Did you reapply the cornstarch recipe often? I reapplied it once per hour through the course of an entire sunny day. I've done this more than once too, so I know it was not just a fluke. If you don't reapply the gel often, I doubt it will work well, if at all. You've got to keep it "wet" (i.e., in an active RetroBright solution). If it dies it, it will stop working.