nailed it?: essie's repstyle

I absolutely loved the concept of Essie's new magnetic nail polish when I saw the print ads. A gold reptile style manicure? I'm in! The reality was far less exciting. Here's how the experience broke down.

From www.essie.com

First, I painted one coat of the nail polish on every finger.

I then painted a second coat on each nail, one at a time. Once I painted the second coat, I took the cap of the nail polish, which has a magnet in it, and placed it as close to my nail as possible. The instructions tell you to hold it there for five seconds.

I followed the instructions, but it only made the reptile pattern in small patches. You can see this clearly on my middle finger. I also had to hold the magnet so close to my finger that it sometimes touched the paint and smushed it, as you can see in my pointer finger.

The magnet didn't work at all on some of my fingers, usually the pinkies, so the overall effect was patchy and uneven. I ended up taking it off hours after I put it on!

I'm so disappointed by this nail polish, but perhaps it was user error. Has anyone had good luck with the new Essie magnetic polishes?