It’s official! “Diamonds are a girl’s best friend” and British women’s favourite choice of gem to wear, but Tanzanite comes a close second according to research published today by leading UK online jewellers Gemporia (www.gemporia.com).

The research was conducted amongst 1866 women across the UK, aged between 18-80, and revealed that nearly a quarter (22%) of respondents chose diamond as their top gem, with even more in Wales (three in ten) choosing this as their favourite.

Whilst diamonds are ‘top of the rocks’, the blue Tanzanite gem was voted the second favourite gem (16%) across the whole of the UK but is the Number 1 gem for women in the South and South-West of England.

Despite Tanzanite being a fairly “new” gemstone, discovered in 1967, the blue gem has quickly become popular with modern stars and celebrities including Penelope Cruz, Cate Blanchett, Beyonce, Anne Hathaway and the Duchess of Cambridge.