How Miska jewellery is made

Last updated 16 October 2026.

Miska is a Chennai-based online jewellery brand selling demi-fine, anti-tarnish jewellery in 18K gold PVD on 316L surgical-grade stainless steel or brass, delivered across India. This page sets out what the pieces are made of, what the gold finish is, how to look after it, and what we can and cannot promise — with the sources beside each fact, so you can check them yourself.

316L stainless steel: what it is, and why it is worn on the body

316L is a grade of stainless steel with 16–18% chromium, 10–14% nickel, 2–3% molybdenum and no more than 0.03% carbon.[1] The “L” means low carbon, which keeps the steel from sensitisation — a weakness along its grain that lets corrosion in — and the molybdenum gives it better resistance to pitting by chlorides, the salt in sweat and sea water.[1]

The same grade is used for medical implants such as pins and screws,[1] and it is a common choice for body-piercing jewellery.[2] That is why our steel pieces are waterproof — the shower, sweat, the gym and the rain are fine — and why they suit many people whose skin reacts to cheap fashion jewellery. Even 316L is not proof against warm sea water,[1] so rinse a steel piece in fresh water after the sea or a pool.

PVD, and how it differs from electroplating

PVD (physical vapour deposition) is a family of vacuum processes in which the coating material is turned into a vapour and condensed back onto the piece as a thin film.[4] Electroplating, the usual way gold-tone jewellery is coloured, deposits metal from a chemical bath using an electric current.[5]

PVD coatings are sometimes harder and more corrosion-resistant than electroplated ones[4] — that is why we use it, and also why we will not oversell it. Our suppliers describe the finish as 18K gold PVD, and that is what our listings say. It is still a thin finish on metal, not solid gold:

• it wears fastest where a piece rubs — a ring’s band, a clasp, the inside of a bangle;
• perfume, lotion and hairspray attack it; bleach, cleaning liquids and jewellery-cleaning dips strip any plating, ours included;
• cared for as below, it holds its colour for years — but it is not a lifetime guarantee, and we never say a piece “never tarnishes”.

We do not yet publish a coating thickness. When a supplier gives us a measured figure for a piece, it will be added here and on that piece’s page.

Why brass pieces are sweat-resistant, not waterproof

Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc.[6] It corrodes in the presence of moisture, chlorides, ammonia and some acids, and its copper reacts to form a brown-to-black surface layer that can turn green-blue in air.[6] That green-blue is the mark cheap jewellery leaves on skin.

On a Miska brass piece the PVD layer seals the brass away from your skin and the air. A day of sweat is brief contact, and the sealed finish is fine with it — that is what sweat-resistant means. A daily shower, a swimming pool or the sea is a long soak in soap, chlorine or salt, which over months finds any scratch or worn edge and reaches the brass underneath. So brass pieces come off to bathe or swim, and the finish lasts much longer for it.

We use brass for the more detailed and traditional designs. Every product page names its base metal, so you always know which one you are buying.

How to look after it

• Put it on last — after perfume, deodorant, lotion and hairspray.
• Wipe it after wearing with a soft dry cloth. A few seconds; this is the habit that matters most.
• Store it dry, in the pouch it came in, away from the bathroom.
• Steel: it can stay on in the shower; rinse it in fresh water after the sea or a pool and pat it dry.
• Brass: take it off to bathe, swim or clean.
• Keep every piece away from bleach, cleaning liquids and jewellery-cleaning dips.

The same care is on every product page, and on the home page.

Wear-test diary

This is where we will show, with dates, how our pieces look after real daily wear: steel and brass pieces worn every day, photographed at day 30, 60 and 90 beside an unworn piece from the same batch, in the same light, with nothing retouched. Whatever the photos show — good or bad — goes up here.

First results: December 2026. Until then this section stays empty — we will not post results we do not have.

Supplier material confirmation

Miska does not make its own metal. The base metal of each piece is as declared by our supplier when we buy it, and our listings repeat what the supplier declares: 316L stainless steel, or brass. Supplier material documentation is available on request — write to us with the piece’s name or code (it is on the product page) and we will share what we hold for it.

Questions

Sources

1. AZoM, “Stainless Steel – Grade 316L – Properties, Fabrication and Applications (UNS S31603)”. azom.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=2382
2. Wikipedia, “Surgical stainless steel”. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surgical_stainless_steel
3. Association of Professional Piercers, “Jewelry for Initial Piercings”. safepiercing.org/jewelry-for-initial-piercings
4. Wikipedia, “Physical vapor deposition”. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_vapor_deposition
5. Wikipedia, “Electroplating”. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electroplating
6. Wikipedia, “Brass”. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brass

Ask us

Anything on this page you would like to check, or a question about a particular piece: contact us, or see about Miska and the shop.

Find us

• Miska, a brand of DMS Techlabs
• 125/4, Cholambedu Road, Srinagar Colony, Thirumullaivoyal, Avadi, Chennai - 600 062, Tamil Nadu
• Phone: +91 70127 35868
• WhatsApp: +91 70127 35868
• Email: miskafashion.com@gmail.com