’s much harder to spot a fake. I also don’t work with the stones so I don’t even have any advice for you.  However as with all quality products, if it’s cheap, it’s not likely to be the real thing.  A well cut glass stone in a tiny size will be impossible for an untrained eye to notice the difference.

If it seems like a bargain, then it’s probably not a Swarovski tiara.

Ensure the seller can track back the brand of stones or beads used in their tiaras

I’ve seen a lot of sellers who sell tiaras that they believe to be produced with Swarovski stones or beads. They’ve bought them in bulk for what seems an excellent price and passed those savings on to their customers.  Are they really made with Swarovski crystals? Well it would be hard to tell until you’ve paid for it and inspected it closely.

{A  little off track side note}
I’ve had enquiries from manufacturers in China who have offered to create my designs in their factories with Swarovski elements and I’ve always declined.  If someone else was going to create my designs I’d want to oversee everything so I could see them to use Swarovski beads or stones.  Also mass production of my own designs is something I don’t want, I like to keep things on a small-scale and keep designs limited so you can have something that not many others have.

I don’t trust anything that says it’s manufactured with Swarovski elements when it comes to tiaras as there are so many fakes about. That’s why the only time I’ll personally state that an items made with Swarovski crystals is when I’ve made them myself, because then I have 100% confidence that they’re the real thing.

If you’re concerned whether something is truly made with Swarovski elements when buying from other retailers, don’t be afraid to do a little digging, ask where the item was made and who by. Are they confident that the stone or bead is Swarovski or are they going off what they’ve been told?

I hope this blog post has helped you understand what to look for and if you need any more clarification on how to spot a fake swarovski tiara, feel free to ask in the comments section below.