Nails and nail art are increasingly hogging the spotlight at red carpet events as evidenced by E! TV’s Mani Cam, specifically created to get close-up shots of celebrities’ manicures.

Zooey Deschanel kicked off the trend this awards season at the Golden Globes with a movie-themed manicure featuring reels of film and film cameras. At the SAG awards three of Anne Hathaway’s bright white nails were adorned with intricate hand-painted black butterflies, Busy Philipps – star of the television show Cougar Town – jazzed up her nude manicure with gold crystal embellishment on just two of her nails, while Big Bang Theory actress Kaley Cuoco sported bold red nails decorated with light pink hearts. And last weekend’s Grammys saw singer Janelle Monae go for just one bejeweled nail on her ring finger, Miranda Lambert flashing glittery gold tips with blue triangles at the base and Jennifer Lopez going to town with white polish, white glitter, gold leaf and gold studs on her pinkie finger.

Kimmie Kyees, a Los Angeles based celebrity manicurist whose clients at the 2013 Grammys included Katy Perry, Rihanna and Adele, told us: ‘In a bad economy, beautiful nails are an inexpensive luxury. Companies like Minx pioneered the nail art trend and now Sally Hansen and Incoco have introduced retail versions of dry nail polish art that have made it truly mainstream and something we can all do at home.’

To celebrate Valentine’s Day, Kimmie has designed a nail just for Redcarpet-fashionawards.com readers. Here’s how to get our custom pink and white heart manicure.

‘Start off applying a base coat like Orly Bonder. Next paint the nails with two coats of CoverGirl Outlast Stay Brilliant Nail Gloss in Pink-finity 140.’

‘Using a dotter, put two dots of CoverGirl Outlast Stay Brilliant Nail Gloss in Snow Storm side by side on the top third of the nail to make the top of a heart. Then, using a striper brush, pull the white polish down to form the bottom of the heart. It’s super easy and if you mess up you can alway draw a small line of pink over the white to fix the line.’

‘Finally a layer of top coat like Seche Vite seals it all perfectly.’

Credit: Getty