Ink And A Smile — TASSEL Goodness Goddess Temporary Tattoos Make A Lasting Impression

The temporary tattoo trend has taken off with such momentum that Beyoncé has even launched her own line of body art pieces. It’s easy to see the appeal – after all, temporary tattoos are no longer the tacky stick-ons found at the bottom of Cracker Jack boxes. Instead, these often metallic designs come in a range of shapes and motifs — from stars and wreaths to feathers, beehives, arrows, scrolls, diamonds, and leaves — and they are meant to be positioned practically anywhere on the body, allowing you to experiment with new and unusual placements. Moreover, they look beautiful on sun-kissed skin, making them the ultimate accessory for Bohemian beach babes. Lately, I’ve been playing around with some designs from TASSEL, a new brand of temporary tattoos launched by twin sisters, Alex and Donya Litowitz, in Miami.

Six different packs of TASSEL TATTOOS are available, each containing two sheets brimming with versatile designs. I had the pleasure of trying the Goodness Goddess temporary tattoos ($22 per pack at ConditionCulture.com), and the pack contains some rather beautiful design options — many of them wide and ribbon-like so as to place around the upper arm or forearm area, and others more stand-alone in nature. I started out by pinpointing the largest tattoo in the pack — a golden flower with silver flourishes that reminded me of a pinwheel.  I decided to place it on the back of my left hand since I love the look of artwork on hands, fingers, and wrists (perhaps because it’s part of a rich cultural tradition in so many counties, such as India, where henna designs were born). The instructions were incredibly simple. First, I  had to grab the sheet with the design in question and cut the shape out as precisely as possible, trying to snip as close to the outer lines as possible. Once I’d completed this step, I could remove the clear plastic over the design itself and place the tat on the desired area, pressing down securely. To transfer the ink onto the skin, I then simply had to run the area under water for at least 30 seconds (I went for a whole minute just to be on the safe side!). After a while, the white paper backing started to slip off, indicating that I could safely peel it without harming my tattoo. Sure enough, I wound up with a beautiful, shimmery design on my hand, which you can see below:

Now, one caveat about this particular design: at some point while sleeping that evening, I must have tucked my hand under my right cheek because, when I awoke, it felt like my hand was glued to my face. I panicked for a second before quickly pulling my hand away from my face, and I didn’t think much of the whole affair – that is, until I went to wash my face and, examining my reflection in the mirror, noticed tiny specks of silver and gold glitter on one cheek. I quickly did the math, realizing what had transpired, and proceeded to wash my face, which quickly removed all traces of the temporary tattoo bits. As for the tat itself, it looked a bit more weathered than it had when first applied, but it still lasted another day before I decided it necessary to remove it completely. As for the removal process, all you need is a bit of oil to gently erase all traces of your “ink.”

After my first tattoo, I got hooked (much like in real life since I do have six very real tats on my body!), and started playing around with other designs and placement options. I decided to try something daintier, so I picked out one of the laurel branch designs and I placed it on my index finger, right below the knuckle. Now this one I loved! The color was a coppery gold that popped on the skin but still looked demure and the placement was so unique that several people stopped to ask me for a closer view since they’d assumed it was a ring but then realized it wasn’t jewelry in the traditional sense. Check out the design here:

Later that day, I decided to try out one of the band-shaped tattoos, opting for a design with elaborate scrollwork and placing it around my wrist. Here’s what it looked like:

All in all, the TASSEL tattoos are a lot of fun, and they last about 2 days, which is plenty of time to make some head-turning impressions. They’re perfect for beach outings, outdoor concerts, festivals, and basically any scenario in which you want to exude a gypsy trendsetter spirit.

Best of all, they require no pain and no commitment.