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!
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): I have never had a beer from Anchorage Brewing before. This label caught my eye and then I got REALLY excited when I saw that it was a white IPA, which has been on my list of “MUST DRINK ALL OF THEM!” for a while. The label states that this beer was “Bottled with Brett” and there is an image of a man’s head next to it. Here it is: I thought that meant that this Brett character helped them bottle the beer. “Hmm,” I thought to myself, “Brett must have some REALLY special bottling skills! I wonder if he’s single…” What? Anyway, I’m not kidding when I say that I thought Brett was a person. Only after I drank the beer and started doing some research did I realize that I really have a lot to learn.  “Brett” stands for brettanomyces which is a yeast that grows on the skins of some fruit (grapes in particular) and can be used in wine-making and beer brewing (although it is more welcomed in wine and considered more of a contaminant in beer). When it comes to beer, it is used most commonly in Belgian ales and here is where I put 2 and 2 together and realized why I don’t like Belgian beers.  The nose of Galaxy is unforgiving. It reminded me of a baby changing station and it was difficult to take my first sip. I couldn’t shake it. A review on BeerAdvocate.com says “the brett really shines with a moderate light horseblanket covered in barf with underlying peppercorns.” And then he gave the beer 4.75/5. People be cray. This is simply not a flavor I am willing to accept in my mouth. This beer had too many Belgian qualities and I was hoping for a bit more of those bitter IPA tones to come through. As it warms, it gets a bit more bearable with fruitier notes and a more subtle brett flavor. Very large, soapy head on the pour and a nice stinging carbonation that reminded me of champagne: All-in-all, it was a challenging beer to drink with many different flavors and surprises throughout (albeit some funky ones). I appreciate the complexity of this beer and if you’re a fan of witbier, than this might be the beer for you to explore. I give it 4 out of 10 nails. Also, Anchorage Brewing has a really awesome site. Go check it out: http://anchoragebrewingcompany.com/beers 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.

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):

I have never had a beer from Anchorage Brewing before. This label caught my eye and then I got REALLY excited when I saw that it was a white IPA, which has been on my list of “MUST DRINK ALL OF THEM!” for a while. The label states that this beer was “Bottled with Brett” and there is an image of a man’s head next to it. Here it is:
I thought that meant that this Brett character helped them bottle the beer. “Hmm,” I thought to myself, “Brett must have some REALLY special bottling skills! I wonder if he’s single…” What? Anyway, I’m not kidding when I say that I thought Brett was a person. Only after I drank the beer and started doing some research did I realize that I really have a lot to learn. 
“Brett” stands for brettanomyces which is a yeast that grows on the skins of some fruit (grapes in particular) and can be used in wine-making and beer brewing (although it is more welcomed in wine and considered more of a contaminant in beer). When it comes to beer, it is used most commonly in Belgian ales and here is where I put 2 and 2 together and realized why I don’t like Belgian beers. 

The nose of Galaxy is unforgiving. It reminded me of a baby changing station and it was difficult to take my first sip. I couldn’t shake it. A review on BeerAdvocate.com says “the brett really shines with a moderate light horseblanket covered in barf with underlying peppercorns.” And then he gave the beer 4.75/5. People be cray. This is simply not a flavor I am willing to accept in my mouth. This beer had too many Belgian qualities and I was hoping for a bit more of those bitter IPA tones to come through. As it warms, it gets a bit more bearable with fruitier notes and a more subtle brett flavor. Very large, soapy head on the pour and a nice stinging carbonation that reminded me of champagne:



All-in-all, it was a challenging beer to drink with many different flavors and surprises throughout (albeit some funky ones). I appreciate the complexity of this beer and if you’re a fan of witbier, than this might be the beer for you to explore. I give it 4 out of 10 nails. Also, Anchorage Brewing has a really awesome site. Go check it out: http://anchoragebrewingcompany.com/beers

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.


  1. avantgarland reblogged this from nailsandales and added:
    Galaxy IPA with nails to match…
  2. yooamalinn reblogged this from nailsandales
  3. beckiiiiiiii reblogged this from nailsandales
  4. nailsandales posted this
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