We LOVE gemstones. Can you tell? Not just for their beauty, but for each individual element they possess, and the history they hold. Each gemstone has a story to tell, which is told through its colour, cut and sparkle.

In this blog post, we’ll talk to you about the gemstones we work with.


Let's start with the classic, the ‘creme dela creme’ of the gemstone world, the traditional white diamond.


Sitting at the top of the Mohs Hardness Scale, with the highest score of 10, Diamonds are the hardest naturally occurring material. It’s no surprise that over 70% of Diamonds are used for industrial applications and three quarters of all mined diamonds are industrial quality.


They have an exceptional lustre and brilliant fire, with minimum light leakage from the back. Of course, the pure, colourless and original white diamonds are the most popular (and most expensive!!), but there are different coloured fancy variants too. The colour change in diamonds is caused by minute traces of other materials, turning them yellow, brown, green, blue, pink, red and black.


In North Africa, diamonds are mined on a large scale, producing vast quantities of diamonds for both the industrial and gemstone world. They can also be found in Brazil, Russia, Australia, Zaire, and South Africa! 


Most diamonds are a brilliant cut with 58 facets, helping to ignite their natural fire from either side, showing off their glistening white diamond.


Traditional Diamond Fact: Diamonds grow organically, with one-of-a-kind inclusions and unique growth patterns, making them all unique.


Now, what’s a Lab-Grown diamond you say? 

Let us tell you…



A lab-grown diamond is cultured using cutting-edge technology to replicate the natural diamond growing process, pretty cool right? The only difference to a traditional diamond is that a natural diamond holds a small amount of nitrogen and a synthetic does not.


No two man-made lab diamonds are alike, meaning you will have a one-of-a-kind glorious little feature for yourself. They are also graded the same as mined diamonds, and are a lot more affordable in comparison to your traditional diamond (yay!). Thanks to a much smaller supply chain.


Whilst being affordable, one-of-a-kind and just god-damn beautiful, it is also environmentally kind! The process of mining for traditional diamonds has a significant impact on the environment, whereas it takes considerably less energy to form a diamond in a lab. 


Let’s be honest, Lab-grown Diamonds are just a win-win overall.


Lab-grown Diamond Fact: The two processes in which lab-grown diamonds are made are; Chemical Vapour Deposition (CVD) and High Pressure - High Temperature (HPHT).


Salt and Pepper’s here, and they’re in full effect.


The last of the diamond family, and most definitely the punk of the family, is the salt and pepper Diamond. 

A mix of many black and white inclusions and flaws captured within the stone, each salt and pepper diamond is perfectly imperfect. 

Although beautiful, these are brittle diamonds unless they are carefully crafted and reasonably maintained. At Jessica Flinn we take pride in picking the sturdiest and strongest salt and peppers so you don't need to worry at all.

A large amount of soil and rock is extracted from the ground and sent to an ore processing facility where rough diamonds are extracted. It can take a few hundred tons to produce a carat of gem-quality rough diamonds, with the extraction process depending on how rich the ore is. 

Salt and pepper diamonds can be found in all the same places as natural diamonds. Once upon a time these beauties were discarded. Now they flourish with all their unique features, and eccentric colours. 

Salt & Pepper Diamond Fact: Salt & pepper stands for loving someone no matter what their flaws may be, or seeing past the flaws to their beauty in the spiritual world.


Taking the silver on the Mohs 

Hardness Scale is SAPPHIRE. Say HEllo to Ceylon sapphires...


Sapphire is the most precious and valuable blue gemstone. It is extremely desirable due to its excellent colour, hardness, durability, and luster. In the gem trade, Sapphire without any colour prefix refers to the blue variety of the mineral Corundum.

The Ceylon sapphire is the finest quality sapphire that is available in the market today. The value lies in the colour and versatility in style. The darker the blue, the finer and more valuable the stone. 

Colour is the most important factor when purchasing a sapphire. The colour of the sapphire is what captivates us, and draws us in for a closer look. A good Ceylon sapphire will be transparent and sparkling, and the shade of blue will be dictated by personal preference; some people prefer lighter, some people prefer darker. 

The darker colour comes down to iron and titanium impurities, making them highly desirable gems for jewellery. As well as being the most admirable of the sapphires, it also stands as September's birthstone.

No matter how you cut or set a Ceylon sapphire, their beauty and elegance is undeniable. 

Ceylon Sapphire Fact: Sri Lanka has some of the world’s oldest sapphire mines; blue sapphires have been mined there as far back as the second century A.D.


Teal sapphires offer something new in the world of gemstones, 

not just to jewellers but to customers as well.


A wonderful substitute for conventional gems like diamonds and traditional blue sapphires, teal sapphires have a magnetic appeal that makes them perfect for engagement rings. 


Consisting of a mix of calming deep blues with the renewing energy of green (all visible under a microscope) it's hard not to fall in love. In addition to being mesmerising, these gemstones hold a lot of symbolism. They portray open channels of communication and clarity of thought, as well as being a representation of a bridge between two souls.


With a hardness of 9, it has a strong resistance to scratches, avoid scruffs and obtain their beautiful brightness for a long time. 


Being a symbol of love and commitment, a teal sapphire is the ideal engagement ring for any couple.


Teal Sapphire Fact: Because of its hardness, sapphire also has industrial uses. The Apple Watch Series 3 features lab-created sapphire crystal in its screen to make it more scratch resistant, as do several Swiss watch companies.


View our Teal Sapphire collection here.


IMPERIALISTIC AND LOVED BY CREATIVES, OUR NEXT GEMSTONE MUST BE VIOLET SAPPHIRES.


Violet sapphires are similar in colour to pink sapphires, but darker and always with purple or violet as the dominant colour. It is a powerful stone, imbibing the stimulus and valor of red sapphire and inherits the calmness and serenity of the blue sapphire.


Sometimes confused with amethysts (a variety of quartz), violet sapphires are much rarer and far more durable than amethysts. Violet sapphire takes the crown again in terms of brilliance and sparkle when against an amethyst.


When violet sapphires are mined, they are heat treated, which enhances the natural coloration and the clarity of the stone. 


Violet Sapphires Fact: The word sapphire is derived from the Latin and Greek words for “blue”: sapphirus and sappheiros, which may have originally referred to another type of blue stone called Lapis Lazuli.


Small yet abundant, let’s have a chat about Montana Sapphires.


Discovered 150 years ago in North America, Montana sapphires are tough and relatively scratch-resistant. With their natural colours ranging from blue, blue-green, teal and green, to yellow-orange and pink, each and every one is totally unique! There are even some colours of the Montana sapphire that cannot be found anywhere else in the world.

Montana sapphires can be heated to produce more desirable shades of blue, however many cannot due to the chemistry of the sapphires. They have a high clarity but their high iron content means that most of the sapphires are a light green colour. By heating a purple sapphire with oxygen, the blue component is largely removed resulting in a pink sapphire. Preventing oxygen can result in an increase in blue colouring. Heat treatments can also melt or dissolve certain inclusions in ruby and sapphires, making a stone appear cleaner and often improving colour at the same time. 

Montana Sapphire Fact: Montana sapphire is known to possess a good clarity, and most stones appear eye-clean. When inclusions are present, they are typically needles or grains of rutile too small to see without magnification.


Pretty in Peach...


Hitting a high 7.5 - 8 on the Mohs scale, it is a durable gemstone for everyday jewellery but needs to be treated with love and care to protect it against scratching and hard knocks. It is part of the Beryl family, and can be pink, rose, peach and violet. They are coloured by manganese, have a vitreous lustre and can be heat treated for a purer pink.

Morganites can be sourced from all over the world and are typically found in Italy, Mozambique, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Pakistan. If you’re wanting a rosier morganite head to California, and if you're wanting a purer pink take a trip to Brazil for some of the finest morganites.

Morganite Fact: In 1910, morganite was first discovered in Madagascar. Today, this island is a minor producer of the gemstone but still sets the standard for some of the highest quality morganite available.


Want to know which gem is famous for its historical value? 

We'll give you a clue… it’s green.


Emerald’s are the green gemstone that is strikingly beautiful yet rarely flawless. Unlike easy-to-wear diamonds and sapphires, emeralds have to often be oiled to fill and disguise cracks, hide flaws and enhance colour. Found in granites, pegmatites, schists and alluvial deposits, they unfortunately are very fragile due to the inclusions in comparison to diamonds and sapphires.

It’s not all bad for emeralds though, they hold the best historical value out of all the gemstones. Most emeralds used in historical jewellery were from Cleopatra’s mine in Egypt. We only work with emeralds when requested, as we do feel these are too brittle and we only want to provide the best for our customers, however if you request we will make sure we get the best emerald around to suit you.

Emerald Fact: Some think that the gemstone can act as a kind of truth potion and assist the owner in extracting the truth from others. Emeralds are also thought to guard against memory loss and enhance intuition.

Contact our design team for more information on creating a bespoke design here.
So there you go, a quick guide to some of the gemstones we use at Jessica Flinn. 
We hope you found this informative and helpful when picking your gemstone for your engagement or right hand ring. 

For any further information, please don’t hesitate to contact our design team.