Hi everyone,
After going to the Intergem show yesterday and seeing a lot of huge kunzites and morganites, but being unimpressed with their general brilliance and vividness of color, and 99% of the imperial topaz were SUPER orangy and brown, I'm now wondering if something more MAUVEY would be awesome for a rose gold setting. I saw some quite pretty fancy tanzanites, but I'd like to find something a bit more hardy if possible. Any suggestions?
I recently fell in some with some Sphene because they have that really marked variety of colors in its fire...what other stones exhibit these qualities, and are there any that I might find in my desired color range?
Also, a photo of my andalusite garnet purchase from Primagems: such an incredibly beautiful cut! I'd never considered these stones before but was super impressed by their brilliance. All of their cuts were FANTASTIC.
The photo is a bit less saturated, it's got a bit more color IRL but this was the best I could do on my phone.

(You can probably see from this photo why I'm always asking for pinkish stones now: my skin is SUPER cool toned!
Also, I posted before asking about recommendations for gem shopping in Aruba: the selection was terrible (although really nice emeralds compared to the US, I think due to vicinity of colombia...but who knows if they were treated) and mostly overpriced, gems were poorly cut. What I WAS struck by was the amount of really unique pieces: many jewelry stores had custom made necklaces and whatnot that were quite unique designs. I came home with a small tanzanite piece with yellow canary diamonds on the side that is a nice keepsake from my trip that was actually quite reasonable, but nothing spectacle. However, I will use it to remember my first island trip fondly
I see an upgrade in the future for the tanzanite though.
After going to the Intergem show yesterday and seeing a lot of huge kunzites and morganites, but being unimpressed with their general brilliance and vividness of color, and 99% of the imperial topaz were SUPER orangy and brown, I'm now wondering if something more MAUVEY would be awesome for a rose gold setting. I saw some quite pretty fancy tanzanites, but I'd like to find something a bit more hardy if possible. Any suggestions?
I recently fell in some with some Sphene because they have that really marked variety of colors in its fire...what other stones exhibit these qualities, and are there any that I might find in my desired color range?
Also, a photo of my andalusite garnet purchase from Primagems: such an incredibly beautiful cut! I'd never considered these stones before but was super impressed by their brilliance. All of their cuts were FANTASTIC.

(You can probably see from this photo why I'm always asking for pinkish stones now: my skin is SUPER cool toned!
Also, I posted before asking about recommendations for gem shopping in Aruba: the selection was terrible (although really nice emeralds compared to the US, I think due to vicinity of colombia...but who knows if they were treated) and mostly overpriced, gems were poorly cut. What I WAS struck by was the amount of really unique pieces: many jewelry stores had custom made necklaces and whatnot that were quite unique designs. I came home with a small tanzanite piece with yellow canary diamonds on the side that is a nice keepsake from my trip that was actually quite reasonable, but nothing spectacle. However, I will use it to remember my first island trip fondly