Recently I volunteered to babysit a tot of a friend. Just as I was asking this young gentleman to do homework, he was busy using water to adhere a temporary tattoo. It took some negotiating, but don't doubt my parental guardian skills y'all, I still got him to do the work! Soon as he settled down though, I sat by the computer chuckling at the coincidences in life.

Not too long ago, at The Makeup Show New York, I came across a childhood past-time crossing over into the laps of beauty gals. Glitter body art tattoos from Glimmer Body Art.

I admit I was skeptical at first. Really? Temporary tattoos? and glitter? Disaster in the works. Wrong! I was stuck waiting in line watching how these fab tattoos applied.

Check it out:

Caught a glimpse of the temp tattoo on the artist who was doing the demos for people. This is the one that made me go hmmm - this is kinda cute!

How to, a photo journal (I was a fly on the wall as the artist applied a tattoo on a person at the show):


First you stick the stencil on the desired area on your body (ankles, wrists, necks, and forearms were popular choices). I asked if these stencils could be reused and got a doubtful answer. The stencils aren't that expensive so I'd say you could part with it after one time use.



Apply special glue over stencil. Fill space of tattoo properly so that glitter will stick.


I was surprised I got this shot so well. Here, you remove the stencil - almost like turning a page, just peel. I wanted to highlight the part where the glue is, but my camera did me proud and capture it pretty well. Can you see it?


The artist used a makeup brush to apply glitter and a piece of paper to catch the debris under the area of application. This is also a genius idea to waste less glitter, as you can just reuse the fallout.


Just brush color on with reckless abandon.


Cover all parts of glue that you want with each color. In this instance, the person getting the tattoo requested two colors.


Apply second color where you want.


Blend glitter around so that the two colors blend in between well and maybe even mix.


Brush all excess glitter off. Voila!

The stencils range from $.50 to $2 each. Not at all cheesy and not expensive either.

The artist told me that these can last several days and up to a week, depending on where it is and how it's used. For example, I can imagine that if you wax your legs and do a body scrub, your ankle glitter tattoo won't last too long. Otherwise they're a great hint of unexpected sass.

I was won over with these bad boys. How about you?

If you do parties or large events, you may want to consider getting the pro kit. Just for yourself? They got small sets, and themed sets. Check out the website here.


Would you try a Glitter Tattoo?

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