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I know there are several ways to apply waterslide decals and transfers.

I'm looking for some tips or a really good tutorial. I have some IG valkyries/vendettas. As I have very limited experience applying decals in the past (just haven't been into them) I don't want to screw up my FW decal sets or my paint jobs.

I know there are ways to prevent them from looking shiny, etc. I've even heard that you can use the varnishes/mediums from the new paint range to do this.

HELP!

There's this:
http://www.winterdyne.co.uk/maz/winterdyne_tutorial3.pdf

Which covers what you want to know.

Other good tips are:

1) Cut up very large transfers into more manageable size. When doing this don't start with the microset until all the pieces are down. THEN you can set the decals on; so long as the edges / joins are all lined up it should work well.

2) Practice makes perfect. If you have expensive decals, practice with a cheap-ass model kit or spare piece of (painted) plasticard first. Better to know what you're doing when you break out the nice stuff.

Edit: Yeah, I would say it's a good tutorial, I wrote it. :-p But it is actually pretty good.

Some tips for using Valk transfers:
Take a photo of the instructions first, they're on the back of the transfer so once you cut them up you're screwed
Keep the transfers on the paper as you transfer them from the water to the model
Cut away as much clear/unneeded transfer as you possibly can
And lastly don't bother using the transfers for tiny bitz on the wing, you can just paint them white like I did:

I've got a couple of tutorials that might help out some or at least save you some trouble as you go through the process.

How to apply decals: http://fromthewarp.blogspot.com/2012/05/how-to-apply-waterslide-transfers.html
How to make your own decals: http://fromthewarp.blogspot.com/2012/05/how-to-make-waterslide-transfers-decals.html
7 things to remember when using decals: http://fromthewarp.blogspot.com/2012/05/7-things-to-remember-when-using-decals.html

winterdyne's Dakka tutorial to go along with his PDF. The discussion contained therein has additional info that expands on his excellent discourse.