Newspaper Nails withOUT Alcohol (Vodka)

I noticed that so many people are wondering if you can do Newspaper nails without alcohol (vodka). I wrote this Newspaper Nails Tutorial, and I used vodka. Here's my second part to that which showcases other things you may have around your house to use instead of vodka. And if you're under 21 (or 18 depending on your country), you can still do Newspaper Nails!!

All nails were done with the tutorial I linked to above.



Nail Prep:
2 coats OPI Skull & Glossbones
1 coat Poshe


Note:
If you're having problems with the newspaper print not being dark enough, try a lighter base coat. It can make a HUGE difference. I tried this with Essie Nice is Nice and the print came out too pale. Just know that pale newsprint may not be due to your technique at all, it may be your base coat.

What I Used:
70% Rubbing Alcohol
Vodka
Hand Sanitizer
Almond Extract



My Results:



Index Finger - 70% Rubbing Alcohol
Middle Finger - Vodka
Ring Finger - Hand Sanitizer
Pinkie - Almond Extract

70% Rubbing Alcohol


Not bad, absolutely a great alternative. Unfortunately, though, I had to redo this nail several times to get it to look this way. I don't know if it's my nail shape or the rubbing alcohol, but it kept missing parts of the text. The intensity of the text is great, though.

Vodka


This transfers the text SO quickly. If you're looking to do this quickly, vodka is the best out of all of them. Intensity is very similar to the rubbing alcohol, but I don't feel I can do a complete comparison because some text didn't transfer right with the rubbing alcohol, which makes it look more faint.

Hand Sanitizer


Nope. Didn't work. Well, sorta worked, but no where NEAR as well as the others. I'd definitely say don't even bother.

Almond Extract


Umm, yes please!! I cannot believe how well this came out. I think it's my favorite. The text is very sharp, the color is very dark, and the extract smelled delicious!! The texture of the extract makes it very easy to keep it on one spot on the nail. I think that helps attribute to how well it works.

Which do I think is the best?
Honestly, I vote the Almond Extract. And the fact that it smelled DELICIOUS makes it that much more awesome.

Overall Opinion:
If you're looking for something besides vodka, go with an extract. The Almond Extract I used is clear (I say this because some extracts are not clear), and it lists alcohol as the second ingredient next to water. It uses 36% alcohol. Even if you have vodka, I still suggest trying an extract. The results are amazing. I'm sure other extracts, such as vanilla, orange, mint, etc would work fine, but the vanilla extract I have isn't clear, so I thought that might cause problems. The almond extract was clear.
I would also recommend rubbing alcohol, though it wasn't my favorite. It did a fine job transferring, so it will certainly work.
As for the hand sanitizer, don't waste your time.

Note:
I know that the close up photos still look fuzzy. This is because I'm shooting in macro. In real life, you canNOT tell there is fuzziness on the index, middle, or pinkie. And when I say the pinkie is the sharpest, even if it doesn't look it in the photos, it is. It's amazing.

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!!

Water Marbling Hints and Tips

Hints and Tips for water marbling that will hopefully help you out!! Within the next couple of days I will be posting a full tutorial on how to do water marbling.


*Design from this water marble*

♥ Be prepared!! Make sure everything is near you.
Pre-peel tape, have a napkin available to wipe off your toothpick/orange stick, have several toothpicks/orange sticks available, have nail polish remover and Q-tips ready to go, have your base coat ready in case you mess up and need to try again, have a garbage or somewhere to put your used tape.

♥ If you're just starting out, do not use expensive, discontinued, or rare polishes.
I mean, you can, but you may find yourself wasting WAY too much for learning. If it's a polish you don't care about, go for it.

♥ I highly suggest taping off your finger.
Prep the finger you plan to dip prior to dropping polish in the water. If you're experienced with water marbling and know you'll be able to dip two fingers at once, tape off both before you begin. If you're newer at it, start by taping one. If you end up with a design that you are able to dip two fingers in, just let the design sit and tape off your other finger.
Also, if you have your thumb taped off but the design you have in your cup looks like it'll work much better on your pinkie, take the time to tape off your pinkie. The design isn't going anywhere, you have plenty of time.

♥ Make sure you tape off AROUND your cuticle, not onto your nail.
You could end up with a funny shape near your cuticle if part of your nail doesn't have the water marble. It's much easier to clean polish off your cuticle/finger than to redo the entire nail because it looks weird.

♥ Use a cup, not a bowl.
You want the outer most layer of polish to touch the sides of the cup. This helps anchor the polish so when you drag through to make the design, it doesn't spread around.

♥ If the design is not going the direction you like after multiple attempts to save it, you might just have to give up.
It sucks to waste the polish, but ultimately, with the time it takes to water marble, you want the most gorgeous designs on your nails. Don't settle!

♥ Don't start your design at the outer most ring.
The outer most ring tends to dry first. This is a problem because when you go to make your design, if you start dragging from outer layer, it can stick to your toothpick and it can ruin the rings. Make enough rings so when you go to drag through them for your design, you don't start at the outer one. You want to start at least one or two rings in. Think of the outer layer as the anchor.

♥ Warm water is not better.
There's a reason behind using room temperature water. Filtered is preferred. Here's what happens if you use a variation of that:
Unfiltered - depending on where you live, your tap water probably has different minerals. This can cause the polish to not spread as well.
Cold - If you have a Brita filer or something where you keep your filtered water in the fridge, you might be tempted to not wait until it's at room temperature. Cold water can cause the polish to dry quicker, making your design pull and mess up when you try to drag through it. It can also cause your polish to not spread nearly as well as it should.
Warm - So if cold water causes polish to not spread well and the design to stick to your toothpick or orange stick, then warm water must NOT do that, right? Correct. However, warm water has a different issue. It works great for spreading polish, but a couple of problems arise from this. First, if you do not have enough layers of polish in your cup, because warm water is so good at spreading polish, when you make your design, it can cause the polish to "leak" and spread more. The second issue is clean up. Because warm water prevents polish from drying quickly, after you dip your nail and try to clean up the polish before pulling your finger out, the polish will be very difficult to get up and will not stick easily to your toothpick/orange stick because the polish isn't drying.

♥ If you have short nails and/or you're new to water marbling, don't do a lot of colors.
You may see people on YouTube doing tutorials with 5, 6, 7 colors. They're experienced and most have long nails. If you're not an expert, so many colors leaves a greater difficulty for creating a pattern because you want all of the colors to be seen.

♥ Seriously make sure your water surface is clear of polish.
It might be difficult to tell, even with dark colors, that there is enough polish on the surface of the water to not allow polish to spread. I clean up the polish while my nail is in the water, but I also make sure I go over it again before I'm about to drop polish into it. I can't tell you how many times I legit end up pulling out large pieces of polish I hadn't seen.

♥ Be aware of large drops of polish.
You're going to find that some polishes will always drop right off the brush, some will always be difficult, and others are super sneaky and do either/or every time you drop them. Let me explain. When you're doing so many drops of color throughout the entire process, you become complacent and sometimes don't even look at the polish bottle. You just grab the brush and hold it over the water. Many times, a brush decides that it's going to get a HUGE amount of polish on it, so when you pull it out, it surprises you and drips everywhere! Worst of all is when you're on your last set of drops and it smears all over your polish in your cup, potentially ruining it and causing you to start over. Keep an eye on your polish when you take it out of the bottle. It might surprise ya! And not in a good way...

♥ Make sure your workspace is disposable or you're ok with it getting ruined.
Because there is always risk of polish dripping everywhere, bottles tipping over, even the cup spilling, make sure you're doing this on a towel, paper towel, or surface you're ok with potentially getting polish on.

♥ Be conscious of your other nails when you're dipping.
I swear I've done this EVERY time I've water marbled. Sometimes I correct it, other time you'll never see the mistakes in real life, but my macro photos make it look HUGE. Let me give you some examples of what I've done. I'll save the best for last.
I catch a marbled nail on a toothpick or side of the cup and I make a dig in it. Even worse, when I go to dip a nail, I push a marbled nail against another finger and make a HUGE smudge that cannot be saved. My favorite thing I did? I did this only once and it was actually when I was doing my Spring/Easter v1.0. I went to dip my ring finger nail, and just as I went to start cleaning up the polish on the surface, I also dipped my already marbled middle finger into the water/polish. Yup. That was fantastic. And it looked awful. Luckily, I had already top coated it, so I gently went over it with a Q-tip and remover and was able to get up the wet mistake dip and leave my previous marble design. Phew! It looked a little sheer, like you could see my white base a little, but it still looked totally acceptable.

♥ Paint your ENTIRE nail with your base color.
When I paint my nails regularly, I ALWAYS leave a gap between my cuticle and the start of the polish. When it comes to marbling, forget that. Go all the way to your cuticle. I recommend doing this because if you don't, you'll get a sheer patch of marbled polish by your cuticle. And it's much easier to clean up after than have to redo the nail because it looks odd.

♥ Not all polish works.
This is a trial and error process. Just like quality varies from polish to polish, good water marbling polishes vary as well. Generally, the thicker the polish, the worse it'll be in the water. So if it's a gummy kinda polish, it probably won't spread well. However, you can get sheer colors that sink right to the bottom and don't even spread at all. You just have to experiment. But be aware that just because you tried 5 different polishes from the brand and they didn't spread well, it does NOT mean all polishes from that brand are like that. Judge based on the specific polish, not the brand. I will warn you, however, that every single matte polish I have tried has NOT worked. Let me know if you find one that does, but I've tried mattes from Zoya, Ulta, OPI, and Nicole by OPI all with no success. They might spread the first or second ring, but after that you're just adding blobs to the water.

♥ Do NOT blow on your nails, do NOT shake them.
You may be tempted to do this when your nails come out of the water. Please don't! This can cause bubbles or even mess up your design. Just let it air dry.

♥ Take your time and be patient.
You can do it :) It just takes practice!!

Does Nail Polish Expire or Go Bad?

The infinite question. Does nail polish actually expire? What does "expire" mean? When it "expires", should you throw it away? I want to discuss some common misconceptions about expiration of nail polish, if or when it needs to be thrown out, and why products might expire.

What does "expire" mean?

Dictionary definition - "To come to an end; terminate" (source)

In regards to cosmetics?

FDA definition - In summary, they say that there are no actual requirements in the US for cosmetic expiration's, however the concern is bacterial growth. (source)

European Commission definition - They have something called "Period of Time After Opening". You can find this symbol on the packaging of the cosmetic. Here are some on different polishes:




Top Left - China Glaze Crackle Glaze in Lightning Bolt
Top Right - OPI Italian Love Affair
Bottom Left - Orly Royal Navy
Bottom Right - Zoya Veruschka

"The period of time after opening informs consumers of the authorised period of time a product may be used after opening without any harm to the consumer." This became mandatory in March of 2005, so you might have older polishes that do not have a PAO. You can read more about PAOs here.

Well that explains that cosmetics in general expire, but what about nail polish?

I contacted OPI about this because OPI is the most widely known nail polish brand. I got an absolutely AMAZING response:

"Hi Samantha

The Period-After-Opening number is required for most cosmetics by the European Union (EU), but it is rather meaningless for nail lacquer. Nail lacquer does not go "bad" with bacteria after opening (or ever), because the solvents are chemically hostile to microbes. Indeed, research shows clearly that microbes don't survive in nail lacquer, whether in a salon environment or even if deliberately contaminated in a laboratory test.

For most other cosmetic products, such as skin lotions or hand creams, the preservatives eventually get used up, especially with repeated opening and closing , and bacteria can then colonize them and start to grow. So the PAO makes sense for these products. I don't think they had nail polish in mind when they wrote the rule.

So.....Why 24 months PAO for nail lacquer? Because the EU is distrustful of larger numbers. In reality, nail lacquer should stay safe forever. It might not be any good after many years -- due to slow color changes or if it evaporates to a solid, useless block -- but it won't be unsafe. And as you know, the PAO number is about how long, after opening, is the product SAFE ("no harm to the consumer"), not about whether it will work properly!

Is this what you wanted to know?

Paul Bryson, Ph.D.
Director of Research & Development, OPI Products Inc., www.opi.com"

Well that should clear a bunch of stuff up.

But what if the polish does "evaporate to a solid, useless block" (this is my favorite thing he wrote)? Or what if it gets thick and goopey? What should you do? Can it be saved?

Absolutely it can be saved!! Polish starts to harden or become thicker because of volatile ingredients in the polish that may eventually evaporate. All you have to do is replace to ingredients.

What should you use?

Definitely NOT nail polish remover!! Remover is too harsh to add directly to your polish. It may last a little while, but you're potentially doing significant, irreversible damage to your polish. Don't believe me? I highly suggest reading this blog post by Lacquer Laine. I'm not going to experiment on my own polish with remover, but she, unfortunately, did.
What you actually want to use is nail polish THINNER!! Yes. Thinner. They sell nail polish thinner specifically for this purpose. It's super cheap, lasts an awesome amount of time. I still haven't come close to going through an entire bottle. I bought mine at Sally's and it's by Beauty Secrets. You can buy it online here, or find it in the store.

Here's a post that shows how amazing thinner really is.

What your polish is separated?

Just shake it. It will be fine, it hasn't "gone bad". And if it's thick, add thinner. And yes, it is absolutely FINE to shake your polish. Yes, it creates bubbles, but those bubbles will go away. If you plan on applying polish immediately, then just roll it between your hands to avoid the bubbles. But for the purpose of adding thinner, shake the crap outta the polish.

So there you have it. No more throwing out old polishes. No more ruining polishes by adding remover. No more rebuying of your favorite polish because it's been 36 months since you opened it. And if you still don't believe me, I would be glad to take that "expired" polish off your hands. ;)