Newspaper Nails (with Tutorial; alternative method)

If you cannot or do not want to use vodka, please CLICK HERE to see what else you can use.

Today, I have for you my first AND second attempts at Newspaper Nails.

What are Newspaper Nails?
It's when you use alcohol to transfer newspaper print onto your nails.

Wanna see my first attempt? Well, you can't. I tried the ways I've read on the internet about soaking your nail in vodka for so many seconds and then placing a strip of newspaper on it. I ended up with ink on my fingers, none on my nails, and super frustrated. I gave up after trying 3 nails max.

Wanna see my second attempt?







I think this came out MUCH better!!
My middle finger on my left hand was the first finger I tried, so I apologize for the smudge. I'm really, super proud of this, especially considering this was my first second attempt at it. If I were to do it again, I'd be more cautious about not moving the paper once it's on the nail. But also know that it does NOT look that smudged in real life. These are macro pictures and pick up EVERYTHING. It's the reason why you think you've done perfect cleanup, but then your photos capture every little spot you missed and it makes it look like you didn't clean up at all.
And, I also want to point out that the grainy-ness of the photos courtesy of blogger, makes them look even MORE smudged. They're not THAT bad. Click the photos to enlarge them so they look less grainy.

But I did NOT do the soaking method for several reasons:
1. I'm not that patient.
2. My nails are very convex, and trying to hold a piece of straight paper on them doesn't work.
3. I don't like newspaper ink all over my fingers.
4. You waste so much alcohol it's definitely considered alcohol abuse.
Ok, so not so much number 4, but the other 3 reasons are enough for me to not use the soaking method.

Here's what I mean about my nails being convex and not flat:



So you can understand why holding a flat, straight piece of paper on my nail is not easy. So...

Here's How I Did It (redo of my smudged middle nail)

Nail prep:
Paint your nails a light color.

I used China Glaze Sea Spray. Make sure they're dry.

What I Used:

1 nip of Vodka (I used Moon Mountain which is 80 proof and has 40% alcohol. It was just the cheapest one by the register.)
1 cotton round
10 nail-sized strips newspaper
Top Coat

How I did it:

1. I put some vodka onto the cotton round just as you would put nail polish remover on a cotton round.


**I made the "circle" of vodka bigger after I took this photo. Make it large enough so it will completely cover your nail with vodka**

2. I wiped over the nail I was about to newspaper. I initially held it there for 10 seconds, but found there was no difference in outcome between 1 second and 10 seconds. This also leads me to believe you could probably skip this step all together, but it can't hurt.


3. Lay a piece of newspaper on the cotton round with the side you want on the nail facing up. The newspaper will stick to the cotton round.

Note:
You could also put the piece of newspaper onto your dry nail and then cover it with the cotton round if this is not working for you or if you find that it moves around too much.

4. Press the cotton round with the newspaper piece onto your nail.


5. Make sure the cotton round is wrapped around the nail. Not fully wrapped around your finger, just make sure the whole nail is covered by the newspaper. Don't move it!!



6. After about 10-15 seconds, remove the cotton round and newspaper piece in one motion.




Voila! Newspaper nails.


Sorry it came out a little smudged. I promise it's possible to do this without smudging!! I was just concentrating more of the photo taking aspect than holding the paper still. And I was doing this with one hand since my other hand was holding the camera. Please don't do this one handed like I did!! Hold the cotton round with your other hand.

You can use a top coat immediately on the nail because the vodka will evaporate so quickly your nail won't remain wet. Clean up any print that got on your skin with a Q-tip immediately after doing the one nail or at the end. I used the vodka on the cotton round to clean it up after all the nails were done and topcoated.


And the final product!!


This whole process was the first time I did it, and it took me... Ready for this?... 8 minutes. Yup. That includes everything(does not include nail painting. I already had my base coat on) like cutting the newspaper strips, getting all of my supplies together, top coat on all nails, and cleanup. AND one redo nail. Speaking of which...

What if one nail is smudged, crooked, or looks awful?
Just simply wipe over it with the vodka soaked cotton round and the print will come right off!! No need to use remover or repaint your nail.

Also on a side note,
I doesn't really matter so much what the text says because it's going to be backwards on your nail, anyway. However, there are areas in your paper that will have smaller print. I did not choose smaller print, I just chose the first article I came across. I was going to use the print on the backside of the article (which was smaller), but then I realized it was the obituaries. I just couldn't bring myself to put the text from someones obituary on my nails. Maybe just a personal preference, but at least something to think about... lol

I hope this helped!!