My First Striping Tape Mani...and Fail!

I'd been to several beauty supply stores trying to find striping tape, all to no avail.  Since I had no luck finding any, my very sweet mother ordered this set for me as a surprise. Thanks, Mom! :) She shakes her head at my obsession and enables me all at the same time...that's love! I figured striping tape was something I'd be able to master fairly quickly. Hey, it's tape...how hard can it be to use, right? Well...

For this manicure I used a base of my usual CND Stickey, followed by two coats of Essie No Place Like Chrome. I let it dry and added striping tape, which I then covered with Sally Hansen Midnight in NY and removed the tape. Then, I topped it all with Seche Vite.

What I learned:
In applying the tape, I realize now that in some places it wasn't completely flat on the nail, which means some polish got underneath. I also let the Midnight in NY dry too much on some nails, which caused it to lift in some places when I removed the tape.

Still, I wore this mani for a few days, because it was actually kind of cute (especially if you didn't look too closely), but mostly because...it was my very first time using striping tape! So, while it's clearly not my best work, I'm committed to sharing my failures as well as my successes...it's all about the journey.

Thanks for looking!