YOUR COSMETIC TATTOO CHECKLIST

Pre-care is responsible for a huge 25% of your tattoo's end result, so, to ensure your best healed results, it’s very important to follow these pre-care guidelines to prepare your skin and body to get tattooed and pre-order your numbing cream in advance:

NUMBING BEFORE YOUR NEW TATTOO

Where to Purchase and Apply Your Own Numbing Cream

It is Queensland law that if you choose to use numbing agents, you come to your appointment with numbing cream pre-applied by yourself.
This law now applies to all QLD businesses, unless they are a doctor or nurse. If you choose to not come to your appointment pre-numbed, Honey Cosmetic Tattoo will not under any circumstance supply it for you.

To increase comfort and minimise pain during your tattoo experience, the use of numbing cream is recommended. It is important that you follow the directions and required time duration for the numbing cream before your appointment.

Call your local 'Compounding Pharmacy' (FYI: A compounding chemist is not a normal chemist) to order your numbing cream at least a week prior to your appointment. Please do not leave this until the last minute. When placing your order, please ask for “prior numbing cream” for the specific area getting tattooed eg: brows or lips. These creams range from $25-$35 and can be either picked up from store or posted to you.

I recommend the following:

ACPHARM QLD (07) 55265 422
https://acpharm.com.au/numbingorder/

Tugun Compounding Pharmacy (07) 5598 2411
https://www.tuguncompounding.com.au/products/topical-anaesthetic-ordering

Important Warning: Do not use cheap numbing creams such as 'Emla', 'TKTX', and 'NUMBIT.
These contain very cheap and very harmful ingredients that can warp your skins texture, cause infection, and negatively impact both the tattooing and healing process. Honey Cosmetic Tattoo is not responsible for any adverse effects if you choose to ignore this warning and use these creams.

Application recommendation:

45-60 minutes before your appointment, apply an extremely thick layer of the cream to your treatment area (brow area or lips). The layer of cream should be applied thick enough that you can no longer see the skin underneath.
Leave the cream a thick layered blob and do not rub it in. Remember, the thicker the better!
Cover the thick layer of cream with a small amount of cling wrap. This stops the cream from drying out and/or dripping off and ensures optimal absorption.
Arrive to your appointment with the cream and cling wrap on so we are able to determine if it was applied correctly or not.

PRE-CARE & SKIN PREPARATION

Pre-care is responsible for a huge 25% of your tattoo's end result, so, for the best healed results, it’s very important to follow these pre-care guidelines to prepare both your skin and body to get tattooed:

Stop using any blood thinner medication, such as aspirin and ibuprofen, 48 hours before your procedure
Ignoring this will cause excess bleeding and will affect your healed results.
Do not consume alcohol 48 hours before your treatment
Ignoring this will cause excess bleeding and will affect your healed results.
No coffee 24 hours before your appointment
Ignoring this will cause excess bleeding and will affect your healed results.
Do not laminate, tint or henna your eyebrows for minimum of 4 weeks prior to your appointment.
These products alter your skin which makes it difficult for the skin to retain pigment and will affect the healed result.
Botox or cosmetic fillers should not be done within the 4 week lead up to your appointment.
Stop using skin thinners such as Vitamin A and glycolic acids on the tattoo area 2 weeks prior to your appointment.
We are not able to tattoo over any sores, coldsores or moles in or around the tattoo area.
Exfoliate the tattoo area leading up to your appointment to remove all dead skin.
Please keep your skin and/or lips extremely moisturised leading up to your appointment.
Dry and flaky skin is not a good canvas to create on!
If you are booked in for a Lip Blush tattoo appointment: If you have ever had a coldsore, have HSV1, had the chicken pox or are simply unsure (better to be safe than sorry…) you are required to obtain and commence the anti-viral medication (such as ‘Famvir’) from your doctor, or over the counter at any pharmacy. It is required at least 3 days prior and at least 3 days after your appointment. If you fail to do this, the tattoo procedure will flare up the virus causing one or multiple unwanted coldsores and/or blisters.

YOUR APPOINTMENT DETAILS

How to Find Us
Our studio is located at:
9 Nesbit Street, Southport.

Just off Ferry Rd, across from Brickworks. We are inside ‘Fifth Avenue’ inside studio 14, which is upstairs, on the upper level and at the very end, left side of the building.

If you have health conditions or impairments and need further assistance, such as using the disability lift available on site,
feel free to contact us, and we’ll happily assist you.

Parking Situation
Free on-site parking is available. If the lot is full, there is on-street parking nearby.
Please allow a few extra minutes to find parking and arrive on time.

Payment Details
For your convenience, we accept cash, EFTPOS, and Afterpay.
Please note that a small surcharge applies when choosing to use EFTPOS or Afterpay.
To avoid any additional fees, cash payments are preferred.

Running Late Policy
Please note that a maximum of 15 minutes lateness is allowed.
If you arrive more than 15 minutes late, your appointment will have to be rescheduled as I will not have the appropriate amount of time to deliver you the best tattoo result possible, and your booking fee and deposit will be forfeited due to loss of income caused.
As Honey is always fully booked and runs at full capacity, we unfortunately do not have time to accommodate delays. This policy is in place to respect my time, my business, your results and my clients after you.

72 Hour’s Policies
A booking fee was required to secure your appointment. This booking fee makes you solely responsible for the appointment time slot have booked. Please be respectful of our time and business by abiding by our 72 hours notice policies. This is in place to simply give us enough time to rebook another client in your appointment slot if need be, so we, the small business are not at a financial loss from last minute rescheduling/cancellations made by clients.
Please be reminded that by booking your appointment, you have agreed to our businesses 72 hours notice policies:

Booking fees/deposits are strictly non-refundable and go towards your total service cost.
You must provide at least 72 hours’ notice for any appointment rescheduling or cancellation.
If you reschedule within 72 hours, you will lose your deposit/booking fee.
If you cancel with more than 72 hours’ notice, your booking fee will be credited to your account for future use.
If you cancel within 72 hours or no-show, your booking fee/deposit is forfeited.
No-shows will be required to pay an additional fee to cover the lost appointment before being allowed to rebook.

No Children or Babies Policy
To maintain a relaxing and focused environment to tattoo faces inside of, we kindly ask that no children or babies are brought to your appointment. This ensures that I can concentrate fully on delivering the best results for you

Content During Your Appointment
Please be aware that content may be taken before, during, and after your appointment for insurance purposes, to be added to your file on our system and to showcase your beautiful results. We respect your privacy and only share content with given consent.

DURING YOUR APPOINTMENT

Just a few suggestions to make your appointment more enjoyable:

Feel free to come to your initial appointment with your normal make-up on to show us your preferred design. Just a forewarning though, we do remove the make-up in the tattoo area so have your make-up on hand if you want to touch it up after your appointment. Or, if you would like to come in fresh faced, bring in examples/pictures. We want to work with you!
I highly suggest that you bring headphones.
Kick back and listen to your music or podcasts! This just makes the time go faster and helps with any nerves you might have. Especially if you are getting your lips tattooed as this appointment is mostly a silent appointment as you cannot talk during the tattoo procedure.
Do not wear any clothes you care about! This is a tattoo appointment and there is obviously a chance that ink may land on you or your clothing. If this does happen, we take no responsibility of your clothing.
If you have mobility issues or back issues and struggle laying flat for a long period of time, I suggest taking medication to help ease your condition.
Please note that appointments last 1-3.5 hours. Plan accordingly, avoid distractions, and ensure you have enough time without the need to rush the appointment or my work.
Please keep still as possible throughout your appointment.
Remember: Your face is being tattooed

AFTER YOUR APPOINTMENT

Be patient during your 2 week healing process! Your new tattoo will change and appear different from day to day. You might freak out as you will experience a rollercoaster of emotions but you must trust the process!

After the treatment and you return home, gently dab the area clean of any clear lymph fluid that may be weeping from the tattoo with a clean and dry cotton pad or tissue. It is important that this fluid does not dry on top of the new tattoo.
Apply the supplied aftercare ointment daily with a clean cotton tip. Be gentle and use sparingly (the smaller amount the better). Be extremely careful to not remove any scabs.
Immediately following your procedure, the tattooed area will appear to be darker and bolder in colour. The treated area may feel a bit like sunburn afterwards. However there should be minimal discomfort.
Avoid direct water on the tattoo for 10 days.
Do not apply make-up, cleansers or creams over the top of the tattoo for 10 days.
Avoid activities that will cause sweating for 10 days post treatment.
Do not use a sauna or steamroom for 10 days post treatment.
Avoid UV exposure and do not apply fake tan onto the tattooed area for 2 weeks. Fake tan can turn the pigment green!
Around days 4-10 you will experience flaking and your tattoo may look dry. Never pick your tattoo! Let them fall off naturally. Again, do not pick your tattoo!
If you remove any flakes before they are ready, the pigment underneath will definitely still be attached to the flake. This results in an uneven patchy healed result.
Once the flakes have fallen off naturally, the pigment will seem faint. Don’t stress, this is because there is now a fresh layer of skin that has created over the top of your new tattoo. Your new layer of skin will continue to heal over the following weeks which gradually becomes more and more translucent. The more healed and translucent the skin becomes; the more visible and vibrant the new tattoo becomes.
Your brow tattoo will take up to 4-6 weeks to fully heal. Once the flaking has fallen off naturally, the pigment may seem faint, don’t stress, this is because there is now a fresh layer of skin that has healed over your new tattoo.
Give your skin time, it will become clearer and pigment will seem more vibrant in weeks to come.
Do not expect your brow tattoos to heal perfectly after the first session. All cosmetic tattoos are a 2 step, and sometimes multiple step process. This is due to each clients skin, retention and lifestyle being extremely different.

LONG-TERM

Cosmetic tattoos can last 1-5 years depending on tattoo style, your lifestyle, environmental factors, skin type and how well you follow the aftercare recommended by your artist. The better you look after them, the longer they will last.

Annual ‘Colour Boost’ appointments are recommended to maintain desired results and keep the colour looking fresh. These appointments are discounted for my returning clients.
Exposure to the sun and tanning beds can cause fading and discolouration of the pigment. Once completely healed, always apply sunscreen 50 SPF or greater on tattooed area.
To avoid unnecessary fading, avoid using chemical exfoliants or chemical facials on the tattooed area.
Do not do laser your brow area (IPL). Lasers will change the colour of the ink.
Additional brow makeup application and styling may still be required post tattoo to achieve your desired look.