Pink Moonstone Bracelet A+ — 4 to 10 mm beads

A bracelet of pink moonstone beads on an elastic cord — a soft peach-pink body with a pale sheen that seems to float just under the surface.

• Bead diameters: 4, 6, 8 or 10 mm
• Length: 18–19 cm, elastic
• Approximate bead counts — 4 mm ≈ 45 · 6 mm ≈ 32 · 8 mm ≈ 24 · 10 mm ≈ 19

Where the glow comes from

Moonstone is a feldspar, and its milky, drifting sheen — adularescence — is not a colour and not a coating. As the mineral cooled it separated internally into microscopically thin alternating layers of two feldspars with slightly different compositions. Light entering the stone scatters off those layers and comes back out diffused, which is why the glow appears to sit inside the bead and to move across it as you turn your wrist, rather than sitting on the surface like a polish.

It is the same family of internal-structure optics that produces the blue flash in labradorite — a different arrangement of the same idea.

What "pink moonstone" actually covers

Worth knowing, because the trade is loose with this name. Most beads sold as pink or peach moonstone are genuine feldspar with a warm body colour, and that is what you want. But the term is also applied to dyed material and, occasionally, to other pink stones entirely. The test is the sheen: real moonstone has that shifting internal glow, and a uniformly pink bead with no movement in it is something else. If the exact material matters to you, ask us before ordering and we will check with the supplier.

Care — moonstone needs more than quartz does

• Mohs 6 to 6.5, so it is softer than quartz and agate. Keep it away from those bracelets, and from keys and coins.
• More importantly, feldspar has two cleavage planes meeting at close to a right angle, which means it chips and splits rather than merely scratching. A dropped moonstone bead can break cleanly in two.
• Warm water and a soft cloth only. Never an ultrasonic cleaner — moonstone is one of the stones most reliably damaged by one.
• Avoid sudden temperature changes and household cleaners.
• Roll the bracelet on and off; never stretch it over your knuckles. Take it off for showering, swimming and the gym. Check the cord every few months and have it restrung before it gives way.

The letter grades in this range — A, A+, AAA — are supplier grades, not a standardised system, and no independent body defines them.

No health claim for any mineral is authorised or supported by evidence, and none should replace medical care.