Thanks guys. I'm taking notes. I'd love to do this someday for some of my friends at the rink (who order all their dresses even from AliExpress).
After doing some tests, I've decided I'm not happy after all with the stones- the blue/dark turquoise cast is worse than the sequins. I have plenty of those, so I'm going to go to town that way. I have one month at this point before the competition, so no time to order AND stone.
I may try these on the navy blue dress I'll wear for the pattern dances- up close you can still see the red, but maybe from a distance it'll be ok. That will need to be tested on the ice directly though.
AussiSkater- Who do you order from? These are Polari stones from the "Polari Rhinestone store". I don't see an option for color cards..... To be honest though, they look exactly like the picture. I had assumed that between screen unreliability and lighting, things would change. Nope.
If I ever get good enough to do this "for real" and take commissions, then I'll move into the Swarovski/Preciosa zone. But for myself, as a mid-ranking adult skater, I just don't feel the need! These are deffo lower quality (not as clear, inconsistent cuts etc) but are 10 times better than what I can get at the local craft stores, and do have the bling. More importantly they were a whopping 8 euros after shipping, so no guilt. They arrived really fast, especially considering the holidays (no one in France/Europe would have done it). Hopefully I'll either find another project for them, or unload them on someone else.