I'm 10 months in and still don't have much chest pain, only a little soreness. I also don't have much chest growth though. Hoping it starts up sometime in the next few years.

Pants! Apart from the pockets (or lack thereof), women's pants are so good. They're tighter, higher, and are really good at emphasizing your hips and various curves. They're also pretty low key, so they don't look out of place on an otherwise masc outfit. I'd say the biggest thing to be wary of is the crotch space, though. Since women's pants have less room down there, your bulge looks bigger if you don't tuck. You should be fine if you tuck or cover it up with a shirt though (as long as it's not windy). I have a decent amount of bottom dysphoria so that kind of thing matters to me, but it might not to you.

That said, I might be a bit biased towards pants because I wasn't able to get my first pair of women's pants until after months of wearing exclusively skirts, so I was really happy to get my first pair of women's pants lol.

Edit: Painting nails is also really good! It's just a nice reminder of your identity (in a good way) every time you look at your hands.