The art of mehndi or applying henna is famous throughout the globe, and is available almost everywhere under the sun today due to the beauty and attractiveness that are displayed by this art. Mehndi, also known as henna, comes in a variety of different variants such as Indian mehndi, Pakistan mehndi and Arabic mehndi to name three.

Mehndi usually comes in the colors of reddish orange, brown and black, and is used in major festivals and occasions such as weddings. Natural henna in reality lasts longer than artificial henna, thus if you are looking to apply henna for yourself, opt for natural henna instead of artificial ones.

Looking for a way to effectively apply henna for yourself or someone else for a function? Let us now look at how one can design and paint easy mehndi patterns, or even complicated ones on one's hands, legs and other parts of the body without much hassle.

First and foremost, you must get your henna ready. You could either purchase readily-made henna from many stores out there, or opt to make your own henna. Natural henna is preferable, as it would be able to last for approximately 1-2 weeks at the very least.

To make henna, you need to put naturally ground henna powder into a bowl that would not stain, and add a little bit of boiling water to the powder with some jasmine oil. You could also add sugar, coffee or tea to the solution to make the color a deeper shade, nevertheless you could also do without these items. If you want to, you could include lemon juice in the paste to allow for the paste to stay fresh for longer periods.

If unsure of what bowl to use, make use of an empty margarine container that you could throw away after you are done with your activity, and it would also be able to store your henna if you want to keep it for later use. Mix the paste together until it appears to be something like toothpaste. Once your paste reaches this level, close your container, and store it for approximately 2-3 hours.

Choose from the likes of Indian, Pakistan and Arabic mehndi, and proceed to apply your mehndi with the help of ready-made stencils or even toothpicks. The tools that you use would be determined by the intricacy of the design that you have chosen. Once you have applied the henna on the body parts, allow the henna to settle and dry on the skin for approximately 3 hours. Once you realize that the mehndi has dried, simple flake the henna off but ensure that you do not wash the applied area for a minimum of half a day.

Henna designs for hands and legs are basically more complicated and delicate than other body parts, thus take extreme care while applying these designs. Asking a professional to apply henna for you could be the wiser move, but doing it yourself would undoubtedly be fun, and a fulfilling experience. There are plenty of mehndi tutorial packages available out there, thus take advantage of them and learn the right way to apply henna easily. So catch hold of a henna design book now, and become an expert henna artist yourself!