Rhinestones are very commonly used today for many reasons and one element they are incorporated into is costume jewellery. Originally, they made these pieces using inexpensive gemstones such as rhinestone and set it into cheaper metals as opposed to using silver or gold, but today's more modern take uses more expensive materials. In turn they look notably more impressive.

Rhinestones are used as diamond imitations as they still give off a beautiful sparkle but are made at a huge cut of the price of diamonds. This comes in handy when being used in mass produced products as it will save people a lot of money and gives customers the chance to buy something sparkly without the price tag of having to purchase expensive gemstones. When the stones were first used they only portrayed a one colour shine, but in the 1950s they started to use a kind of metallic coating which produced a wonderful iridescent effect making them far more attractive. In today's world rhinestones are used frequently instead of sequins which is a far better idea as sequins can easily fall off costumes and jewellery which having been fitted to would lose the full effect.

One thing that comes straight into my mind with the use of rhinestones is within ice dancing shows. Ice dancing became really popular a few years ago due to a popular television series; it displays the fabulous tricks and moves ice skaters can do that they would not be allowed to do in proper competitions. Seeing spectacular back flips and spins are made all the more amazing by seeing the glittering effect from beautiful costumes.

Although using these stones is an improvement from sequins as they are less likely to fall off, they can still decide to jump off during high speed tricks. As this could cause accidents staff have to come onto the ice and sweep it thoroughly once so many performances have passed just to make sure no odd little crystals are left behind potentially catching on a skater's blade.

Rhinestones are fairly inexpensive but still look impressive when adorned onto different items. If you want to jazz up your mobile phone or require a piece of costume jewellery you will be able to find something you like in the shops and online or buy your own stones and start getting creative.

Author of this article does not allow you to republish/reprint this article without written consent.