Gemstones tell a geologic story of years of mineral consolidation while looking gorgeous. We can say this for pink gemstones as well. From the dark shades of rhodolites to the delicate hues of pink corals, we love all the colors the earth has given us.
How much do you know about pink gemstones? If you’re interested in gaining more insight into these gems, this post is for you.
What do pink gemstones mean?
Instinctively, we all associate the color pink with love, femininity, and compassion. We can say something similar for pink gemstones. With their blush tones and bright appeal, pink gemstones represent love, feminine energy, kindness, self-worth, healing, and heart chakra. The heart chakra is one’s center of love for themselves and others.
5 Hot Pink Gemstones You Should Know
Hot pink is a brilliant pink shade meant to draw the eye. It’s flirty, bold, and eye-catching. In gemstones, this color stands out just as boldly.
We’re sharing five hot pink gemstones and how often you can wear them based on their durability.
💡 Did You Know? Gemstone hardness is measured using the Mohs scale, using numbers 1 to 10. The higher the number, the more scratch-proof it is. Still, the Mohs scale only measures scratch resistance. Stones might not scratch easily, but they can break when they strike hard surfaces.
Pink Sapphire
Sapphires are the birthstone of September. Typically, sapphires are blue, but other shades, including pink, exist.
Sapphires are generally found in Kashmir, Burma, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, and Vietnam, but large quantities of the pink variety have been discovered in Madagascar. Apart from its use in jewelry, it’s used for creating watch crystals (in Swiss and Apple watches), scientific equipment, and high-durability windows.
The best thing about this gemstone is its hardness. It ranks a 9 on the Moh scale, making it only second to diamonds, which are the hardest materials on earth. This hard quality increases its durability and resistance to wear, making it ideal for daily use.
Topaz
Topaz is a silicate mineral with aluminum and fluorine. It’s found with fluorite and cassiterite in Russia, Afghanistan, the United States, Brazil, Myanmar, Germany, and China. Though blue used to be a rare color of topaz, it’s become more common from the heating and irradiation of colorless topaz. Pink is a rare color of topaz. Topaz is also available as a green gemstone.
This gemstone ranks an 8 on the hardness scale, making it suitable for daily wear. But this gem is somewhat brittle, meaning it can crack and break easily if it strikes a hard surface.
Cobaltoan Calcite
Sometimes called “cobalt calcite” or “aphrodite stone,” cobaltoan calcite is a variety of calcite with cobalt impurity. It was first discovered in Italy, but it has also been found in Congo, Mexico, Morocco, Australia, the United Kingdom, and Spain. The inclusion of cobalt doesn’t make this gemstone any harder. It has a hardness of 3, meaning it gets scratched easily and won’t hold up to daily wear.
Eudialyte
The name “eudialyte” is derived from a Greek phrase, “eu dialytous,” meaning “well-decomposable” for its ability to dissolve in acids readily. The most significant use of this gem is as a zirconium ore. However, it’s also used for jewelry, as a gemstone. This usage is rarer due to the rareness of the mineral itself. It was first discovered in Greenland, but it’s mined in Canada, Russia, and Brazil nowadays.
Eudialyte’s hardness lies between 5 and 5.5 on the hardness scale. The relative softness of this gemstone makes it unsuitable for daily wear as it can scratch easily.
Pezzottaite
This striking pink gemstone presents only in pink. Its shades of pink range from light to raspberry hues. Combined with its position in the beryl mineral family, the distinct color of pezzottaite earned it the name “raspberyl.”
This gemstone is incredibly rare, with small gem clusters found in Madagascar. It scores an 8 on the hardness scale, making it scratch-resistant. However, it’s relatively brittle and can chip with hard impact.
8 Pale Pink Gemstones You Should Know
If you prefer your pinks softer and more muted, pale pink gemstones will probably suit you better. These gems have soothing, gentle hues and vary in hardness. Here are the 8 pale pink gemstones you should know.
Amethyst
Amethyst is often purple, but there’s a lesser-known pale-pink variety. The color of pink amethyst ranges from a light pink to a peachier shade.
The name “amethyst” comes from the Koine Greek word “amethystos,” which roughly translates to “not intoxicate.” The gem earned this name from the belief that the wearer won’t get drunk on wine.
Amethyst is a fairly hard mineral, ranking 7 on the Mohs hardness scale. Amethyst’s high rating makes it fairly scratch-proof and able to stand daily wear.
Rose Quartz
Rose quartz is a pink form of quartz found all over the world. Quartz is a mineral consisting primarily of silica. It’s located in igneous and metamorphic rocks and is usually colorless.
The soft, blushing hue of rose quartz gives it a romantic charm. But that gentle color isn’t reflective of its hardness. Rose quartz is a scratch-resistant 7 on the hardness scale.
Calcite
Calcite is a mineral made from linked crystals of calcium carbonate. It usually occurs in plain white, but other shades –including pink – exist. That pink hue comes from manganese inclusion, and the more the manganese, the darker the tint. Unfortunately, calcite is a soft mineral with poor resistance to wear and scratching.
Moonstone
Moonstone is a popular gem in the feldspar mineral family. The pearly and opalescent gemstone is a sodium-potassium aluminum silicate and comes in a variety of colors, including colorless, blue, white, yellow, and pink.
Take Note: The moonstone ranks 6 to 6.5 on the hardness scale. Resist the temptation to wear your moonstone every day because it will scratch over time.
Morganite
The beryl family of gems includes emerald, aquamarine, pezzottaite, and morganite. Morganite was discovered in 1910 and named after J.P. Morgan, the American banker. It’s also known as pink beryl, pink emerald, and rose beryl.
This gemstone is mined in Brazil, Afghanistan, Mozambique, and Madagascar. Due to its hardness of 7.5 to 8, it’s used as an alternative to diamonds and can stand up to the wear and tear of daily life. However, it’s still relatively expensive because of its rarity.
Pink Opal
Pink opal gemstones have a distinct translucent pastel pink appearance with soft streaks of white. On the Mohs scale of mineral hardness, pink opals are about a 5 or 6, making them relatively soft. Handle your pink opal gemstones with care and avoid wearing them while doing vigorous physical activities.
Pink Coral
Pink coral occurs in shades ranging from peach pink to salmon pink. It’s a softly charming gemstone used commonly to open the heart chakra. Coral gemstones are relatively soft, usually between 3 and 4 on the hardness scales. The softness makes it easy for them to return with scratches when you wear them often. We don’t recommend wearing them every day.
Pink Pearls
Pearls are dainty, glistening objects produced within the soft tissue of mollusks. Mollusks create them as a defense against little parasites getting into their shells.
Naturally, pink pearls are cultured in freshwater mollusks and radiate soft romantic energy with their appearance. Pearls are so soft, ranking a 2.5 on the Mohs scale. This softness makes them easy to scratch, making them unsuitable for everyday wear.
7 Dark Pink Gemstones You Should Know
In this category, we look at pink gems with deep pink hues. Sometimes they have dark red hints and occasionally appear dark purple. But no matter how they look, they have a striking, mysterious air. Here are the seven dark pink gemstones you should know.
Pink Rhodolite Garnet
Pink rhodolite garnets are hard gemstones in the garnet family. The name “rhodolite garnet” translates to “rose-colored garnet.” They are rarer than the regular garnets and are expensive in compensation. The hardness of this gemstone makes it suitable for daily wear. It scores between a 7 and 7.5 on the Mohs scale of hardness, meaning it doesn’t scratch easily.
Rubellite
Rubellite is a gemstone in the tourmaline family. As it’s the rarest of all the family members, rubellite is the most expensive. It’s mined in countries like Afghanistan, Brazil, Myanmar, Nigeria, Madagascar, and the United States.
Rubellites are relatively scratch-resistant because of their 7 rating on the hardness scale. You can wear them every day without fear of wear and scratches.
Kunzite
Kunzite has a purplish-pink color due to its high manganese content. It’s mined in Brazil, Madagascar, and Afghanistan, usually close to morganite and pink tourmaline. Due to its 6.5 to 7 ranking on the Moh scale, Kunzite is fairly scratch resistant. Nevertheless, you need to exercise care while using it, as a hard blow can fracture it.
Pink Tourmaline
Pink tourmaline is a gorgeous vivid pink gemstone that symbolizes the love of humanity, friendship, and compassion. The name “tourmaline” is derived from the Sinhalese word “toramalli,” meaning “stone with mixed colors.”
Tourmalines come in a wide range of colors from black to colorless, red, orange, brown, yellow, and pink.
Due to the relative hardness of this gemstone, you can wear it every day. However, you have to be careful of knocking it against surfaces, as it’s pretty brittle and can chip.
Pink Spinel
The name “spinel” comes from the pointed nature of spinel crystals. The mineral is made of magnesium and aluminum and can be colorless, red, blue, black, dark green, and violet.
Because of its durability, spinel is fantastic for jewelry. You can wear your pink spinel piece every day because it has a hardness of 8. Still, take special care not to knock it against surfaces. Spinel may not scratch, but it can chip.
Tanzanite
As you might have guessed from the name, tanzanite is only found in Tanzania. The incredibly rare gemstone is part of the epidote mineral group and is usually blue and violet. Nevertheless, tanzanites sometimes bear purplish pink hues.
In addition to its rarity, tanzanite is fairly hard, ranking between 6.5 and 7 on the hardness scale. Still, if you plan to wear it every day, be careful not to strike it.
Star Garnet
Star garnets are so rare that they’re only found in Idaho and India. Proud to be one of the only places to mine this gem, the people of Idaho made it the official state gem.
Star garnets are unusual forms of garnets exhibiting asterism. Asterism is the star effect seen in the middle of the gemstone that you can only observe in specific lighting. You can wear jewelry with star garnets daily if you handle them with care. They usually rank 7.5 on the hardness scale, making them scratch-resistant, but they are brittle.
Which skin tones do pink gemstones suit?
Our discussion can’t end without some reflection on what skin tones match pink gemstones. Generally, brightly colored gems, like bright pink, favor cool skin tones.
To know your skin tone, view your veins in natural light. If your veins look blue or purple under your skin, you have a cool skin tone. If your veins are green or greenish-blue, your skin tone is warm. However, if you can’t tell what color your veins are, your skin tone is neutral.
The varying shades of pink give us multiple options, anyway. If you have a different skin tone, you can experiment with differing shades and find what fits.
Where to Buy Pink Gemstones
It’s easy to get ripped off by scammers when buying gems, so we understand your misgivings. A helpful tip is to only patronize jewelry stores with some level of prestige. Before you use a store (online or otherwise), read customer reviews and check for certificates of authenticity.
Add a Pop of Pink to Your Collection
In all shades, pink gemstones are beautiful. And from the many options, you’re bound to find something to suit you. Whichever gem you choose, be sure to take care of them. Gems are pretty, but they can wear out with poor handling. Take care not to drop or bang them and you should have your beautiful stones serving you for many years.
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