My daughter-in-law picked these earrings out. They are cute but very inexpensively made of plastic and hopefully stainless steel ear wires (studs). They were mailed in an envelope. Yes, studs stick out perpendicular to the earring. As you can imagine, the ear wires arrived bent and contorted. I straightened the wires with jewelers pliers. They are still bent but wearable. She has allergies to some metals. The description does not say, but I hope the ear wires are stainless steel as that is usually hypoallergenic.