May 9, 2024

all about rose quartz

Geology

As you could guess, rose quartz is a variety of the mineral quartz. Rose quartz gets its pink color from microscopic mineral fiber inclusions.

As with other varieties of quartz, rose quartz has a hardness of 7 out of 10 on the Moh’s scale of hardness.

Rose quartz often shows a feature called asterism, also known as star rose quartz. Other crystals can have this feature as well such as garnet, sapphire and ruby. This star effect is caused by light reflected off of needle-like inclusions within the stone. Asterism is quite common in rose quartz and can best be seen when looking at the stone with a flashlight. 6 sided stars are most common in rose quartz, but asterism can also produce 4 or even 12 sided rays.

Rose quartz with asterism (source)

Very rarely, rose quartz can form actual crystals. This uncommon variety gets its color from other inclusions, such as phosphate and aluminum. Some people call this “pink quartz” to differentiate it from rose quartz, since it gets its color in a different way. Pink quartz is found mostly in Brazil and is quite expensive due to its rarity.

Rare crystallized rose quartz (source)

Varieties & locations

Rose quartz is extremely abundant and found in many places across the world including Brazil, Madagascar, Mozambique, India, and the United States.

It can be hard to tell where a rose quartz is from just based on its appearance, but some of these locations do produce very unique pieces. Mozambique is known for extremely high quality and saturated pieces, as well as more gemmy, glassy light colored pieces.

Is blue rose quartz real?

Madagascar is home to lavender and blue rose quartz, as well as regular pink rose quartz. Blue rose quartz is a relatively new find and is rare because it’s only found in one location- Madagascar. Many people debate if this material should even be called blue rose quartz, since rose quartz is named for its pink color. Similar to the argument of pink amethyst, should it really be called pink amethyst since amethyst is identified by its purple color? By definition, no it shouldn’t be called blue rose quartz if it isn’t pink, and many geologists say it’s just a marketing scam.

I feel that blue rose quartz is a fine name for it, since it is found alongside pink and lavender rose quartz. It is also not completely blue, it is more of a gray color. Blue and lavender rose quartz are completely genuine and not a scam or man made stone. If you don’t like calling it blue rose quartz, I’ve also seen it called blue moon quartz, or just blue quartz is an accurate name for it.

Since this material is quite new and hasn’t been thoroughly tested, it’s not 100% conclusive about what the cause of this unique color is. At the moment it is believed to be fiber inclusions of the mineral dumortierite.

Pink, lavender, and blue rose quartz

Safety & care

Rose quartz is sensitive to the sun, and will fade quicker than most stones if left out for a long period of time. Rose quartz is one of the more water safe crystals, although I never really recommend consuming crystal water. But if you really do want to make crystal elixirs, this crystal is one of the safer options. Rose quartz is a sturdy mineral and won’t break down if left soaking in water. This means just about every cleansing option is safe for rose quartz including water, smoke, selenite, moonlight, sea salt- everything except for sunlight. Because it has a hardness of 7, rose quartz makes durable jewelry.

Quality & pricing

The quality of rose quartz depends on both color and clarity. A low quality piece will be more on the opaque side with a very light pink color, almost indistinguishable from regular quartz. A high quality piece will have a bright saturated pink color and be translucent. Higher quality pieces often have asterism. But since quality is determined by both factors, a piece can still be of good quality even if it's lighter in color if the clarity is good. A lot of the rose quartz from Mozambique is very good quality while still having a lighter color. A piece can also be desirable if it has an excellent bright pink color, even if the clarity is not great.

When it comes to inclusions within a crystal, they can either make the stone low quality or they can actually increase the value. Inclusions such as dendrites or golden healer can occasionally be found in rose quartz and are very beautiful! Less appealing inclusions can indicate a low quality stone.

Standard quality rose quartz should be extremely affordable and can be found in just about every crystal shop. High quality pieces such as star rose quartz, pieces with exceptional color or intricate carvings may get pretty pricey. But in general, rose quartz is very accessible and affordable.

Treated & fakes

Plastic rose quartz: Rose quartz is extremely common, accessible, and affordable so there really isn’t a need to create fakes. If you’re looking at a sizeable piece of rose quartz, it is most likely genuine. The fakes tend to be smaller pieces like tumble sized or in jewelry. The best way to test if your quartz is plastic or genuine is to do a scratch test. All quartz varieties rank at a 7 on the hardness scale, therefore they can scratch glass. Plastic crystals will not be able to scratch glass. I rarely ever see plastic crystals but in the few times I’ve encountered them, it is VERY noticeable just by touching it. Plastic crystals are very lightweight compared to genuine stones. They may also be absolutely perfect with no inclusions, or have visible air bubbles. Even the highest quality rose quartz will have some sort of inclusion, texture, internal fractures or white streaks within it. If you see a piece of rose quartz that is completely uniform with none of that, that’s a red flag. Some people like to suggest the temperature test or the burn test for rose quartz, but I don’t think that’s necessary. If you do choose to do the burn test, know that real rose quartz may have a layer of soot on top of it after being exposed to the fire and that is totally normal. If the stone is permanently burnt or melts entirely, that signifies that it isn’t genuine. If you do choose to do a burn test with your crystals, just be cautious and know that even genuine stones can get very hot!
Dyed rose quartz: Low quality rose quartz is sometimes dyed to get a more desirable color. It isn’t common, but I do see it sometimes with smaller pieces like tumbles, jewelry or beads. If dyed, the dye will accumulate in cracks within the stone. You may see build up of darker color which is not a thing in genuine stones. Heavily dyed stones may also lose dye when you rub it or soak it in acetone. When doing an acetone test, you will get the best results when testing a raw piece or an area where you can see the visible dye buildup.
Aura rose quartz: Aura quartz is a variety of rose quartz that has been treated. A genuine rose quartz will be heated in combination with elements that bond to the surface of the stone to create a metallic or iridescent look. Anything labeled “aura” has been treated, but they almost always have a genuine stone as the base. Even though these aren’t 100% natural stones, aura quartz is still well loved by many.
Black rose quartz: Black rose quartz is a new thing that came out on the market around the same time as blue rose quartz. As cool as this stone looks, unfortunately it is heated to achieve that color. While blue rose quartz is natural, it does not naturally come in a shade that dark.
Pink cat’s eye: When it comes to cat’s eye, there are a couple things that this could be. Some stones show a natural cat’s eye effect called chatoyancy, an example of this is satin spar selenite. Sometimes satin spar is dyed to mimic other crystals with a cat’s eye effect. Cat’s eye crystals could also potentially be man made. Rose quartz doesn’t have this chatoyant effect, therefore if you see a pink crystal with cat’s eye, it isn’t a genuine rose quartz.

Metaphysical properties

Rose quartz is associated with the heart chakra and is a stone of love, friendship and compassion. Rose quartz is best known for helping with romantic relationships, but it really promotes love of all sorts. It can help you to heal from past traumas, increase connection between family members, and aid in creating new friendships. Rose quartz can assist in creating healthy relationship patterns and build trust between people. For once tik tok is right about something- rose quartz is a great crystal to give to someone you’re interested in to promote feelings of love between the two of you.

Rose quartz is a great stone for self love. It promotes self acceptance, alignment, healing and connection to the universe. This crystal helps turn your thoughts into positive ones and allow for more joy to enter your life. With this new positive mindset, you may see your life transform for the better.