Artsy Wednesday: Newsprint Nails

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How to cite: Wong M. Artsy Wednesday: Newsprint Nails. Lab Muffin Beauty Science. May 16, 2012. Accessed March 28, 2024. https://labmuffin.com/artsy-wednesday-newsprint-nails/

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:

Pretty Purple Polish – Hooked! – Maria’s Nail ArtPolished GeniusNails by Ms. Lizard – Swaafie – Unnaked NailsNail & PolishBeauty Gnome


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35 thoughts on “Artsy Wednesday: Newsprint Nails”

  1. 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!

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  2. 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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    • 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 🙂

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    • 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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    • 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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