Negative Space Nail Art

Learn how to create this elegant nail look in this tutorial.

This design was inspired by @naildecor on Instagram, she made a similar look which I changed a bit and and made a tutorial for.

Let's get started!

This isn't a very simple design as you can tell, so some more advanced tools were used. Feel free to use what you have on hand or the alternative methods I will explain later.

Here's what I used:

- Two colors of polish (Revlon 'Amber Ablaze' and L.A. Colors 'black nail decor' which comes with a thinner brush for fine lines) alternatively you could use a regular black polish but apply it with a thin brush.

- Glossy top coat

- Nail striping tape (you could switch this for painters tape)

- A toothpick

- Scissors

- Nail polish remover and q-tip for clean up

- Simply peel latex barrier (this is a peel off barrier for when you need to protect your skin or parts of a design from polish) (you can substitute this with Elmer's glue)

- Nail stamper and stamping plate with scraper. I used the BP-05 plate from BlissKiss but if you don't have a nail stamping set you could freehand a design with the polish. (Naildecor originally free handed the design this was inspired by)

Make sure you leave the ring finger and pointer finger plain for now. A tip for painting plain nails is to start a bit below your cuticle and then push backwards to fill in the empty space before pulling the brush down the rest of your nail.

I applied two light coats with my Revlon Amber polish on the thumb, pinkie, and middle nail. I don't use a base coat but you certainly can if you have one.

The hardest part of this step is just centering the striping tape. Painters tape, or scotch tape will work fine as well. Once the tape is on, apply two coats of the polish on one side of the nail. Peel off the tape while the nail is still a bit wet for best results.

I ended up applying this border on her pointer finger after I finished stamping but it's a good idea to get it done now.

For the ring finger, just use the black polish to make a stripe in the middle of the nail, covering the line of the previous polish, and make a border along the tip of the nail. For the pointer finger, I put a border around the whole perimeter of the nail. This can be tricky to apply when you get by the cuticle, so i suggest using a toothpick dipped in the black polish to cover the areas that are harder to reach. (Refer to the end pictures for an example of the pointer finger)

This peel off base is especially needed because we are using a stamping design that covers more than the actual nail. Simply peel goes on white and turns clear (with some sparkles) when it's dry. You need to apply this barrier around the skin of both nails as well as the already polished half of the ring finger.

If you don't have simply peel or another liquid latex barrier, I recommend using a weak glue that will peel off when dry (like Elmer's school glue). Tape could also be used to protect that half of the nail but I would be careful not to use one that's too strong.

Once the Simply Peel is dry you can begin stamping. Like I said earlier, if you don't have access to a nail stamper, just draw on your own design with a thin brush or nail art pen.

To stamp, I applied polish over the area of the plate I wanted to apply and then used the scraper to take off the excess. Then I took my stamper and rolled it firmly across the design to pick it up. I stamped the pointer and ring finger with the stamper and let it dry.

Tip for people who use nail art stampers: never buy polish that is specifically for stamping. You can usually get away with using any normal nail polish so I wouldn't waste any money on those. :)

I still had to apply the black border on the pointer finger I forgot from step three but if you already did that then all that's left to do is peel off that barrier and clean up the edges with a q-tip and nail polish remover. You can also apply a glossy top coat to protect your finished nails.

Once that final top coat is dry it's time to show everyone your classy nail art. This design is definitely an eye catcher and you can be proud to say you did it by yourself!

If you need some jewelry to go with your new nails then check out my other instructables. :) If you have any questions feel free to ask and thank you for looking!