For those who don’t know: henna (or Mendhi) is a form of body art that temporarily stains the skin using dye prepared from the hina plant. It is a traditional form of dyeing used in Arabia, the Middle East, Cathage, and parts of North Africa.
Since the Bronze Age, it has been used to decorate the skin of young women during times of celebration— especially weddings.
Anyway, let’s all watch this German beauty blogger use henna to give herself freckles, because that’s where we are with the internet right now.
Meet Naomi
Naomi Jonzeck rose to fame on the app TikTok, where she has 1.5 million followers. Her YouTube channel has a little less, with 835,000+ subscribers. Her Instagram boasts 583,000+ followers.
So it looks like she’s a big deal in the makeup community.
Naomi wants freckles
On December 9, 2018, Naomi posted a video to YouTube entitled, “i tried giving myself permanent freckles and now i wanna cry.” At the time of writing, the video has over 5 million views.
Naomi also loves chocolate
The video starts with Naomi eating Kinder Schoko-Bons, which she says are so good that you need to move if you can’t get them in your country.
I actually can attest to this, as a Canadian with access to Schoko Bons. Those things are delicious. #NotSponsored
She’s going to experiment with the word permanent
After 20 seconds of Schoko Bon stanning, Naomi reveals why she’s making this video, even though we all already know from the title: she wants to give herself permanent freckles. (Henna, as a quick Wikipedia read will tell you, is not permanent. )
Naomi saw a video on Instagram and decided to copy it
@uglysxegirl on Instagram gave herself a smattering of freckles using henna, and Naomi wants in, fam.
She actually ran into the self-named Ugly in real life and got the whole low-down on how to get those envious freckles.
She heads to eBay to get the goods
After hitting up auction site eBay (I don’t know why, either) to get the exact brand and color recommended to her by Ugly, Naomi is ready. To. Go.
She notes that the product doesn’t look anything like the one in the video.
That’s…concerning.
Now, it’s prep time
One part of @uglysxegirl’s henna tutorial involves applying carrot oil to her face, which Naomi immediately decides to skip, since she isn’t into oils.
This is also concerning, and definitely a sign of things to come.
This is no time for fear
“You know what, I’m not gonna be a chicken finger, I’m gonna do it. Is that how you say it? Chicken finger? Is that, like a coward? I…I don’t think so.”
Okay, I’m, not gonna lie. I laughed out loud at this and I’m probably gonna use it from now on. Don’t be a chicken finger, guys.
Naomi dives in
So, here we go. It’s time. The henna is going on her face. She begins dotting it under her eyes while chatting about her acne-prone skin.
As someone who also has that, I can definitely tell you that I wouldn’t put henna on my face just in case my skin doesn’t like it.
But that’s just me.
Sidebar: her weird mole
At one point, Naomi stops to point out a weird mole she’s suddenly developed, and how it’s gone down recently but hasn’t really left her face. Naomi, if you’re reading this, maybe go to a dermatologist and get that checked out? Like, I’m not a doctor, but a suspicious mole is always a good thing to have looked at.
OKAY, BACK TO THE VIDEO.
Anyway, Naomi goes in hard
As she works, she notes that her skin is turning red. In fact, she literally says, “My skin is turning red underneath, which is a very good sign. Like, very, very good.” The sarcasm is real, and so is her skin’s suffering.
Naomi takes a Schoko Bon break
After finishing up her burning red freckles, it’s time to wait for them to set. Naomi snacks on some more chocolate and makes me wish I had some. She also shows off her progress to Vincent, who she ropes into drawing a BTS album cover on her arm with, also in henna. This is going well.
Now, it’s time for the big reveal
This is it, guys. The moment we’ve all been waiting for. What will her henna freckles look like? Soft, like the freckles from her inspiration? Natural and scattered, like Lindsay Lohan’s? Here we go…
This is gonna be a problem
This is…this is art.
This is comedy.
This is…actually, this is basically what Kim Kardashian looked like during her vampire facial.
The freckles resemble drops of blood more than they do actual freckles. Oh boy.
Bride of Chucky realness
Naomi is very aware that a massive mistake has been made. While snacking on more Bons, she decides that she cant totally save this look by putting foundation over it.
Naomi discovers the limitations of foundation
I’m gonna go ahead and spoil that the foundation trick does not work out like she wants.
Even with super high-coverage foundation, the freckles still shine through like the absolute worst kind of acne.
She does have a great sense of humor, though
Naomi laughs her way through the entire ordeal, including while searching up how to remove henna. It is now time to see if this semi-permanent dye can be magically removed immediately. It’s totally gonna work, right?
Survey says: raid the pantry for oil
One of the tricks she finds says to use olive oil to wipe away the henna. It also says to use salt for quick removal, but Naomi skips that step because she doesn’t think putting salt on her face is a good idea.
Girl…where was that energy 9 minutes ago?
Naomi has some regrets
In fact, she just straight up says, “I regret everything.” I would also feel the same way. Actually, I do feel the same way, and I’m just watching her do this.
Also, needless to say, the oil didn’t work.
Pray for her, maybe
“I feel like I’m gonna cry, honestly. I’m laughing, but I’m crying.” She laughs. “Pray for me. Include me in your prayers tonight.” I don’t think prayer is gonna help with this one, but bless her heart.
The aftermath
In her next video, Naomi shows off her total lack of freckles. As henna is wont to do, it faded away after a few days.
However, Naomi put in an order for the “right” henna and is going to try the whole thing again.
New year, new freckles
For now, it looks like Naomi is back to drawing her freckles on with eyeliner, which seems like less hassle than the henna experiment gone very, very wrong. Who knows what 2019 may bring, though.
No freckle situation
Naomi also recently uploaded this pic, which shows off her freckle-less skin. While people have a lot of dissenting opinions on whether freckles should be a fashion accessory, it seems it’s a trend that’s here to stay.
Watch the entire thing
If you want to watch Naomi’s entire freckle journey, from bare skin to burning skin (and everything in between), check out her video.
In the time it took me to write this article, the video has picked up 3000+ more views.