If you’re tired of clear diamonds and you want something a little more interesting, why not turn to gemstone jewelry? We’re not saying that you can’t have diamonds along for the ride, but they get enough attention on their own — it’s time to get colorful! There are a lot of different gemstone choices to choose from, and all of them really do go well with all of your fine jewelry choices. Let’s take a look at some popular gemstone choices for rings, necklaces, bracelets and even watches!

Ruby

We love rubies — that rich, deep color is absolutely beautiful. Because rubies are so scarce, many people turn to having lab-created rubies made for their jewelry. Still, you can get ruby chips put into your fine jewelry that aren’t going to cost as much as if you had big stone pieces of ruby just floating around.

Emerald

All highly prized emeralds are green, but the color of emeralds in nature can extend from yellow-green to blue-green. That’s a lot of variation! If you can stand imperfections, emerald jewelry cut into flat cabochons can be absolutely stunning.

A lot of jewelry makers have turned to synthetic emeralds to capture that green color, but the price will reflect the difference. If you’re trying to build a collection that can be sold, dealing only with authentic emeralds is definitely a good idea.

Sapphire

Sapphires are amazing, but a lot of people don’t realize that they can actually come in a lot of different colors than just that traditionally deep blue. Sapphires can actually be yellow, blue, orange, or even different shades of gray and black. The blue ones are the most desired, but some collectors have branched out into different colors.

Sapphires go very well with diamonds and even other complimentary colors, such as rubies. Rubies and sapphires are actually closely related, separately only by color and mineral compositions.

What determines the value of the gemstones in question is not only their size, but their respective qualities. The cut is still going to matter and the clarity of the stone is still going to matter. The grading of gemstones is a bit different from diamonds, but a lot of overlap applies. Rarity will also play a role — quartz is pretty hard to find, but high end rubies are very scarce and thus far more valuable.

Knowing a little more about gemstones should help you build amazing jewelry that you’ll cherish for a lifetime — get started today!