The cap is flat when young, matures to be somewhat funnel shaped, dark amethyst-violet to brownish pink.

The gills are cream to light ochre, rather crowded and connected at the base by cross veins.

The flesh is white, and the base of the stem has a distinct smell of iodine.

The rare Russula azurea also has a purple cap and grows beneath spruces.

Russula amethystina can hardly be distinguished from this mushroom, its blue to reddish-violet cap occasionally has pale patches and also a smell of iodine in the stem base.