Heavy glass crystals are nice. It comes with a few extra, which is was necessary. The crystals go on one at a time and are hung with little hooks like Christmas ornaments. Be careful not to bump the light or the crystals will fall of and shatter. For color reference the metal is painted dark gold - it is not brass. The directions are tiny and translated from Chinese, so it’s kind of like putting together a puzzle. I’ve put a lot of lights together over the years so it was easy for me, but I could see how it could be a pain for the novice.