Nails and Ales

I love beer and I love nail art. This is where I combine them for a pleasurable experience. Sometimes the beer inspires the nail art, sometimes the nail art inspires the beer.

Disclaimer: I am in no way an expert On either of these subjects. This is strictly for fun so take a deep breath and enjoy!
4th of July Mani w/ Anchor Brewing’s Liberty Ale feat. Cristin Nails: I enlisted my fried Cristin for this tribute to the 4th of July as I found out the other week that she’s a big fan of supporting our country via her nails. Check it: this girl sketches out 4th of July designs on paper and takes them to her manicurist! Love it. We started with a base of Sally Hansen’s Cherry Red on all nails. We decided to use the pointer and ring fingers as accent nails and painted vertical stripes in Creative’s King’s Ransom (a really nice silver/gold color) on each of them. While those dried, I used the same polish to paint a thick stripe diagonally on all of the other nails to mock the golden trimming on this label. Both of these steps were done using the polish brush itself. Then I used a tiny brush to paint a thin strip of blue on the bottom of the stripes on each of the non-accent nails:  Next, I used Sally Hansen’s Blue It for the French tip on the accent nails. We made the French about 1/3 of the tip of the nail:  The stars on the accent nails were the final touch. I tried using a very tiny dotter tool to make these tiny stars with a white polish but when the polish gets the least bit sticky, it’s useless. So I switched to white acrylic paint and a tiny, wide, flat brush to get these done. Happy birthday, America! Ale: This beer is brought to us by San Francisco’s Anchor Brewing Co. I love Anchor beers, but have never had this one before.  The color is a nice light amber with a pretty thick head, as you can see here. Cristin described it as a “medium” beer and I have to agree. It’s pretty well-balanced in flavor and feel. The nose struck me as odd because it was almost a little fishy…but the flavor was nothing like that. A really nice, even bitterness that’s not too intense. A great choice of brew to enjoy on the 4th! I give it an 8 out of 10 nails.  Thanks for lending your nails, Cristin! Enjoy your 4th everyone!

4th of July Mani w/ Anchor Brewing’s Liberty Ale feat. Cristin


Nails: I enlisted my fried Cristin for this tribute to the 4th of July as I found out the other week that she’s a big fan of supporting our country via her nails. Check it: this girl sketches out 4th of July designs on paper and takes them to her manicurist! Love it. We started with a base of Sally Hansen’s Cherry Red on all nails. We decided to use the pointer and ring fingers as accent nails and painted vertical stripes in Creative’s King’s Ransom (a really nice silver/gold color) on each of them. While those dried, I used the same polish to paint a thick stripe diagonally on all of the other nails to mock the golden trimming on this label. Both of these steps were done using the polish brush itself. Then I used a tiny brush to paint a thin strip of blue on the bottom of the stripes on each of the non-accent nails: 

1


Next, I used Sally Hansen’s Blue It for the French tip on the accent nails. We made the French about 1/3 of the tip of the nail: 

2

The stars on the accent nails were the final touch. I tried using a very tiny dotter tool to make these tiny stars with a white polish but when the polish gets the least bit sticky, it’s useless. So I switched to white acrylic paint and a tiny, wide, flat brush to get these done. Happy birthday, America!

3


Ale: This beer is brought to us by San Francisco’s Anchor Brewing Co. I love Anchor beers, but have never had this one before. 

beer

The color is a nice light amber with a pretty thick head, as you can see here. Cristin described it as a “medium” beer and I have to agree. It’s pretty well-balanced in flavor and feel. The nose struck me as odd because it was almost a little fishy…but the flavor was nothing like that. A really nice, even bitterness that’s not too intense. A great choice of brew to enjoy on the 4th! I give it an 8 out of 10 nails. 

Thanks for lending your nails, Cristin!

Enjoy your 4th everyone!

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Chuck is helpin’ me pick colors for the next #nailsandales. #goodkitty (Taken with Instagram)

Chuck is helpin’ me pick colors for the next #nailsandales. #goodkitty (Taken with Instagram)

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Sun Ray Mani w/ Hitachino Nest’s Commemorative Ale feat. Sarita Louise Moore Nails: It took me a little time to get this mani off the ground, as I tried to use my new acrylic paints for the design and found that they end up being really streaky if you’re trying to color in something. I’m not a painter so maybe I need to figure out how much water to add to get the right consistency, but for today I went back to using polish. I started with a base coat of Sally Hansens Pacific Blue. This color looks amazing on Sarita’s skin. Damn. Then, I cut out small half circles on the edge of a piece of painters tape to get a nice clean red moon using New York  Color’s Times Square Tangerine. After this, I was able to use the acrylic paint for the “rays”. I used a very thin brush with bristles about 3/4 an inch long and simply laid it down on the nail and brought it directly back up ( don’t drag it here, the acrylic paint won’t leave a nice clean evenly colored line): After that, we slapped some Seche Vite on these puppies and Sarita was good to go!  By the way, this was my first time meeting Sarita and she was AWESOME. She is a dancer/choreographer/yogi. Check out her stuff here! Ale: I always notice Hitachino Nest beers (from Kiuchi Brewery in Japan) when I’m out shopping. The adorable owl catches my attention (as I’m sure it does many ladies) but I haven’t gotten around to trying it yet. Just look at how cute he is: The Commemorative Ale has a beautiful deep amber color. The nose is honey and rust in equal parts. The initial rust flavor can be very abrasive but for 8% ABV, this beer is exceptionally smooth. It’s thick and syrupy and the high alcohol content definitely warms you up fast! Very very light carbonation. There’s a flavor about this beer that we both couldn’t describe, but we did agree that it is delicious. I can honestly say I have never had a beer like this before. Maybe this is because Kiuchi uses a “hint” of their traditional sake brewing method to produce their beers. Who knows. Definitely want to have this around in the winter time to keep me warm! 8 out of 10 nails.  And here’s a photo of the nails out and about drinkin’ some coffee to sober up. THANKS SARITA!

Sun Ray Mani w/ Hitachino Nest’s Commemorative Ale feat. Sarita Louise Moore

Nails: It took me a little time to get this mani off the ground, as I tried to use my new acrylic paints for the design and found that they end up being really streaky if you’re trying to color in something. I’m not a painter so maybe I need to figure out how much water to add to get the right consistency, but for today I went back to using polish. I started with a base coat of Sally Hansens Pacific Blue. This color looks amazing on Sarita’s skin. Damn. Then, I cut out small half circles on the edge of a piece of painters tape to get a nice clean red moon using New York  Color’s Times Square Tangerine.

step1

After this, I was able to use the acrylic paint for the “rays”. I used a very thin brush with bristles about 3/4 an inch long and simply laid it down on the nail and brought it directly back up ( don’t drag it here, the acrylic paint won’t leave a nice clean evenly colored line):

After that, we slapped some Seche Vite on these puppies and Sarita was good to go! 

By the way, this was my first time meeting Sarita and she was AWESOME. She is a dancer/choreographer/yogi. Check out her stuff here!

Ale: I always notice Hitachino Nest beers (from Kiuchi Brewery in Japan) when I’m out shopping. The adorable owl catches my attention (as I’m sure it does many ladies) but I haven’t gotten around to trying it yet. Just look at how cute he is:

The Commemorative Ale has a beautiful deep amber color. The nose is honey and rust in equal parts. The initial rust flavor can be very abrasive but for 8% ABV, this beer is exceptionally smooth. It’s thick and syrupy and the high alcohol content definitely warms you up fast! Very very light carbonation. There’s a flavor about this beer that we both couldn’t describe, but we did agree that it is delicious. I can honestly say I have never had a beer like this before. Maybe this is because Kiuchi uses a “hint” of their traditional sake brewing method to produce their beers. Who knows. Definitely want to have this around in the winter time to keep me warm! 8 out of 10 nails. 

And here’s a photo of the nails out and about drinkin’ some coffee to sober up. THANKS SARITA!

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Ombré Mani and Beer Mug Accent Nails w/ Brooklyn Brewery’s Radius Belgian Pale Ale at BK Beer Fest (phew!) I did this mani specifically for the BK Beer Fest that took place on Saturday, June 16th in Williamsburg and decided to pay homage to Brooklyn Brewery’s Radius to keep this mani completely BK-themed. Radius is only available in Brooklyn and I’m pretty positive it’s only available on tap. I found an image of the logo online and went with that, hoping that the tap would be similar, if not the same. Luckily, it matched pretty darn well!  Nails: This was my first try at an ombré mani and I’m pleasantly surprised at how easy it can be. There are quite a few different ways of doing an ombré, or gradient, mani as you’ll quickly find out after searching for how-tos on Youtube. I chose the sponge method and started out with a base in Sally Hansen’s Mellow Yellow and then painted the top half of each nail (minus the ring fingers) with New York Color’s Times Square Tangerine.  After letting these dry for a bit, I painted a strip of each color on the fat end of a makeup sponge: Next, I laid the sponge on the edge of the nail and gently rolled it to the other side. After you do this, you can just start dabbing it up and down quickly to blend. If it’s still a bit rough, put some color on the small end of the sponge and use that to get a more accurate blend. Don’t be too nit-picky here. If the sponge leaves bumpy marks on your polish, don’t freak. Your top coat (if you have a decent one) will help smooth these out and make the polish look more blended. After that was done, I painted a white French tip on each of the accent nails (this doesn’t have to be a straight line, as it’s emulating bubbly foam): Next, I used an x-acto knife to trim down the “Gold Bubbles” DesignFX decals (from Dashing Diva) to the proper size and placed them under the “foam”. Top everything with Seche Vite and you’re done!  Nope. No you are not done. I thought I was finished after this and was about to go to bed when I realized that my nails looked a LOT like candy corn. Guh. Before the fest the next morning, I went about trying to make my nails look somewhat presentable. I took a super old polish I have (doesn’t even have a color name…) and painted 2 coats over the ombré nails. This turned out to be just the right thing to tone down the colors and make this mani work, giving the nails a lovely golden sheen. Ta da! Candy corn be damned! After hanging at the Brooklyn Beer Fest for a couple hours, I approached the Brooklyn Brewery table and told the guy pouring beers (I think his name was Patrick) allllllll about my blog. Shameless! He’s a dude, so I understand that he wouldn’t give two craps about a nail art blog, but he graciously let me stand behind the table and have a little photo shoot. Thanks Patrick! You made my day.  (Note, and try not to be too jealous of, the penis pretzel necklace. My friends and I have learned in the past few years that people LOVE this necklace, but I learned on Saturday just how much it leaves an impression. I had 2 people recognize me from the NYC Craft Beer Festival back in March. One guy even had a photo of me on his iPhone! This is funny, but also kind of weird…) Ale: Yes, I reside in Brooklyn. No, I have never tried Radius before. One reason is because I haven’t seen it around a whole lot. The second reason is because I don’t go for Belgian ales, it just ain’t my thang. I’ll admit that this tasting is a bit hazy, as I had been drinking all sorts of different beers for the 2 hours previous, but I do remember myself not hating it. It’s a pretty light-colored beer, which is never appetizing to me, but it had a bit of a bite to it and that is enough for me to want to take a second go-around with this one. It was refreshing and light and seemed to be the quintessential summertime refreshment. Not too Belgian-y. I’m definitely going to need to seek out this beer for another taste to give you a more complete review. In the meantime I’m going to give it 7 out of 10 nails because if I don’t remember anything else, I DO remember raising my eyebrows in surprise after my first sip…and that is never a bad thing. (PHOTO CREDIT: Justin Tyler!)

Ombré Mani and Beer Mug Accent Nails w/ Brooklyn Brewery’s Radius Belgian Pale Ale at BK Beer Fest (phew!)

I did this mani specifically for the BK Beer Fest that took place on Saturday, June 16th in Williamsburg and decided to pay homage to Brooklyn Brewery’s Radius to keep this mani completely BK-themed. Radius is only available in Brooklyn and I’m pretty positive it’s only available on tap. I found an image of the logo online and went with that, hoping that the tap would be similar, if not the same. Luckily, it matched pretty darn well! 
Nails: This was my first try at an ombré mani and I’m pleasantly surprised at how easy it can be. There are quite a few different ways of doing an ombré, or gradient, mani as you’ll quickly find out after searching for how-tos on Youtube. I chose the sponge method and started out with a base in Sally Hansen’s Mellow Yellow and then painted the top half of each nail (minus the ring fingers) with New York Color’s Times Square Tangerine. 
step1
After letting these dry for a bit, I painted a strip of each color on the fat end of a makeup sponge:
step2
Next, I laid the sponge on the edge of the nail and gently rolled it to the other side. After you do this, you can just start dabbing it up and down quickly to blend. If it’s still a bit rough, put some color on the small end of the sponge and use that to get a more accurate blend. Don’t be too nit-picky here. If the sponge leaves bumpy marks on your polish, don’t freak. Your top coat (if you have a decent one) will help smooth these out and make the polish look more blended. After that was done, I painted a white French tip on each of the accent nails (this doesn’t have to be a straight line, as it’s emulating bubbly foam):
step3
Next, I used an x-acto knife to trim down the “Gold Bubbles” DesignFX decals (from Dashing Diva) to the proper size and placed them under the “foam”. Top everything with Seche Vite and you’re done! 
step4
Nope. No you are not done. I thought I was finished after this and was about to go to bed when I realized that my nails looked a LOT like candy corn. Guh.
candy
Before the fest the next morning, I went about trying to make my nails look somewhat presentable. I took a super old polish I have (doesn’t even have a color name…) and painted 2 coats over the ombré nails. This turned out to be just the right thing to tone down the colors and make this mani work, giving the nails a lovely golden sheen. Ta da! Candy corn be damned!
final
After hanging at the Brooklyn Beer Fest for a couple hours, I approached the Brooklyn Brewery table and told the guy pouring beers (I think his name was Patrick) allllllll about my blog. Shameless! He’s a dude, so I understand that he wouldn’t give two craps about a nail art blog, but he graciously let me stand behind the table and have a little photo shoot. Thanks Patrick! You made my day. 
me
(Note, and try not to be too jealous of, the penis pretzel necklace. My friends and I have learned in the past few years that people LOVE this necklace, but I learned on Saturday just how much it leaves an impression. I had 2 people recognize me from the NYC Craft Beer Festival back in March. One guy even had a photo of me on his iPhone! This is funny, but also kind of weird…)
penis
Ale: Yes, I reside in Brooklyn. No, I have never tried Radius before. One reason is because I haven’t seen it around a whole lot. The second reason is because I don’t go for Belgian ales, it just ain’t my thang. I’ll admit that this tasting is a bit hazy, as I had been drinking all sorts of different beers for the 2 hours previous, but I do remember myself not hating it. It’s a pretty light-colored beer, which is never appetizing to me, but it had a bit of a bite to it and that is enough for me to want to take a second go-around with this one.
beer
It was refreshing and light and seemed to be the quintessential summertime refreshment. Not too Belgian-y. I’m definitely going to need to seek out this beer for another taste to give you a more complete review. In the meantime I’m going to give it 7 out of 10 nails because if I don’t remember anything else, I DO remember raising my eyebrows in surprise after my first sip…and that is never a bad thing.
(PHOTO CREDIT: Justin Tyler!)
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I’m super busy this week and won’t be able to upload my BK Beer Fest special edition post until Tuesday morning, but here’s a sneak peek at the mani! 

I’m super busy this week and won’t be able to upload my BK Beer Fest special edition post until Tuesday morning, but here’s a sneak peek at the mani! 

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Nails and Ales is conquering the internet one social media outlet at a time…now you can friend us on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/NailsAndAles

Nails and Ales is conquering the internet one social media outlet at a time…now you can friend us on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/NailsAndAles

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Testing out a beer mug mani for @bkbeerfest this weekend! Do you like? #nailsandales #nailart #beer (Taken with Instagram)

Testing out a beer mug mani for @bkbeerfest this weekend! Do you like? #nailsandales #nailart #beer (Taken with Instagram)

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Look what just came in the mail! Can’t wait to use all this goodness in this week’s #nailsandales! #nailart #beer (Taken with Instagram)

Look what just came in the mail! Can’t wait to use all this goodness in this week’s #nailsandales! #nailart #beer (Taken with Instagram)

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Ivy Mani w/ Thornbridge Brewery’s Jaipur India Pale Ale Nails: This beer was given to me as a bday present from my roomie. Nice pick, Jenni! This label is so beautiful. The woman on the label is Flora, the Goddess of Flowers and Thornbridge’s website states “Like our beers she represents, beautiful elegance and is a compliment to the craft of her maker.” Aw, I like that. On another note, I got a new kit to carry all my nail stuff in! Movin’ on up people, movin’ on up. Here’s Chuck guarding the shit out of it: I really love the gold design on the label, so I decided to emulate it on the nails. I tried buying some lace today, laying it over my base color, painting the accent color over that and then pealing off the lace to reveal a sweet lace design. Don’t do that. It was a fucking mess. So I stuck to hand-painting, which seems to be my go-to tactic when crafty gimmicks fail. First, I painted my base using Sally Hansen’s Sun Kissed which is the most perfectly orange color (another Jenni contribution). I used 3 coats to make it super solid (plus, my nails tend to have horizontal ridges in them, so they sometimes will be discolored if I don’t use enough paint. It’s weird…and annoying). Next, I used Color Club’s Disco Nap to paint on an ivy design, leaving some spaces open in some of the leaves: I was just going to leave it at this point as I liked the 2 colors together and the simplicity of the design, but I really wanted to add some purple into the nail to incorporate Flora because I would never hear the end of it from her if I didn’t. So I used a Wet ‘n Wild color here that probably isn’t even made anymore because I think I’ve had this polish since the 90’s (not a joke). I filled in the leaves on the ivy and it really made for a nice accent.The end. Ale: Thornbridge Brewery in England makes this lovely drink- the Jaipur India Pale Ale. It pours with a pretty decent head and a light, cloudy color. The color threw me off, as it looks much like a Belgian ale (not my faves), but you remember what your mother used to say? “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” Thanks mom! It’s a very light-bodied beer that packs a shit-ton of flavor. So very hoppy, which I lurv. Full of wonderful citrus-y notes as well. It also has a fair amount of very fine carbonation, which adds a bit of sharpness to the overall taste. It’s simply a well-balanced beer. Just the right amount of sweet and bitter. 8.5 out of 10 nails! Yummy yummy.


Ivy Mani w/ Thornbridge Brewery’s Jaipur India Pale Ale

Nails: This beer was given to me as a bday present from my roomie. Nice pick, Jenni! This label is so beautiful. The woman on the label is Flora, the Goddess of Flowers and Thornbridge’s website states “Like our beers she represents, beautiful elegance and is a compliment to the craft of her maker.” Aw, I like that. On another note, I got a new kit to carry all my nail stuff in! Movin’ on up people, movin’ on up. Here’s Chuck guarding the shit out of it:

chuck


I really love the gold design on the label, so I decided to emulate it on the nails. I tried buying some lace today, laying it over my base color, painting the accent color over that and then pealing off the lace to reveal a sweet lace design. Don’t do that. It was a fucking mess. So I stuck to hand-painting, which seems to be my go-to tactic when crafty gimmicks fail. First, I painted my base using Sally Hansen’s Sun Kissed which is the most perfectly orange color (another Jenni contribution). I used 3 coats to make it super solid (plus, my nails tend to have horizontal ridges in them, so they sometimes will be discolored if I don’t use enough paint. It’s weird…and annoying). Next, I used Color Club’s Disco Nap to paint on an ivy design, leaving some spaces open in some of the leaves:
firststep

I was just going to leave it at this point as I liked the 2 colors together and the simplicity of the design, but I really wanted to add some purple into the nail to incorporate Flora because I would never hear the end of it from her if I didn’t. So I used a Wet ‘n Wild color here that probably isn’t even made anymore because I think I’ve had this polish since the 90’s (not a joke). I filled in the leaves on the ivy and it really made for a nice accent.The end.

finished

Ale: Thornbridge Brewery in England makes this lovely drink- the Jaipur India Pale Ale.
beer
It pours with a pretty decent head and a light, cloudy color. The color threw me off, as it looks much like a Belgian ale (not my faves), but you remember what your mother used to say? “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” Thanks mom! It’s a very light-bodied beer that packs a shit-ton of flavor. So very hoppy, which I lurv. Full of wonderful citrus-y notes as well. It also has a fair amount of very fine carbonation, which adds a bit of sharpness to the overall taste. It’s simply a well-balanced beer. Just the right amount of sweet and bitter. 8.5 out of 10 nails! Yummy yummy.
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Sneak peek at tmrw’s #nailsandales. Can u guess the beer? #nailart #beer (Taken with instagram)

Sneak peek at tmrw’s #nailsandales. Can u guess the beer? #nailart #beer (Taken with instagram)

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