The Henna Body Art Kit: Everything You Need to Create Stunning Temporary Tattoos (Accessory)

by Aileen Marron (Author) "This specially devised kit will enable you to create beautiful henna designs for yourself and your friends within hours of staring to use it..." (more)
Key Phrases: henna cone, mehlabiya oil, henna application, Middle Eastern, North African (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
For thousands of years the art of henna ‘tattoos’ has been one of the best kept secrets of the Eastern world--recently ‘discovered’ by rock stars, super models like Naomi Campbell, and celebrities Demi Moore and Liv Tyler. Now, you can make your next entrance more eye-catching: try a band around your upper arm, or a fluttering pattern along your waist. This kit will commence your initiation into the mysteries of the ancient practice of henna adornment, a safe, non-permanent, beautiful art form. Each kit contains two packets of henna powder with application cones to allow you to create intricate designs, Mehlabiya oil capsules and six transfer sheets of ancient and contemporary patterns to guide you.

About the Author
Aileen Marron was born in England and grew up in Kuwait in the Middle East when her family moved there. Growing up in an Islamic culture Aileen became interested in the art of henna application. She returned to England in 1990, by which time she was an expert in henna design. At the age of 19, she founded the company Halawa Henna (meaning "excellent henna" in Arabic) with her business partner. The process of educating the Western World then began. Halawa Henna began as a mobile service, expanding into exclusive henna body art salons, product manufacture and sales, and running professional training courses for beauty therapists, hairstylists and tattoo artists. Aileen is in great demand as a teacher and artist throughout the world, as well as being active in the running of Halaway Henna. Aileen has appeared on television programmes in the UK, Europe and the Middle East including Network East BBC, Asian Morning, Middle East Broadcasting, as well as the Clothes Show (BBC), Style Challenge (BBC), This Morning (ITV) and Good Morning (BBC). She and her company have been featured in national newspapers and magazines including Cosmopolitan, Harpers and Queen, The Face, The Sunday Telegraph and The Daily Mail.

Product Details

• Accessory: 96 pages
• Publisher: Journey Editions; 1st edition (May 15, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1885203640
• ISBN-13: 978-1885203649
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 7.5 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #218,890 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

61 of 61 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars It's not that simple..., March 2, 2000

By A Customer

This kit was my first experience with henna and I was extremely excited to get started. However, I was disappointed in several ways: 1) even though the cone applicator is traditional, it is extremely difficult to use and for a kit that is promotes almost 'instant' tattoos, some alternative should have been provided; 2) the henna paste was ineffectual -- I tried several times on both myself and my sister and only got faint results; 3) knowing far more about the henna process than I did when I bought this kit, it seems that the instructions are missing steps -- for example, the instructions say to let the henna dry for 1/2 to 1 hour and then scrape off the henna, however every other book I've read says to leave on the henna overnight or as long as possible, plus there is no mention at all of the lemon-sugar solution every other book mentions. I will say that the designs in the book are very creative and there is good information on how to select fresh henna. However, I would not recommend this kit at all. You are better off making your own henna and designs.

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Nice, good-looking, but a bit misleading, June 13, 1999

By	Becky Michelsen ([e-mail]) (Petoskey, MI) - See all my reviews

While I used this book and kit to do my first mehndi, I disliked the cone applicator used in the kit. I did like the transfers that were included, although no information was offered on how to make your own transfers. The information on how to do your own freehand designs was also nice, and the henna was good-quality. The reason I say it was misleading is that the information was presented in a "this is the only way" style, and the resources listing in the back gave you the impression that Halawa Henna was the exclusive source for henna. And don't rely on getting your questions answered from Halawa - they'll just tell you to shell out a couple hundred bucks for their classes, and all questions will be answered. Overall, the kit is good for a first-time experience, but get your questions answered at www.mehandi.com, and order replacement supplies at www.castleart.com (I am not affiliated in any way with either).

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good For Beginers, not so Good if you know Mehndi at all., October 17, 1999

By	Kendra (Silver City, NM USA) - See all my reviews

I bought kit and was upset by the small amount of henna. The book tells you very little about creating your own henna paste; its all mixing solutions not telling you how to do it yourself.

It does contain excellent transfers that allow beginners to do great tribal peices and traditional Indian peices. But the weakness of the book is it only concentrates on these designs, not training you to do your own designs.