No reality check is 100% reliable, and there are several ways you can fail a reality check. The finger-through palm reality check, which is less reliable than the nose pinch and digital clock reality checks because of the logic involved. Most people see their hands a lot every day and often experience the solidity of their bodies.

So, in a dream, expecting your hands to be permeable just because of belief, and not accounting for actual dream logic, like that you can breathe while closing your mouth and nose, etc, is unlikely to be effective most of the time. In short, pick a more reliable reality check to work- eg. nose pinch- and don’t expect RCs to be 100% reliable (this is why it’s good to do more than one). I hope this answers your question.