Frustration is an on going theme

Today's mani was supposed to be a baseball theme mani because it's Opening Day. WELL, let me just say, that failed miserably! I don't have too many white polishes but I do have an old black label bottle of OPI Alpine Snow that is maybe 1/3 to 1/2 full and is thick as can be. I was going to use this as the base and then draw stitching on so my nails were little baseballs. UM, yeah. That failed. Miserably.

Attempt 1: The white was a streaky mess but evened out a little bit but when I was done with the stitching I thought it looked horrible and I took it all off. I wasn't happy with it at all.

Attempt 2: The white played nicer after a little thinner but not nice enough. The stitching looked horrible again then I totally messed up my pinky and got mad. The white is so thick that it dented and got all sorts of crazy even with Seche Vite on top.  My baseballs failed :(  I was not happy.

That brought me to Zoya Phoebe. I told the bf to just pick one from my latest order. He randomly chose Phoebe which was exciting because I wanted to try it. Um, I think I should have just gone to bed. I did a quick two coats of base because I need the treatments and then two quick coats of Phoebe. It was pretty dry but I am a spaz and thought I would have problems since the base coats might not be and I topped it with Seche Vite. I love the color, it is really pretty. The formula was good and dried quick, thank you matte. This morning I decided I wanted to be able to show her as a matte and with top coat so I sponged over the tips and left the other half topped with top coat. It looks pretty in person but here is where the other frustration comes in, she WILL NOT photograph worth a dime.

So these pictures are pretty inaccurate. I am quite unhappy with that. The bottle shot is lighter than the actual bottle. Think deeper and darker.

I didn't want to include these pictures because they are no where near the color. They are way too light. These were taken in the car. I only included them because you can see the matte tips more in these pictures.

I tried sponging for the first time and it worked pretty well. Obviously you can't really see much. I should have just done one hand matte and one shiny but thought this would be cooler. I thought wrong.

These next two pictures are closer to what the color looks like. They are really close actually. I just held my hand up to the screen. Still a little off but closer.

Unfortunately it doesn't really show the difference in the polish with and without top coat.

I am really disappointed in these pictures. I very much love sharing my nails but if the photos aren't accurate and good I feel like I am failing. The bf keeps telling me I need to buy a new camera but I am stalling because I am trying to save the money not spend it. These pictures have helped push me toward just buying one. I have the North Carolina trip to get through first but it looks like I will be breaking down and buying one. Anyone have any suggestions?

That's all for now :)