Rhodolite Garnet

Rhodolite sits between pyrope and almandine, and that blend is what makes it desirable: it lifts the dark, brownish red most people picture when they hear garnet into a clear raspberry or purplish red that stays lively under warm light.

It is typically clean — inclusions visible to the eye are the exception here rather than the rule — and inexpensive for that quality. Mohs 7 to 7.5 with no cleavage plane makes it a sensible everyday red, and a far more wearable one than the ruby it often stands in for.