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Loch Ness

Stone guides: choosing and caring for your stones

Our guides to understanding the stones in your bracelets: treatments, care, choosing beads.

Written by Camille G., founder of Loch Ness · updated November 12, 2026

Our guides

Natural, dyed or heated? The guide to telling them apartHeated citrine, dyed howlite, stabilised turquoise, hematine: the common treatments of bracelet beads, what French law says, and 5 simple checks.Caring for your bracelet: the stone-by-stone guideWater, sunlight, perfume, knocks: how to clean and store a natural stone bracelet, stone by stone, so it keeps its shine.Bracelet and bead size: choosing wellMeasuring your wrist, choosing between 6, 8 or 10 mm beads, knowing how many beads you need: the simple guide to a bracelet that fits.Stones that look alike: how to tell them apartTiger's eye or bull's eye, onyx or obsidian, sodalite or lapis lazuli: stones that look alike and the simple clues to recognise them.Angel numbers and their stones111, 222, 444, 777… What spiritual tradition reads in angel numbers, and the stones traditionally associated with them, from 000 to 999.Where do stones come from? Deposits and formationHow the stones in your bracelets form and where their great deposits are: Afghan lapis lazuli, Uruguayan amethyst, larimar and charoite, two stones from a single deposit… A sourced guide.Mohs scale: how hard are your stones?What the Mohs scale is, why the number 7 changes everything, and which stones scratch easily: the hardness of every stone in our bracelets, from pearl to aquamarine.Mineralogy explainedCrystallography, chemistry, optics, gemmology… The main fields of mineralogy explained simply, using the stones in our bracelets as examples.Mineralogy and lithotherapy: the lineWhat mineral science measures and what tradition tells: sun, water, elixirs, energy, chakras… Sorting facts from beliefs, with sources.