First and foremost... this parlour has amazing artists and their talent is one of the best of what I've seen in my search for an artist. Now, I can only speak great things about what they've PORTRAYED on their social media. They made me feel very comfortable and it was a very chill vibe with very cool and friendly staff. This was just my personal unfortunate experience.
I got a tattoo from this parlour back in April with Szabla (Olga). I found this business on tik tok and what appealed to me was the fact that it was queer friendly and woman owned. Since I was looking to get a sternum tattoo, that made me even more comfortable.
When I saw their IG, I took a look at all of their artists and was impressed with their talent and a couple of them even showed darker skin representation for color tattoos (which, sadly, is very hard to find). One in particular I wanted to book(I believe it was Monica) because of her skill and she showed that she could use color on darker skin. When I reached out, unfortunately, she wouldn't be available around the time I wanted. They recommended Olga to me so I reached out to her. I asked the owner if she was capable of using color on darker skin and she reassured me that all of her artists are capable of using color on all skin tones. That turned out to be incorrect. When I checked Olga's page, the only "darker skin" tones she displayed were 4-5 shades lighter than me. I scheduled a consultation with her and any idea I had that involved color she shot down because she claimed it wouldn't show on my skin or would fade out fast. She used a color wheel program to show what colors would look like on my skin but the skin tone option she picked for me was made too dark which would obviously make colors not show properly. She was so adamant that my colors ideas wouldn't show....despite me showing I have the same ones on my back that are still showing after 10yrs.
Since I still wanted a tattoo, we just agreed on a rose with a chandelier design in black and gray scale. Her work still impressed me with her hyper realistic stylings so that still left me excited about the end result. On the day of the appt, she showed me the design which looked nice and basic but I figured it would the hyperrealistic type that we discussed after she started . When she finally finished, it was exactly as she drew it....basic and flat with absolutely no dimension contrary to her other work. I was not entirely happy about it but obviously, it was too late. Honestly, I felt like she was in a rush to finish. It appeared on her personal IG she went to an event right after my appointment. I'm not making an accusation, it just seemed coincidental time wise. I feel like I paid too much to not get what I really wanted and the only thing I was happy about is that I used numbing cream so I didn't need to unnecessarily suffer during my session.
The artists there are absolutely talented and their work are absolutely impeccable. I just wish I was able to get what I actually wanted and that I was being heard, especially with such a sensitive topic. read more