Nails and Ales

Uinta Brewing Co’s Dubhe Imperial Black IPA: Beer Fest Edition!

I apologize for being MIA this year, folks. Job searching and Winter hibernation have taken over my life lately but now that Spring is just around the corner, the beer and polish will flow! Last weekend I went to the NYC Craft Beer Fest and, as usual, had a flippin’ blast. I decided on Uinta’s Dubhe (pronounced “doo-be”) as my muse because 1.) the label is sweet and 2.) I just happened to have a bottle in my fridge that I bought a few months ago to use for the blog. It was meant to be! BUT, when I walked over to the Uinta table, I was saddened to see that the Dubhe tap did not have the label on it. SAD FACE. I had based the nails on the tap I found online, which is always a gamble when doing nails for a beer fest. This is just the first time I lost. Here’s an image of the tap, for reference: 

Nails:  Not going to do my usual step-by-step here because the coloring just wasn’t coming out right in the photos and it also would have been about 10 boring steps for you guys to read through. Instead, I’ll give the basics: 

I started with 2 coats of Sally Hansen’s Black Out and waited until it was completely dry. All of the next steps are simply layering acrylic paint. I painted the outline of the canyon first and once that dried, I added the black shadowing. Next, I added the orange sky streaks and once that dried, I painted the yellow accents. Last step was painting the stars with a very tiny dotting tool. I didn’t notice this until I read the beer description on Uinta’s website, but the stars are the big dipper! I love how all of these colors go together. I usually don’t like using flash when I take these photos, but it really made the colors pop! Here’s a daylight pic so you can see the difference:

Ale: Everything about this beer suggests that it would be extremely (almost too) heavy, but it is just the right amount of heavy, especially for 9.2%. It pours a very dark brown, almost black color with a medium head:

Smells like a sweet coffee stout and those scents linger in the flavor as well. The taste is just a perfect balance of sweet, chocolate, coffee, citrus and hops. I really don’t think I could get enough of this beer. They were pouring this at the spring seasonals beer fest and I think that’s a testament to the drinkability of this brew. I would definitely enjoy this in the dead of Winter or on a warm Spring day. 

Who am I kidding? I would enjoy this beer every day if I could. Psssh.

Thanks to JGo for offering up her phone for pictures and sitting in my living room for a few hours while I ignored her and painted my nails instead. :) 

Another thanks to all these jerks for coming to the beer fest and making it such a great time (and wearing my signature pretzel necklaces). And another thanks to JGo and Jenni for helping me make all of them! 

Valentine Mani w/ Dugges Ale’s Idjit! Imperial Stout

Nails: Alright people. I put lots of pink and hearts on my nails for YOU this week. I don’t “do” Valentine’s Day (yeah, I’m one of those people, shut it) so you better appreciate this! And you better send me cards and teddy bears and flowers and chocolate. (“But Meg, I thought you didn’t ‘do’ Valentine’s Day?”)  ;) 

Enough with this lovey-dovey stuff. Let’s talk nails! 

I started with 2 coats of Sally Hansen’s Diamond Strength “It’s Chiff-on!”. Using a long, fine-tipped brush and acrylic paint, I placed a dot where I wanted to heart to eventually sit and from that dot I drew about 5-6 lines out to the edge of the nail. I filled in each of those lines so they were thinner out toward the edge and thicker as they came together. 

Next, instead of using the same base polish to make the inner design, I mixed acrylic paint together to match the polish color (using the polish doesn’t work well because you would need to use 2-3 coats of it to get the same color). I used the same steps as the lighter color, but simply made the design smaller. 

Once the hard part was over, I used a dotting tool and acrylic paint to add hearts in the center of each design:

Even though I’m not much of a hearts and pink person, I like that this design came out with a comic book feel to it, which I can dig!

Ale: I have used a Dugges beer for Nails and Ales in the past (here) and it’s easy to see why. These guys like to have fun with their labels but they’re also serious about their brews. This imperial stout is no exception to that rule. First sip of Idjit! felt like all of my taste buds got punched in each of their little taste bud faces. It pours very dark with little head and almost non-existent carbonation:

The nose is very strong, with sweet chocolate and coffee coming through immediately. It almost had a little rustiness to it as well. (Side note: I don’t know how long this beer had been sitting around, but looking at the browned price label on it, I’d say it was in the store for a while…) Coloring is a really nice deep brown. This is one thick, syrupy beer. Like I said, the first sip was a bit much, but then I was able to focus on the dark, bitter chocolate and coffee flavors. Everything was amplified in this stout. I also caught some licorice in there, which I am not fond of at all. Overall, it wasn’t the best dark stout I’ve had, especially because of that licorice. And at almost $20, I don’t think I would pick this one up again. 5 out of 10 nails! 

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! Here’s an example of a valentine I will never give to anyone:

Electric Mani w/ 8 Wired Brewing Co.’s Super Conductor Double IPA

Long time, no post! Hope everyone is having a lovely 2013. Let’s start this off with a “jolt” of fun! (Go ahead, you can boo at me for that one, I’ll allow it.)

Nails: Started off with 2 coats of Milani’s Breezy. Since this mani involves a tape design, you have to wait until the base color is COMPLETELY dry before moving forward (when I know I’ll be using tape, I try to paint the base the night before). Then I sketched a lightning bolt onto pieces of painter’s tape that were cut (with scissors or an x-acto knife) to match the length of every individual nail. The bolt should be placed so that it moves from one of the top corners to the opposite bottom corner:

Only work on one nail at a time, as you want to pull the tape off immediately after painting over it. If you don’t do that the paint gets tacky and when you pull the tape off, it will stick to it and ruin your nice, straight lines. 

Next, using a very fine-point dotting tool and the same base color, I added some messy lines through the middle of the bolt. Using the same dotting tool, I used acrylic paint to add black lines on either side of the bolt and tiny red and white dots:

Clean up any rogue paint with an orange stick, cover it up with a thick top coat and you have yourself one “shocking” manicure! (I’ll be here all evening, ladies and gentlemen! Don’t forget to tip your waiter!)

Ale: This. Beer. Is. So. Good. It comes all the way from New Zealand, which is probably why I paid $16 for it, but damn…it was worth it. I’m a huge hophead so when I saw this “warning” label, I was happier than a pig in you-know-what: 

Surprisingly though, this beer has an equally sweet side to it. The nose is pretty fruity, almost like blueberry. It pours a nice, foggy amber color with a small head that dissipates quickly:

The sweetness in the nose is not lost in the flavor. Yes, the bitterness is definitely there, but the sweetness pulls through and mellows it out in the most wonderful way. I am not a fan of fruity notes in my beer, but this just goes together perfectly. I wish I could get this beer at a cheaper price because it is now on the top of my list. If I ever find any of the other beers 8 Wired makes, I will definitely be buying them. This one gets a 10 out of 10!

Merry Christmas Mani w/ Great Lakes Brewing Company’s Christmas Ale

Merry Christmas people! I am currently visiting my family in the Cleveland area and, DUH, of course I chose Great Lakes Christmas Ale for my personal holiday mani. Us Clevelanders live for this beer. I don’t feel like spending my Christmas morning typing though, and I’m sure you don’t want to spend it reading this post, so here are a bunch of pictures! ENJOY!

Nails:

Final step: add the gold accents on the tops of the ornaments and the sides of the train, clean up any rogue paint around the cuticles, add a top coat and BOOM:

Ale: Like I said, Clevelanders live for this beer and I’ve had Christmas Ale too many times to count, so of course I’m going to give it a 10 out of 10. I do want to say that many people have told me they like Thirsty Dog’s 12 Dogs of Christmas better. I hadn’t tried Thirsty Dog’s yet and yesterday I finally was able to do a side-by-side comparison. I’m happy to say that I still chose Great Lakes:

I can see why people would like Thirsty Dog more as it isn’t as sweet and still let’s that bitterness come through. I’m all for that, but when it comes to Christmas ales I like to embrace those sweet, warming flavors, which Great Lakes does oh so well. All hail the Christmas ale king!

And just for fun, here’s a picture of me with a junky Santa at the VFW in Mayfield a very long time ago. Why anyone would let their child sit on this man’s lap is a mystery to me. MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Winter Wonderland Mani w/ Sierra Nevada’s Celebration Ale

Nails: I enlisted my friend Julia to be a nail model for this post and her choice of holiday brew was Sierra Nevada’s Celebration Ale which, surprisingly, I had never had before. The label proved to be a bit difficult to come up with a design for, as I had no choice but to paint something really literal and realistic. There was no way I was painting a log cabin on her nails, so I focused on the backdrop and the poinsettias. To start, I painted the thumbs, rings and pinkies with Milani’s Gold Glitz and the pointer and middles with Revlon’s Dreamer: 

We’ll go over the snowy nails first. I used Sally Hansen’s White On to sponge an ombre fade onto the pointers and middles to act as the snow and then I covered it in Sally Hansen’s Angel Wings to add a little sheen to it (TIP: adding any light, sheen-y polish over an ombre really helps to smooth out the sponging and make it look a bit more blended):

I used dark green and light green acrylic paints for the tree colors. Using a small, thin-edged brush, I lightly covered the end in the paint (dab excess paint off on a paper towel) and VERY lightly dabbed the brush on the nail horizontally making each “branch” smaller as I worked up the tree. I used the lighter green for the smaller tree in the front to give the 2 trees some separation:

Moving on to the poinsettias…I mixed 3 different shades of red (light, med., dark). Starting with the medium red and a small brush, I painted the basic shape of a poinsettia. This first step won’t look so much like a poinsettia, but have no fear! Once the shading is added and you define the petals, it all comes together. Next step I used the light red to color in half of each of the large petals. Then using a fine-tipped brush (you could also use a dotting tool) I added a line down the middle of each large petal and the “veins” coming off of it. I also lightly colored over the little petals that lay lower in the flower to give them some depth. Using the same greens I used in the trees, I painted 2 small leaves on each. To top it off, I used some large glitter to act as the buds in the middle of the flower:

Top it off with a coat of Seche Vite and Julia was all set to go deck the halls! (Really? Could I GET any cheesier?):

Ale: So, when I see Christmas- or Winter-themed labels on beer, I assume it will have some of those classic Christmas ale flavors: nutmeg, cinnamon, honey…all the things that warm you up. I could also be thinking this because I’m from Cleveland and I was raised to bow down to Great Lakes Christmas Ale, but alas, I was surprised at the lack of those standard Winter warmer flavors. Putting that thought aside, this beer was GREAT. Beautiful deep amber color and a nice sweet, yet hoppy, nose:

I’m a huge hophead and Celebration definitely embraces them. It’s wonderfully balanced though, as there are hints of sweetness to it so the bitter hops, while still very strong in flavor, are never too overpowering. This would be a great year-round brew. I’m giving this one 9 out of 10 nails! 

I want to thank Julia and Mike (my fellow beer nerds) for letting me invade their apartment! And for the lovely dinner that Mike made for us to pair with the beer: chicken stuffed with apples, fennel and gorgonzola, Brussels sprouts, and whipped sweet potatoes (TIP: if you forget to buy twine to truss the chicken, a few orange sticks will stand in quite nicely!). My friends are pretty dope:

Mr. H Mani w/ Tröegs Perpetual IPA

Nails: The NYC Craft Beer Festival: Winter Harvest was held this weekend and I probably spent about 5 days going over all of the beers that would be in attendance and finally decided on Tröegs. I have been gravitating toward Tröegs lately and have been loving what they’re doing. They also have awesome labels, so I decided to take on this challenging design.

For those of you who don’t know who The Letter People are, I feel sorry for you. We watched this show in Kindergarten  and I just realized that this label reminds of Mr. H, who had horrible hair. Let me introduce you: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zy4vCYoIQcY

I even dressed up as him for Halloween when I was 6. No, I don’t have a photo to show you (trust me, I wish I did…) So there’s my reasoning for the mani name and here’s how I did it: started with 2 coats of Petites Color Fever in Vintage Gray:

Next I used Sally Hansen’s Xtreme Wear in Pacific Blue for the blue hair in the background. Using a small dotting tool, I started in the center of the nail and just made some squiggly (getting super technical here…) lines heading outward. I decided to do a literal take of the label on my ring finger, so I made a blue triangle in the center of that nail: 

I mixed some acrylic paint for the next color, as I didn’t have a polish that matched and simply did the same thing as the blue:

Final step for every nail except the ring finger was to add gold dots to mimic the gears in the label:

For the ring finger, I placed gold dots for the “eyes” and “mouth” gears and then I filled them in with a smaller dot of blue. In the blue triangle, I repeated the eyes and mouth dots and added another small red triangle (if you can’t see on the label, they make the image go on and on in the red triangle, like an infinite mirror). I then added the tap coming out of the mouth and the beer below it. Here’s the process:

This was a pretty intense design that was difficult to do and I think it would have been much better if I had a bigger canvas to work on. Thanks to the guy running the Tröegs taps for letting me get in his way while I snapped some photos!

Ale: I was pretty surprised at how light and golden the coloring was. The nose was hoppy, but also very sweet. That sweet smell doesn’t come through in the flavor though, as it’s a very hoppy and bitter beer. Mmmm. There was a good amount of carbonation which added a nice feel. I had heard this was a great IPA and those people were not lying. Next time I see this on tap, it will be in my hand shortly thereafter. 9 out of 10 nails! 

Thanks for another amazing beer fest, Hand Crafted Tasting Co.! This was my 3rd or 4th NYC Craft Beer Fest and they never disappoint. 

Swirl Mani w/ Anchorage Brewing’s Galaxy White IPA

I’m gonna get crazy today and review the beer first…hold onto your hats, people!!

Ale: Here’s something that will tickle your funny bone (or make me look like an idiot. Either way…I do it for your enjoyment. Don’t you ever forget it):

Nails: This label is pretty intricate, but I couldn’t resist. I wanted to go all out and recreate the hop vine swirls on all of the manis but once I saw the simple green swirls on their own, I decided to stick with a couple accent nails and rock this mint/chocolate look. I might do this same design for X-mas but with red and white to give it a peppermint look. I started with 2 coats of Sally Hansen’s Complete Salon Manicure in Haute Chocolate:

Then, using Sally Hansen’s Nail Art Pen in green, I drew a green hop bud on each nail and swirls coming out of the bud in a counter-clockwise direction. After each nail had dried, I went over the green for a second time to make the color a bit stronger:

On the ring and thumb nails, I used a black nail pen to outline the bud and each swirl and add some details to make them look like vines:

(Forgive my cuticles…being a Browns fan during football season = bad cuticles.)

Final step was using a dotting tool and some white polish to place some white dots throughout the swirls and there you have it!

On another note: As some of you know, I live in Brooklyn, NY. Last week we saw some pretty intense damage to our surrounding areas due to Sandy. Jersey Shore, the Rockaways, Red Hook, Long Island and many other areas are devastated. A nor’easter is hitting us today as well and people are still without power and heat. While a lot of people have gone back to normal life, there are still many that will not be able to do that for quite some time. Help is still needed and here is an article that outlines various ways you can help: http://gothamist.com/2012/10/30/heres_how_to_volunteer_time_money_t.php

Suck it, Sandy.

Jack o’ Lantern Mani w/ Southern Tier’s Pumking

LA Manis w/ Eagle Rock Brewery’s Revolution XPA and Populist IPA

Ahhhh, LA. Land of beautiful people, beautiful landscapes and beautifully fresh air:

(Let’s just say it was foggy that day, ok?) This was my first time spending a decent amount of time in LA and it was quite a blast. I chose Eagle Rock Brewery as my muse this week and I am so happy I did, for so many reasons (more on that later). I was staying with my friend Danielle this week and she was gracious enough to let me paint her digits for this post (THANK YOU D!).

Populist IPA Nails: 

We started out with Dashing Diva’s Grand Central Station on every nail except the ring, which we painted with Essie’s Sand Tropez (2 coats each):

Next, I painted every nail diagonally with the opposite color using the polish brush (again, 2 coats):

Third and final step was using a very tiny dotting tool to paint the wheat design on the ring and pinky fingers (again, using the opposite colors). I just followed the pattern on the bottle as much as I could:

Revolution XPA Nails: 

I went a little crazy with this one. Took me 3 hours to complete and it was the night before my flight…not the greatest time management ever. I actually ended up doing this manicure TWICE; once before my trip and once right after because I didn’t get any good pics of it while I was in LA and by the time I got home, the mani was a mess. Oy. My back hurts. 

I painted every nail with 2 coats of Sally Hansen’s Cherry Red and the pinkies got 2 coats of Essie’s Sand Tropez. Then the fun began. I started with one shade of red acrylic paint and used a small, flat brush to paint 3 small triangles on each red finger. Then I mixed another color into that batch (white, peach or a different shade of red) and paint 3 more triangles on each nail. Each shade of triangles should be sporadically placed, but placed within a patterned grid. As long as you have slightly different shades of red each time, you’re good. I only mixed one batch of color and painted every nail before changing the shade because I didn’t want to risk the paint drying out while I worked. I used about 5 different shades of red. Here they are from the first step to the last (sorry, not the best lighting here…):

Of course, once all is said and done, I clean up around the nail with an orange stick dipped in remover. Then I used a very tiny dotting tool to paint the wheat graphic on each pinky. 3 hours later!:

And just for reference, here are all the supplies I used for these manis:

Ales: Eagle Rock Brewery was established in ‘09, but you wouldn’t know it by the taste. The brewery is nestled in the bowels of LA (am I allowed to say that? I don’t even live there…it felt tucked away though. Don’t be mad, almost all of Brooklyn can be considered “bowels”). Aw shit, I just offended 2 majors cities. This post really is full of multiples!

Anywho, website said the brewery opened at 4pm and as my friend Ed (THANKS ED!) and I pulled up at 4:05, we wondered if we’d be those weirdos waiting for the doors to be unlocked so we can get our fix. Nope. The place was almost full! I soon realized why. Almost all beers on tap were $5 and you can get a nice flight for $2 per beer. Also, they were all amazing. Here are some pics:

Above is the flight. I chose (from left to right) Solidarity Black Mild Ale/Manifesto Wit Bier/Revolution XPA/Populist IPA/Nitro (I think was Double IPA)/Unity 2012 Berliner Rye w/ Prickly Pear

Not going to review them because that would be a lot, but they are all worth trying, no matter what your style preferences may be. 

The more I look at these labels, the more I love them. I’m big on clean lines and geometric shapes. These labels simply have a nice, clean design. We bought the pint glass because it was so pretty. Multiple people have said they like it!

The Populist IPA: Since this was the beer I used on Danielle’s nails, I asked for her input (keep in mind, her fave beer is Bud Light.) She said the color looks like “my pee after a good night.” Her beer reviewing career is off to a running start, folks! Needless to say, I stopped asking questions after that one. Love you, D.  

Being in NYC, I don’t drink west coast IPAs very often, so it’s a somewhat new experience for me. This brew has a hazy golden color and a small head that dissipates quickly. Medium carbonation and a sweet, fruity, hoppy nose. Even with the fruity notes, the taste was still rather bitter and full of hops (which most of their beers carried…and I don’t mind at all). Overall, it was a well-balanced (west coast) IPA. 7 out of 10 nails!

The Revolution XPA: 

Due to the focus of malt in typical pale ales, I don’t usually gravitate to them. Revolution is different though. It is very bitter and hops are definitely present. The nose seemed to be non-existant. Color was golden and very translucent. At first taste, the hops are in the forefront and there is not much else, but as it warmed I picked up a sweeter, honey-like flavor. It was delicious and surprising for a pale ale so I’m giving this one 8 out of 10 nails.  

A note about Eagle Rock Brewery: Eagle Rock has a female co-founder, Ting Su, and she does a lot to help educate women about beer, which I love. I came across a lil’ documentary on her in which she and her husband (another co-founder, along with his father) talk about how the brewery was founded and about the rarities of female brewery owners. Check it out here: Ting: A Documentary

While at the brewery I met Jerry and Andrew manning the taps (forgive me if I got your names wrong!) and I want to thank them for their enthusiasm about this blog! You guys rock and I hope to visit again soon. Cheers!

Gust Mani w/ Birrificio del Ducato’s Sally Brown Caffè Baracco

Nails: It’s Fall and starting to get a tad chillier outside so I chose this coffee ale because the flavor would fit the season…it was an added bonus that the label does the same! The brownish-green background of this label screams Fall and the white/yellow brush strokes remind me of illustrations of gusty wind.

I picked up a bottle of Sally Hansen’s Magnetic Nail Color in Golden Conduct last week and decided that this would make for the perfect base for this design as it helps to add some texture to the background. This polish is pretty great and I even wore it last week on its own because it makes such a cool design. It’s a super easy way to add a little flare to your nails! You basically paint one nail and immediately place a magnet (provided with the bottle) over your nail for 10 seconds. Lift up the magnet and, voila, you have nail art! The only issue I have with this polish is that the magnet should be curved to fit the shape of your nail. Right now it’s flat and that means that sometimes the sides of your nails will not get the design (especially on your larger thumb nails). That’s ok for this mani because I would be painting over the sides a bit anyway: 

Next, I mixed together some white and yellow acrylic paint to make a light yellow (the color of the brushstrokes on the bottom of the label) and I used plain white to paint the other strokes. I had practiced this mani with a small brush at first, but I found that by using a very tiny dotting tool I was able to control my design a bit more and I still got a brushstroke look:

You can be a bit loose with this design, as the label doesn’t warrant a very precise look:

Ale:  I lurv me some coffee, not just for the caffeine but for the wonderful smell and flavor. When I stumble upon a really great coffee porter or stout, I am in heaven. I was curious about Birrificio del Ducato’s Sally Brown here because it is labeled as an “ale brewed with coffee.” You don’t usually think of this beer style being paired with this kind of flavor (or at least I don’t): 

The head is frothy like a Coke and it quickly dissipates. Color is a very deep brown, again like Coke. The nose is coffee and sweet chocolate through and through. At first taste, there is a punch of flavor (again, coffee and chocolate) but that quickly gives way to a very watered down aftertaste. It’s a very thin beer in flavor and consistency (although it does have medium carbonation, which can give it the illusion of being a bit thicker for a second). When I think of coffee flavor in beer, I think of porters and stouts and I think of thickness. While Sally Brown had some flavor, it lacked in body. I’m going to give this brew 4 out of 10 nails.