Nail Challenge Collaborative: Negative Space #1

Hi loves! I am so excited that my nails are healed up enough to jump back into nail art. I'm starting with my challenge group, the Nail Challenge Collaborative, and this month's theme is Negative Space!

I wouldn't typically do negative space manis because my nails have always been stained, but especially now, after all they have been through, they're not nice looking nails lol. The free edge is all misshapen from where they had been separated from the nail bed, I have a huge "onycholosis" bump in the middle of each nail, and another weird ridge a little higher up. So, when I saw negative space, I was like - crap. Then I thought- what the heck? I'm ready to get back into nail art fully, 100% so, this is me. These are my nails. And, I still like what I came up with!

I used Yellow Stopper base coat so you can't see quite how stained my nails are lol. Then, I used striping tape on the outside two nails with Sally Hansen Golden-I and Wet n Wild Black Creme. I used some decals from China Glaze for the two middle nails. I used a small pair of nail art scissors to snip off pieces of the decals to cover up most of the ugly parts while still showing negative space! :)

Nail decals never seem to work for me. They will stick initially, but even with 2 layers of topcoat sealing it in (I used Seche Vite this time), they don't stay on more than a day. The edges start to peel up. Any tips would be greatly appreciated on that! :) But, I loved how the striped nails came out. I wished I could have worn these longer but the decals started to drive me nuts.

Overall, I really liked this look! I love these colors together, and I liked the sharp angles of the geometric designs along side the stripes. And I thought the negative space looked really cool! I really haven't done much nail art incorporating negative space - actually, maybe none, I can't think of any, but this was fun. And, it got me really excited for the rest of the month - I'm already working on my next idea and I just keep thinking of more.

Thanks for looking, and be sure to check out what everyone else created!
<3 Kelly

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