The Power of Green

30 products
Meaning of the colour Green gemstones Emeralds Peridot Green Tourmaline Green Garnets gemstones

The popularity of the Pantone Colour of the Year is no flash in the pan. Colour is a powerful tool and studying the science and psychology behind it can help balance everything from your emotions to your appetite. The colours we choose to wear have the power to change our mood, stimulate conversation, symbolize our beliefs and even persuade those around us. A gemstone's colour is all about chemistry, the nuance of which has been studied for thousands of years. 

Green is the original colour of nature, growth, re-birth and, of course, luck. It’s among the reasons Cleopatra is said to have been obsessed with Emeralds—she saw them as the ultimate symbol of fertility, and therefore immortality. It’s a hue that always feels lush, and it’s not just because it happens to be the colour of both money and lucky clovers! (Jennifer Lopez recently stated her lucky colour was green, thanks to that famous Versace gown that inspired Google images, and of course her new Green Diamond engagement ring.)  

Green also represents the heart chakra, which connects it to balance in relationships, as well as self-love. This, of course, makes it an inspired choice for both engagement rings and other love tokens, including promise rings and anniversary gifts. Many Green gemstones just happen to be some of the rarest on Earth—one reason being that Chromium, the element responsible for colouring some Emeralds and Tourmalines as well as Demantoid Garnets only occurs naturally on Earth in 100 parts per million. (Fascinatingly, it’s also responsible for the red hue of another ultra-rare gem: Rubies.) Natural Green Diamonds are also one of the rarest, and only get their hue through being exposed to natural radiation deep in the Earth’s core. For this reason, most green Diamonds on the market today have been treated with safe irradiation processes.

Other trace elements that can cause green hues include Vanadium, which colours rare Tsavorite Garnet, Copper and a combination of Iron and Titanium. Peridot is one of very few gems which gets its colour from its own, natural chemical composition, which includes Iron, and is not caused by trace elements. Other gems that can occur in Green hues include Quartz (which is sometimes called Prasiolite or Green Amethyst), Amber and Sapphire.