Understandably, this is one of our most asked questions! The short answer is: yes and no (not helpful, we know!). Pain is completely subjective. However, what we can tell you is that 90% of our clients after having their 1st tattoo, tell us that "it was nowhere near as bad as I thought it would be!".The apprehension is always worse than the tattooing itself. We like to compare it to an annoying cat scratch! Either way, we are always here to help you feel at ease throughout the whole process :) Remember, if it hurt that much, there wouldn't be millions around the world covered in tattoos!

For larger scale pieces such as sleeves or backpieces, it is likely that we will recommend that you have a consultation with your artist before they begin the designing process! Consultations last between 30-45 minutes and are a fabulous opportunity for you to connect with your artist and gain the full Inkantations experience! During this time, you will be able to discuss all of your design ideas, placement, timing, cost and aftercare thoroughly, as well as, what to expect on the day of your tattoo. These are charged at between £40 - £45 depending on your artist and can be paid via cash into the Studio or we can accept card payments over the phone! If you're not sure if you will require a consultation before booking in with us, drop us a message with your ideas and we will advise :-)

The million dollar question! The total cost of your tattoo is based on various aspects such as style, size, detail within the design and placement - all of which your artist (or our Studio Manager/Assistant) will discuss with you beforehand. Our artists charge a set price per piece, based on the above aspects - we are always happy to work to a specific budget in mind! Day sessions are charged at between £600-650 and our minimum set-up fee is £85, which includes the artist’s time, designing, all disposables, sterilisation and our professional experience 🙂

Should your tattoo idea need designing, our artists do this in order of clients booked in their diary. A final design will be created and sent over to you before your appointment - we always aim to have this sent over a couple of days in advance which gives you plenty of time to fall in love with the design & let us know if you'd like to tweak anything :)

Whether it’s your first tattoo, or your 100th, it can always be a nerve-wracking experience and our team are here to make your experience as comfortable and lovely as possible! However, we would recommend the following to help along the way: - Eat a big breakfast/lunch beforehand and get a good sleep the night before! - Exfoliate and moisturise the area the week leading up to your appointment. Drinking plenty of water a few days before really helps to keep your skin hydrated, too - We have an array of sugary drinks, sweets, biscuits and EPIC hot drinks available for you to help yourself to in the studio, however, you are welcome to bring your own treats in too :) - Dress comfortably and appropriately for our session (make sure the tattoo area is accessible and avoid wearing clothes near the area that you wouldn't want ink to get on) - Bringing along some headphones or book with you and getting lost in your favourite music/novel is a always a fab idea!

For large scale tattoos, we would kindly ask that you take some additional days off, to aid the healing process. Without this, you can be at high risk of increased swelling, which creates pressure around the wound site. We recommend resting, elevation, cold therapy, self medication. It is not advisable to work or do anything strenuous after large scale sessions. To discuss this further, feel free to contact us at any time to go through any post-tattoo guidance.

If your tattoo is brand new then you should try your best to stay out of the Sun completely. If you do end up venturing out, ensure that it is completely covered by clothing - freshly tattooed skin is extremely sensitive and direct sunlight will make the area feel really sore and uncomfortable. Once they have completely healed, we would recommend that you apply suncream to them daily. Prolonged exposure to direct sunlight is the biggest killer of tattoos - UV rays essentially break up the pigment and cause them to fade! We stock SPF 50 Sunblock Sticks in the studio as they make applying suncream super easy, plus they are pocket sized!

Congrats on your new human! Sadly, being pregnant or breastfeeding does mean you can't be tattooed or pierced - this is down to there being a potential risk of infection during the healing process. However, we will be more than happy to discuss your ideas in preparation for when you're ready to book :)

We wouldn't recommend using a numbing agent as this can affect the tattoo process in various ways (such as the healing of your new piece, how your skin takes to the ink) and it can make the pain even more intense once it wears off! Our artists are also not insured to administer numbing creams/sprays/agents, so this would be a breach of their license. If you would still like to use a numbing agent, you would need to carry out a patch test at least 48 hours beforehand to ensure you do not have a reaction. Apply a thin layer on the day of your appointment, 2 hours beforehand. If you're worrying about the pain, try to remember it is only temporary for something that’ll be so beautiful and last you a lifetime 🙂 You might be pleasantly surprised on the day as most people expect it to hurt a lot more than it actually does and we are here to make your whole experience as comfortable as possible!

This all depends on what needs covering, and the style of tattoo that you wish to have it covered with! The best thing to do is to send us a photo of your existing piece (ideally one close up so we can see the tattoo itself, and then one from further away which shows the size and placement of the tattoo on your body). Let us know the sort of ideas you have for the cover up too including the sort of subject matter you're after and the style of tattoo that you're hoping to have! Any reference photos that you can send us are a bonus :) We can then discuss this with the artists and come back to you to let you know what's possible! We always aim to be open & honest with our clients and do our best to set expectations from the outset. It’s important that we work with you to create something that is going to be as wonderful as a brand new piece, that you would not recognise as a coverup!

Whilst you're more than welcome to reach out to your artists directly, via their business social media pages, we would really encourage you to contact the Studio regarding your enquiry if you're after a fast response! Our awesome Studio Manager can chat to our artists on their breaks or whilst they're designing, meaning response times are generally quicker if you enquire through the Studio :-) ​ ​ ​ ​

At Inkantations, we believe it's super important to be working with the artist that is going to be best suited to your specific piece and style. A tattoo idea that makes our artists' creative hearts 'sing' will always produce the best outcome! Although each of our pro-team of artists are all technically skilled and talented, they also have specific styles and techniques that they specialise in. If you have a design idea in mind, but you are unsure of which of our amazing artists would be best at making your vision come to life, drop us a message and we will be happy to offer a helping hand 🙂

At Inkantations, we specialise in custom work and absolutely love creating beautiful, unique pieces of body art. In general, our artists are therefore unable to copy another artist’s design exactly, but would be happy to gather inspiration from your reference photos and create something similar, instead 🙂 However, for smaller or more simple designs that would be difficult to change (such as an infinity symbol, heart outline, paw print etc), then our artists will be happy to recreate the same design.

All tattoo appointments require a non-refundable booking fee to secure a date in the diary with one of our wonderful artists - we are unable to hold appointments without this. Your booking fee will of course be deducted from your session total on the day of your tattoo 🙂 We are happy to move your appointment once for you with your booking fee, however, this will be retained by the studio should you wish to cancel your appointment altogether, decide not to reschedule or haven't provided adequate notice (below) for your appointment. A new booking fee would therefore need to be provided should you wish to re-book. We require 7 days notice for appointments of 4 hours+ (including day sessions), or 48 hours notice for consultations and any appointment booked for less than 4 hours, to reschedule or cancel. This is to help protect our artists income and have enough time to be able to fill the space.

To avoid changes to design ideas, we would always encourage you to be as specific as possible regarding your design visions when you first enquire, which we will of course help with along the way 🙂 If you do change your mind on the design or placement, we’d kindly ask you to please let us know ASAP as we may need to adjust your appointment time and/or quote. As you can appreciate, designing a tattoo can be a lengthy process. Therefore, our artists are happy to provide up to 3 re-draws of your design. Should your final re-draw not be what you had envisioned, we may request an additional, non-refundable drawing fee, or cancel your appointment and refer you to another artist with a fresh deposit.

We would always recommend double checking with your artist beforehand. As we have limited space within the studio, we would kindly ask that friends/family are limited to 1 only during your session. They are more than welcome to hang out in our lovely reception, with one of our fancy hot drinks and treats! If you are bringing someone with you for moral support, we would kindly ask them to be mindful as even the slightest movement or talking can distract our artists while they work their magic 🙂 Please also note that under 18’s, babies, dogs and bicycles are not permitted into the tattoo rooms.

Head to the page called 'Booking a Tattoo' - this will go through the process of how you can book in with us! If you've already taken a look here and you're still unsure, feel free to give the Studio a call and we will be more than happy to talk you through the process :)

If you are feeling at all unwell, whether that be with a general cold, infection or COVID-19 symptoms - we would kindly ask you to reschedule your appointment with as much notice as possible. It is important that your new tattoo is given the best opportunity to heal well - a low immune system can dramatically affect this and it is therefore best to postpone!

Absolutely! For tattoo aftercare, head over to Tattoo Aftercare | Inkantations Limited to see more about the aftercare process! We stock fantastic Aftercare Bundles that have been curated by our artists and contain all of the products that you would need to heal your tattoos safely and beautifully! These come in Small, Medium & Large sizes so no matter what size your tattoo is - we have got your back! All of the products that we recommend have been tried and tested by us and you can purchase these either directly from the Studio or via our Etsy page!

Of course! Please just make us aware during the booking in process and add this to your consent form - that way we can ensure to let the artist know to use Nitrile gloves instead!

The aftercare process is a really vital part of getting a new tattoo and we will happily talk to our clients about its importance until we are blue in the face! We would absolutely recommend that you head to Tattoo Aftercare | Inkantations Limited - here we have a really handy 3 minute video that details the steps you will need to take to heal your brand new tattoo. You can also read about the products that we recommend (these have been tried and tested by our artists and are Vegan friendly) in addition to reading through our aftercare guide. Your artist will also go through the healing process with you in depth during your visit to the Studio and we encourage you to drop us a message or give us a call if you ever need any extra guidance!

For large scale tattoos, we would kindly ask that you take some additional days off, to aid the healing process. Without this, you can be at high risk of increased swelling, which creates pressure around the wound site. We recommend resting, elevation, cold therapy, self medication. It is not advisable to work or do anything strenuous after large scale sessions. To discuss this further, feel free to contact us at any time to go through any post-tattoo guidance.

As we are a custom studio, most of our clients are having pieces that require designing first. This means that the majority of our clients pre-book in with us and our diaries can fill up quickly! If you do walk-in, we can't always guarantee that there will be someone free to tattoo you so it is always best to give us a quick call or drop us a message first so we can let you know what our day looks like :)

Currently, our piercings are booked by appointment only, however, we will always post on our socials if we have space for walk-ins! It's best for you to give the Studio a call on 01327 358700 to check piercing availability and to book in :-)

Once you've checked the Piercing Age & ID requirement, you're welcome to give the Studio a call on 01327 358700 to find the perfect date and time for your appointment! We regularly post our 'walk-in' piercing availability on our Socials if you'd prefer not to pre-book. Keep any eye on our Instagram and Facebook Stories!

We would always recommend double checking with your piercer beforehand. For over 16's, you're welcome to bring a friend/family member along with you for moral support (providing they are also 16+). Usually, we ask that they remain in reception whilst the piercing takes place so our piercer can solely focus on the client. If you're extremely anxious or need to be accompanied in the room, please do let us know - we always try to accommodate where possible! Under 16s will need to be accompanied by a parent/legal guardian in the piercing room. We ask that you please don't bring young children along with you to your appointment as we cannot be responsible for them whilst you're in the piercing room.

Absolutely! For piercing aftercare, head to the page titled 'Piercing Aftercare' to read about the amazing NeilMed Piercing Aftercare Mist that we recommend and to have a read of our detailed aftercare leaflet!

Numbing cream only affects the very top layers of skin, so won't actually stop you from feeling the piercing! It's important to remember that piercings take seconds to perform so you shouldn't feel discomfort for long at all 😀

Yes! However, you must ensure that your lip filler has had 6 months to settle before having your piercing. You must then ensure your lip piercing is FULLY healed before having filler again.

We would say that there is slight pinch as the needle is inserted - however, this takes seconds to do and it's over before you know it! Of course, pain is completely subjective and will differ from person to person.

Of course! Please just make us aware during the booking in process and on your consent form - that way we can ensure to let the piercer know to use Nitrile gloves instead!

If you are feeling at all unwell, whether that be with a general cold, infection or COVID-19 symptoms - we would kindly ask you to reschedule your appointment with as much notice as possible. It is important that your new piercing is given the best opportunity to heal well - a low immune system can dramatically affect this and it is therefore best to postpone!

Congrats on your new human! Sadly, being pregnant or breastfeeding does mean you can't be tattooed or pierced - this is down to there being a potential risk of infection during the healing process. However, we will be more than happy to discuss your ideas in preparation for when you're ready to book :)

Inkantations is a charming studio in the heart of Towcester inside one of the country's oldest coaching inns (originally called The Tabard). You will find a welcoming atmosphere inside our studio coupled with plenty of original features! Our address is: 11a Sponne House Shopping Centre, Watling Street, Towcester, Northamptonshire, NN12 6BY

Although we are a small team, we always aim to get back to you as soon as possible - usually within 48 hours. Often, we will need to gather a quote from the artist we have recommended to you. As each of our artists work varying hours/days, it may not always be possible to get this back to you on the same day. However, we will always keep you in the loop and let you know when we will reply with all the information you need! Sometimes, technology does fail us, so if you feel your enquiry hasn’t been seen or replied to, please do not hesitate to call us - the same goes for any urgent enquiries - we are always more than happy to help 🙂

Our beautiful green door is open Tuesday - Saturday from 10am - 6pm, including most Bank Holidays :) However, we are always reachable via Facebook, Instagram or Email too!

Yes! The following car parks are all free of charge and only a short walk from the Studio: Short Stay - Market Square Car Park - Watling Street, Towcester, NN12 6BX - Open 24hrs - 2 hours maximum - Tove Short Stay Car Park, Northampton Road, Towcester, NN12 7AH - Open Mon-Fri 8am-6pm - 3 hours maximum Long Stay - Richmond Road Car Park, Towcester, NN12 6EX - between Waitrose & Dominos - Open 24hrs - No maximum stay - Tove Long Stay Car Park, Northampton Road, Towcester, NN12 7AH - Open 6am-6pm - No maximum stay

Yes! Our artists use Vegan friendly products during the tattoo process but it's also great if you can give us the heads up too when you're booking in :) We also have a range of Vegan soft drinks and sweet treats for you to help yourself to while you're here, in addition to milk alternatives for your tea & coffee!