These seem to be made of excellent quality materials. The tortoise shell one is actually pretty ugly in real life, or at least the one I got is. The brown part is closer to yellow, and the spots are nearly black. The black spots are big blobs, not nuanced spots like you'd expect from tortoise shell. So, not particularly attractive, but I just needed clips that would be easy to manipulate and would be effective in holding my hair and these do the job well. They are not difficult to open and they seem like they will hold my hair pretty securely. I wish iHerb would carry more of the Kitsch brand lower profile clips. These are unnecessarily bulky. They could hold the hair just as effectively with a much more sleek design. I am still in search of clips like that that will hold the hair well but won't get in the way of comfortably resting my head on a pillow or on the edge of the bathtub when I'm using the clips to keep my hair from getting wet. A lower profile more sleek clip would also be great for securing hair when using a shower cap, wearing a hat for warmth or to keep sun out of eyes, etc...But for the cost these appear to be good quality clips and I'm satisfied with my purchase since it's the best that was available from the companies I usually shop with. I am definitely a fan of the matte finish. And even though the black is also kind of ugly I think the matte finish will work well when the clip is actually in use. They just don't need to be so chunky. That was in fashion a couple decades ago, but the novelty has worn off and a sleeker look and lighter weight but still heavy duty clip would be awesome.
