Inked #6

Done by Craig at Skin Fantasy

So I got my first tattoo last summer and almost a year on I've got six.  Plus I'm soon due to get my next one, my biggest one yet.  You coulddd say I'm addicted, yes.
I really like my newest one, I'd be lying if I said it has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that Rihanna has a very similar one in a very similar place.  It wasn't like I saw it on her, though, and immediately planned to get one and just thought of what significant date I could use to go with it.  I look at her tattoos, think 'Oh I like that!' and that's it, not 'I must get oneeee!'.
Maybe I should get around to mentioning why I've put this date permanently on my body, or else I'm just leaving you hanging aren't I?  The date is Freddie Mercury's birth date - the 5th of September, 1946.  Freddie Mercury is an important figure in my life - as much as someone can be without meeting them/being alive at the same as them - and I've known for a while that I wanted something dedicated to him marked on my body.  From the start I had my mind set on getting a portrait of him, although I couldn't decide if I wanted his whole face or just the whole body, maybe a still image of him on stage?  (You should have seen my mother's face when I was discussing this with her, and she's cool with tattoos...). However, the night before I was going in to get a tattoo on my ankle, I stumbled upon this idea instead (the ankle one will still happen, just not right now...).  It's simple but with a lot of meaning behind it, and it's one of those tattoos which intrigue people and encourage them to ask you about it, which I like. 
Freddie is important to me because he was a very quiet, isolated man.  He didn't do many interviews, he had a lot of secrets - hell, there's only one person in this world who knows where his ashes lie, and she'll never reveal it - which is why I feel like I relate to him, whenever I see him on television or listen to his music I just feel like we have this, I don't know, bond?  Crazy person talk, I know, but it's hard to explain.  On the other hand, though, he'd go out on stage or make a music video or whatever and be a completely different person - ridiculous costumes, tiny shorts, this huge, amazing voice.  That was where he could let go, that was his zone, and that encourages me to find my own.

"When I'm dead, I want to be remembered as a musician of some worth and substance." - Freddie Mercury (Farrokh Bulsara)

If you're curious, the font is New Times Roman in bold, I'm not sure of the size but I can cover it if I put my finger over it, so not huge.  I love the placement, I think it's sexy and I like how it'll peek through when I wear tank tops and stuff in the summer.  The pain was there, it always is - it's a needle - but I genuinely didn't even notice it after the first minute and it was over in no time.  I remember there being a side which was slightly more painful but I can't remember which, probably on the shoulder seeing as that's bone, but I could be wrong.
Tips for getting a date tattoo: make sure it's the right date when researching or whatever!  Hell, get out the birth certificate if you can.  If you're gonna do Roman Numerals, go on various websites to find them out, check, check and check again!

Inked #5

The other day I went to get my back tattoos re-coloured, the next day - yesterday - I was getting a new one.  They say tattoos are an addiction.  They were right.
Quite a simple and sweet one this time, just the outline of an upside down triangle.  It's been on my list of tattoos-to-get for a while rather than being one of my spontaneous tattoos.  The symbol represents water.  As you know, different star signs fall into one of four of the different elements: fire, earth, air and water.  I am a Pisces, one of the water signs.  I know a lot of people think astrology signs is a lot of arse talk, but I'm actually really interested in it.  Not horoscopes as such, but when I read about the personality traits and what not of a Piscean, I can completely relate.
The keywords associated with a water sign are 'intuitive, emotional, imaginative, nurturing, secretive, dreamy' - completely spot on for me.  "Those with planets in Water signs are often assessing a situation by its undercurrents. It can give them an air of being aloof or even shy at first, but they're the warmest of souls when you've won their trust." - explaining the fact why I'm always the one sat in a room on my own full of strangers, watching everyone else get along so well.  I find it very hard to be myself with others who I've only just met, which apparently people don't take very well to...
I could go on and on about how much of a Pisces I actually am, and that's pretty much why I got this tattoo.  I plan to get the two fishes symbol as well, but I liked the upside down triangle.
I got it on the side of arm, below my wrist.  I decided to get it so it's upside down when I'm holding my forearm up, as that's the position it will usually be in when people see it.  The pain was pretty intense on this part, not in a horrific way, but the scratching feels very sharp.  It took about ten minutes though, in and out I was!
It's been less than a year since getting my first tattoo and I've already got five.  Dayum.

Inked #4

Na na na na na na na na, na na na na na na na na BATMANNNNN!  Yesterday I woke up feeling, y'know, pretty cool, and last night I went to bed feeling AWESOME.  This is all down to my new tattoo.  It's not one I've been planning to get for ages, the idea only came to me last week, the night before I getting my 'Wanderlust' tattoo, but sometimes life is too short and you just have to say 'What the hell!' and be a little bit spontaneous.  I know there will be a fair few people who think 'What the bloody hell has she done that for?' but to that I just say 'It's a good job I get tattoos for me then, innit?'.  Although finding a guy who thinks it's totally hot (coughhhhhh TOM HARDY PLEASE) would be a bonus.  Will it look cool when I'm eighty?  Probably not, and I don't give a fudge.  LIVE A LITTLE, PEOPLE.
It's the logo for 'The Dark Knight Rises'.  I did contemplate getting just the bat symbol, but since it's the last film which is my favourite and the reason I'm obsessed, I thought it was better to get the logo for that specific film.  It's meant to be like a smashed effect and you can check out the proper image here.  I am so happy with how it's come out and I think the size is perfect.
I planned to get it under my arm (but so it will be above my bra strap) so it's easily hideable but I can show it off when I want with drop hole sleeve tops.  Now, the pain.  It took about half an hour and the first half - the outline - was okay (as okay as getting a tattoo can be).  Once he started filling it in, it was okay, but for about the last ten minutes I did start to really feel it, it was like a burning sensation.  I expected nothing less, I know the ribs are known for being quite a painful place to get inked, and the tattooist called me 'mental' and 'very brave', and he's bloody covered in tattoos.  I'm not bad with pain at all but I was happy for it to be over.  It did swell up and from looking at the above picture it's started to bruise a bit but that doesn't bother me, it should look normal within a couple of weeks after the 'flakey' phase.  It's still stinging now when something touches it but at the end of the day I'm well chuffed with it and I feel like this just about expresses my love for the film.
I might be a geek but tattoos are badass so I feel like it balances it out.
Yeah, let's go with that.

Inked #3

So you may have seen on Twitter that I got my new tat done!  It says 'Wanderlust' meaning 'a strong desire to travel'.  A lot of people don't know this word and I've been asked a couple of times if I'd made it up, but no.  It does sound kind of fluffy and like it's from a fairytale, but I can confirm it's a real world!  To be fair I've only really come across it on Tumblr.  It suits me perfectly because over the last year or so I have become really interested in travelling (more so than before, anyway) and experiencing the world.  If it was up to me I'd win the lottery tomorrow night, quit uni and hop straight on a plane, but things don't really work like that, do they?  I am going to Paris at the end of February though so hopefully, slowly, I'll start going to more and more places.
I picked the writing as soon as I got there and it was over within ten minutes.  My other two tattoos are quite big compared to this so this was definitely the easiest one I've done.  The scratching was kind of intense due to him having to use a really thin needle for the writing, but it was no big deal.  I think thew placement is really lovely and I can't stop looking at it.  The other two are on my back so it's cool to now have one when I can just look at it whenever I want.
After getting this one, I booked in for my fourth one (definitely an addiction).  I will be getting that done on Thursday, so watch this space...

Inked #2

So, I got a new tattoo.  What do you think?  It hurt, but nothing I couldn't handle.  I love it.  Just need a halo now, right?

Inked

THE MEANING

So this is my new, and first, tattoo which I got on Saturday. If you don't know already, the are lyrics are from 'Chasing Cars' by Snow Patrol (listen to it) which has been and always will be my favourite song by my favourite band (ever since I first heard them in 2006, and my mum took me to see them later that year). The song sums up love beautifully and the meaning of the song is exactly what love should be about. It was significant to me way back then and will be for-pretty-much-ever. Even if you haven't listened to it, though, you can understand and probably relate to it already from these three lines, which is exactly why I chose them.

GETTING THE TATTOO
I always planned to get my first tattoo on my back as it's easy to show off whenever I fancy but also easy to hide so it wouldn't be an issue when it comes to finding a job in the future.  I already had the 'design' on paper when I walked in, the tattooist then made a copy of it on carbon paper which took about ten minutes.  I had crazy-ass butterflies all day but as soon as I walked into the little tattooing room with the two chairs and all the equipment it really hit me.  It wasn't the pain that I was afraid of but the fact that I didn't know what to expect, which I am rubbish at dealing with (if you're gonna pop a balloon in the same room as me YOU'RE GONNA HAVE TO TELL ME BEFORE YOU DO IT, par exemple...), but after he did the little dot on the question mark so I could get a feel of it I was completely fine and I calmed down.  Yes, it is getting scratched over and over again, but the breaks that he took every few seconds to wipe it definitely helped to make it bearable, as well as the lolly I was sucking on to distract me (some pick music, I pick lolly pops...).  I think it lasted about thirty to forty five minutes but I was told it took a lot longer than it would usually have as I had 'the most sensitive skin he'd ever seen', it wasn't exactly comfortable, but I don't think it was a terrible experience and I can see why people find them addictive.  I thought that it would get a lot worse once he was going over the spine, but there was only one bit going over it which felt a teensy bit more painful than the rest but nothing which I felt the need to scream/swear/even let out a little 'owwww' at (the in-my-head voice was a different matter).  I knew I was going to be happy that I'd done it once I'd seen the result so it was completely worth it for me, if you want one then please don't let the pain put you off and just do it!

That's now three things crossed off my '30 before 30' list!

tattoo inspiration

Getting a tattoo has always been something I've wanted to do as you can see on my list, and since it's coming up to my eighteenth birthday I've been putting quite a lot of thought into what to get and where to get it.  I think the first place where I would get one is on my back, as then it's easily hidden just in case but you can show it if you want to. I especially take inspiration from Rihanna and Freja Beha's tattoos (who is pictured twice above), who have quite a few ones but they're relatively subtle.  I like the idea of having one word, but I'm not sure which word I would get... And the picture of the tattoo down the spine bone, I cannot get out of my head, the back is probably my favourite place on a person's body, there's something so delicate yet attractive about it, I think.
Do you have a tattoo?  What would you get?