{Photo: Sephora}

One of the hottest new nail art trends is the caviar manicure, a three-dimensional look created when tiny beads, called “caviar pearls,” are pressed into regular polish. Created by UK-based company Ciaté, the Caviar Nails DIY kit arrived stateside in April and has been flying off the shelves ever since.

In this article, I’ll give you a quick overview of my experiencewith the caviar polish kit, plus some tips for creating unique nail art looks with it.

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About the Ciaté Caviar Manicure Kit

The kit is available in three colors: “Black Pearls,” “Mother of Pearl” and “Rainbow,” shown above, which is the one I bought Each kit comes with one bottle of regular polish, a second bottle filled with caviar pearls, a tray to catch excess pearls during application, and a mini funnel to return the excess pearls to the bottle once you’re done.

Application is incredibly easy: All you have to do is pour the pearls from the bottle onto wet nails and then gently press them in. The tray and funnel ensure a mess-free process.

Is It Worth the Money?

At $25, the set seems expensive at first. However, there are several factors that I think make it worth the splurge:

First, the basic polish alone is fabulous – it’s a nice pale pink that is quite opaque and gives great coverage with just two coats. It dries very quickly, which is great, but also means that you have to apply the caviar pearls immediately so they will adhere. Another cool thing about the nail polish is that it isn’t any special formula, so you can switch it out for any color in your arsenal. Second, the bottle of pearls will last a long time. After doing my nails and those of my two friends, about 90 percent of the bottle remained.