These are a gimmick. They have some kind of paint or dye on them, likely intended for temporary d.ecoration, similar to painted poinsettias or poor little NIP's with fake snow sprayed on them. On the plant on the left, you can see where some of the color has chipped off. The sad thing is that if they'd just put the "regular" little succulent plants in the sun, most will develop very pretty colors naturally, and usually some kind of flowers. Dye/paint is not necessary to achieve great natural colors though the tones in those pics are not natural, so not naturally possible to duplicate. Although I'm not interested in this look, I still say more power to those who want to temporarily d.ecorate with these plants, even if I (or someone else, never was clear on that) was threatened with physical violence last time I got involved in a discussion about these plants. I don't see any difference between that and someone b.uying annuals to decorate flower beds or pots, that are really perennials that just can't permanently live where they are placed. Also, like the Thanksgiving/Christmas cactus, some of these plants may only be seen by some people in this form, and/or only at this time of year. In that case, I see no harm in trying to rescue one vs. not having the plant at all. The fact that any are purchased would send a wrong m.essage from my personal perspective to the grower/store. It would be terrible irony if saving them out of disgust resulted in "them" thinking people want more. For that reason, I would not purchase them. Though no plant is immune to dying at my house unexpectedly, I'm not interested in temporary plants except a very few 'annuals' for outside. The color may wear off, or maybe all of the leaves completely covered with color are doomed, IDK. If anyone has a theory about the possible longevity of these plants, or has tried rescuing one, I haven't seen any discussion about it here. Understandable considering how ugly and emotional some of the comments have been when folks are just trying to figure out what's going on with these, and probably some are wondering if they can survive long-term. I hope this discussion doesn't go the same way. (Mid-word periods added to fool auto-ad attached to my words. I'm not s.elling anything here.) This post was edited by purpleinopp on Tue, Dec 3, 13 at 10:19

I know I'm late to the party, but I wanted to join in! The sparkles are real; it's a beautiful plant. Mine grew wonderfully for a year. Unfortunately I accidentally beheaded it while moving cross country. Trying to salvage it and propogate a few leaves, but I'm not having much luck :( but so everyone knows it truly is naturally sparkly! Mine continued to grow many new sparkly leaves. This pic is from the day I got it, it grew 7-8" tall before I decapitated it. I have a couple leaves left I'm trying to save. Blah!

@ Rina lovely plants!! :) Hi again guys! I live in the Philippines. Manila is usually hot, with an average temperature of 30°C (85°F). I have photos of my room below and the current state of my plant dishes :) Dish A: - i removed the majority of the small microscopic pebbles (i still need more of the new bigger ones, ran out) and replaced it with this dressing, (is this chicken grit???) - i also removed the zebra plant and placed it on a different dish. is this group okay? :) - i watered this dish for the first time after 2 weeks since i repotted the plants. i only spritzed them last week when i posted this thread. for watering, i followed the tips here: http://www.succulentsandsunshine.com/how-to-water-succulent-plants/3/ - A lot of the Sedum's leaves have fallen off. however, i noticed these small buds. Is it growing back or is it dying? i don't know Dish B: This larger dish is still a work in progress. I left a small portion of the pot for propagating since i don't have any extra pots yet. I placed the zebra plant here and got a new Echeveria. i made sure that the leaves don't touch the soil. will this group be okay? will the plant varieties live well together? :) this is a close-up photo of the potting mix i am using. will this do? how about the leaves i'm planning to propagate? will the shriveled ones die? that baby cactus has roots btw :) i spritzed these babies before i left for the weekend. This is a photo of my window. My room window leads out to our laundry area, which has a bunch of windows that leads outdoors, in front of our neighbor's roof hahaha my room is in the second floor :) it gets stifling hot inside my room during daytime, especially noon. and i get lots of indirect sunlight. will this be okay for my plants? i'm usually out for work during the daytime, i don't want to leave them in the laundry area because sometimes when it rains, water gets in from the windows and i'm afraid they would get soaked and i'd have to deal with overwatered succs again. we're actually having rainshowers this week, but still lots of sun. i left them like this, and i wont be back after 2 days. i hope they will be okay! Thanks again everyone! :)

Sorry Ryan didn't notice you'd included number 6 in your comment at the top (even though I'd checked to see if anyone had mentioned it). I would have worded it differently. Plus I keep posting this and it won't work coz my Internet reception is in and out at the moment. So I hope this works.... no it didn't, but I've copied it and keep trying. Been trying to answer, comment, say thanks to things said etc. Anyway just after midnight, so might be better at night. Here goes...... Nope. 2am down the street?