Forget waiting until you get home to try on nail polish shades you end up hating. (Nude hues that make my nails look like straight-up skin, I'm looking at you.)

See also: 5 delicious nail art designs inspired by dessert

In an effort to solve this trial-by-purchase problem, the nail gurus at Sally Hansen are introducing a new app. At a pop-up nail bar in SoHo on Friday, Hansen launched ManiMatch, which lets you virtually paint on nail polish.

Image: Lili Sams/Mashable

With ManiMatch, there's no need to upload a photo or take a picture, though the app's augmented reality approach does use your phone's camera. Launch the app and put your hand in front of the camera and it start scanning to determine your skin tone in order to provide color recommendations. Choose one, and the app paints the color right onto your nails... that is, your nails on the screen.

"Everyone of course has different undertones and contrasts with the colors, so it's important to be able to try it on," Madeline Poole, Sally Hansen's global color ambassador and trend expert, said. "You might try on a shirt. It looks amazing on a rack, but when you try it on, it washes you out, or it doesn't bring out the color of your eyes or your hair or whatever, so it's the same kind of concept."

If you want to go against the grain, you can forgo the app's suggestions and instead peruse through more than 200 shades. You also have the option to browse the shades based on the Sally Hansen's product lines, like gel and fast-drying polishes. Once you've chosen a color, you can purchase the product directly in the app.

Image: Lili Sams/Mashable

You can also experiment with shades at the store. Scan the nail-polish barcode, and see the shade come to life on your phone. The app is iPhone only for now but the company says an Android version is scheduled to roll out in the next few months.

The company has plans to continue marketing this new digital space with new shades, content and add-ons. One upcoming feature is the ability to try on nail art. Poole said she'd create designs that will be uploaded to the app and allow users to try them on.

For those with a steady hand, you will also be able to watch nail art tutorial videos so you can DIY at home.

Image: Lili Sams/Mashable

"When we look at the nail environment in retail right now in the U.S., there’s no way for consumers to try nail polish on at the shelf," Kristen D’Arcy, global digital vice president of Coty Inc., which manufacturers Sally Hansen products, told Mashable. "What we saw that was happening was a lot of people would grab the bottles and paint the wall, paint the signage, paint directly on the nail polish they already have on, just because they really wanted to see what would the shade look like on their nail."

Before I tested ManiMatch, I thought it would be like virtually trying on glasses on Warby Parker's website: awkward, never the right alignment or proportions and never as good as donning them in real life. That was the baseline for my ManiMatch expectations. But the app managed to surpass that, albeit with some minor drawbacks.

The process itself is pretty straightforward. The app scanned my hand quickly, but be warned: it can be a little stubborn if your fingers aren't splayed out in the right position. Among my color suggestions were Mint Sorbet, Lively Liliac and lo and behold, Tribal Sun, a deep orange that I would surely avoid at the counter.

Manicurists have told me I have really nice fingers and beautiful nail beds — the criteria for which is a mystery to me — and that my skin tone works with almost any color. But when I'm browsing nail polish at the store, I'm not an adventurist. Orange and yellow aren't really my thing.

So when I got Tribal Sun, I gave it a go. Glossy, cartoon-like orange shapes appeared over my nails, and my first reaction was a mix of "Woah, this is really weird," and "This is actually pretty cool." The colored blobs wiggled slightly, and if I moved my hand, the color came with it.

Image: Alicia Tan/Mashable

I did a couple trial runs. Aligning your hand within the outline on the screen is a lot harder than you might think. If you didn't do it accurately, the nail polish blobs would scatter across the screen landing everywhere except my nails. And when that happens, it's hard to redo the process since there's no back button — you have to restart the app instead.

Despite the glitches I ran into, the app is something I would actually use. It doesn't hurt to try on a color before you buy it, and it could save you a trip to the store or endless cotton balls drenched in nail polish remover. And as it turns out, Tribal Sun looked pretty good on me — in reality reality.