What better way to celebrate the most romantic day of the year than with a pretty pink Valentine’s Day themed manicure! It is both easy and cost effective to achieve stunning nail art designs using the Zodiac range of crystal rhinestones, pearls and shapes. The advantage of working with Zodiac nail art rhinestones is that there are many different types of crystal embellishments in a range of sexy colours, including hot pink, champagne pink, light rose, pink pearlescent and blush pink caviar beads. And with this much choice, you can create endless bespoke designs either for yourself if you’re a nail art enthusiast, or for a client if you’re a nail technician or salon owner.

We’re going to show you five examples of how to use Zodiac nail gems and you’ll see how easy it is to apply them. As we’re approaching February 14th, we’ll be focussing mainly on pink crystal rhinestones, however there are all sorts of pretty colours to choose from, see the Zodiac colour chart for all available colours.

1- Flatback Pearls – We stock the flatback pearls in size 2mm which is perfect for intricate nail designs. They have a flat backing which makes them easy to apply to the nail – we recommend adding them to the top gel before curing. The pearls have a beautiful sheen to them and create a subtle sophistication. Here we’ve used Light Amethyst which is a pale pink/lilac colour.

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2- Wiggle Shapes – One of the most popular collections in the Zodiac range is the crystal shapes, and this time of year often sees the Heart flying out the door. The crystal shapes are ideal for creating floral patterns or simply as a focal point on the nail. They all have a flat foil backing which can be easily applied either straight to the gel polish, or using Crystal Fix The pink wiggle is a particular favourite among nail artists as it can be used for floral designs to depict a leaf or petal. Here we’ve used the two popular shapes to make a flower design, and have added some light peridot green crystals for the stem, adding that extra touch of sparkle.

3- Caviar Beads – A common way to fill gaps in a nail design is to add caviar beads. These are miniscule round shiny balls that come in all colours of the rainbow. They are also a really useful way of outlining an image or pattern, giving the design a neater finish. Another popular way to use caviar beads in nail art is to fully encrust the nail by applying a layer of glue, then sprinkling over the beads – as you might do with glitter. It’s a quick and easy way of bringing full sparkle and bling to the nail set, and they’re cheap & cheerful too at only £1.50 for a storage pot full! In this example we have used Mermaid Blush which is a very pale shiny pink, but there are over 50 colours to choose from so you’re sure to find the perfect colour for your nail theme.

4- Pink Shapes – In this example, we wanted to show the different shades of pink on offer in the shapes collection. We’ve used the Pink Champagne diamond which is a lovely gold colour but with a hint of pink when the light hits and the Vitrail Medium (hot pink) butterfly shape which is a bright fuchsia colour that has flashes of green at the base. And we’ve used the round rhinestones in light pink to finish off the design. The range of non hotfix rhinestones for nails is huge, with many different colours and sizes to choose from. Again, these can be added to the nail before curing the top coat, or afterwards with nail glue.

5- Fuchsia Pink – After Clear and AB crystals, Fuchsia is our bestselling crystals for nail art as it matches Swarovski in it’s vibrancy. In the Zodiac range you can find the round rhinestone and peardrop in Fuchsia, we also stock caviar beads and pearls to match. The peardrop shapes makes a great focal point on the nail but can also be used with multiple peardrops to create different images such as a heart, flower or rainfall effect.

Visit our Zodiac Crystals page for more detailed information on the brand, or check out our blog post on Crystal Shapes and how to use them for more nail art tips and inspiration.

Nail art & beauty