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Why Labradorite Flashes

By Digital Towns Crystals ยท Last reviewed October 1, 2026

Short answer: labradorite contains microscopic layers stacked inside the crystal. Light entering the stone reflects off those layers, and the reflected waves interfere with each other. Some colors are reinforced and others cancel. The color you see is the one that survives. The effect is called labradorescence.

What labradorite is

Labradorite is a feldspar, part of the plagioclase series. Feldspars are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Most are plain. Labradorite is the exception because of what happened as it cooled.

How the layers form

At high temperature the mineral is a uniform mix. As it cools slowly, that mix separates into thin alternating layers with slightly different compositions. The layers are far too thin to see, on the scale of the wavelengths of light itself.

That scale is what matters. When layer spacing is close to the wavelength of light, the layers act on light the same way a soap film or an oil sheen does. Thinner spacing favors blue. Wider spacing pushes the color toward green, gold, and orange. A single stone can show several colors because the spacing varies from one zone to the next.

Why the flash moves

The color comes from inside the stone, not from the surface, and it only appears when the light, the layers, and your eye line up. Tilt the piece a few degrees and the flash can vanish, leaving a gray or dark body. Tilt it back and it returns. This is normal, and it is the reason a single photograph can never show everything a piece does.

What to look for

  • Coverage. How much of the face lights up at the best angle.
  • Color range. Blue is most common. Gold, orange, and purple are seen less often.
  • Photographs from more than one angle, or a video. A listing that shows the flash and the dull angle is showing you the real stone.
  • Shape. Towers, freeforms, and spheres are cut to place the flash on a broad face. The cutting is craft. The flash is natural.

Handling

Labradorite is about 6 to 6.5 on the Mohs scale, hard enough for display and careful handling. Like all feldspars it has cleavage, meaning it can split along flat planes if struck. Do not drop it and do not store it loose against harder stones.

Where the name comes from

The mineral is named for Labrador, in Canada, where it was described in the 1700s.

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