These freshwater pearls have a lovely luster and shine. They are light gray with good rainbow highlights. There is good size and shape uniformity within the strand although there is variation in the faces of the pearls. A few are smooth, but most have some inclusions of some sort which gives the strand variety and interest. This strand would be great to cut apart for earrings. The squares are 3 mm thick. Each strand is 16 inches long and contains approximately 35 pearls.