Everyone's familiar with celebrity endorsements where actors, models and hosts lend their star power to appear in adverts selling anything from diet pills to clothing.

Well, a new trend emerged in the run-up to Valentine's Day - stars shedding their inhibitions to give TV viewers a peek into their private lives, in ads to sell jewellery.

Michelle Chia and Shaun Chen, for example, burbled on about how they are smitten in a 30-second TV ad for local jewellery chain Goldheart that was first shown on Jan 28. But what really stood out was how the dating couple demonstrated this bling called love.

At the end of the ad, Chen gives Chia an earring and necklace set from Goldheart's Celestial collection - and the two give each other a peck on the lips. But what might stay most in viewers' minds is the slightly awkward kiss, not the jewellery.

More lurve surfaced in another TV commercial for local jewellery brand Soo Kee Jewellery. A 60-second ad featuring actress Wong Li Lin sauntering around a Soo Kee store, gushing about how Amazing Race Asia host husband Allan Wu is The One, kicked off on Feb 7. Amid the outpouring, the hard, glittering fact was that it served to promote Soo Kee's Brilliant Rose collection.

Both ads, which were a tie-up between the jewellery brands and television station MediaCorp, finished their run last Thursday, Valentine's Day.

Goldheart and Soo Kee say none of the performers got to keep any of the gems featured in the ads, but were paid a sum that the brands decline to reveal.

Other celeb couples have had some sparkling success, though. For allowing Goldheart to turn their wedding day on Oct 6 last year into a 60-second ad on TV Mobile, actors Alan Tern and Priscelia Chan got to wear some expensive bling designed by the home-grown brand on their big day.

Other lovebirds who have turned the fame game to dazzling advantage are actors Randall Tan and Melody Chen, who got engaged last November and will tie the knot on April 26.

Soo Kee is sponsoring their wedding bands after Tan approached them for help in finding an engagement ring last year. A Soo Kee spokesman says the wedding rings, which the couple will get to keep, are from the Jack Laurent range that the brand is bringing in. She would not reveal the cost.

In return, the couple have been making it known in interviews that the 0.5-carat solitaire proposal ring Tan bought Chen is from Soo Kee.