It requires me about 45min-one hour. Sometimes I'll remove my nail polish the evening before and file them, after which place the polish on the following day. If I haven't got a film on or something like that to look at I'll certainly finish up smudging them! I do not usually placed on nail polish when I am in a rush because then it is almost inevitable that it'll smudge. And So I usually get it done after i have enough time on my small hands, and think about it as being a far more relaxing, therapeutic here we are at myself, lol. I'm not sure what it's there is however something really relaxing about doing all of your nails. Usually it does not take too lengthy for that polish to dry. I've found that 2 thinner jackets will dry much faster than 1 thick coat. For any top coat I personally use Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Top Coat (at a negative balance bottle). It literally dries your nail polish in thirty seconds (to touch). It's pretty awesome. It's my job to do my nails around 7-8pm, after dinner/school/jobs are done and that i do not have anything to complete before the next morning.