Pink tourmaline comes in different forms, from long and thin crystals to thick and grouped closely together. Additionally, the gem can be transparent or opaque and comes in many different shades. Therefore, it is common to see just as wide of a variety of shapes, with emerald or baguette being the most common.

Tourmaline is a six-member ring cyclosilicate having a trigonal crystal system. It occurs as long, slender to thick prismatic and columnar crystals that are usually triangular in cross-section, often with curved striated faces.

It's generally agreed that traces of iron, and possibly titanium, induce green and blue colors. Manganese produces reds and pinks, and possibly yellows. Some pink and yellow tourmalines might owe their hues to color centers caused by radiation, which can be natural or laboratory-induced.

Tourmaline's ability to display multiple colours in a single crystal is one of its most distinctive traits. Watermelon tourmaline, for example, features a pink or red core with a green outer rim, resembling a slice of watermelon.

The intense green of this chrome tourmaline from Tanzania resembles the color of emerald. Tourmalines come in a wide variety of exciting colors. In fact, tourmaline has one of the widest color ranges of any gem species, occurring in various shades of virtually every hue.