I think, possibly, that the failure was in my (lack of) preperation
looking back, I had washed the car, so it was clean (and dry) - BUT way back when, it wouldn't surprise me if I'd got wax on the trim.
Either that, or Honda coat the trim / make it out of some waxy substance.
Might try again, but properly cleaning the trim first with some solvent or something...
It did look good - while it lasted