How To Ruin Gorgeous Polish

I was a thrilled recipient of the three polishes I ordered from the Zoya Ornate collection this Friday.  I'm a huge holo fan for all things, not just nail polish, so I bought Storm (black creme base with holo glitter), Aurora (purple jellyish base with holo glitter), and Electra (clear base with holo bar glitter).

I swatched them quickly, as we were leaving for a mini cabin getaway that afternoon, and loveloveLOVED Aurora.  It's the most beautiful shade of Purple/Berry, and the holo glitter is reflective in all lights.  How did I ruin it?  Glad you asked.

Not wanting to be a cell phone picture taker, I brought out the legit camera to see if I could up my photo game with this lovely polish.  I present to you the best of what I took, which will henceforth be known as "Exhibit A":

Zoya Aurora

Like a crazy looking bird, my hand yearns for the sky.

It was my attempt to get some natural lighting and clean-ish background up in this piece, and to try and capture some of the gorgeous glitter.  Naturally, I didn't think about the fact that in order to get light, you must face IT, and not the ground.  D'oh.  You'll get to enjoy a picture of my patio/fall dead grass one day!

So that night, I'm jonesing for a new manicure, but I don't want to take Aurora off - she's just too good!  So I think "I'll sponge some black tips on, like that thing I saw on Pinterest once!".  Insert "Exhibit B":

Zoya Aurora with Essie Licorcie sponged on.

So crappy, and yet...so confident.

Yes, a massive failure in both technique of application, and photography.  This is my right hand, so you can see how I have held my pen for decades has smooshed an indentation onto my ring finger.  No amount of pushing back will help her out, poor thing.

I was disgusted and removed the awful that night, and gave myself a new paint job that I was skeptical about at first, but ended up loving.  Once I get some decent light, I'll photograph and post.