Wednesday, 16 May 2012

Artsy Wednesday: Newsprint Nails

Wednesday, May 16, 2012  , , , , , , ,  35 comments


This is a new technique I've never tried before, and it turned out a lot easier than I expected! All you need to do is let your background colour dry thoroughly, then dip your nails in alcohol (vodka, rubbing alcohol, methylated spirits etc.) so there's a thin alcohol layer on top. Then you quickly press a rectangle of newspaper onto it for about 30 seconds. The ink transfers onto your nail like a temporary tattoo!

The base I used was ulta3 Earl Grey with Rimmel Lively Lilac sponged on top as a gradient with a kitchen sponge. This was also a new technique for me, it turned out better than I expected! After it dried, I used my household cleaning mixture of isopropanol/ethanol to transfer some Chinese newspaper cuttings. I finished with a coat of Poshe topcoat, but it didn't look right shiny, so I mattified it using Rimmel Lycra Pro Mattifying Topcoat.


There was a lot of newspaper ink hanging around on my fingers afterward which was a mess to clean up (I didn't do a great job, sorry!), and the alcohol dried out my skin a bit, but I really like the result! I'm glad I tried it, definitely thinking of things to do with it in the future...

More newsprint manis by talented ladies:

35 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing, now I like to try this out too!!

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    1. Definitely do! It's surprisingly easy, and with all the things you can find in a newspaper, the possibilities are endless... :)

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  2. Love how you used a Chinese newspaper. Some characters are palindromic and I can still read it with ease :D Must try this out soon, it's been on my to-do list since forever!

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    1. Haha yes, us ESL nerds... :) Definitely do, the results are really impressive!

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  3. Awww I'm envious - I would love to have Chines newspaper clippings LOL
    I love the result, and the gradient works fantastic here - very well done!!

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    1. Haha, I think I have more Chinese newspapers around the house than English ones! Thank you :)

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  4. I like all of this manicure!!Great combo :)

    http://todoslosesmaltessonpocos.blogspot.com

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  5. love love love love love love that you used a chinese newspaper!! i have NEVER seen that! its amazing

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    1. Thanks! I figured that the backwards-ness would be less noticeable ;)

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  6. chinese newspaper is a genius idea! love it michelle :) xxx

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    1. Thanks! I didn't have far to look... we have so many Chinese newspapers lying around the house! :)

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  8. I love doing these. I always dip the newspaper in rubbing alcohol, but i think next time I'll try dipping my nail in. Mattifying it is such a good idea! Also, nice sponging=]

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    1. Hmm, I didn't even think of doing it that way! Must be all those temporary tattoos from my childhood! :P Thanks! I was pretty happy with the sponging :)

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  9. This is so awesome! Easily My favorite :)

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  10. Wow! I love newspaper nails, but these, with Chinese newspaper, look great!!

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    1. Thanks! I'm becoming a fan of them too, I always avoided them in the past because I thought they'd be fiddly, but Artsy Wednesday made me have a go! :)

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  11. Nice to see the Chinese-newspaper-version! Looks great!

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  12. This looks amazing with yr sponging - I love it!

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  13. This looks fantastic. Love the gradient and the Chinese news print. Very original take on the newspaper nails.

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    1. Thank you! That's a massive compliment for me since your work is always so amazing! :)

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  14. this looks really awesome michelle! Nice work :)

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  15. This is an unrelated comment, I bought some Sudocrem last night after a recommendation from kiki (http://kikichaos.com/uncategorized/favourite-beauty-products/) for getting rid of blind pimples. It has 15.25% zinc oxide...which got me thinking. InvisibleZinc has 18% zinc oxide...if I am using this stuff on my face for pimples, is it also giving me sun protection? Or is there a difference in the zincs?

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    1. It will definitely give you some protection, but it's hard to say how much. The way InvisibleZinc and all those other physical sunscreens work is by using tiny, micron-sized particles like little mirrors or hats to reflect sunlight from the skin. The size of the particles is very very important in determining how much UV is reflected - you can imagine that if you have a chunk of rock, it will only shade a small area of the ground, but if you smash that same rock into a billion little pieces much more of the ground will be in the shade! How well the formula spreads across the skin is also important. So even if there is a similar % of zinc oxide in the cream, it's hard to say whether it will give a similar amount of sun protection, unless someone does some lab tests.

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  16. I like the gradient. Yours transferred nicely. I never thought to grab a paper in a different language!

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    1. Thanks! It didn't require much imagination, my parents are voracious Chinese newspaper readers, we always have a few in the kitchen ;)

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  17. Oh I totally want to do this with the Chinese paper now!

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  19. Well there's my problem. I didn't old the newspaper on my nails for long enough. Maybe I should have read instructions more thoroughly. I like your newspaper nails, very original! :)

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  20. I just LOVE the idea of using a Chinese newspaper! I will have to look for interesting newsprint now...

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