#BeautyDiaries: My Mehendi Makeup Didn’t Turn Out As Expected…

Nikhil and I had been dating for almost 3 years and one random day he popped the question. I knew it was coming, but as per our plan, we were going to wait another year before we settled down. Since our families knew that we were considering getting married to each other, everything happened at its own pace. Our wedding was scheduled for almost a year after our engagement. Obviously, the wedding preparation started way in advance.

We both knew that we didn’t want to spend too much money on the wedding. We wanted to save money to buy a house and take a lavish vacation instead! But that was just at the beginning, towards the end of it, after much too and fro, the wedding planned was much more elaborate than what we had wanted. We decided to divide the expenses of most of the events equally, but still went beyond our budget. Too many extra costs were not considered and thus, we went overboard.

The one function that was happening at home was the mehendi function. With the minimum amount of money spent on the decor, we managed to cut down the costs quite a bit. Since it was at home, I didn’t consider spending too much money on my outfit or hiring a makeup artist for my mehendi . But what I forgot was that the photographer was also supposed to cover this event. After all, it was going to be one fun and colourful function.

The day arrived and just as I was getting ready, I realized I had dark circles that were quite evident from all the previous nights of partying and preparations. My best friend, Neha looked at me and said, ‘We need to do something to make your face glow. You look like you haven’t slept in days!’ I looked at myself in the mirror and went, ‘Now WHAT?!’

I was wearing a colourful tie and dye lehenga in fuschia and turquoise. I didn’t want to do the whole floral jewellery so I skipped that and instead got some nice chaand balis and a matching gota-patti maangtikka.

I went into my room to get ready while others were taking care of the decor and that’s when Neha stormed inside and said, ‘Take your clothes, we’re going to the salon.’ At first, I told her that if we head out now, we’ll be super late. But she insisted saying the guests will entertain themselves. She said I had to look bright and happy and not drained out, at my own mehendi function. So with just one hour to go, we rushed to the salon.

Luckily, it was just 10 minutes away. After we reached there, there was a lady waiting for us. Neha had pulled some strings and made arrangements before we arrived. There were four women working on me. Two people were doing my hair, one was changing my nail paint and the fourth person started with applying foundation on my face. I was trying to sit there calm. I had been planning my wedding for months now, and then out of the blue, this additional thing was just stressing me out a bit. Neha was trying to keep me calm by distracting me with random things. Either way, they were all working at the speed of lightning and within an hour and ten minutes, I was ready!

We rushed back and started with my mehendi, while the other guests were being taken care of, by the family! I have got to say, this was the first big function during the wedding celebrations and it all went so well. Surrounded by my side of the family, everyone I knew personally was there. The clicking of pictures didn’t stop and I was very confident about every selfie, and every picture that the photographer took, because I was camera ready!

When I look back at the pictures, I am so glad Neha dragged me to the salon in the impossible situation. I look happy and carefree in the pictures and some of my favourite photographs are from the mehendi.

This was a lesson I learnt. Even if you plan everything till the last detail, there will be something you forget to account for. The makeup at the salon didn’t cost me much but gave me so much more happiness. Whatever the function is, if you are spending money on the decor, alcohol, entertainment, food and other things, you have to look out for yourself too, that’s priority. After all, everyone’s looking at you on this special day!

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