From Carly Wickell,
Your Guide to Jewelry / Accessories.
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Call them what you like: fake gemstones, imitations, or simulated gems -- they all have one thing in common, they can look just like the real thing, but they do not have any of the physical characteristics of a natural or synthetic gemstone.

Common Gemstone Fakes

• Imitation stones are often made of glass or plastic. That type of fake gem can be detected easily by a jeweler.

• A stone can be mounted in a setting with a solid back with foil underneath it to make it look more brilliant or change its color.

Composite Gemstones

Composite gemstones are made from a small piece or sliver of a desirable, genuine stone that's been combined with a larger chunk of either an inexpensive or imitation gemstone.

Doublets are composite stones with a large, inexpensive chunk of some kind topped by a thin slice of a genuine stone. The division usually isn't obvious until the stone is looked at under a magnifier. One type of doublet sandwiches a colored bonding agent between two clear, inexpensive stones to make it look like a colored gemstone.

Triplets are composites that are assembled in three parts instead of two.

Savvy Shopping

Jewelry made with synthetic, treated, and imitation stones can be a good choice, there's no reason to avoid it. What you do want to avoid is paying too much for misrepresented merchandise.

Read as many resources as possible and start looking more closely at jewelry. Ask questions when you shop. It won't make you an overnight pro, but in time it will help you become a more savvy shopper.