Do you eat, sleep and breathe news? My bet is, if you are a hard core journalist you do. You have probably had newsprint stuck to your favorite notebook after you spilled coffee on it and it created a crusted beige blob forever imprinting the news of that day onto the cardboard backing. Maybe you have even fallen asleep on a newspaper like I have and awoken to find faint sans serif type tattooed on your cheek. Here is a classier and more fun way to sport the news: on your nails.

My initial warning to you is that I have not yet tried this so I cannot report results yet but I am planning on reserving some time for a manicure tonight so I will report back with my successes and failures. I will also add that I would have told the world about this apparent trend eons ago had I known about it but my trend-savvy friend Mandy  mentioned it to me last night.

Now that I have kept you all patiently waiting, here are the instructions:

-What you will need: ten finger-nail size strips of newspaper (the words do not matter as the newsprint will appear backwards but of course content always matters so take out your New Haven Register), rubbing alcohol or vodka (for those over 21 years of age) will do just fine and a bowl that your hand will fit in.

1) Go through the whole shabang of cutting, filing and nail-polish removing your nails. 

2) Let that dry. (In fact, I am just going to asterisk this and whenever you see **, then let your nails fully dry. This is (from what I have heard) very important.

3) Paint your nails with a light color (this is important as newsprint is black)

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4) Paint your nails once again with the same color, creating a second coat.

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5) Dip one nail at a time in the alcohol and press your newspaper strip against your nail. I have heard it also works to dip the strip of newspaper in alcohol as well. The words should show up as planned.

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6) Once your nails are sufficiently set and dry, coat your newsprint nails with a clear coat of polish and preform any touch-ups you may need.

The final step is to flaunt your new nails like the savvy and fashionable journo or English fiend that you are.

As I type away with my usually plain red or french-manicured finger nails, I find myself out of my comfort zone. When I glance down at the keys, I see silver and red crackled nails scuttling around the keyboard. Those do not look like my hands.

They are my hands and they look more punk-rock or Halloween-costume-ready nails than those of a professional journalist. But, I can't help it. Two weeks ago, I got a manicure at Branford Academy School of Hair and Cosmetology and the nail artist suggested this new crackle polish. I thought why not? The worst that could happen is that I'll get some nail polish remover and wipe it off - this isn't a tattoo, after all - although it was still a daunting thought to make my usually bland, quiet nails louder.


Within 20 minutes I had pink and white crackled nails. They were memorizing. I couldn't stop looking at them. They also lasted longer than the average manicure because the crackled-pattern doesn't easily show chips and scrapes in the polish. Two weeks later, after I had picked off the remainder of my polish, I went to a convenience store and bought red and silver nail polish. 

As I walked around town with these shiny, be-speckled nails, I found that this nail polish is apparently all the rage. So if you are looking to add some subtle spice to your life, even if you are usually a red-pink polish spectrum girl like myself, try it out.