With a Beauty like That

What's this you ask? It's the most beautiful gem stone in the world. Well, I guess that's a matter of opinion. However, this is my post about gem stones - which ones I'm interested in and which ones I'm not. Here we go!

Diamonds
BORING! Yeah - that's right, I think diamonds are BORING! Here's why. Every friggin' woman in the world who has an engagement ring owns a diamond. What's special about that? Nothing. Also, in my opinion diamonds are over-priced these days. They're small and are generally flawless - meaning that the only interesting thing about them is that they're sparkly. Also, they're usually white, so they exibit no personality whatever. Woohoo ... However, even though I'm trashing them - they are the hardest of gem stones so they're durable and can cut glass. Except - remember girls - diamonds are not forever. They will eventual revert back into coal. Sure, it'll take a really long time - all I'm asking is that you don't get all sentimental when it comes to comercials for them.

Rubies
Rubies are also one of our more expensive stones. Remember - they are red sapphires so they have a hardness of 8, which is also killer durable (anything that's this durable works well in ring form). They are also a lighter shade of red than a garnet, so you can really see the red lights. But they're also considered one of the more precious stones on the planet - thus $$$. But I hate the colour red, so I'm not particularly interested.

Emeralds
To me, an emerald is so blue that it hardly qualifies as a green stone. I dislike the colour emeralds come in - honestly. They are also one of our more expensive stones and softer than a sapphire or a diamond. With emeralds - the problem is size. It's hard to get big ones without flaws, so they cut them down.

Opals
Opals are soft as dust, and generally only have a hardness of two or three. I think opals are so killer beautiful that it's mind boggling - they have so many different colours and lights. They come in white, black, green, fire - hot! Anyway, it's my opinion that an opal should be worn as a necklace and not as any other piece. It should be the necklace you wear all the time and never take off. The reason? They are usually about 2% water, and so if you wear it next to your skin - its likelihood of breaking drops (your skin hydrates it), but wearing it as a ring is out of the question. You'll bump your hand accidentally, and then where will you be? It'll shatter.

Amethyst
Amethysts are great. They have fabulous colour and are almost semi-precious, so you can easily get HUGE stones.

Tanzanite
This is one of my precious stones. Tanzanite is found in only one part of the world - Tanzania in Africa. This is a light purple stone that almost appears grey. It's hard and fantastic.

Alexandrite
I think they used to mine this stuff outside my home town, but I'm not sure. I heard it from a questionable source, so ... Anyway, this stone is amazing. When you hold it out in sunlight it's green and when you take it inside and shine it under artificial light it's pink. Cool eh?

Basically, there are a whole bunch more that I want to talk about, but I'm tired now. So next time, I'll probably do citrine, peridot, moonstones, tigereye, amber, pearls and garnets.