Monday, July 7, 2014

DIY Kool-Aid Henna Tattoo - Real or Fake?

Perhaps you've seen this making the rounds on the interwebs - how to make henna tattoos out of Kool-Aid and food coloring:


Sounds easy enough, right? The Kool-Aid and food coloring dyes your skin so you can "paint" whatever pattern you like. The original post says it should last over a week and judging by the photos, it's quite vibrant. So of course, I had to try it out.

As it states, you need a cup of water, green food coloring, and Orange Kool-Aid but I used Cherry instead. Figured it would make a darker imprint.


So, add one drop of food coloring to the water and Kool-Aid and mix.


Grab your paintbrush and apply a pattern to your hand. Now here's something they fail to mention - it's too wet to paint much of anything on your hand, let alone something as detailed and delicate as a henna pattern. It will just end up being a big blob of water if you're not careful.

 

Let it sit for one minute to dry and ta-da!


It looks like someone tried to watercolored on my hand. Not vibrant, very blotchy.

Yeah, so this one is totally debunked. I washed my hands, since it said it "should last over a week" and it didn't even last 30 seconds. Sorry kids, but unless you plan on not washing that part of your body for a week, this is a major fail.


TOTAL COSTS: About $4 (if you want to give it a try)
$.39 for packet of Kool-Aid
$3.49 for box of food coloring

TOTAL AMOUNT OF TIME: Less than 5 minutes

EASY-PEASY SCALE (1 super easy - 5 very difficult): 1 out of 5
It's not hard to make this henna tattoo fail, if you're into that sort of thing!

3 comments:

  1. kool aid henna
    3 kool aid packets color of choice
    5 table spoons water
    optional: add food dye, same color as kool aid

    1. cut tip off of ziplock bag
    2. put henna in bag
    3. squeeze on design of choice
    4. let dry for 1/2 an hour
    5. dampen a paper towel
    6. gently pat/wipe area to get the excess kool aid mixture off

    ALL DONE!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have seen tons of watery versions. So far the paste recipie is the only way to go.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Absolutely the worse way to do it. Came out way to watery and wash off easy. As I search this recipe isn't henna it's water color paint for toddlers.

    ReplyDelete