Twinkle, twinkle...

You'll have heard about the girl with the stars tattooed on her face. It's all over the interweb by now. Twitter was buzzing with it today, it's being posted about on forums, blogs, it's on the radio. So, it's safe to say, unless you've been living under a rock, you've heard about it, right?

In case you haven't though, in a nutshell, 18 year old Kimberley Vlaeminck from Belgium is pressing charges of assault and battery against tattoo artist Rouslan Tounamiantza. She claims to have asked him to tattoo 3 small stars by her left eye. Apparently though, she fell asleep while being tattooed, and when she woke up, he had done 56 stars down the side of her face instead. (The full story is here.)

Now, I generally dont have strong reactions to stories on the news, especially when they don't affect me, but this one makes my blood boil. As far as I'm concerned, this girl is nothing but a liar. And a bad one at that. Her claims are flimsy, and she hasn't thought them through at all.

This is obvious for a few reasons.

Firstly...I have tattoos. They hurt. If you have them yourself, you'll know. If you don't, I'm sure you know someone who does. Ask anyone, they will tell you the same thing. They're not overly painful, but they are too painful to sleep through. It'd be like trying to sleep while someone is sticking a pin into your face, repeatedly, in quick succession. Even if she was drunk, I highly doubt she'd have slept through it. I'm not even going to address the claim that she was drugged before the tattoo was done, it's just too laughable to even consider taking seriously.

Secondly...before a tattoo artist begins the actual tattoo, he or she will create a stencil of the design, and transfer it onto your skin. It's a required guideline. So, for Tounamiantza to have accurately drawn those stars, he would have had to make a transfer for them. Which Vlaeminck would have been able to see. In fact, she would have had to approve it before the actual tattoo was done. This again completely undermines her argument that she didn't know about them.

Thirdly...I don't know much about facial tattoos, nor do I particularly want to, but I do know that as a rule, tattoo artists are at least, extremely reluctant to do them. I know of many places and artists who refuse point blank to do them, for reasons such as this. It is possible that Tounamiantza had no such qualms, but still...I just don't believe he would have tattood freestyle over someone's face like that.

None of it makes sense. Why would someone tattoo all over someone's face like that without permission? The repercussions are almost immediate, you have almost no chance of getting away with it, and you're reputation would be in tatters. Which is why I honestly believe her claims are false.

I would imagine the tattoo didn't turn out as fantastic or original as she had pictured it. Or the reactions she got to it were far from what she had hoped. And so she decided to cry foul, and risk bringing someone else's career and reputation down at the same time.

Grow.The.Fuck.Up.

I have to say 'fair play' to the artist for agreeing to pay half of the laser surgery costs to get the stars removed. If it was me, I'd be leaving her to suffer with her mistake. She wouldn't get a penny.

Maybe the pain of the removal surgery, and the constant reminder when she looks in the mirror everyday will make her think twice before she makes such a childish, irresponsible, and downright hateful decision again. I hope she gets everything she deserves.