How do you girlies do your nail polish?

I tried painting my nails last night, and I couldn’t get them to look nice… I kept getting nail polish on my skin and kept getting chipped, lumpy, or smudging… can you girlies give me some advice on how to properly do your nail polish? Like how long do I need to wait for them to dry? Or do I keep it from getting on my skin? Or how do I evenly paint the nails?