Nail polish gooey even after top coat

1. You're applying too much paint.
2. You're using cheap nail polish.

Sounds like you want long lasting coverage. You can achieve that with Gel, or glitter polish. Pls, no Sally Hansen, you'll be disappointed each and every time, I promise you. My go to is China Glaze, you're free to test out other brands if you have the money, but this is a good one to start with.

1. Do this on your day off from work, school, or whatever. Make sure you have a few hours to waste. You're a beginner, and practice makes perfect. Plus, you don't want to go to work or school with jacked nails you did the night before in a hurry.

2. Buy yourself a topcoat, a base coat, and 1 gel polish of your choice. Also, buy non-acetone polish remover.

3. Get a bowl of cold water (the colder the better), and set to the side.

4. Have patience, lots of it. That, and a steady hand.

When painting yourself, you don't need a lot. Just enough on the brush to go over the nail once without caking it on, that takes practice to measure.

Why the bowl of cold water? Dipping your wet nails in cold water for 2 minutes or less helps it dry faster, really fast. Not going to go into the science of it, just know that it works.

So after applying the base coat, let it dry. No cold water needed, base coat normally dries super fast. Next, apply the gel polish, once you got it on, dip into the water for a minute or 2. Once dry, add top coat, and dip in cold water. Repeat on other hand. Mistakes will be made, but practice, practice.

It's probably the brand. Perhaps you should try another one?

Go get pedicures and let them do your toes I do

i bought some expensive stuff for cheap at walmart once. it was this chip resistant nail polish. thought i would have to buy it online, but i went to walmart and found it there. then someone stole it after i tried to make my nails like easter colers. i bought pastel nail polish to use on my fingers that was all different colors then i got yellow and orange. i was not sure what colors to use, but i was doing a pretty good job but everytime i want something that would make my life better for one reason or another something happens. lol. does not seem like a big deal but even now i wish people had not stole my stuff and that my nails could have looked the way i wanted them to for easter.

yeah thats a sign of the cheap shit, you can try to add a few drop of acetone and slosh it around to see if that helps

What sort of nail polish? That doesn't sound right :/ how thick are you applying it?

I've read that dunking your finger tips in cold water after applying helps set the polish. But I only use Sienna Bryon Bay brand now and it pretty much sets in seconds so I've not tested the theory.