HELP! Advice needed...DIY nail polish by amateur.

[FlauntsHerAmpleAssets]

Guest at smart wedding. Teal dress, neutral heels. Had intended on teal nail polish so had salon shellac manicure booked.

Medical circumstances will now only leave me 90mins max for hasty DIY attempt at home, night before.

Nails are rounded, short, 'groomed' look.

Strong colour too ambitious, so thinking maybe a pale pink?
Very pale skin, so what tone best? Matte or pearly?

Can you recommend any brands (under £8ish) for longevity/ is a specific top coat necessary, or will clear polish do?

Thanks in advance.

OPI and Essie have some good quality pale colours. Definitely worth looking at - in larger Boots/Superdrug stores. Pale colour will be more forgiving if the application isn’t perfect!

www.essie.com/nail-polish/enamel/sheers/ballet-slippers

Thanks. That looks ideal. My application most certainly won't be perfect.

I agree that Essie and OPI are lovely. I've also found Barry M is very good, plus they're cheaper

Maybelline do a lovely soft mauve-pink called Rose Poudre. It's super flattering on pale skin.

OPI is considerably easier to get looking good vs Essie, great formulas, great brush shape, and doesn't go gloopy.

Otherwise the L'oreal ones in the flat bottles, not the quilted bottles are amazing, fast drying and foolproof. One of my favorite shades of their's is "How Romantic" which is a pale, cool toned pink.

Lastly, if you can get hold of some Seche Vite, and have a trial run before hand as there's a knack to it* it will make any manicure attempt look salon done, and your nails will be dry and hardened within a minute or so.
It also smooths out and imperfections, and fixes it if you've applied the colour too thickly where it would otherwise smudge. Marvellous stuff it is.

• You put it on before your colour coat has dried, so paint colour on all fingers (however many coats you need) the let a ball of the seche form on the end of the brush, touch the almost dripping ball onto your nail and brush it out. The key is to slap it on pretty thickly.

If you used tr Seche Vite you could go for a cheapo teal polish, and it would give the appearance of salon gels.

I always use seche vite when I'm in a rush as it guarantees that my polish looks perfect and I can do my nails start to out the door in under five minutes total

Thanks so much, all of you, for your helpful tips and recommendations!

Especially the heads-up about Seche Vite