Style, but for a price. Priced at just about $40 from iSkin’s website comes the iSkin aura for the iPhone 5 (Amazon). It’s a snap-on back cover that has iSkin’s sense of design on the back. If all-black isn’t your thing, then maybe one of the other available color combinations might be.

There’s no doubt that this case is a bit pricey, but that’s typical of iSkin, as their products offer one-of-a-kind designs and overall build quality. With that being said, for your $40, you’re getting the case, a screen cleaning wipe, iSkin stickers, an iSkin microfiber, and a card that has information about iSkin’s Facebook page.

As previously mentioned, the aura is a simple back cover that has a few design elements that makes it pretty slick. The sides of the case feature a material that I can’t really figure out, and iSkin calls it the “side bumper” to increase the grip. On the inside, we see iSkin’s circular texture that’s found on some of their other products. The finish on this texture is glossy. If you like lanyards, there are some holes in the bottom left and bottom right corners of the case, so that you can install one.

The back of the case is where all the magic happens. The majority of the back is taken up by a brushed metal plate, with a slightly mirrored one right above it. Lastly, above that, we have the generously-sized camera cutout.

As with most back covers, this case has no lay-on-the-table design. But, on the left side, we do have two nubs for the volume buttons. Unfortunately, they make the buttons harder to press, and you really do lose out on the amount of “click” that you get when pressing them. Above those is the silent switch cutout, which is sized just fine.

The top and bottoms of the case completely exposes the top and bottom of your iPhone 5. Seeing as the phone is vulnerable to easy scratches and scuffs around these areas, the lack of protection isn’t surprising for this type of case. So, if protection is a concern of yours, these types of cases simply aren’t the way to go.

However, this case is very stylish, and I can see why many would be interested in this case. The price might turn them away, but you really are getting a quality product. As mentioned, protection is pretty minimal here.

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