Review: Starlight Deco Dream – Positive!
Seven years ago, I bought a sailor moon inspired necklace on etsy, but over the years, I lost track of the brand and in my head, I had this image of the brand being one that just sold cut acrylic necklaces inspired by magical girls.
But this year at Katsucon, I ran into the brand again, to find that they have completely overhauled their inventory and have a wonderful selection of cute pastel accessories. I picked up a little heart hair clip, and promptly did what I do after every con: fell over in exhaustion for weeks.
Then, I was flipping through Buttcape’s A Big List of Black Owned Kawaii Brands and I ran into the brand again. I’m really bad at shopping at cons, I’m usually overwhelmed and anxious and exhausted, so I wanted to go through the webshop and really take the time to look at everything. The selection in the shop was a little lower at the time than it seems to be now, so I really encourage you to look through everything there, because I think there are a bunch of new things that are great too!
My order was small (just 4 items) and it arrived in a super cute teal-ish, cyan-ish kind of bubble mailer, marked front and back with fragile stickers.
Inside there were two little packets. The top one was wrapped in a cute treat bag with curling ribbon at the top. Under that there was a little paper goods bag that was sealed with cute sparkle washi tape and had some chunky space confetti in it as well.
Inside the treat bag was a little box with a cute thank you hear sticker on it, that was also sealed up with washi tape, this time a metalic stripey one. The box was very sturdy, and I really love this detail because it means that the items inside will be super safe.
The colors are a little weird in my photo because of glare, but it’s a cute mint colored sticker.
And here is the inside. For safety (and adorableness), it’s packed with candy colored pastel paper shreds, and there is a little cotton batting under that… and more super cute chunky glitter. So let’s dive in!
First up is the “Let’s Party” Hard Enamel Pin! I love this design, the quality of it is great, it’s gold tone and the colors are great, not muddy or weird like you sometimes see with pastel pins.
It’s a smaller pin at about an inch tall, so it’s a great size for wearing on a collar or pinning to a headbow.
The backing is a single pin with a cute bubblegum pink rubber stopper. I’m really happy with this pin.
Next up is the “2.25 Inch Various Designs 2 ~ Starlight Deco Dream Button Pin” in “C – Let’s Party“. It’s $3 and it’s got a holo glitter finish. It came in it’s own little gift bag to prevent scratching. It’s suuuper sparkly in person, the camera doesn’t do it justice at all.
Design wise, I love the little hears in the middle of the letters. I really like that the background is so light, because it will show up well against pastel clothing. The back is a standard pinback button pin and the pin feels strong / tense, like it’s not a cheap pin backing that is going to bend and get lost. I’m very pleased with this as well, and with the holo-finish, it’s giving me serious book-it nostalgia.
Next up, we have a “Starlight Deco Dream FANCY Pin Badge Collection : Epoxy Resin-coated Acrylic Pins” in “D – Makeup Pallet“. These are only $5, and while I got this particular one, for those of you who like quirky things, there is a pastel space pizza option. Just saying. There is also an icecream which I’m regretting not getting…
it came wrapped in plastic for anti-scratch safety again, and again, I’m really happy with it. It has a nice weight and thickness to it. It’s a little smaller than a pink school eraser, so it’s a nice size for accessorizing a dress, or adding to a jacket or itabag. The pin backing on it is plastic and metal, kind of like some nametags, but the pin part is really long, so it locks in super tight. I’m not normally into “drippy” looking stuff, but this won me over with it’s paint-like look.
Lastly, there was this super cute little mint plastic heart sealed with even more cute washi tape. Hidden safely inside with some super cute hot pink packing paper was my Simply Sparkling Star Ring / Adjustable Size in pink. Note: The link is to a newer listing, and there may be small differences between mine and the listing.
This ring was just $10, and it’s a great size, bigger than my Angelic Pretty star rings. The glitter embedded in it has a lovely rainbow holo cast and it’s a mix of round/hexagonal pieces in various sizes and stars, which gives it a lot of visual interest and depth. It’s smooth and well cast without bubbles, fully cured, not sticky or tacky in any way, and the backing is actually attached with clear resin, so it’s embedded down in there. I don’t know the process, but if I had to guess, I would guess it’s a 2-step process where the star was cast first in light pink and then the ring base was attached later with a clear layer. The clear also evens out the base, so it’s not dipping in. I’m honestly really impressed with this, because it really shows a mastery of the medium. A lot of people who make similar rings will just just hotglue or e6000 glue them together and that’s a less secure than this will be. So I’m very impressed.
A lot of people make resin cast rings and necklaces. Not a lot of people do it this well.
So overall, my order was 4 items, for a total of $33, plus $6.25 shipping.
Oh, but that’s not all I got. On top of everything being packed so cutely, they also tucked in freebies!
Along with my packing slip, there was also a super sweet handwritten note, a piece of lychee hard candy (which is amazing BTW) a cute little mini-print, and another cute little plastic gift bag, which when I opened it up contained a business card, a super cute sticker and a coupon code for 10% off my next order! …I’m totally going to have to get that icecream pin!
Overall I’m really blown away by this order. There was so much care and consideration put into the packing, and the item design and construction. I’m really impressed, and I can’t recommend them enough.