Hot takes; some people lucky with birthstones

Photo by Cassie Kessler| The Doane Owl
Kessler’s birthstone amethyst on display in her room as it is one of her favorite birthstones.

Alrighty gang, we’re back and at it again with another edition of Hot Takes, and I won’t lie to my ever so devoted fans, I really had to rack my brain to figure out what this week should be about. I’ll lie and say it was because I was deciding between so many topics and not because I genuinely could not think of a single thing.

I recently got a tower of amethyst as it is my birthstone and I just loved the col-ors in this particular crystal. Later that night, I decided to look up images of all the birthstones just to compare, and I wanted to know what they were.

So if you haven’t already guessed, I’m ranking birth-stones this week. Now I feel like it’s obvious but it needs to be said that this does not correlate with any particular person and the way I feel about them as an individual. This seems like a pretty extreme length to go just to slightly insult someone by telling them I think their birthstone is ugly.

There will be three things I am considering about each birthstone: color, luminosity and rarity. Color seems self-explanatory, luminosity in my opinion here applies to the way it looks in direct sunlight, rarity is how common this particular stone is. So without further ado…

Opal: There’s no set rules for this stone which is what I love. Color options are endless, all of them beautiful, and inherently uncommon as no two opals ever look the same in my opinion.

Peridot: I absolutely adore the green, it’s so vibrant as well and yet not too out there. I also feel like I never see these all that often.

Amethyst: Am I a little biased? Maybe. But the color purple is up there as one of my favorites, and I just adore the way this crystal looks.

Aquamarine: I’m so jealous of those that have a baby blue birthstone, especially one that looks so mystical and beautiful in the sun.

Pearl: While not as rare as some of the others, pearls are a classic I can’t help but enjoy. Just a beautiful and elegant white bead, what can I dislike about that?

Tanzanite: Typically I enjoy my crystals a bit lighter in color so I can see all the different veins, but I can’t help but love how regal this stone appears. It’s just a little bougie, and who doesn’t need that in life?

Garnet: Colors on the colder side of the spectrum (green, blue, purple) are my cup of tea, so it’s hard for me to be obsessed with a red stone. I like that it’s not too vibrant though and that’s what really saves this one for me.

Emerald: This one just seems rather basic to me. Don’t get me wrong, they are still very pretty crystals, but it feels like one I see a lot more often.

Sapphire: This ranks similarly to emerald in that I’ve seen a lot of sapphires in my rock shopping days. Pretty, but gets boring.

Ruby: I hate bright red. That, and rubies feel like they’re everywhere.

Diamond: Diamonds are not this girl’s best friend. They’re literally all over the place, is it your birthstone or an engagement ring?

Citrine: To be brutally honest, it looks like regular rocks, like a rock I’d find on campus.

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