Ruffian manicures, and first magnetic attempt (=FAIL)

I have now done two ruffian manicures, and have fallen in love with them. They look very intimidating, but really are not that hard to do. And in my opinion, they look very classy, very elegant. :) If you don't know, a 'Ruffian' manicure, or so I'm told, was originally a silver foil near the cuticle, with a black matte over it. Since the first one hit runways, people have played around with this quite a bit, and I intend to do lots of playing myself, lol. My first attempt was fairly close to a traditional ruffian; I used a gold foil and a red matte on top (both by Revlon). I originally kept the matte finish, but decided I wanted it to last a bit longer, so I covered with Seche Vite eventually:

The second time I went for a gunmetal cuticle and accent nail, using China Glaze's Attraction, from the Magnetix collection. I did this so I could try my first magnetic design on the accent nail (and could cover it up with the ruffian if it went too badly, lol!). The other color I used is China Glaze's Brownstone, which is actually more red than it shows in the picture:

As you can see, the star pattern didn't come out that well, lol. It's a little better IRL, because the glare in the picture is hiding the vertical line of the star...but it still does suck. I think I used too much polish...I'll try again in a few days, once I'm tired of my ruffian.  (Btw, I think I'll photograph my nails from this angle from now on--it shows them more like they really are, and doesn't make them look all misshapen!)

If anyone has any tips on using magnetic polish, please let me know...

EDIT: I have since found out that it came up like this because I held the magnet in place for too long. The longer you hold it, the more likely it is that you'll move a bit, and you blur the image. I also learned to blow on the nail right after removing the magnet, and that China Glaze's magnet is a little less strong than other brands. I got these tips here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhGsKsyoAr8&feature=plcp&context=C4596dbfVDvjVQa1PpcFM9OXomgSSRbAY3yLUUng7NqIMTqU4sFqw%3D

M.