My White stars are coming out well; give them a base coat of light gray with a white drybrush dusted over the top. Next, stipple (cut an old brush down and paint by dabbing the bristles straight down onto the mini, having first wiped most of the paint off) with a rich purple/blue shade of your choice. Stipple in stripes or patterns, leaving plenty of gray showing. Next, a further stipple of the original gray over the top of the purple, this will deaden the colour and leave it less bright and in your face.
Finally, give a full gloss varnish as this will leave the mini shiny and slick looking as well as well protected. I'll post pictures shortly but this technique seems to work particularly well.