My Henna Story

In 2013 my sister had been a Professional Henna Artist for 7 years. I was always awed by her work which inspired me to try it out for myself since I'm a creative person if I can say so myself, therefore artistic things intrigue me. In the Summer of said year, I began practicing a variety of designs. I found that the hardest part was learning how to handle a henna cone and I'm sure all henna artists would agree with me here. It was just so difficult! My mums constant motivation helped me maintain my patience and after several occasions of failed attempts I was able to hold a cone accurately. During all the practice, my hand became more steady so my pace increased and I began to feel more comfortable with applying henna.

What made it all the more convenient was that whenever I wanted to practice, my mum would offer me her hand to practice on. I must say, my skills were not at all great at the beginning, yet my mum never complained about my hideous designs on her hands. Not long after, in January 2014, I created an Instagram account in which I posted images of my progress in the art of henna from which I received further motivation, support and inspiration. I haven't yet deleted my very first pic on instagram so head over to instagram.com/safiya.mehndi to see the transformation of my work!

It has been 1 year that I've been on Instagram and it has most definitely kept me going and helped me improve a lot. I eventually began taking bookings in Summer 2014 as a Freelance Henna Artist.

I hope My Henna Story has inspired you. If you are an aspiring henna artist, and want advice, tips etc. comment below or email me - tealtulips.s@gmail.com - And for booking enquiries, email: safiya.mehndiartist@gmail.com or message me on my Facebook page

xx

Safiya :) ©

SKINCARE | Coconut oil - Oily/Combination skin

I have very oily skin and struggled to find a moisturiser that doesn't make my face shiny and greasy throughout the day. Unfortunately for people like me, there isn't many products to help with the oily skin as we find that the majority of creams and moisturisers in the shops are aimed for dry skin which is not fair at all!

After watching many skincare videos on YouTube, I came across Amena's (Amenakin aka Pearl Daisy) video which featured coconut oil. Although she uses it for a different purpose than I was looking for, it intrigued me enough to try it out for myself.

Putting it to the test, I have modified my night skincare routine and use coconut oil on my entire face instead of my moisturiser. I began this last week and when waking up in the morning I noticed that my face wasn't very shiny as usual . I have continued this and am so happy to see that my face doesn't go shiny throughout the day anymore and it has hardly been a week!

From the first day of using coconut oil, my skin has been feeling so soft and healthy - I can sometimes go without moisturising my face during the day.

So, if you have oily skin or even combination oily skin and want to tame it, I recommend you try pure coconut oil for a few nights and trust me, you wont be disappointed. I personally use the parachute brand in a blue bottle. The packaging is quite inconvenient as I have to melt it in the microwave each time I use it, so I transferred some into an empty lip balm container which is just perfect for use as the oil immediately melts in your hands, so if you want to try out coconut oil, you should do the same.You can buy a Single Cream Jar from Superdrug here which is only £0.99 and seems totally worth it.

Hope this helps!

Safiya :) ©