There are two types of people — those who have no tattoo and those who, after the first one, can’t stop! Whether you belong to the first or the second group, you can’t go without trying one of the coolest trends of the season — flash tattoos. Building on the metallic body art trend, flash tattoos or temporary tattoos are taking over the skin on beaches, runways and even the red carpets.
From models sauntering down the runways with their faces adorned with small delicate stars, diamonds and other whimsically shaped tattoos at the Milan and Paris fashion weeks to model and actress Cara Delevingne flaunting her temporary tattoos of red flowers, Chinese birds and blossoms on her arms, neck and chest at the Met Gala, they are all the rage among the fashion set. To add more fuel to the trend, songstresses Beyoncé and Rihanna too fashionably flexed their entrepreneurial muscles by introducing new lines of these tattoos.
“I definitely have warm memories of getting a temporary tattoo. As a kid, I remember the craze over those peel and stick-on illustrations that came in everything from Disney princesses, He-Man to butterflies and hearts. You were the coolest kid on the block if you rocked a peace sign on your arm back in the 90s. Being a thing of the past, never did I imagine that temporary ink would be back in fashion in such a big way. You can imagine my excitement when I discovered them, the little girl inside me jumped for joy!” says marketing manager Akansha Ahuja excitedly.
She adds, “I love tattoo but I am not an argonaut. I am more of the indecisive, noncommittal types when it comes to permanent body art and I surely wasn’t ready to take the plunge before I uncovered those temporary yet stylish solutions. I always feared that I would end up getting one of those widely reported mondegreens in the form of tattoo in some foreign language and I would have to live with that for the rest of my life. I have come across so many funny polysemous tattoo on people’s arms, legs, shoulders, etc. that I just dropped the idea altogether of getting it done. It was impossible to find tattoo that looked real but weren’t permanent but now I am happy. They are de rigueur and I feel really cool donning them whenever I want.”
Thanks to Instagram heavy hitters like Queen B, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and Khloé Kardashian, the tat tizzy have trickled into the mainstream and been co-opted by tattoo artists worldwide.
“It is clearly an extremely creative trend and provides you with a lot of room for experimentation. A lot of people are intimidated at first because the product comes across as flashy but you can wear them in your own bold ways. These are primarily jewellery-inspired, metallic tattoo that can create a wonderful illusion of having a perfectly delicate gold bracelet around your wrist or silver necklace around your neck without any fear of losing them. Sometimes you can wear a whole sheet at one time, which eventually was made popular by Beyoncé. Or, you can play with different patterns by layering different sort of tattoo. There are gothic, tribal tattoo but then we mix in a lot of daintier pieces for layering that are reminiscent of the way we stack our jewellery,” says tattoo artist Varun Arora about the black and gold temporary tattoo that include honeycomb and beehive-shaped cuffs; gold and black phrases from song lyrics, such as Flawless, Put a ring on it, Blow and more.
He adds, “The process is simple. Like a temporary tattoo, peel off the backing of the applicator, place it on the skin and soak the back with a damp cloth for 10 minutes. Only, inkbox tattoo take 12 hours to appear in their black colouring because the ink’s ingredients are derived from a Panamanian fruit. Rest will take about 2-4 hours.”
Temporary tattoo, in general, are whimsical and fun even for those who have got a couple of permanent ones. “It’s not just about wearing a tattoo, it’s about wearing a work of art on your body,” says another tattoo artist Neha Dhami who reveals that she got twitterpated by tattoo as a teenager and eventually became an artist.
She adds, “Ever since I was a kid, there has been nothing particularly rebellious in my accoutrement except for my tattoo. I have the incantatory Om and several other hierograms that can condense a welter of emotions into an unconflicted clarity one can instantly recall and call upon.”
