Where it comes from
It is an old upright Japanese kaomoji made with keyboard symbols. The star shooting from a wink comes from the manga and idol-style "wink sparkle".
When to use it
Use it for a joke, a hint, a cheeky promise or light flirting. It can seem too flirty or unserious with a boss or someone you just met.
Examples
- Our little secret (^_-)-☆
- Leave the rest to me (^_-)-☆
Variants to copy
What it is made of
Every character in the face with its Unicode code point — handy if one shows up as a box on a friend's phone.
(
U+0028left parenthesis^
U+005Ecircumflex accent_
U+005Flow line-
U+002Dhyphen-minus)
U+0029right parenthesis☆
U+2606white star