Practice Makes Perfect

My Tart Deco mani was finally so terribly chipped that I had to take it off completely, it would not stay on - on one of my nails the polish even popped right off, like the entire nail at once!  Definitely need to use a topcoat next time I try Matte About You, but I'm also wondering if I was using the Orly Bonder properly.  Are there any tips or tricks for that?

In any case, I know that I won't be able to do my fun-color vacation mani for a few more days, and I was getting bored of bare nails in the meantime, so I decided to do a test run for Sam's Minnie-Mani.  I'm thinking red nails, white polka-dots on the fingers then a yellow bow on the thumbs.  Dots are easy, but I've never done a bow before, so here was my attempt.

No clean-up, because I'm just going to have to take this off before work tomorrow morning.

Hmmm.  Needs work, clearly.  Plus the wide brush in the Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear color I'm using wasn't really made for fine-tuned designs.  I'll have to keep experimenting.