How to make Bindis at home?

Bindi is an important part of  Indian Jewelry. There is no Indian Hindu women who has never worn a bindi - and every Hindu man at least once as well. Once you decide on how to pick a perfect bindi according to your face shape (Perfect Bindi and How to get Bindis) you may try out these easy tips on how to make bindis on your own! You can wear bindis at home, outside, during special occasions or simply anytime you feel like. If there is no shop near your place that sells bindis, you cannot order them online or do not have a friend who could get them for you from India - these tips will help you a lot.

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What you will need are various rhinestones, eyeliner - in different colours, glitter etc. Aluminium foil , glue and eyelash glue!

You can get each product you need for making your own bindis very easily. Most of them can be bought in a local beauty shop. You can look up for rhinestones and glitter at the nail care section.

Instructions:

Cut aluminium foil into a small shape. Pick any shape you like or the shape that matches your face structure. Stick some glitter and/or rhinestones on the foil as you like. Be creative and try your best. For this step use the glue or eyelash glue, both are fine. With eyeliners of different colours you can colour the foil as well. If your rhinestones are transparent, this is how you can make them look colourful. Once you are done with your bindi, stick it between your eyebrows or slightly above by using the eyelash glue! Be careful not to use any other glue which is toxic and can damage your skin.

You can also use your eyeliners to make small dots or some other small shapes around your bindi or above your eyebrows. 

If you are just too lazy to make a whole bindi or you are not as creative, you can use only eyeliner to draw a dot, tear or any other shape you like. Moreover, put the eyelash glue directly on a rhinestone and stick it as a bindi. Traditionally bindis were just a colour between eyebrows anyways and even today people will have bindis of such type on festive occasions.

Check out Aishwarya Rai's very simple beautiful bindi ornaments.

Aishwarya Rai - Bindi

Indian Jewelry

Spice up your daily clothes with some Indian style jewelry!
Combining Western style clothes with Indian traditional jewelry does not necessarily has to look weird or unusual. Some traditional jewelry will fit just as good. Some might need your personal touch to be joined with your own style while other could be made at home, completely according to your own preference.

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Traditional Indian jewelry will mostly be made of gold, silver and other expensive metals and gems. Usually the jewelry will be very sparkly. Yellow (gold), red and green colours will be dominant but if you are making jewelry for yourself or you can get it custom made, you can ask for other colours too. Modern style Indian jewelry will also be of other colours too nowadays. Indian jewelry can be put on hands, ankles, fingers, nose, ears, head etc. While in Western countries we can see people with pierced eyebrows, bellybuttons and other parts of body, this is rare in India.

Bangles
Bangles are thin round metal or glass bracelets. Glass ones can sometimes be slightly more expensive but they look very lovely because they can be sparkly and transparent at the same time! One should also be very careful while wearing them and taking care of them as they are more likely to break. Metal bangles, on the other hand, are easier to maintain and they last longer. Their price will depend on the metal type and decoration.
Bangles are usually bought in sets. For example, a set of 12 bangles bought on Indian streets can costs around 0.5$. Keep in mind that Indian women will wear bangles on both hands at the same time and the bangles will be equally distributed on them. This is why you can also buy ready-made sets of bangles of different colours for both hands. However, you can buy few simple sets and combine your own custom-made set.
It is often heard in India that having bracelets on only one hand does not look pretty but in Western countries it looks just fine, if not very fashionable. One creative method of making your own set of bracelets is to put all the bracelets into one bag and mix them. Dip your hand into it and put bracelets on it without looking. The results can be amazing!

Bangles - Indian thin metal bracelets

Metal and Glass Bangles Bought in India

Many Bangles Mixed Together

Custom Made Bangles Set

Bindi

See this link for more information about bindis - Perfect Bindi and How to Get Bindis.
Bindis are originally not jewelry, rather a decoration - something like make up or body painting. Bindi is a round shaped (often red) dot coloured between eyebrows - where the third eye or 6th chakra is believed to be situated. Only Hindu women in India will wear them. Such "painted" bindi will be worn by Hindu men as well. With time it became a fashionable jewelry for Indian women. Therefore, nowadays we have sparkly, glittery, gem-kind of bindis.

Bindi

  Jhumka
Jhumkas are Indian dome-shaped earrings. As they are often made of gold and gems, one should be careful while wearing them because they tend to be very heavy. If they are worn too much, ears can stretch. Traditional gold jhumkas can be combined with formal clothes. For a normal, every day look you can make them by yourself by decorating any dome-made shapes and adding little beads. Small simple silver jhumkas look very elegant as they remind of raindrops.

Jhumka

Nose Piercing

One of the most characteristic feature of Indian women is nose piercing. While in Western countries one should have permission to do it before they are 16 years old, girls in India will usually get their nose to be pierced at very early age. Most women will pierce their left nostril. Left side of the human body is believed to be female. According to Ayurveda, left nostril is related to women's reproductive organs and therefore, a women with her left nostril pierced will have easier childbirth and less gynecological problems in general.

From another perspective, nose is a main part of one's face and that is why people decorate it. When India used to be invaded by people from another countries who were not of Hindu religion, they would cut off noses of murtis (sculptures) of Hindu gods and godesses. A person without their nose is incomplete and decorated nose can enhance their beauty.

In Western countries pierced nose is a sign of a rebel. In India however, as you can see, it has a whole another meaning. Even in Western countries pierced nose can look very fashionable and elegant. If you already have your nose pierced or will go for it, you can never go wrong with a simple gem kind of jewel as it can be worn in all occasions.

Nose Piercing

...if you are not able to buy original/traditional Indian jewelry, here are some similar looking pieces you can definitely find in your own jewelry collection and add them up to your daily clothes to fresh up your style! Some of them can be even made at home. We have already given few tips about that in this article and on our blog. We hope this inspire you to mix Indian style more with your own style.

Bangles

Round shaped earrings with beads

Anklet

Indian Fashion : Shawl

You do not need to be dressed up in a sari or in some other Indian dress to wear a shawl. It looks just as great on modern jeans or leggings and just as elegant on any simple tight t-shirt. You can make it more SPICY by adding a bindi and big or sparkly earrings.

Sari

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Shawl on leggings

Shawl on simple black tight t-shirt

Shawl styles

Shawl on a dress

Shawl on blue jeans

Perfect Bindi and How to Get Bindis

Bindis are nowadays more and more fashionable. A lot of celebrities from Western countries have recently start to wear bindis. There are many various shapes of bindis today. Bindi is believed to enhance the real beauty of a woman and makes her look elegant. bindis were originally painted dots between eyebrows but nowadays one could say it became a jewelry. You can read more about bindis in the following article - Indian Jewelry.

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Here are the rough directions about what kind of bindi would be suitable for you according to your face shape. It does not mean you cannot use any other shape! You can use any bindi you like. These tips are similar to picking a hair style according to your face shape. Of course, if a hair style can change your face shape as well - you might even need another type of bindi. However, do not worry about this at all - if a bindi is well combined with your clothes - you can achieve very fashionable and elegant look without following these instructions.

If your face is oval shaped - Congratulations! Any bindi would suit you.
Heart shaped girls should go for smaller, simple, one-coulour and elegant bindi.
If you have more round face, longer bindis would make your face longer and more in harmony.
Square shaped should definitely avoid long ones, round ones and square ones. Try to find something that would freshen up your face and milden the harsh lines of your face such as - V shape.
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Check what kind of bindis these celebrities picked to wear.

Selena Gomez

Selena Gomez with a Bindi

Katy Perry

Katy Perry with a Bindi

Miley Cyrus

Young Miley Cyrus with a Bindi

Rani Mukherjee

Rani Mukherjee with a Bindi

Priyanka Chopra

Priyanka Chopra with a Bindi

~ How to get bindis? ~

Bindis of same type are usually sold in packets. You can also buy fancy-looking ones one by one, and these could be sometimes more expensive than buying a whole packet, especially if you will buy them in stores. 

If you do not live in India, you can get them in local Indian shops, by buying them from companies on the Internet or ask your friends from India or travelers to India to get them for you.

Normally you could get 3 PACKETS of simple shaped bindis for 1$ - in one coulour or many colours, with or without glitter and gems. Simple round bindis come quite handy as well if you would like to see how you would look like with your nose pierced.

If you cannot get bindis in any of these ways, here you can learn How to make Bindis at Home!

Bindi packets

Indian Beauty and Fashion for Everyday

Some of the tips how to look and feel more Indian.

Wear a bindi at home or outside

~ It doesn't have to be the biggest one. Small and simple ones look just as great and as well they lift your spirit immediately. Check how it looks on a famous Indian actress, Miss World 1994, Aishwarya Rai.

Here you can see more information about Bindis - Perfect Bindi and How to Get Bindis

Aishwarya Rai - Bindi

Kohl (Kajal)

~ Most important make up for Indian women. It does not have to be a lot of it on all over your eyelids, simple style is enough. Check how it looks on famous Bollywood actress Anushka Sharma. Simple, neat, classic and stylish. Kohl and mascara fit every eye and enhance the natural beauty.

Anushka Sharma

Light Baggy Clothes

~ You do not have to wear Saris, Salwar Kameezes, Sherwanis etc to look Indian. Most of the Indian clothes share same features - light, comfortable, baggy, long. Try to find something in your closet that has these characteristics. Girls, add some bangles or a shawl and there you go! The spicy Indian touch would be wearing tights.

Remember to keep it neat, comfortable and decent.

Light Shirt for Women

Light Material Tunic

Shirt for Men

Hair

~ Braid your hair neatly splitting your hair in the middle. You will also have cute waves after loosing up your hair. You can also do it it a bit more messy which will look more stylish.

Braiding your hair