Sep 28, 2014

Mehendi or Henna....its the same !!!!!!!!

Eid Al adha is round the corner and along with a whole lot of things..the henna name comes up just as often. Henna is very traditional used to decorate the hands ,the feet, applied on hair and in the west on pregnant tummies and wherever one feels like !

Now I have ground henna leaves to make a great paste for my hands back in my school days but the most memorable henna powder I bought was around 8-9 years ago.I had been to the local supermarket and happened to come by this quarter kg pack of henna from Saudi.I prepared it with a few simple ingredients which are Lemon juice, coffee and black tea.That's it.Made it into a paste,applied and left it on for a good 9 hours or so and I had the most dark henna on my hands ,a dark burgundy to brown color which intensified in the days after.And the aroma...it was just heavenly.But That was that day and a week later I went back ,until now..I haven't found that henna pack.Plus not knowing the name didn't help either.

Now every year I check online for recipes or so to make the best henna paste.For the past 2 years, I have switched to chemical henna tubes...its apply,wait for 30 minutes and wash it off.But this year I wanted henna for my hair and also do it from scratch.This year I purchased Yemeni henna and another one from Pakistan.The Yemeni one smells like ground henna leaves and the Pakistani one smells divine.

But Anyways, now that I'm checking the recipes...the ingredients include essential oils and new stuff I unheard of.There is this kiss recipe that seems to be quite famous on every website.SO finally I have a gist of the henna preparation I have decided to finally make:

First of all let me just tell you honestly..I have no measurements to give.I eyeball recipes,so exact measurements with me.

The first important thing,having a good quality Henna powder.There are borwn powders and various shades of green powders out there..

This is the green color you want.A little shade lighter isn't that bad either.

Refrain from using water when making the mix for henna paste.

Adding coffee powder or tea,is to boost the color but mainly for the aroma.It smells heavenly.

Even a little bit of sugar is added to prevent the paste from drying and If I'm not mistaken helps it to be stringy which helps with application using a cone.

The new thing I will add this year is cloves and black pepper to the tea or coffee.The essential oils of clove bud and black pepper is also used but I cannot go and buy these oils for just one day. Also throw in some methi or fenugreek seeds.

And lemon juice...there can be no henna paste without lemon juice.Its acidity helps deepen the colour.

So the way I would go about making my henna paste this year..is sift the henna powder with a tea strainer or wheat flour strainer.Then I would add to glasses of water in a saucepan and I add 1 tablespoon of tea powder,half a tsp of fenugreek seeds,1 tbsp of coffee, a few cloves and black pepper into and give it a damn good boil to concentrate it all.Now I would say half and half of lemon juice and then the other concoction.Mix it well and then wrap the bowl you made the paste in with a plastic wrap and leave it in a corner for an entire 24 hours.

\Yes, you heard it right ! They say..in these 24 hours...the dye from the henna has to be drawn out. After 24 hours, you will see a brown liquid layer on top of the paste.Throw out the water with a spoon and then sweet hearts, the henna is ready to apply.

The longer you keep in on your hands and feet, the deeper the color.SO overnight..maybe 8-9 hours while you drool on your pillow.Of course, once you apply,you have to wait to dry it out which would take an hour or so,then wrap your hands with either some cloth or plastic wrap and doze away.

I'm not going for complicated designs this year.I'm going for capping my fingers and toes and then a circle on either side of my hands and done.The normal Arabic way you could say.

I hope this information was helpful.

Before I leave the main 3 essential oils that they say deepen the color are :






 But they say clove oil is a skin irritant for some.






Foundation and Beauty

Off late, I have been going through hundreds of beauty videos and tutorials which tell you how you should contour and highlight your face, How do you apply cream,liquid or mousse or mineral foundation, what lipstick looks good on white girls or brown girls or the various cheats involved to make eyes bigger or lips fuller or face thinner.




First of all, makeup is work.Ad I thought it was copy and paste kind of thing.The art of makeup requires tons of practice just to get it perfect.You have glamorous makeup, you have neutral makeup, you have goth makeup, vamp makeup, makeup to look as if there ain't any makeup..the list is endless.But I realised this sucks you into the vortex once you start to get the hang of it and you decide to want more and have more.

I'm not saying that all this is wrong or self absorbed or anything.....I always think its better than falling to bad habits like drinking or drugs or anything that destroys or will destroy one's inner calm.I love makeup.I love to look good and no ,I'm not one of those people who have been applying tons of makeup to look beautiful.I had no one tell me how to when I was young and now I watch these videos religiously to learn few tricks,so that I can even out my face and look nice.

With age and complexities of life, almost everyone is being blessed with dark circles and wrinkles.Yeah! what does a woman or man in his mid 30s think right !

Trying to find the perfect good foundation was the worst few weeks of my life.Everyone has an opinion , yes from personal use.The magazines say something...then you want something within your budget but still good...Only to realise that the world of foundation is very very big.

Apart from the various textures and numerous brands...I learnt that there is something called oxidation of foundations.I learnt you have sheer or minimal coverage to medium coverage to full coverage .You have foundations designed for the different skin types.Like some work well on dry , some on combination,some on normal,some on combination/dry or combination/normal.

Then you have something like a matte finish, a satiny finish and a dewy finish.If you are in long wear then a primer is a must.Primer you get for eyes separately and then for the face.And then foundation is incomplete without a proper good concealer to cover the spots or blemishes and most important dark circles.
   Dewy finish
  Matte Finish

The color to suit your skin tone is an absolute must.If you go in for lighter foundations, you have something like a ghostly cast,that's where the latest foundations come in..like HD foundations and stuff which are exclusively made so that when you are photographed ,especially at night or evening parties, you still look amazing and natural.


I also found out that 80% of the people bought their foundations online and color matched themselves ,watching videos of women with similar skin color.After breaking my head against the wall and pillows and everything else, I decided to buy Revlon color stay foundation in warm golden for myself.

I thought why not post a few videos, so you know what actually helped.I'm an Indian,so naturally I watched Indian tutorials and Arab ones, to get an idea of what I truly think is good for me.

There are a few blogs and beauty videos on youtube I follow regularly,But for now...just the links....

1. This is from Huda Kattan who resides in UAE.I love her tutorials,She explains well and yes, she uses high end products.They are luxury beauty products.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzb1-K7dUDs

2.This is from Goss make artist..He is a makeup artist and I love love his videos..hes frank and to the point and I all his explanations.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKuBhk7Tcu4 { Liquid foundations}

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNZ-snGlrMc { how to find your shade}

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jb4rZzTH-tY  {cream foundations}

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QINRDG7oW3k  { foundation for very oily skin}

3. This is Jovita.Shes an ex beauty queen and has a dark skin tone,so she shows products related to dark skin tone. Her videos are fun.So if you have dark skin like her...look at her suggestions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQkWxhY3SS8

4. This is Shruti and Again I love her videos.SHe is beautiful too and I like her tutorials.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFn8J_XLCLc ( foundation for tan skin)

5. I dont remember her name but her blogs and vlogs are named corallista.SHe gives a basic good explanation and her tutorials are good. She generally does reviews and does a lot of eye makeup and lipstciks and highligters...And shes very pretty.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PF79XCu3A-M  { apply foundation}

6. Superprincessjo.I just love her videos.She gives the simplest explanations , a lot of diys and products reviews and makeup tutorials.I love her videos.....her blogs and vlogs are simply informative.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGLo7lkiyWQ { foundation routine}

There are many more good ones out there but for now...I have to catch up on home duties.....Hopefully they will help the beginners out there.