I often look at mineral specimens when researching gemstone beads. The disconnect can be considerable. Sometimes mineral specimens look very little like cut beads with the same name.

I like having 'real' stones as much as possible instead of enhanced stones.

I was looking at jade beads recently. I simply gave up, utterly confused. Without a hardness tester I can't tell anything about jade, not from photos, not in person. I wound up thinking the sellers who say 'green quartz' are the honest ones. That's why I like variegated stones such as sugilite and larimar... knowledge gives me a slight advantage in identifying them from photos.