Pretty Gemstones, Favourite Jewels: What's Yours?

If you're a girl – maybe even if you're not – you probably have a socially-inculcated weakness for pretty jewelry. Yeah, sure you do! Or maybe it's just hard-wired into the human (and animal?) psyche. See pretty shiny thing, pick it up!

And when you take the trouble to examine the jewelry selection at your local fine jewelers, or exclusive boutique, or, hell, the costume jewelry section at your local chemists or drugstore or supermarket – then, reliably, as your tastes establish themselves, some items more than others will likely begin to catch your eye.

So, you must have thought about it. What's your favourite gemstone, or 'gemstone', precious, semi-precious, manufactured or costume? Come on, wrack your brains: there has to be something! Maybe it's something to do with your birthstone? (Is there any basis for birthstones associated with astrological signs?)

When I stop and think about it, I know full well what I gravitate towards when I linger in front of a jewelers' windowfront. It is always, and approximately in this order: the turquoise, the amethysts, the jet, the pearls, the garnets and the topaz. (And in terms of metals, gold before silver. Except when I'm being realistic, and then it's silver before gold.) Of course, these choices mean I'm pretty much in heaven whenever I visit any small coastal resort with a lot of semi-precious gems washing up in the tides and the rivers. Whitby, say, in the UK, or the Scandinavian Black Sea in Denmark.

When it comes to pretty things, though, it's not even as if it's necessary that the lovely sparkly stones and things be precious – not even semi-precious! Lots of manufactured things are gorgeous too – look at the tremendous trend for lucite and Bakelite. (And look at the hefty price-tags for the real thing, come to that.) And every girl, whether six, twenty-six or sixty, truly loves a trip around Claire's Accessories. Come on, am I right? Am I right? You know I'm right!

So what the heck! It lifts the mood, it raises the spirits, and it helps out with the nation's GDP. Buy yourself something pretty today!