TATTOOS: Lessons from Mum

I've learnt many things over the years from my mum, about life, love, pain and for this blog, tattoos.

At 18, my mum knew I wanted tattoos. She herself had five small tattoos, from dedications to her Dad, to a black cat on her hip and a rose on her ankle, plus a little tribal here and there - it was the 2000's and tribal was very fashionable.
The best advice my mum ever gave me - which was also a rule - was to wait. Wait til I was 18. Of course, we all know this is the law too, but it would be naive to say that everyone abides by it. But I did.
My mum's other advice was to go somewhere really good with a good reputation. I ended up going to the same place she went for hers, on my birthday, and the entire studio sang Happy Birthday to me.

TATTOOS: Grey Scale Tattoos by Lee Smith at The Tattoo Rooms

Both myself and my husband, have a love affair with tattoos. Our relationship started from talking about tattoos. And we've both grown with tattoos. And we've both been lucky enough to have had work done by the lovely Lee Smith of the Tattoo Rooms in Maidenhead, Berkshire, UK.

I can say I've had the honour of seeing Lee grow as an artist, from starting in a studio as an apprentice in Marlow, Bucks; to opening his own studio with his brother. He even painted the background for our fingerprint tree for our wedding.

I have a total of four tattoos from Lee, including probably my most meaningful and painful tattoo; the grey scale rose on my foot in remembrance of my Grandfather.

Yesterday my husband went for his third session on his grey scale back piece which is based on the sketches and paintings of Leonardo Da Vinci. Over 15 hours in total so far and it is looking AMAZING.

BEAUTY: BarryM Mermaid Nails

Anyone who knows me, will know that I am a little obsessed with BarryM nail varnish.
I have a mental box in my bathroom filled with them!
So when I spotted a new collection on Twitter - with a mermaid/aquarium theme, well I died and went to heaven. As an Ariel-wannabe this collection was right down my street.

As a Monday treat, I popped to Superdrug to check out the collection and bring home some newbies to add to my collection.

I decided on the pink/gold colours as I prefer a more neutral girly tone on my nails, and don't often stray into blue nails.
The two of three in this colour range that I picked up were Caspian for the base and Treasure Chest for the top coating.

TATTOOS: Review - Things & Ink Issue 6, The Modification Issue

I picked up the 6th issue of Things & Ink at the Brighton tattoo convention and couldn't wait to sit down with a cuppa, a cat and delve in. 

Yet again this magazine is jam packed with tattoo goodness, and with a modification theme, it presented a different perspective on the tattoo community and an insight into the deeper depths of body modification.

In this issue you cam read all about scarification, suspension, hand-poking and eyeball tattoos. Thought these are all my cup of tea, they certainly are interesting and intriguing.

BEAUTY: Maintaining dyed red hair

For the last couple of months I've been a red head. A fake red head but none the less, very red. I went from a brown to blonde ombre to bright red in two steps. 

Freshly dyed - super red hair

First I bleached the lot with a home dye kit. Needless to say this did not bring out a gorgeous blonde bombshell, rather a yellow reminiscent of an egg yolk. So in a spur of the moment/mild panic, I bought a bright red to cover.

It was the brightest I'd ever been, but it looked fab. But although lush to look at once first dyed, it fades fast. Three weeks later I had a red/orange with a peachy ombre tip. Pretty, but not ideal. So I re-dyed in red again and its still looking rather good two weeks later.