Back To School: Newspaper and Notebook Nail Art

I've been getting TONS of requests for back to school nails. Every time I thought about doing something for the topic... I couldn't think of anything original because pretty much everything related to school has been done before. I love the way notebook paper nails look but for obvious reasons, I couldn't do a tutorial for those because they have been done by other nail artists a million times and I try my best to come up with original ideas that haven't been done by many others.

Knowing I wanted to do notebook nails, I instantly had an idea to do doodles, but alas... That has been done already also. So I decided to do newspaper nails along with the notebook paper! I thought it was a brilliant idea because then there is actually print on the paper instead of just a plain notebook paper nail design! But my god... It was a great idea.. But the newspaper technique is a huge pain in my butt. For the life of me I could not get the newspaper print to come off correctly... and then I realized that I was using a pretty old newspaper. I'm almost 100% positive that it would have worked better if I had a newer newspaper. So if I have any tips for you... Use freshly printed newspaper.

If you aren't familiar with this technique, you take rubbing alcohol and dip tiny squares of newspaper into it and then firmly hold it onto your completely dry white nails and the alcohol allows the print from the paper to transfer onto your nails. The longer you hold the newspaper squares there, the better the print shows up. It is somewhat difficult, so don't expect perfect results. It takes a while to get a hang of it.

I used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On for the base. Make sure it is completely  dry before moving onto the newspaper technique or you will completely destroy your white base!!! Then do the newspaper technique and let your nails dry again. Then I used acrylic paint and made the blue and orange lines to resemble the notebook paper. Of course, you can always use a striper polish if you don't like to use acrylic paint.

Also, don't forget top coat!! If you don't use top coat for this design the newspaper ink won't stay on your nails. It will come off immediately if you rub it too hard or wash your hands.

If you want to see how I did these nails check out my video tutorial below!