I preferred simple smileys and have used them privately in the IRC days. But emoji actually have more variety, color-wise. I recently started dating and it's incredibly wholesome to get a heart emoji, which comes in a dozen or so colors.

What's funny about that particular emoji, is that the hearts are actually different, separate emoji. While many others, like the U+1F9D1 PERSON emoji, can be combined with skin tones.

I'm not quite certain why there isn't a simple HEART emoji, modified with a color but it's probably historical.