Saw the other reviews after I already bought the curtain, yes they are shinier than the photo but so does most of the home stuff I bought from online stores, they all look a little different from the photo. However, they work really well blocking out the sun! My window faces east and gets a lot of sun in the morning, since I put those on I've been able to sleep way better. and against sun light the floral pattern shows, looks actually pretty nice.