Happy pre-Halloween -- newspaper nails

There's a TL;DR down there somewhere (CTRL + F) if someone has happened to stumble on this post and just wants to know about how I actually did the manicure without all the personal rambling/background information... 

I've somewhat neglected this blog, no doubt about it. I guess it just means I had other areas to put effort into writing for/about (and also that I've been busy with other life related things). Anyways, here's a little pre-Halloween post. 

A week or so ago, I became aware of this costume, which I personally think is pretty amusing. Apparently some people don't like it, but it's certainly less offensive than some costumes. Anyways, I thought that it would be an interesting costume for me to ironically wear, but I don't think it's worth $55. Maybe half that price, and in which case, I would prefer just regular real news which is more applicable for everyday life/wear. Update: when I went to go look up the link to add here, it looks like the price has now risen to $59 and the costume is also out of stock... 

Two weeks ago, I got motivated/inspired/compelled to finally paint my nails for once, even though the last time I painted them was probably at least a year ago, if not even longer. In the past, I used to paint my nails more often but then I just stopped, even though I've accumulated a ton of nail polish. My favorite brands are essie and OPI, which are fairly commonly available. Butter London is an expensive polish brand that I tried once and I think it's very overrated. 

By yesterday, (two weeks since I had painted my nails previously), they were looking sort of less than fresh, so I decided to do a new manicure. At first I wasn't sure that I had polish remover on hand, but thankfully I found some. I knew that I should have it somewhere, but I just wasn't sure where. I also thought that maybe it was expired since I don't remember the last time I used it, but it worked fine. 

Because I'm starved for attention I thought it would be interesting, I decided to do a technique that I must have read about a few years ago or something but never actually tried out until now. It involves using newspaper to transfer the print onto your nails, leaving a design of whatever words were on the piece of paper you used. The technique is pretty much like how you would apply a temporary tattoo. 

Most of the things I read online said that you need to use alcohol (of some/any kind - I saw rubbing alcohol, vodka, perfume, etc, all mentioned) to transfer the print. Since I couldn't find any rubbing alcohol and didn't feel like wasting perfume (or rather, cologne) in what would undoubtedly result in a fairly strong smell, I decided to give it a go just using plain water, which only one thing I read mentioned. TL;DR, it worked. 

I'm not sure how exactly alcohol is supposed to work better; I think I got decent results just using water. As for the how-to: 

Materials: small dish/bowl, water, light colored nail polish, top coat, paper towel, scissors, newspaper   

1) Paint nails in a light color of your choice (it might even work with something that isn't quite pastel, but still not too dark, like essie's tart deco color)  
2) Cut up 10 (or more, if you think you're going to mess up) pieces of newspaper that will fit on your nails. For average size/length nails, this might be around the size of a postage stamp. Maybe do this part before you paint your nails so you don't mess up the polish while it's still wet/drying. 
3) Lay one of the newspaper pieces in the dish of water and let it absorb for a few seconds. 
4) Lift it out and place it over a dry, painted fingernail. 
5) Fold up the paper towel a couple times and use it to firmly press (like a temporary tattoo) the newspaper onto the nail. I waited about 30 seconds. 
6) Carefully peel the newspaper off; the print should have transferred. 
7) Apply topcoat to seal; try to be careful so the print doesn't smear. 
8) Repeat on the other 9 nails.  
9) [optional - in my case] Enjoy the hopefully good results; hope to impress people you're going to see the next day with your manicure 

If you want to make it sort of... more fitting for Halloween, you can do this and also turn your manicure into a pun of sorts... They sell shirts (and magnets and pins and other items, I think) with this saying at the Newseum: if it bleeds, it leads. It means basically that stories involving violence tend to get good ratings. I came up with this idea after scratching myself, which resulted in a little blood getting on my manicured fingernail, and had a lightbulb moment. I don't know if actual blood (of your own) would work as nail polish, so it's probably better to use a blood colored actual nail polish and add some dripping blood splatters over the newsprint pattern. Although maybe I should try it with my own blood! 

Also, I think maybe nail polish should be more popular among men. There's no reason why they can't have interesting manicures too, even though it's not commonly considered masculine for men to paint their nails.