Tattoo Designs for Life: Fashion Temporary

Amazon.com Widgets

Make-Up Artists Who Specialise In Temporary Tattoos

Tattoos first appeared 5000 years ago in India. It was customary to adorn oneself with a tattoo for a variety of reasons: as a fashion or beauty accessory, as a means of personal expression or a religious or social statement. Tattoos were also used for healing purposes.From India, tattoos traveled to Africa, then the Mid East. Now the tattoo is a canvas for personal expression in every country on the planet.

Temporary Tattoos are getting a lot of attention these days, largely because of their organic origins. Historically a henna-based product, temporary tattoos now come in a wide variety of colors. Improvements to the inks and glues have produced an exceptional product.

In Australia, Amunez Temporary Tattoos was founded in 1997 by a group of pharmacists who wanted to produce a high-quality ink. They collaborated with chemists and dermatologists and created a formula for a long-lasting skin paint, made from a safe chemical powder and a catalyst binding solution. When properly mixed and applied, the result was a smooth black image that lasted for seven days to six weeks. In 1999, Amunuz came out with color inks.

A temporary tattoo is an all-natural, safe and painless way to decorate your body and the process is very easy. A sheet of special paper is first covered with a special plastic coating. Then the tattoo image is printed using high quality cosmetic-grade ink. A non-toxic glue is applied to the image and a transparent plastic sheet is applied to protect the image/ glue layer. Finally a special backing is applied. To use, one simply removes the plastic sheet, places the image face-down and applies water to the backing. The backing is then removed, revealing an image that will last 3-5 days.

Temporary tattoos can be produced free-hand or with stencils. They can be flat black or a spectrum of colors, including metallic and florescent.These tattoos are seen everywhere, as logos for events like the Olympic Games, Wimbledon, and European football and rugby matches. They also appear in bridal parties, on fashion runways, at street events and children's birthday parties.

Many makeup artists contribute their tattoo skills to the movie industry. Neil Gorton of Millennium FX has created war wounds for Saving Private Ryan, special effects for Gladiator, Inkheart, The Wolfman, and Dr. Who. Some of his TV work can be seen on Little Britain and Torchwood.

Ria Clauss (www.Riaclauss@bigpond.com.au) is another makeup artist who specialises in creative aspects of body art.

Many celebrities have received temporary tattoos for their film portrayals, such as Sean Penn (Mystic River), Vin Diesel (XXX), Brad Pitt (Oceans 12) and Gary Oldman (Harry Potter: The Prisoner). Just about every celebrity you can name sports some sort of tattoo and countless on-line retailers exist where one can purchase temporary tattoos of their favorite celebrities' body art: www.airbrushbodyart.com.au/, Raymond Mallick at www.amazingraymond.com.au/ and Henna Body Art (info@hennabodyart.com.au/)

Temporary tattoos are safe, affordable and fun and deserve a spot on every body!

About the Author

Chelsi Woolz enjoys writing about the world of make-up and how the evolution of temporary tattoos has become part of fashion. She also likes digging up interesting little beauty facts and sharing them with others.

Fashion Temporary Tattoos: On-Trend for 2011