The blue topaz I received was a deep blue and a good size.  I gave it to my sister and when I whispered in her ear "by the way, it's real!"  She said "I can see that honey!"  She loved it and I was really proud to give it to her.  The only thing I would do before giving it as a gift is maybe place it on another chain and repackage it in a nice box.  I bought it for the pendant, so I would expect to have to do these two things anyhow.