Roses, bows and dots, Oh My!

Over the past week Sydney has been so gloomy and finally today the sun is shining brightly hiding every now and then. But the cold weather will not stop my little spring into Spring with some roses.  Just like the title says, Roses, Bows and Dot, Oh My! that's a whole lot to do on just one hand! The same way to do the roses as I explained on my Oh Roses! post which you can find here. And I used a bobby pin dipped in OPI Alpine Snow to create the polka dots.

I didn't want all the nails to look the same so each nail is something different.
Thumb- Revlon Just minted, just plain mint
Index- Clear coat, with vintage roses using Natio Raspberry Rays, Revlon Windfall (leaves)
Middle- Mint base with white polka dots, OPI Alpine Snow
Ring - Mint base, optional bow attached using some topcoat
Pinky - Mint base, vintage roses

I think this nail design is super cute! and works well in Spring and Summer. The bow tends to get in the way a little during everyday activities like typing on the keyboard, and even washing your hair. Every know and then the bow would fall off for me and then I'd just reapply it with a spot of top coat and hold it against the nail so it would adhere better. Yipee for something to brighten up the day. And I have some very exciting news! I've finally decided to purchase some nail stamps so stay tuned for some more fancy but easy nail art.

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May Part 2/June Haul!

Haven't had a chance to post up my May haul. It's almost the end of June, can you believe it? It's so cold, only 2 more months of Winter. Hurrah!

Here are the purchases of May/June:
- Hello Kitty Bubblegum Body Mist (so yummy!)
- Max Factor Colour Elixir
- Bobbi Brown Long Wear Eye Pencil in Black
- Bobbi Brown Long Wear Even Finish Foundation
- Revlon Colorstay Foundation
- Shu Umera Face Architect Foundation
- Shu Umera Concealer

 



Can't wait to bring a review of these soon!

June Violet Box

Hip Hip Hooray!!! Violet Box has finally sent out its first month of Subscription boxes and boy was I excited when a few people last Friday said they had already received their boxes over facebook but I got mine today. And I had to stop myself from ripping open the packaging, after a few deep breaths, and as calm as composed I could be I opened my violet box. *drum roll* Okay excuse the dramatics I have a little confession, earlier in the morning before the courier dropped off the box I searched to see if anybody else had made a blog post on Violet Box, and there was, so I had a little peak to what was inside.

 Violet box features a beautiful matte black box and purple writing and packaging inside. This month's box came with 6 items.
1. Avene Gentle Gel Cleanser (50ml sample size) RRP $23.95 (200ml full size)


Quite excited to try this product, I've read some reviews online and the majority have said that its quite great but it does have a fragrance and some people have broken out. It's apparently suitable for sensitive skin, which I'm very glad to know.

 2. John Plunkett Glyuco Peel 15ml (full size)
RRP $28.95
This is suppose to gently exfoliate the skin surface removing old, dull surface skin cells. It is a night time exfoliator and on the packaging it is recommended that if you have sensitive skin to wash it off after one minute instead of leaving it on over night.

3. Lash Control Clear Coat Control Mascara and Brow fix (full size)
RRP $25
A.K.A Clear Squeeze, the lash control features a clear formula to taming brows and to use as a top coat over black mascara to seal in the pigment. The squeeze part is for you to control how much product to keep on the wand, the tighter the squeeze, the less product there is on the wand. I'm excited to try this one and to see if it stops the panda eyes I get sometimes from mascara.

4. Argania Hairl Oil Travel Cuties (Sample Size 5ml)
RRP $34.99 (100ml)
Certified with organic Moroccan Argan oil, formulated to be rich in vitamins and antioxidants. Hmm... hair oil, I have never tried it before but many say Moroccan oil is great for the hair but we will see how things go.

5. Calvin Klein Sheer Beauty EDT
RRP $80 (50ml) $12

6. CK One colour cosmetics, Gloss Eye colour 

RRP $25

Calvin Klein has five colours with this gloss eye colour and as I said earlier I took a peak into what was in this months violet box before it arrived and was hoping with my fingers and toes crossed that I wouldn't get Vivid(blue), Pop (green) or Loud (red/orange). I hoped for Spin (gold), and when I opened the box the first thing I checked was what colour I recevied. I was totally bummed out that I received Pop, I'm not adventurous with eye colour and I like to stay with my neutrals. What can I do with this? I did a little research and what I found out was that Eye gloss is quite translucent, it's not as vibrant as the colour looks in the tube.

 Violet Box also came with three vouchers, the first one is a free one month subscription to Charlotte Dodson TV, who is the yoga teacher to Miranda Kerr, Lara Bingle and more stars.
 The second voucher is $5 off lash control in the Violet shop, which is yet to be open. And last of all a free 20 minute makeover at CK one color counter.

Overall I'll have to say I'm content with my Violet box, it costs $22.95 so I find it a bit on the pricey side but I'm going to give next month a go before I cancel my subscription. Love how there are three full size products so I'm definitely getting more than what I'm paying, but whether the products work with my routine, time will tell especially with the hair oil and the avene gel. I'm disappointed with the eye gloss since I don't think I have any use for it but will probably give it away to a friend since it seems like such a great product.

Can't wait till the next box!

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Max Factor Colour Elixir Giant Pen Stick Review

Max Factor Colour Elixir Giant Pen Stick

So excited to be posting about this Max Factor Colour Elixir giant pen stick and sharing my experience with you all. I generally do nail posts as you know and I like to leave most of the beauty posts to Mia, but I had to share this with you.

With Flash

without flash

This Max Factor Pen was part of my recent May haul at Priceline and boy was I excited to give this one a try.


They had a promotion on for this newly released pen stick, it's two for the price of one. I swatched all the colours before purchasing and nothing popped out but this Vibrant Pink. I'm definitely heading back to priceline to grab the other shades.


 It's more a pencil since there are no gizmo's to get more product out but the good old sharpener. But I have to say its nothing close to what you'd expect out of a pencil, it's smooth and has a beautiful glossy shine. The colour is amazing and very suitable to spring and summer. Since we just hit winter in Australia, the colour is amazing for a beautiful pop of colour to our dull winter wardrobe.



 I carried out the three kiss test and some product did show up on the first kiss, but generally the second and third one was more faint. And just as you can see the colour is still so bold post kiss. I was very surprised that it stayed on quite nicely, it lost a bit of shine but that was absolutely fine.

Three Kiss Test

Post Kiss

 One little downside that I had to do some research on was how to actually get more product  and realised it had to be sharpened, such a bummer because I think some product will be lost while sharpening and even it won't have the same sculpted tip. But will definitely have to get back to update this post on how the sharpening goes. If you've tried it before let me know, would love to know what happens after the whole sharpening process. I also had a small issue when I was eating some chicken, the colour was transferring to my chicken when I took a bite. But I cannot express how much I still love it!

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Birthday nails!

It's Rina here and ITS MY BIRTHDAY TODAY!!! XD so excited to turn one year older and its been such an amazing start to the day already. I've spent it with my amazing friends and celebrating tonight with my family.

From my previous entries you would know I love doing a french mani and for my birthday I had to do a royal blue french mani, I couldn't resist it!

I went with China Glaze Man hunt and for my index finger I did a Ciate Sequin French Mani. The picture does no justice to the sequins since it looks amazing off camera.

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Surprise!

Surprise! We've changed our layout, we've been so busy with work recently and haven't had a chance to really play around with the design of the blog. Hopefully we'll have some time soon to improve the layout of our blog, so watch this space!

Hopefully you guys are enjoying the day off as much as we are. Winter weather isn't great, but hey, we can always appreciate the night sky.

May Haul Part 1

Hey guys it's Rina here and I cannot wait to share with you my May Haul and this is my Part, Mia will be sharing her haul in part 2. I've gone Priceline crazy over the month of May, every time I walked into Priceline never walked out empty handed. They have had amazing deals across the month and it just been a magical marvelous May. And I'm officially free!! YAY!! no more uni assignments! which means more and more blog posts.

The Priceline Haul is in three different parts, purely because they were part of three different deals.
Part 1- 40% off all cosmetics
I didn't actually grab a whole lot during this sale, which I partially regret but the next few parts definitely made up for not going spending crazy. 
- Maybelline Shredded in Magenta
- Savvy lipstick Magenta
- Savvy lipstick  Hot Pink
- Essence lipliner in Nude
- Essence Nail white pencil
- Essence Silky touch blush number 10

Priceline Part 1

 Part 2 - 50% off Sally Hansen, Maybelline Nail & Lipstick Buy 1 get 1 free, Savvy Buy 3 for the price of 2
- Sally Hansen Diamond Flash top coat
- Sally Hansen Color Quick Fast Dry  Sheer pink
- Sally Hansen Nail art pen - Silver
- Sally Hansen buffing block
- Sally Hansen nail polish in invisible, blue away, and midnight blue
- Maybelline  nail polish in Blue Freeze and Impeccable Grey
- Maybelline lipstick Colour Sensational The Shine in Mango Diamonds
- Maybelline lipstick Colour Sensational Vivids in Fuchsia Flash
- Savvy nail polish in Frothy Cappuccino and Aubergine
- Savvy concealer 02 Medium (not shown)

Priceline Part 2 + Target

Target Haul - discounted items
- Maybelline shredded nail polish in Silver Stunner
- Revlon nail polish in Posh
- Revlon nail polish in Midnight Blue

Sportsgirl

 See that beautiful Cobalt bag from Sportsgirl? It has been out for quite a while and I haven been eyeing it for so long, but I couldn't justify paying $49.95 for it and just as I walked into Sportsgirl in QVB a week before I was very close to purchasing it but didn't feel that it looked too great on me. Then I strolled in at Parramatta Westfield Sportsgirl and there it was, just one bag left hanging up there in the accessories section and I just went ahead and grabbed it. And then the red ticket caught my eye, it was reduced to $29.95, bells rang in my head and then I realised there was 50% off sale items. BARGAIN!! So I got this bag for $15, totally justifiable especially after the crazy Priceline haul on the same day. I also grabbed a I Art Nails! neon set which was only $3.50 and it comes with  rhinestones.

Sportsgirl

Sportsgirl

Part 3 Priceline - Buy 1 Get 1 Free Max Factor Pen Stick , Hello kitty 25% off + Buy 2 items free ring
- Essence Nail polish, Snow White collection, 03 Prince Charming
- Max Factor Colour Elixir Giant Pen stick in Vibrant Pink 15
- Hello Kitty Compact Powder in Pashmina Abricot

Separate posts will be coming soon for us to review these products, we are absolutely swamped in product reviews so be ready for a tonne to come. These is also a separate Natio Haul that we will be posting soon, so stay tuned and don't forget to  Follow our blog with,Facebook, Twitter or Instagram

Review: Cyber Colors

Hi everyone! Today I want to review a range of products that I have been using for quite some time. I purchased this when we were in Singapore and have been using them since then! I am so amazed at the quality of the products that I decided to do a review of them. The brand I'm reviewing is Cyber Colors, I have seen their products on Sasa before and never thought twice about giving it a go. 

While shopping in Sasa we got a free make over and the products used were Cyber Colors. I decided to give it a go anyway. 

Gemstone Aqua-Base Pudding Foundation (SPF20 PA ++)

The product is stored in a solid glass container, it carries 30g of product with an open pot design. Inside the packaging it comes with a small spatula to scoop out the amount of product needed and can be washed for hygiene purposes. 

The texture of the foundation is a fluffy, pudding-like cream and blends easily onto the skin. The product is quite dense, even when tipping the container over, the product does not drip out. 

The foundation has quite an interesting scent. It reminds of me of those herbal/natural smells you can usually find with moisturisers.

I purchased the colour 02 Natural, when swatched the colour has more of a pink undertone. Although, when applying with a sponge to my face, the colour seems to match quite well. The coverage for this product is medium to full, although it is not recommended to start with less of the product and slowly building up areas that require more coverage. Skip the dark spots, acne or eye bags for the concealer. This foundation does a good job for cover dark spots and acne, on lazy days just powder on top and you're good to go.

Throughout the day, it is quite natural looking. It does not get dry or patchy throughout the day. So I would probably give this foundation a 7/10.

Gemstone Compact SPF 40 PA +++

The packaging for this is extremely adorable, it has little crystals at the top! This is definitely comparable to the MAC powders. Previously I used the Studio Fix Powder Foundation which has full coverage however, it tends to disintegrate during the day and you can see the patchy dry areas towards the end of the night. This product does not do the same thing, I use it as a powder on top of the foundation and a quick fix when I am heading out after work. This is the only thing I have been carrying in my bag! The only downside is it comes in 3 colours, the sales assistant at Sasa matched me to 01 Porcelain although I think it's a slightly too white for me. Overall a 7/10, the best powder foundation I have tried so far.

Waterproof Style Eyeliner 

This is my hg eyeliner, it is the only eyeliner that I have tried that lasts all day and night for me. From 6am - 8pm at night, this eyeliner does not budge. By far the best purchase I have made on the whole trip to Singapore. Only USD10 on Sasa.com, give it a try! It may be a bit difficult to use as first since the tip of brush is soft but definitely worth the trouble! Definitely a 9/10!

Gemstone Silk Glowing Rouge - Peach Yellow Brown

Received this as a complimentary gift from Sasa. It's more like a nude colour that just makes the lips look slightly more pink. Not really as long lasting as it claims nor moisturising. A slight let down, probably a 5/10. 

Follow us on Twitter (@MisaAvenue) or Instagram (@misaavenue) and let us know your thoughts on these products or if you have any questions!

HG Acne Gel - Dr Spot Invisible Spot Fighting Gel Review!

I bought this while we were in Singapore. I had a pretty bad acne reaction to the Sportsgirl Sunscreen on my face. Initially I was going to pick up the Origin's Pimple Gel. The Origin's Super Spot Remover was the one I was using before, it was the best one I have used until I found my HG one. I was going to pick it up in Singapore but it was even more expensive there, so I decided to try something new.

In Sephora, I saw the Dr Spot Invisible Spot-Fighting Gel by Soap & Glory. I bought it but I didn't really think it would work. Then as I used it in Singapore, I realised how amazing it was so I picked up one for back up! I had a swelling red hot pimple on my nose the other day and overnight it has diminished. I am super excited to share this product and I hope it works for you guys too. :) I wish i would have known about this product earlier so I could have gotten rid of these stubborn zits faster!

Pros: 

• does not dry out skin
• gets rid of acne really fast
• good price point

Unfortunately, I haven't seen this product on sale in Australia. I know we stock Soap&Glory under Kit Cosmetics but they don't seem to have it. Perhaps try one of the sellers on eBay!