Long Island boutiques where customers can personalize accessories 

When Christina Konig and her friend Nika Finelt wanted to get out of the house and spend quality time together, they went to K. DiResta Collective, a retail shop in Sea Cliff, to take a wire jewelry workshop. There, they learned the craft and got to know a few other women who participated. 

"We were looking for something to do that did not involve cocktails," says Konig, 47, vice president for a global music company, who lives in Sea Cliff. "We wanted to do something healthy and mind-expanding together."

Helmed by jeweler and owner Kathleen DiResta, the boutique hosts one-night wire jewelry workshops working with brass and copper wire. 

Several boutiques on Long Island are offering "accessory bars" and workshops where shoppers can drop in or host parties where customers can put their own personal touch on an accessory instead of buying a ready-made piece. The do-it-yourself process allows shoppers to be creative and make the item one-of-a-kind. 

"I teach the students how to form it, how to texture it, incorporate beads and what tools to use," says DiResta. "And then everybody ends up with a ring, a bracelet and a necklace from the process."

Creating wire jewelry is easy to learn and requires neither a torch nor weeks of classes.

"There are a few techniques I show where you can buy a few materials at Michael’s and do it on your own," DiResta says.

She also teaches basic metal smithing, where participants learn how to solder, polish, set stones and beading. 

"I used to teach eight-week, 10-week classes and what I find lately is offering a one-time workshop where the students leave with a few finished items is more popular," DiResta notes. 

Konig says her father owned a jewelry store and admits she’d never created any jewelry before the class. She says she enjoyed the creative step-by-step process. 

"She made, for me, the impossible, possible, having absolutely no experience making jewelry at all ever," Konig says.

Deck out a trucker hat

Tracy Mankowski and her daughter, Sidney Mankowski, own Erica Logan, a clothing boutique in Hauppauge  featuring a bar where customers can personalize trucker and bucket hats. 

"We do parties where people can just come and decorate their own hat and customize it however they want," says Sidney, noting that the name of the store is derived from their middle names: Erica is Tracy’s and Logan is Sidney’s.

The shop takes walk-ins or parties held after hours at the store or at customer’s homes or other venues, for a minimum of 16 people.

Trucker hats — similar to baseball caps but bulkier — and bucket hats, a flowy hat, come in different sizes for kids and adults, and a variety of colors.

"We have hundreds of different patches. They just pick whatever they want and we put it on a hat for them," Sidney says.

In addition to the patches, there’s an assortment of chains and pins to embellish the hats.

Peyton Schenker wanted to do something different for her 9th birthday in June and opted for a trucker hat party for her and a dozen friends at Erica Logan.

"It randomly popped up on my Instagram, and I was like ‘Oh, this is so perfect,’" says her mom, Christina Schenker, 33, a stay-at-home mom who lives in Melville. The girls wore the hats throughout the summer.

"I’ve seen multiple girls wear it multiple times," says Schenker, who recently had a mom’s night out at the boutique for her and her friends. "Even on their family vacation. They love it. And I love that it wasn’t just a goody bag that got thrown out. It was something that the girls got and have used."

Make your own lipstick

Another accessory you can now customize is makeup. Beauty mavens have a choice between making their own lipstick or lip gloss at The Beauty Tailor in Carle Place.

"Kids or adults work with color specialists to make their color," says owner Andrew Serghides. "And if they have groups larger than 10, they can also hire out our party room with karaoke."

Individuals or smaller groups can sidle up to one of the shop’s two lip bars to make custom colors with personalized tubes.

The possibilities are endless. Mix colors from a choice of 30 base shades to create a custom color. Customers get a hands-on experience blending the colors themselves on a blending sheet.

"Lip gloss allows you to add in sparkle and different flavors," Serghides says. "Lip gloss is more for a tint of color. Lipstick is to completely change the color of your lips because it’s complete coverage."

Create custom scents on the spot

From a selection of more than 300 perfume oils, customers can make their own personalized scent at Scentsational of  Huntington.

"The difference between a regular perfume oil and a spray perfume is that in perfume oils, there’s no added alcohol, so it’s the straight concentrate of the fragrance," says owner Krista Mooney.

Shoppers can set up a custom scent consultation or host a party with friends. Groups can be as few as three and as many as 15, while Mooney recommends smaller groups for kids. Customers can either describe what they want, like a floral scent, or bring in a perfume for the shops’ "scent girls" to get a sense of what they’re looking for. They’ll then blend various scents to achieve a personalized formula, which are made right there on the spot. The shop also keeps your formula on file for future purchases.

Guests get three options to choose from: a 2-ounce spray perfume; 1/3 of an ounce roll-on or a body care set: 4-ounce body mist and 4-ounce lotion.

"It definitely is an experience for everybody and you’re hopefully doing it with your favorite people, so it becomes a little bit different from just walking in," Mooney says.