Happy Easter

Happy Easter everyone!& Happy April Fools!

Sorry I don't have an Easter nail tutorial I've been super busy doing random things.

FT: Oh Rose!

FLASHBACK THURSDAY!! Our very first FT featuring our favourite Oh Rose! 

                                             

 

Despite being in Autumn in Sydney, there are no limits to nail art/design and no one will care whether you have black nails in summer or bright yellow in winter. Especially since our weather here has been so sunny and bright I wanted to do something pink and rosey. 

- Natio Little Treasure Raspberry Rays

- OPI Alpine Snow 

- Revlon Wind Fall 

- Revlon Clear 

1. Base coat! I love to remind you all that you need base coat 

2. Two coats of Natio's Raspberry Rays and one coat clear for the index finger

3.  Make sure your index finger or whichever nail you have picked for your vintage rose feature to be completely dry 

4. Using a blotting tool or a bobby pin, create circle like dots, they don't have to be completely round and circular give them a little bump here and there around the circle so it resembles a rose. 

5. I use OPI's Alpine Snow and mixed it with Natio's to create a lighter pink for the petals. Using a smaller blotting tool , create C's in the middle of your rose for the petals. 

6. For the leaves place a dot next to the rose and drag out to create the pointy end of a leaf, I also mixed a little bit of white with Wind Fall for a lighter green for a more 2D leaf.

It's not hard to create roses but practice on paper so you can get the type of rose you like. There are many different way and colours you can do, so experiment and have fun. Post us a picture of what you've done!

P.S: I made a post on our beauty blog, Skincare 2.0 come take a look at it!

Ciate Sequin Manicure

As you all know we have decided that our nail blog, Misa Avenue Nails, will no longer be updated, instead all of our fun loving nail tutorials and posts will be posted here. Our past posts will also be re-posted as part of our flashback Thursday. 

So lets start off our first nail post with a bit of a BANG! (and some glitter)

 

 

Get ready for picture overload in this post!

So Mia purchased the Ciate Sequin Manicure from ASOS for $22.99, and of course free shipping to Australia. And of course I was going to try it out and blog about it. If you recall Ciate came out with the caviar nails, and I'm not sure when the Sequin manicure came out but it's not actually on their site. 

If you're living in the States I'm sure you can find it at Nordstrom or Sephora.

Box Contents:

- little black brush

- Pot of sequins

- Glitter grip

Nails by Ciate uploaded a video on how to apply the sequins which can be found here. 

Step1: Clean off nail polish, and make sure its all off.

Step2: Apply one coat of Glitter grip on all nails and let it dry.

Step3: One nail at a time, apply a second coat of glitter grip

Step4: Dip, Roll, Dunk (anything you can really think of ) immediately into pot of sequins

Step5: (different from the video) Let it rest for 10-20 seconds before patting in the sequins. 

 This resting period allows the glitter grip to become tacky so sequins can be patted without it sticking to your patting finger. The tackiness will allows the sequins to adhere to the nail bed better.

Step 6: Use the little black brush to sweep off excess sequins. 

Step 7: Repeat the process with the rest of your nails 

Step8: Apply one more coat of glitter grip over the sequins, let it dry for 15-20 mins

Step 9: (different from Ciate) Apply one layer of top coat to seal in the sequins.

note: If you want to speed up the process after step 4 do the rest of your nails so you can pat all of them altogether and then sweep away. 

Look how shiny they are in the sun!
I was actually distracted that my nails were so pretty whilst I was driving.



- Step 8 is suppose to seal in the sequins, however, I realised an extra coat of top coat seals in the sequins better so they last longer.

Picture on the left is sealed in with two layers of top coat.

The removal process 

These nails are gorgeous! But they are hell to get off. I love how pretty they look and I received a tonne of compliments asking what I did. They last as long as you want, because I put top coat they lasted around a week before my habits kicked in.  If you've read reviews online of the Ciate sequin manicure many bloggers will tell you the same thing. So how did I get them off? Because they aren't a thin layer of polish if you get bored a lot like me I started picking at the edges and generally they will rip off like stickers (No, definitely not painful, kinda fun if you ask me).

So aside from picking at the sequins, wrap a soaked cotton pad in nail polish remover around your finger and let the remover seep into the sequins. Let it sit for a minute and do the usual circular motions and most of the sequins should come off.

This removal process definitely requires a lot of patience. Check out our foil technique here.

Disclaimer: We are not sponsored by Ciate and everything written is entirely my opinion.

P.s. We would LOVE to be sponsored by Ciate because we love your products!!!

Beauty Tips - Cleaning Brushes

Despite using my make up brushes on a daily basis, it becomes a chore to clean them. Before, I followed frmheadtotoe's method of how to clean make up brushes. 

Feel free to check it out on the above! :)

However, I was searching new methods to clean up and found a much easier way that seems to save time.

So grab a soap bar to clean your brushes, unscented and pure white soap bars would be ideal but the choice is yours. Wet your brush with lukewarm water, ensure water does not get inside at the top as that is where the glue holds all the bristles together. Gently swirl your brush onto the bar of soap until it lathers up then rinse with lukewarm water. Squeeze out the excess water and lay it flat and allow them to air dry! 

Day 4 - Shopping at Gold Coast

If you checked out our nail blog, you would know that we recently took a trip to the Gold Coast. To check out our first few days of fun, click here!

Day 4 was actually a day for us to relax and a break from the theme parks. We headed to the Casino in the morning, where I unfortunately lost $2 to the machines (but hey, I got to press it more than 20 times? perhaps gambling wasn't my thing to start with since I don't seem to have much luck!). It was so tempting to play a hand of blackjack but we decided not to. So we got quite bored after watching other people gamble away and decided to head to Pacific Fair Shopping Centre. There weren't many unusual stores and the shops were similar to Sydney, surprisingly we were able to shop and buy an outfit!

Stores we visited in Gold Coast include: Colette, Myer, Valleygirl, Sportsgirl, Forever New, Chicabooti and Lovisa (at Surfers Paradise). 

Here is a peek at some of the jewellery and nail polishes we got our hands on!

Necklace from Colette 

Pastel Necklace from Colette

Rose Gold Necklace from Colette

Charms from Movie World and Seaworld

Rings from Lovisa

Revlon Polishes -
First Class Top Speed and 863 Ruby Ribbon Matte Suede

At the Casino in Gold Coast

Beach at Surfer's Paradise

Beach

Skincare 2.0 Toner Part 2

Hey guys! It's Rina here from Misa Avenue Nails, just wanted to share with all of you my experience with toners. Unlike Mia, I've got very sensitive skin and on top of that it's combination skin. My t-zone can get quite oily whilst my cheeks can get very dry and flaky if I don't take care of it properly.

If you haven't read Skincare 101 - the importance of a toner, then head over there to check it out. I didn't realise the importance of a toner until a couple of years ago. And to be honest sometimes I still skip it and just slap on the moisturiser and off and away I go. So I've really only tried three types of toners, and especially with my sensitive skin I try not to stray away from familiar products. New products can trigger contact dermatitis for my skin especially.


POLA- Sakura Veil Lotion R

A toning lotion for normal to dry skin which provides the skin with moisture and hydration after cleansing.  Allergy tested, non-comedogenic and no colour additives.

This is my go to toning lotion and I swear by this toner and it's amazing, there is no alcohol in the ingredients so it is great for dry skin.

I highly recommend trying Pola products, they are amazing. I also use their cleanser and moisturiser. 

Biore triple action toner

I tried this out when I ran out of my Pola toning lotion and was waiting for it to be shipped to Australia. It contains witch hazel, salicylic acid and some form of alcohol. It has a very cooling sensation which you might not be use to at the very beginning.
Since I have dry skin, I didn't realise it would be so damaging, it just dried my skin out more.
Definitely recommended for oily skin.

Olay - oil minimizing toner
Since I have combination skin I wanted to try this out just for my t-zone to minimise the oil. It just broke me out like within an hour. There was no stinging or anything, my face just started getting itchy and dermatitis sprung along with some acne.

Everyone's skin is different so it might not break you out as it did to me.

Skincare 101 - The Importance of a Toner

It seems that most people often skip using a toner in their skincare routine. However, it is one of the more important steps required. Cleanse, tone and moisturize is the basics for keeping our skin happy and healthy.

Toners are used to restore the pH balance in your skin. Cleansers usually strip the skin of natural oils and distort the pH balance inside your skin. It may take your skin up to one hour to restore the acid/alkaline balance! By using a toner, it restores the pH level in your skin instantly.

When purchasing toners, try to choose one for your skin type. Try to avoid alcohol-based toners as they dry the skin.

Some toners I would recommend include:

Kuan Yuan Lin – Cucumber Water

http://www.sasa.com/SasaWeb/eng/product/viewProductDetail.jspa?itemno=103604703001

JUJU Cosmetics - Aquamoist Hyaluronic Acid Moisture Toner
http://www.sasa.com/SasaWeb/eng/product/viewProductDetail.jspa?itemno=104178409004

Feel free to let us know what other toners you would recommend !