Tattoo For a Week

I really like the look of tattoos on other people, but because I change my mind so easily and I'm not the biggest fan of needles or pain, I haven't considered getting anything permanently etched into my skin. Thankfully, for those of us with a fear of having something done that we cant change, there's another option that means we can have a new design every week, or longer if we take care of it.
The thought of temporary tattoos might take you back to your childhood- a pretty flower or sparkly butterfly that was pressed onto the top of your arm and rubbed off a few days later never to be seen again. In contrast, there are now hundreds of more grown up designs for adults with much better quality and staying power, including those used on film and TV sets. While some might think they're a cop out, I'm actually a big fan; a nice design on bare legs or under tights with a dress for a night out looks very cool, and if you don't want to show it off to everyone you can wear it just under hem so that it's only seen when you sit down.

I recently received a 20 euro voucher for TattooForAWeek.com and was so excited to look through all the designs. Tattoo For A Week has more than 3000 really affordable designs from fun tattoos, to professional film brands, to knuckle and face tattoos, with discounts and free shipping on orders over £10. The company is based in Belgium but the package only took a few days to reach me.
I wanted to choose something that I'd actually wear out, as well as a few unusual ones to test out and see what they were like- I went for Strepik Owl, Day of the Dead Roses Face Mask, Tinsley Transfers 1940's Pin Up and Tattooed Pin Up Girl, small Tiger, Roses Ring tattoo, and Water Slide Temporary Tattoo Paper.

I haven't used all of them yet but I have tried the more unusual ones which I'll talk about below, and will post twitter/instagram photos of the others when I do get them on. A couple were a lot bigger than I had thought so it's definitely worth checking sizes before you buy!

I started off with the Roses Face Mask (£3.40), which would be brilliant for a costume for a fancy dress party escpecially with New Years Eve on the way. Each piece of the design is supplied on one sheet which needs to cut out and applied to clean dry skin individually, before dabbing with a damp cloth and peeling off the backing paper. Some areas, such as the eye circles were a bit tricky as the hollows in the inner corners are so defined, and if I was to apply again I might change the placement a little, but I posted a photo on Twitter and had a couple of questions asking whether I'd drawn the design myself so I think I did a pretty successful attempt! I'm not a good drawer so it was so much easier to apply these and have each line looking perfect. The tattoos covered my eyebrows well, and I filled in the eyes with Maybelline Black Gel Liner and used a small fluffy brush to apply Mac Mineralize Skinfinish in Light Plus around the edges of the tattoo sections to even out my skin and cover blemishes, before finishing with Arbonne lipstick in Strawberry. To remove I soaked a cotton pad in oil based makeup remover, and with a bit of gentle rubbing it was gone without trace.

Next I tried the Roses Ring (£0.70), which can be used as a navel or nipple tattoo. This is definitely one of the most unusual types of temporary tattoo I've seen and, in keeping with my piercing from a few posts ago, I thought I'd give it a go on the nip. Tattoo For a Week also do full pastie tattoos which cover the nipple completely for underneath sheer tops. This wasn't the easiest to apply and it suffered a bit of distortion during dampening, but it definitely looked unusual and would be nice as a pair for a special occasion.The Water Slide Temporary Tattoo Paper is an interesting product- it's used to design your own tattoos or to check the size and placement of a design you're planning to get permanently inked. The image is mirrored on your computer and printed onto the glossy side of the tattoo paper, then the adhesive overlay is stuck onto the top (making sure there are no air bubbles) before you peel off the plastic topsheet and apply the temporary tattoo as normal. I had a lot of fun with these, but they do come with a note that the quality isn't of normal temps and they're definitely right- while they do last, they need to be cut very close to the design and look like a noticeably shiny film on the skin, and instead of rubbing off into small pieces they peel off like a thin piece of tape. Nevertheless, these are great fun to play around with, and would definitely serve the purpose of checking a design. They're available in two sizes- approximately 4x6inch (£1.90) and 9x11inch (£7.20).

The rest of the tattoos are reasonably normal compared to the above and I'm looking forward to wearing them when I go out. You can tell whether a temporary tattoo will look realistic just by seeing it on the paper, and the difference between the two Tinsley Pin Up tattoos is really interesting- one is a dark with new crisp looking hand drawn lines, while the other is more faded with slightly feathered lines and looks like it has been on the skin for a good few years. I've had temporary tattoos last a good while longer than one week by avoiding them when shaving and moisturising, and I've no doubt that these will last just the same.
How do you feel about temporary tattoos, would you try them as an adult or leave them for the kids?