Makeup Tutorial: South Shore Smokey Eye

You asked, so now we're delivering. This is my first attempt at a real smokey eye, and it was fairly easy: so I'm going to try and make it easy for you to achieve at home, too! I did things a little differently and actually drew directional arrows to go with my step-by-step instructions, and at the end there are more pictures of the finished product…I must admit that this is so far from my usual makeup routine--I normally use eye brightening colors rather than dark--but I thought it was fun to do. No matter what color your eyes are, it's sure to make them pop! 

*I used ALL e.l.f. cosmetics for this look*

1. First, you want to get your makeup essential together. This is what I'm using:

elf 144-piece studio palette

Brushes, q-tips, eyeliners, mascara & under eye highlighting powder: just a regular eye shadow brush, a concealer brush, an eyeliner brush, white eyeliner, black gel eyeliner, waterproof eyeliner pen (for sharper lines), volume plumping mascara, and under eye highlighting powder to illuminate dark spots. Oh, and q-tips for smudging (and screw-ups), of course.

Tip: Eyelid primer always helps--I use e.l.f. white primer, white always helps the true color of eyeshadows show up better!

2. Choose your colors. I haven't deviated too much from traditional smokey eye colors: neutral brown, bright white, bright shimmery cream, and black. 

3. Begin by applying under eye highlighting powder and primer. Then start outlining your entire eye with gel eyeliner. When you get to creating that triangular shaped wing, switch to the waterproof eyeliner pen to have more control over your shape when drawing on the outer and inner corners of your eyes. Smudge with a qtip or smudge brush, being careful to keep the lines smooth and move outward to your outer corner along the line as you do so.

You can just barely see the difference in outline between gel and pen (pen is lighter), but this won't matter once you apply black eyeshadow over the whole thing

Create a short winged appearance on the outer corners of your eye to guide your eyeshadow.

4. Apply your neutral brown to your entire eyelid, making sure to darken the outward corners. I used a concealer brush for this, it's lighter and allowed me to have more control over how much color I was using and where. You want to follow that same triangle patter created when you outline your eye, don't worry about brushing eyeshadow over the eyeliner itself.

Heavier color should follow the outer right angle of your eye

5. Now comes the intimidating part. Use the black eyeshadow and carefully go over your outer eyelid, where you made sure to darken the brown. Shade the outer crease about halfway into your eye, then shade the bottom along the eyeliner wing. Begin to shade into the middle of your eye, blending the best you can.

Tip: Use very little eyeshadow to start. You can always build color, but taking it off is a different story! 

7. Once you've darkened your eye and actually created the "smokey" effect, take the white eyeliner and outline the inner corners of your eye. I used a sparkly white for an extra added shimmer, but use what you have!

Apply the lighter white eyeshadow over this, and for variation, add the cream color in the same inner corner. The point is to brighten your eye, and have an ombre light-to-dark effect by the outer corner of your eyelid by following your eye's natural contours.

8. Finishing touches--use the q-tips here to smudge or redefine any eyeshadow. I usually add more under eye highlighting powder, brush any excess eyeshadow powder off my face with a spare blush brush, and then add some foundation under my eyes to seal the look and prevent smudging. 

Enjoy your smokin' smokey eye!

Read More

Makeup: My Lipstick Doesn't Budge, Darling

What better way to start off a beauty blog than with a confession? Here's mine: I can't stand sacrificing money on designer-brand name lipstick. Contrary to popular belief, all it really takes is a good lipliner and, if that doesn't do it for you, a decent lip stain layer to keep your face looking perfect & pouty for an all-nighter. Disclaimer: These lipsticks are pricey for a reason, so if you can afford them, by all means, use them! Names are always great-looking in your personal makeup collection. This post is meant to provide a fun alternative or for those who are new to the lipstick world, a fun way to gloss your way into the world of pretty colors on a budget. Just like everything else we do at South Shore Chic, our goal is to find ways to make people happy, look awesome using smart ways of saving, and engage you all in having fun with your style. 

I became fascinated with lipstick with my first Loreal Paris red, and ever since then I've made it my mission to figure out how to continue buying affordable lipstick and make it…well…stick. Then when I started pricing the name brands that everyone knows, I was shocked at how much lipstick I was actually getting---for the price of one lipstick from the other companies. If you want to know the truth (because we all know that brutal honesty is my strong point), it appalls me that charging so much for a disposable item that will eventually run out is the trend. When there's a magical, automatically-refilling lipstick, then I'll pay $20 a pop. Until then, I'll stick with getting 10 lipsticks for $20 instead. With that being said, I have nothing against these lipsticks, brands, what have you. I just know that with a little tweaking, I can get great lip colors and avoid breaking my bank, especially in today's world. Not only do I love being able to expand my color wheel, but I also love mixing and matching lip stains and lipliners. Let me explain…

Just for fun:

Mac Lipstick: $19 Sheen Supreme: $20 Pro Longwear: $21 Mineralize Rich Lipstick: $26 Pro Longwear Lip Color: $29 Pro Lip Palette: $48 Huggable Lip Color: $24 

Urban Decay Revolution Lipstick: $22

Sephora Yves Saint Laurent: $35 NARS Lipstick: $26-$39

What I've noticed is that most of these lipsticks claim a new feature that makes them different--well, so do my favorite brands: 

New York Color Expert Last: $1.99 Ultra Moist Lipwear: $0..99 City Duet 2 in 1 Lip Color: $2.99

Wet n' Wild Mega Last Lip Color: $1.49 Mega Sheild Lip Color SPF 15: $2.99 Silk Finish Lipstick: $0.99

e.l.f. Lipstick: $3

Jesse's Girl Lipstick: $3.99

Loreal Lipstick Infalliable Le Rouge: $8.99

Rimmel London Lasting Finish by Kate Moss: $4.99

What's the difference? You tell me. Jesse's Girl lipstick has vitamin E that helps to moisturize and not damage lips, Wet n' Wild lasts up to 4 hours and has a specific SPF lipstick (so your lips won't fry in the city heat), New York Color Expert Last lasts up to 6 hours, and most of them have either a glide-on-smooth feature, are a moisturizing lipstick, and all exude color. Now come to think of it…I can't think of a single thing that makes these lipstick options any lesser or worse of an option.  

Still interested?

Lip liners. You'll need them. As I've said before, I'm not a professional makeup artist. I just do this for fun and to help others find the joy in affordable makeup and fun looks just like I have. If there's one thing I've learned, it's line, line line. My point is this: line, seal, and stay. Lip liners help two things: line your lips and lock in color. It's just like putting on an eyelid primer or base, you want the color you're using to last as long as possible. When you line your lips, you're not only initially creating an outline for your lipstick to go, but I also fill my lips in with lip liner. When you do this, in case your lipstick should smudge or fade, you have an entire second layer of color to help limit smudge-y looks. Point: if you have a good lip liner, the price of your lipstick is irrelevant. Lucky for you, I have pictures of the liners that I use: all tested and true, and all loved by yours truly. 

Wet n' Wild Coloricon lip liner in Brandy Wine: $1.49 // Rimmel Exaggerate Lip Liner in Red Diva: $4.76
Milani Color Statement Lip Liner in Fuchsia: $3.99// Jesse's Girl Lip Liners in Plummie & Melon: $1.99

Just because I love pictures, here's each one up close and personal

Every Jesse's Girl Lip Liner comes with its own sharpener, which is
awesome. This means that for each lip liner pencil, you have a
sharpener that is individual to each color.

Advice: Try to get a lip liner in similar color, but slightly darker, to every color group you plan on wearing. Below, I've separated my lipsticks into five color groups: purples, light pinks, dark pinks, salmon/corals, and of course, reds. When I show my lipstick swatches, you'll notice some colors don't necessarily fit in the groups they've been assigned to: these are the "in-betweens", as I like to call them--the more singular colors that are usually a cross between two color groups, or a shade lighter or darker than, well, light or dark. 

Separated, as said. All the way to the left are my lip stains/balms, we'll get into those later. To the right are my lipsticks. Let's start with the most basic color: light pink. I separated these specifically because of the simply fact that these colors don't necessarily need lip liner. The colors are light enough that the same rules for lip gloss apply here: reapply as needed, there's not much color to actually keep in-line!

With flash, from left to right: Wet n' Wild in 516C, NYC in Petal, Wet n' Wild in Pink Ice, & NYC in Chiffon

Without flash

You can see that a couple of these are actually somewhat pearlescent and translucent. On the top of my arm above the swatches, I showed my lightest lip liner (Jesse's Girl Melon) in case you really wanted to line your lips beforehand. 

Next, salmon/coral colors. I'm showing these next, because they'd all go well with the same lip liner as pictured above, except they really need it because there are stronger color pigments. 

From left to right: NYC Expert Last  in Peach Fizz, Wet n' Wild in Pinkerbell & Jesse's Girl in Cruise Control

Next up, dark pinks. For all of these, I use my Milani Color Statement in Fuchsia 

From left to right: NYC Expert Last in Blue Rose, NYCCity Duet 2 in 1 in The Hot Pinks, e.l.f. Moisturizing Lipstick  in Flirty & Fabulous, Wet n' Wild in Dollhouse Pink & NYC Expert Last in Modern Love

As you can see, the color of the lip liner is much darker than the lipsticks themselves. I always like to go darker on my liner, but that choice is ultimately yours. If you go darker on your liner, then if your lipstick does happen to wear off or smudge, it won't be as noticeable because there will be a darker color layer underneath. These swatches are shown on my arm, many of them come out darker on your lips so a darker liner is always a better option!

The one everyone waits for: reds. I'm sure that reds are everyone's favorite, and another personal favorite of mine. 

Fun tip: always have a classic red. To mix things up a little, find a twist on classic red: whether it be sparkly, shimmery, or an off-shade. I have a sparkly red and a shimmery, somewhat purple red.

With flash, from left to right: Wet n' Wild in Cherry Picking,, NYC in Ruby, NYC in Violet Shine,  NYC in Retro Red, Loreal Paris in Ravishing Red

Without flash

Prime example of the colors appearing lighter than they seem: NYC Violet Shine appears super crazy light on my arm, but when applied to the lips, it's the color it says it is--trust me! For all of these I used Rimmel Exaggerate Red Diva Lip Liner, and to be honest it's one of my favorites. It was my first twist-up liner, and I was iffy about it not being a pencil, but I love it! And it's such a perfect red, that it matches nearly every shade that I own. 

The next few lipsticks are--you guessed it--some more of my favorites. I love these colors simply because they're so dramatic, and they really just stand out. My skin tone is very light, so if I'm not careful they can clash, but most of the time if I temper my eyeshadow right and use my e.l.f. mineral foundation & booster, they come out fantastic.

From left to right: Wet n' Wild in Sugar Plum Fairy, NYC Expert Last in Purple Crush, Wet n' Wild in Dark Wine & Rimmel London Lasting Finish by Kate Moss in Rossetto

With flash 

Without flash

The only drawback to swatches is that you can't see the real color that it is on your lips. If I were to actually showcase all of these colors, liners & lip stains/balms on my face, I would probably end up with a mess of chapped lips from all the time spent taking off the previous colors. That's why I took two photos, one with flash and one without, so that you can get more of an idea of the true colors. I use either Jesse's Girl Plummie or Wet n' Wild Coloricon Brandy Wine Lip Liner for these.

Now, you may be wondering if this is enough. You could be asking yourself, "but Katie, what happens if there's torrential rain, I'm drinking a super messy milkshake, and I happen to be eating an uber greasy slice of pizza, and then wipe my mouth with a sandpaper-like napkin?" 

Well, then there's lip stain/lip balm stain. And I'm going to show you how to use it in addition to liner and lipstick. These are my collection (and always growing):

From left to right: e.l.f. Lip Stain & Gloss in red and Lucky Lady, Wet n' Wild Megaslick Balmstain in Pinky Promise and Rico Mauve, Jordana Twist n' Shine Balmstain in Rage n' Rouge and Candied Coral, Maybelline Super Stay 24 hr.  Lip Stain in Perpetual Plum & Maybelline Super Stay 10 hr. Stain Gloss in Ruby Indulgence

Eventually I'll review these individually, but my favorites are definitely the balmstains. They do stay wet longer, since they are balm-based, but the color is great (especially Jordana), and they moisturize and don't dry out your lips like regular lip stains do. When I first found the balmstains, I was ecstatic. So now I use them either by themselves because of their long-lasting power, or over lipliner and under lipstick. Below are swatches with liner, balm or lip stain, and lipstick. They're just color-matched, but you can see that if it's possible to get a liner to match your lipstick, it's just as possible to find a balm or lip stain to match your lipstick. This will provide even more holding power, and a much better backup than just lip liner if your lipstick does end up wearing off. I recently used Milani Fuchsia Lip Liner, NYC Smooch Proof 16 hr. Lip Stain, and NYC Expert Last in Purple Crush, and it lasted for a full four hours. The only time I reapplied my lipstick was right after I ate, and it was a quick touchup that probably wasn't even needed…I'm just paranoid. That's the awesome thing about using both lip liner and a stain: double protection means minimal touching up, even after eating or drinking. I didn't even have those mark-your-territory lip stains on my glass!

Tip: avoid eating greasy or super oily foods, your lipstick will last longer without it.

Here are the swatches with the examples, the last one is the combination mentioned above:

First swatch, from left to right:

Salmon/coral colors

Reds

Purples/Violets. This is the combination of lip liner, lip stain, and NYC lipstick that I used. To drive the point home, if my post as a whole hasn't convinced you yet, I still have mark from the color swatch on my arm where the NYC lip stain, actually, stained. 

Happy lip smacking, long-lasting lipsticking!

Read More

DIY Fashion: Beginner No-Sew Macrame Crop Top

The story of how this macrame crop top came to be is nothing more complicated than the simply fact that I was bored. As we all know, I'm not a seamstress. Therefore I'm always looking for new things that I can mess around with and create that involve no sewing whatsoever. This was both fun and intimidating for me, because I'm usually not a big wearer of crop tops--whether it comes from lack of confidence or just the fact that half of me is blatantly sticking out, I'm not sure. This macrame crop top caught my eye after seeing a few pictures and DIYs on it going around the internet, so I decided to try it for myself and, hopefully, change my opinion about crop tops. So did I end up coming around to love the 70s flower child inspired look? Check my first summer DIY adventure below to find out!

Essentials:

A slightly oversized tank top (I used one that I hated, from the color to the style)
Fabric scissors (or any scissors that will cut through material)
A straight edge ruler
A fabric marker or other marker that will show up on material

1. Put the tank top on and mark where you want to cut. This is why it's a good idea to use a tank top that's a little long, because once you begin knotting for the macrame, you'll lose a little bit of length. You can always trim the fringe later on.

3. Cut the hem off. My tank belled out a little at the bottom, so I had to be careful cutting the hem to make sure I kept a mostly straight line and was able to cut all of the seams off evenly.

4. I marked where I wanted to cut my strips up to with a sharpie (since I really don't like this tank and it was only my first attempt/to show all of you, I wasn't worried about being able to see the black dots), then, measured out 1/4 inch strips across and dotted where each one began and ended to us as a guide when I was ready to cut them out. You want to make sure you get an even number across--this takes a little bit of time, but it's worth it. 

All of those tiny little dots are where my strips will be cut out. You can make these as thin or as thick as you want, depending on what style you want to achieve and how much skin you want to show.

5. Commence strip cutting!

If you do make them 1/4 inches apart like I did, be careful if you're using a tshirt material tank top. The material likes to stretch, which makes great knots, but if cut too thin, it can also rip.

6. All finished! Now for the fun part. I found this trick from a youtube video, if you slide a piece of paper or cardboard (I used cardboard, I like the sturdier surface), you can keep track of your front strips and your back strips.

See-easy!

7. Knot time. This is fairly simple, anyone who has ever made a hemp bracelet will know how this kind of knot goes. You basically want to hold two pairs of strips and hold the left strip straight, bringing the right strip around the left strip to knot it. Then, reverse: hold the right strip straight, and bring the left strip around to knot it. Pull slowly, tighten at the top. Remember this knot, because it's the same one you'll use in step two about halfway down the shirt (if you want the crisscross fringe look).

Right strip held tightly

Left strip gets crossed over, then tie in a knot around the right strip

Pull!

Switch and repeat

It should look like this

Then a row should begin looking like this

When finished, the front should look like this. 

8. Flip over to the back (don't worry about any stragglers that get caught by your side seams, if you work your way around by sections--which is what was easiest for me--as long as you have an even number of strips, you can just catch them at the end) and do the same thing.

9. Now it gets a little more complicated, but still pretty easy. It may take a few times looking back and forth to make sure that you have the correct crisscross pattern, but you'll get the hang of it! Begin by separating both sides again with your cardboard or paper. Then, bring over the first 8 strips (4 knots), and push the rest to the side so as to not interfere with the first set of knots.

10. Take the right strip from the first knot, skip over the entire second knot, and the first strip to the third knot. Tie exactly like before. 

11. From this point on it gets somewhat self-explanatory, because the strips that aren't already in knots, obviously get tied together from left to right. Once you've knotted the first layer, skipping the in-between knots altogether, go back and take the left strip to the first knot, and tie to the first strip of the second knot. In keeping with the way the fringe naturally fell, I kept the first strip I was taking from the left above the others, and kept the second strip that I was using from the right going under the knot before it. 

12. Once you have the first knot down, you take the second strip from the second knot (the one pictured above that is still untied), and knot it with the first strip from the third knot! So on and so forth. The best advice I can give is to trust your instincts with this one. You don't have to do this crisscross--be creative! You could even add more knots if you want, I just didn't have the patience and wanted to see how this came out first. Don't worry about messing up, they're just knots so you can always untie them and start over.

13. Repeat this process as you work your way through the fringe around the entire shirt. Once you start the second set of knots, it becomes a little bit easier to see where you started and where you'll be ending.

This is what your tank should look like after the second set of knots is completed

14. You're done! Below is my finished product. I was still unsure about the whole thing...

Front

Back, with lace detail

…until I actually put it on.

I guess now you could say that I'm over my DIY fears (for the most part), and I'm now a fan of--certain--crop tops. I think this will make an adorable bathing suit cover up, or even be cute for all-day beach day or road trip wear. And much, much cooler to wear in 80 degree temps than a regular tshirt or tank. Who would have known that from a thrifted tank that I initially hated, I could make a 70s inspired, modernized macrame crop top!

Happy DIYing!

xo, Katie

Read More