I was looking for an unusual (evidently) sized mouse pad. I actually needed a mouse pad and larger to cover the hinges on my drop-down desk tray for my keyboard. The hinges kept rubbing on my wrists. I also don't like the limitations of a standard size mouse pad. When gaming, I sometimes have to move fast and don't want to slide off the mouse pad, lol! This item came rolled up, in a box, in plastic. There was no smell to the item right out of the box. When I laid it out, there was a slight curve in the pad, but several hours later, it's almost gone. Rolling it the other way also helps. The pale blue looks great with my white desk. Pink is always another option on the other side of the pad (not for my decor). The material says "leather" -- I think it's the manufactured kind, but it doesn't matter. It's a nice weight and the mouse works great on it (mouse was sticking a bit on my desk). The mouse pad is certainly water resistent if you keep liquids by your keyboard/mouse. It's a bit thicker than I expected, which is a good feature; I thought it would be very thin but it has some "body" to it, which even provides a bit of padding (slight, but it's something and definitely feels better than a hard desk surface). All in all, such a nice addition to my desk. It's inexpensive, functional and attractive. What more could you want?