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:
Thanks for sharing, now I like to try this out too!!
Definitely do! It’s surprisingly easy, and with all the things you can find in a newspaper, the possibilities are endless… 🙂
Love how you used a Chinese newspaper. Some characters are palindromic and I can still read it with ease 😀 Must try this out soon, it’s been on my to-do list since forever!
Haha yes, us ESL nerds… 🙂 Definitely do, the results are really impressive!
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!!
Haha, I think I have more Chinese newspapers around the house than English ones! Thank you 🙂
I like all of this manicure!!Great combo 🙂
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Thank you! 🙂
love love love love love love that you used a chinese newspaper!! i have NEVER seen that! its amazing
Thanks! I figured that the backwards-ness would be less noticeable 😉
chinese newspaper is a genius idea! love it michelle 🙂 xxx
Thanks! I didn’t have far to look… we have so many Chinese newspapers lying around the house! 🙂
Looks awesome!
Thanks! 🙂
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=]
Hmm, I didn’t even think of doing it that way! Must be all those temporary tattoos from my childhood! 😛 Thanks! I was pretty happy with the sponging 🙂
This is so awesome! Easily My favorite 🙂
Aww shucks! Thank you 🙂
Wow! I love newspaper nails, but these, with Chinese newspaper, look great!!
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! 🙂
Nice to see the Chinese-newspaper-version! Looks great!
This looks amazing with yr sponging – I love it!
Thanks Holly! 🙂
This looks fantastic. Love the gradient and the Chinese news print. Very original take on the newspaper nails.
Thank you! That’s a massive compliment for me since your work is always so amazing! 🙂
this looks really awesome michelle! Nice work 🙂
Thanks! 🙂
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?
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.
I like the gradient. Yours transferred nicely. I never thought to grab a paper in a different language!
Thanks! It didn’t require much imagination, my parents are voracious Chinese newspaper readers, we always have a few in the kitchen 😉
Oh I totally want to do this with the Chinese paper now!
These are so so gorgeous!
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! 🙂
I just LOVE the idea of using a Chinese newspaper! I will have to look for interesting newsprint now…