Another funky nail art tutorial-ish. Did this one for the goth club. Oh how I love to goth-out once a month! If you like The Crow, if you enjoy Poe, if you have an inner crush on dressing dramatically, or like industrial music, if you ever thought about how you wished you could find a club scene like The Bronze from Buffy and hang out with people like Abby Sciuto from NCIS; find one and go:  http://www.xmortis.com/
Step 1: Paint nails with a black base coat.
Step 2: Paint on the skull shape in white. I painted on a wide stripe, the width of the upper jaw part, first, then went back and added two angled stripes to make the cheekbones and add a little roundness to the the top.
Step 3. Allow to dry completely, then draw on eyes, nose, and teeth with regular Sharpie.
Step 4: Finish with a clear topcoat to protect the sharpie, otherwise it can rub off of the dry polish.

Step 5: Enjoy a little spookiness at your fingertips!

Look look! I did it, I did it! Ah, a much improved do-over. I decided I'm not going to do a full tutorial for this process. There are already a ton online, like the one I followed from A Pretty Penny.
I am, however, going to give yall some tips and tricks I figured out in the process.

Note: I take back what I said before about this being so easy. It's pretty simple, but also a little fiddly for someone who hasn't much experience with nail art. ...Not that I do, but I like fiddly crafts.

Huzzah! So here are the tricks I figured out in the process:

• Don't use old(read: more than 2 years-ish) nail polish. Its gummy and doesn't lend itself well to having paper pressed to it.
• Cut out your rectangles of newsprint ahead of time. This makes it easier to apply the paper to the nail, gives you a little more control with placement, and allows you to pick what words go on your nail (my middle finger clearly says Boston!)
• SOAK the paper in alcohol once it's on your nail! Not before. Use a finger of the other hand to dab drops of alcohol onto the newsprint as it sits on your nail until it's clearly soaked.
  
• PRESS that little sucker down firmly onto the nail, rocking back and forth(if you can without shifting the paper) to make sure to get the sides. This makes sure the print is nice and dark.
  
• When putting on the topcoat, use a generous amount so that the brush glides easily over the nail. If it drags, it will smudge and distort the print.

Oh man! I just had a brilliant idea! I bet this technique would also work using the funny papers to get little sections of the comics on your nails! Next manicure project...