ABOUT

Illusion Mehndi and More was created in 2001 with the intention of becoming a company that was recognized for its quality, talent, and dedication to traditional mehndi art. It was started by Priya Rajkumar, who was 13 at the time. You may say that that's a young age to start up a company with such big ideas, but she's always been a goal-oriented young lady. She started doodling on her notes in class, her shoes (which she got scolded for, by her mother), and almost every kind of medium she could get her hands on. She drew on her friends' hands at lunch, on her own hands at home, and one day, she went to IndoPak at Broward College in Coconut Creek. That's when everything changed. She had her hands henna-ed by one of the vendors at the fair, and when she went home, she was disappointed by the squiggled lines, the rushed quality of it, so she decided to try her hand at doing real mehndi. She googled, researched, got every book she could find, and studied the roots of mehndi; where it came from, who were the first people to start using henna, and why. She wanted to know everything. She slowly learned more and more about this art form, and in so doing, she began practicing on herself, and her friends with real henna. Her first big moment to shine was at her high school's Diwali program, where she did henna for her peers. Shortly after that, she was booked to do her first bridal henna. Since then, she's taken part in numerous festivals, parties, and henna-ed over 200 brides over the past 20 years.