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**This post features super cute bunnies, which may lead to you wanting one, sorry in advance.
This post has been in works for some time now, but whenever they’ve been close to healing I’ve gone and got myself some more. I decided today to share with you my 8 tattoos and the pain ratings for them too, and go a little more in-depth about them. Back in 2015 I decided to take the plunge and get my first tattoo, it was one I’d wanted for a while and with the help of some my tattooed friends, I went for it. I visited a studio called Vivid Ink, which now I know was a little more on the pricier side, but the studio looked amazing and the artist Mel was lovely too.
My first tattoo was an infinity symbol which is linked to anchor and says ‘I refuse to sink’ which to this day is my tattoo with the most meaning behind it, a lot of my tattoos are random colourful and cute pieces that I fell for and they have little/no meaning behind them, which makes this one even more special. As someone who has self-harmed for a number of years, when I managed 6 months clean I booked in for this tattoo over the scars and I felt so overjoyed when I saw the finished piece in all of its glory. This tattoo took around an hour and a half and it felt like the longest 90 minutes, ever. I’m not sure if this was due to the silence or the anxiety I had before about how bad it would be. In hindsight, it wasn’t really that painful at all. Overall, I’d probably say it was my least painful tattoo. Rating the pain around a 2/10.
It took me another year and a half to get my next tattoo and after that one, I didn’t really stop. This one was another wrist piece which again I wanted some meaning behind it, and it is a feather that says believe, it’s watercoloured and was done by the amazing Charlee Darwin at Tattoos at 58, the colour is still popping almost a year and a half later. This tattoo took around an hour, and Charlee kindly went over my original tattoo of the infinity symbol as it had faded a fair bit. This cost me around £50 from what I can remember and was worth every penny. I didn’t find the tattoo itself to be very painful until it got to the writing of ‘believe’ the B was super painful. Overall, I’d rate the pain of this tattoo a 3/10.
The following month I went back to Tattoos at 58 and visited Flim Flam who did my next two pieces, one of them I saw on her flash sheet and knew I had to have it, a giant (and adorable) hot air balloon which set the colour scheme for the majority of my other tattoos. It cost me £70 in total for a 3-hour sitting, always worth visiting a tattoo apprentice as they offer discounts most of the time and are still really skilled. The pain wasn’t too bad at all for this one, it was more the time of the sitting, I felt like it was really long and despite chatting to email for the majority of the time, it still felt really long. Towards the end, the pain started to get worse for the colouring of the balloon but I think it was due to how much work and detail it had within. The rating for this giant balloon was mainly a 3/10 but reaching a 5/10 towards the end.
During the month of April 2017, I decided it was time to get another piece based on my love of bunnies, and if you don’t know about this, where have you been? The idea behind the piece was an adorable bunny in a heart. I had to get the bunny changed on the design that Emily did as it didn’t have the adorable lop ears that I wanted. I believe this tattoo was around £70 also, and for the amount of detail and cuteness of this tattoo, I was chuffed. I would rank this as my 2nd most painful tattoo due to it being so close to the joint in your arm and the number of black outlines within. I would rate this a 7/10 on the pain scale.
Fast forward a year and I found out about a local studio I hadn’t heard of before called Blacktide Collective and in the space of a month I treat myself to 4 beautiful pieces created by Heather two of which were for her portfolio, which was the doughnut (yes, I really got a doughnut tattoo) and an adorable skull bottle in a more traditional style to the other tattoos I have. I had the bottle tattoo done first which set me back £80 which is a bargain price. This tattoo is all alone on my left arm, but I am unsure what I would put near it. Again like the balloon the pain was ok, until near the end. Overall pain rating 6/10.
When I arrived home from this tattoo I went straight back on their page and saw a doughnut tattoo which was available and I knew I needed to get it, this was somewhat a tribute to my brand, this one has to be my most painful tattoo to date, pretty much all of it was unbearable, due to it being so close to my elbow. I feel like this took the longest to heal out of all of my tattoos, I can confirm I will not be putting myself through that pain again on the other arm, no thanks. I’d rate this tattoo on the pain scale, a high 8. I do not know how anyone can stand the pain of having their actual elbow tattooed. Rewind back to two weeks ago and I had two more tattoos done in the same sitting.
A little watercolour bunny to blend in with the feather which I am very happy only took around 30 mins and wasn’t too painful due to it mostly being colour. Then I wanted something that travelled up my arm to cover any remaining gaps, so I decided to go for some hearts and bubbles along with a large range of confetti to fill in between. I have 19 hearts and bubbles in total and I love how well it blends with my doughnut. I would completely recommend going to Blacktide Collective as they make you feel at home and Heather is so lovely. For the whole sitting, I’d say the pain rating was around a 5, I found it more an achy pain and they healed quickly.
You’ll be shocked to know, I am already planning my next tattoo, however, I am going to get something on my leg. Stay tuned for the next leg of my tattoo journey.
