I'd been wanting to a triple forward helix in my ear for a while, and I finally decided to do it. Nicole was friendly and answered my questions, and everything seemed great. The piercings themselves were extraordinarily painful, but that's not too unusual and I thought that that was just the nature of the type of piercing that I was getting. I wanted studs, but was told that initial piercings have to be done with rings, which was slightly inconvenient but I trusted Nicole's on the matter. HOWEVER, less than a week after I got it done, the top ring came halfway out and since I wasn't in town, I just went to a local shop to get it fixed. That's when I found out how truly incompetent Nicole actually is. First of all, she put the wrong type of rings in--she put in captive bead rings...but without the beads. Then, apparently to make up for the fact that there was a giant gap in the rings, she attempted to close them, which warped the rings far beyond how they were meant to be bent, and put a huge amount of additional pressure on my new piercings. Despite this, she didn't actually manage to close them all of the way, leaving gaps that irritated my ear and caused the top ring to fall out. Not only this, but the piercings themselves were done incorrectly. It had taken forever and she had had to re-pierce one of the holes because she did it wrong the first time (which was incredibly painful), and apparently she hadn't gone with the grain of the tissue and had put all of them in at different angles so it wasn't noticeable to me but it would have hindered healing. I can't even list all of the problems, but basically anything that you could do wrong with a piercing, she did wrong. She'd clearly never done this type of piercing before, even though I asked her to make sure that she had experience (since triple forward helixes aren't very common), and she said that she had.
I went to two other piercers to get opinions, and they both said that mine was the absolute worst piercing they'd ever seen. One of them said that looking at it hurt his soul. I ended up having to have all of them removed and let my ear re-heal before I could get it redone...which I did, and it wasn't even that painful! Never go to Nicole. She's probably a good person but she shouldn't be allowed near needles.
As for the business itself, I decided to approach them and explain my situation, to try to get my money back and also ask that they do something about Nicole before she hurt more people (I suggested more training). I was in Spain on business at time and Butch pretended that he was willing to return my money but simply couldn't until I returned. He then changed his tune and assured me that he would send my money back via PayPal, but he never did and then quit responding to my messages.
TL;DR: I got pierced by Nicole, but she's completely incompetent and messed it up beyond belief. I approached the company about it but they really didn't care, they broke their promises, and then stopped responding all together. Avoid this place like the plague.
I'd been wanting to a triple forward helix in my ear for a while, and I finally decided to do it. Nicole was friendly and answered my questions, and everything seemed great. The piercings themselves were extraordinarily painful, but that's not too unusual and I thought that that was just the nature of the type of piercing that I was getting. I wanted studs, but was told that initial piercings have to be done with rings, which was slightly inconvenient but I trusted Nicole's on the matter. HOWEVER, less than a week after I got it done, the top ring came halfway out and since I wasn't in town, I just went to a local shop to get it fixed. That's when I found out how truly incompetent Nicole actually is. First of all, she put the wrong type of rings in--she put in captive bead rings...but without the beads. Then, apparently to make up for the fact that there was a giant gap in the rings, she attempted to close them, which warped the rings far beyond how they were meant to be bent, and put a huge amount of additional pressure on my new piercings. Despite this, she didn't actually manage to close them all of the way, leaving gaps that irritated my ear and caused the top ring to fall out. Not only this, but the piercings themselves were done incorrectly. It had taken forever and she had had to re-pierce one of the holes because she did it wrong the first time (which was incredibly painful), and apparently she hadn't gone with the grain of the tissue and had put all of them in at different angles so it wasn't noticeable to me but it would have hindered healing. I can't even list all of the problems, but basically anything that you could do wrong with a piercing, she did wrong. She'd clearly never done this type of piercing before, even though I asked her to make sure that she had experience (since triple forward helixes aren't very common), and she said that she had.
I went to two other piercers to get opinions, and they both said that mine was the absolute worst piercing they'd ever seen. One of them said that looking at it hurt his soul. I ended up having to have all of them removed and let my ear re-heal before I could get it redone...which I did, and it wasn't even that painful! Never go to Nicole. She's probably a good person but she shouldn't be allowed near needles.
As for the business itself, I decided to approach them and explain my situation, to try to get my money back and also ask that they do something about Nicole before she hurt more people (I suggested more training). I was in Spain on business at time and Butch pretended that he was willing to return my money but simply couldn't until I returned. He then changed his tune and assured me that he would send my money back via PayPal, but he never did and then quit responding to my messages.
TL;DR: I got pierced by Nicole, but she's completely incompetent and messed it up beyond belief. I approached the company about it but they really didn't care, they broke their promises, and then stopped responding all together. Avoid this place like the plague.
I'd been wanting to a triple forward helix in my ear for a while, and I finally decided to do it. Nicole was friendly and answered my questions, and everything seemed great. The piercings themselves were extraordinarily painful, but that's not too unusual and I thought that that was just the nature of the type of piercing that I was getting. I wanted studs, but was told that initial piercings have to be done with rings, which was slightly inconvenient but I trusted Nicole's on the matter. HOWEVER, less than a week after I got it done, the top ring came halfway out and since I wasn't in town, I just went to a local shop to get it fixed. That's when I found out how truly incompetent Nicole actually is. First of all, she put the wrong type of rings in--she put in captive bead rings...but without the beads. Then, apparently to make up for the fact that there was a giant gap in the rings, she attempted to close them, which warped the rings far beyond how they were meant to be bent, and put a huge amount of additional pressure on my new piercings. Despite this, she didn't actually manage to close them all of the way, leaving gaps that irritated my ear and caused the top ring to fall out. Not only this, but the piercings themselves were done incorrectly. It had taken forever and she had had to re-pierce one of the holes because she did it wrong the first time (which was incredibly painful), and apparently she hadn't gone with the grain of the tissue and had put all of them in at different angles so it wasn't noticeable to me but it would have hindered healing. I can't even list all of the problems, but basically anything that you could do wrong with a piercing, she did wrong. She'd clearly never done this type of piercing before, even though I asked her to make sure that she had experience (since triple forward helixes aren't very common), and she said that she had.
I went to two other piercers to get opinions, and they both said that mine was the absolute worst piercing they'd ever seen. One of them said that looking at it hurt his soul. I ended up having to have all of them removed and let my ear re-heal before I could get it redone...which I did, and it wasn't even that painful! Never go to Nicole. She's probably a good person but she shouldn't be allowed near needles.
As for the business itself, I decided to approach them and explain my situation, to try to get my money back and also ask that they do something about Nicole before she hurt more people (I suggested more training). I was in Spain on business at time and Butch pretended that he was willing to return my money but simply couldn't until I returned. He then changed his tune and assured me that he would send my money back via PayPal, but he never did and then quit responding to my messages.
TL;DR: I got pierced by Nicole, but she's completely incompetent and messed it up beyond belief. I approached the company about it but they really didn't care, they broke their promises, and then stopped responding all together. Avoid this place like the plague.
I'd been wanting to a triple forward helix in my ear for a while, and I finally decided to do it. Nicole was friendly and answered my questions, and everything seemed great. The piercings themselves were extraordinarily painful, but that's not too unusual and I thought that that was just the nature of the type of piercing that I was getting. I wanted studs, but was told that initial piercings have to be done with rings, which was slightly inconvenient but I trusted Nicole's on the matter. HOWEVER, less than a week after I got it done, the top ring came halfway out and since I wasn't in town, I just went to a local shop to get it fixed. That's when I found out how truly incompetent Nicole actually is. First of all, she put the wrong type of rings in--she put in captive bead rings...but without the beads. Then, apparently to make up for the fact that there was a giant gap in the rings, she attempted to close them, which warped the rings far beyond how they were meant to be bent, and put a huge amount of additional pressure on my new piercings. Despite this, she didn't actually manage to close them all of the way, leaving gaps that irritated my ear and caused the top ring to fall out. Not only this, but the piercings themselves were done incorrectly. It had taken forever and she had had to re-pierce one of the holes because she did it wrong the first time (which was incredibly painful), and apparently she hadn't gone with the grain of the tissue and had put all of them in at different angles so it wasn't noticeable to me but it would have hindered healing. I can't even list all of the problems, but basically anything that you could do wrong with a piercing, she did wrong. She'd clearly never done this type of piercing before, even though I asked her to make sure that she had experience (since triple forward helixes aren't very common), and she said that she had.
I went to two other piercers to get opinions, and they both said that mine was the absolute worst piercing they'd ever seen. One of them said that looking at it hurt his soul. I ended up having to have all of them removed and let my ear re-heal before I could get it redone...which I did, and it wasn't even that painful! Never go to Nicole. She's probably a good person but she shouldn't be allowed near needles.
As for the business itself, I decided to approach them and explain my situation, to try to get my money back and also ask that they do something about Nicole before she hurt more people (I suggested more training). I was in Spain on business at time and Butch pretended that he was willing to return my money but simply couldn't until I returned. He then changed his tune and assured me that he would send my money back via PayPal, but he never did and then quit responding to my messages.
TL;DR: I got pierced by Nicole, but she's completely incompetent and messed it up beyond belief. I approached the company about it but they really didn't care, they broke their promises, and then stopped responding all together. Avoid this place like the plague.
I'd been wanting to a triple forward helix in my ear for a while, and I finally decided to do it. Nicole was friendly and answered my questions, and everything seemed great. The piercings themselves were extraordinarily painful, but that's not too unusual and I thought that that was just the nature of the type of piercing that I was getting. I wanted studs, but was told that initial piercings have to be done with rings, which was slightly inconvenient but I trusted Nicole's on the matter. HOWEVER, less than a week after I got it done, the top ring came halfway out and since I wasn't in town, I just went to a local shop to get it fixed. That's when I found out how truly incompetent Nicole actually is. First of all, she put the wrong type of rings in--she put in captive bead rings...but without the beads. Then, apparently to make up for the fact that there was a giant gap in the rings, she attempted to close them, which warped the rings far beyond how they were meant to be bent, and put a huge amount of additional pressure on my new piercings. Despite this, she didn't actually manage to close them all of the way, leaving gaps that irritated my ear and caused the top ring to fall out. Not only this, but the piercings themselves were done incorrectly. It had taken forever and she had had to re-pierce one of the holes because she did it wrong the first time (which was incredibly painful), and apparently she hadn't gone with the grain of the tissue and had put all of them in at different angles so it wasn't noticeable to me but it would have hindered healing. I can't even list all of the problems, but basically anything that you could do wrong with a piercing, she did wrong. She'd clearly never done this type of piercing before, even though I asked her to make sure that she had experience (since triple forward helixes aren't very common), and she said that she had.
I went to two other piercers to get opinions, and they both said that mine was the absolute worst piercing they'd ever seen. One of them said that looking at it hurt his soul. I ended up having to have all of them removed and let my ear re-heal before I could get it redone...which I did, and it wasn't even that painful! Never go to Nicole. She's probably a good person but she shouldn't be allowed near needles.
As for the business itself, I decided to approach them and explain my situation, to try to get my money back and also ask that they do something about Nicole before she hurt more people (I suggested more training). I was in Spain on business at time and Butch pretended that he was willing to return my money but simply couldn't until I returned. He then changed his tune and assured me that he would send my money back via PayPal, but he never did and then quit responding to my messages.
TL;DR: I got pierced by Nicole, but she's completely incompetent and messed it up beyond belief. I approached the company about it but they really didn't care, they broke their promises, and then stopped responding all together. Avoid this place like the plague.
Made an apppointment with Terrence for Sunday afternoon, which should not be a big deal because Champion Tattoo Company is supposed to be open seven days a week. Â Got there at the agreed upon time but it was closed. Â Left a voice mail asking them to call me back so we could figure out what happened and reschedule. Â My call was never returned. Â For me, this does not inspire confidence.
Review Source:Fit me in on a Saturday because I went in early and waited. Â Stacey did a great job and drew on a tattoo to cover up an old one. Â Very chill, very clean and in a cool neighborhood. Â Very reasonably priced. Â All of the artists that were in there were very nice and personable. Â I love my new tattoo!
Review Source:I had the most excellent experience here!! A friend and I walked in on a Saturday afternoon. We were hoping that we could both get tattoos that day because she was visiting from out of town only for the weekend, but we thought it was unlikely we'd just be able to walk in without an appointment.
We met with Anniatole at the desk, and by a stroke of luck, were able to get both of our tattoos that afternoon! My friend knew exactly what she wanted--Tibetan lettering on the wrist. Anniatole was very attentive to her size, and even her ink color preferences. He was very precise and careful, making sure it fit perfectly on her wrist and explaining everything he was doing along the way, as it was her first tattoo.
I had an idea of what I wanted, but hadn't brought in any artwork to work off of. Although my design was a little more intricate and detailed, Anniatole came up with some beautiful artwork and did a fabulous job. He was very careful and mindful, taking into account my skin type and how various inks/needles would react with my skin. All along the way he was friendly, chatty, at ease, pleasant to work with, and flexible about his price range. I can only give him the highest praise possible.
I took my husband to COLBY to get tattooed as a birthday present! Colby was very professional and he is a perfectionist which is so important when getting something that will be on you for life! He is such an amazing artist!!!!! He gave us the best customer service and told us to come back in two weeks for touch ups! The shop is very clean and organized and has such a fun vibe. Everyone in the shop was so friendly and they all came over at one point to talk to us. Needless to say my husband absolutely loves his tattoo and we will be going back to Colby and Champion Tattoo every time! Which will be many more times I'm sure because my husband loves tattoos lol
Review Source:My friend and I Â got our first tattoos this weekend from Colby and the experience was great! He was really accommodating with our schedules, explained the whole process, put our minds at ease, and did a wonderful job turning our visions into beautiful tattoos. I brought in a picture of what I wanted and he did a wonderful job taking that picture as well as my input and creating a stunning final product. The workspace was clean and bright, he was very good about explaining everything as he went along and checking to make sure I was okay throughout. I'm not sure I'll get a tattoo again, but if I do I will definitely go back to Champion.
Review Source:I went to Champion this past weekend with a friend to get our first tattoos. We went in on Saturday to inquire about Sunday availability. While they are normally not open on Sundays, they squeezed us in anyway after I explained that I was from out of town and only had the following day to get it done in DC. So awesome of them!
Colby was our tattoo artist. The following day, we ended up being delayed significantly. Colby was incredibly gracious and patient when I called to reschedule our appointment for two hours later than we originally planned.
Once we made it in for our appointments, Colby was exceptionally friendly and professional as he walked each of us through the process. The studio was clean, well-lit and welcoming. He explained how our respective designs (a Scottish luckenbooth for my friend, a quote in my mom's handwriting for me) would actually work on the areas we wanted. The actual tattoo process was relatively painless and Colby was very attentive the entire time...he knew that we were both nervous as they were our first tattoos! Â
We are both incredibly pleased with our designs and the overall experience. If you're looking for professional and friendly tattoo artists, this is the place to be!
I just went and got my first tattoo at champion tattoo compnay today and i love it =) I wanted a tribal wolf on my wrist that I had a picture of for two years but when i showed it to butch he said I would either need to make it bigger or pick another one so I was pretty bummed at first. When my tattoo artist came over (his name started with a) and saw what I wanted, he said the same thing so we started looking at other tattoos I might like. We settled on this badass tribal wolf that we found online and I was still a little skeptical but when he printed it out and made the stincil on my arm I fell in love with it! its amazingly awesome and he was a great artist. He made sure that everything was exactally how I wanted it and he was very proffesional and it was very inexpencive. The shop is very clean and layed back and the artists are kind of dicks but in a good way =) Anyways I will deffinatly be going back there if and when i decide to get another tattoo. You should atleast check it out if you are in the DC area and thinking about getting a tattoo. My first experience was a good one and I hope yours is too. Good luck!
Review Source:I originally wanted a nice Koi tattoo on my ankle to cover up a scar. The person I initially contacted at another shop sat down with me and we went over my concept. He didn't seem thrilled with my choice of location and once he found out I was a tattoo virgin, he attempted to persuade me with an idea that would refocus the attention away from the scar rather than cover it. He did a quick drawing of flowers going up the side of my leg. I can respect the attempt but it wasn't what I wanted. He told me to contact him once I had a clear idea, which I thought I had, and then showed me the door. I actually did try to send over a new vision but I never heard back.
I work in the Hill and came across Champion Tattoo. The shop is on the top floor, well lit with lots of windows so you can see right off that it is a VERY clean space. Anniatole was at the front desk and was really engaging when I asked about the Koi designs displayed on the walls downstairs. He told me that Butch was the specialist when it came to Asian artwork. He was working on a client but I was told that he would be wrapping up soon and wasinvited to wait. Butch greeted me and asked what I was looking for. At this point I had moved away from the Koi and decided on a Chinese Lucky Lion. I showed a drawing I found online and he asked me what I liked about it. Did it have to be an exact replica? He then took me over to the computer and showed a whole host of ideas. I told him that I was trying to cover a scar and he pumped the brakes almost immediately and asked to see what he would be working with. I showed him and he was like, 'Oh yeah, I can do that.' I put down my deposit and then asked, how much would it hurt. Butch smiled and said since it was something I wanted, he was certain that I would be able to handle it. Cool.
I arrived on time and Butch began drawing FREE HAND and my gosh it was amazing! I expected something that just covered my ankle but Butch and the Lion had other plans. At one point during the creation, another artist, Stacey, walked by and said, 'Hey, go big or go home.' and it was true. We expanded from an idea to something with meaning! When everything was in place, and by this time I feel like I'm ready to truly commit, Butch begins the process of outlining. Everyone in the shop had been keeping up a steady stream of conversation with me that they kept going the whole time Butch did the details and there were a LOT of details. I left with a smile and returned after a small delay on my part, for the color which was awesome! I now have an imposing Chinese Lucky Lion sitting in a lotus flower that actually ripples depending on how I move my foot! My Sifu saw the artwork and was blown away. He's told 1000 people if he's told one. I've received many compliments from New York to Orlando! And scar? What scar? Butch, if you're reading this, I've only been away because I promised myself ONE body artwork but I guess we all know that I'll be back. See you soon!!!!
Two days in a row (yesterday at 5:50 PM and today at 12:45 PM) I visited this establishment and each time the "closed" sign was up during the advertised business hours of 12-8 daily. I needed some piercings temporarily removed for a medical procedure and was pressed for time. I left a voice mail message and as of 9:11 PM, I did not receive a courtesy call back.
I looked on Yelp to locate another tattoo and piercing parlor today; and I was very appreciative for the customer service (and being open when they said they would be open). I will never visit this establishment again.
I wish I could write a good review for this place. I wanted so much to have a good experience - it was my first time, and my wife's first time, getting tattoos. I don't doubt that there are good artists working here - Butch's work is impressive and it was his portfolio and the other good reviews that brought me here - but I really just had a terrible experience with Champion.
My wife and I both wanted pretty simple tattoos. Our daughter's name. She wanted it on her wrist with a ladybug, and I wanted it on my shoulder in a particular font. I called ahead during the week to see if we needed an appointment, and after I spoke to someone (pretty sure it was Butch) and told him what we wanted he said it'd be fine just to come in and have it done, but that we might have to wait an hour or so if they're busy. Fine, no worries, that's perfect.
So we came in around 4:30pm on Saturday, two weekends ago - my wife's birthday. We had been talking about the tattoos forever so I knew she wanted it, but it was a surprise to actually take her there for her birthday. I figured they'd be expecting us, even if we had to wait.
We didn't have to wait long until Dr. Mookie started helping us. My wife picked out a cursive font and a ladybug picture for hers and was good to go, then we started sketching mine with the font I wanted. It was a fairly simple Celtic font and I had an image for it that we looked at on their computer, but he was unable to trace it so that it was straight. For some reason this was a big struggle, and it took a long time. Eventually he thought it was okay and put the little sticky/temporary thing on my arm but it turned out that it wasn't straight so he'd have to redo it again. So instead he did my wife's tattoo first and got that out of the way.
After that, he comes back to me and says that he doesn't think he can do my tattoo that day. It's now about 8pm and they are closing up shop, but even if he stayed late he couldn't do it because he was having an allergic reaction to some kind of disinfectant that were using in the shop - this is where it got weird. He says it was his first day working there (great) and he didn't know they used that stuff. Came off pretty sketchy to me. He was apologetic and said that he'd work on my design and I could come back next Saturday, and took my email address to discuss with me throughout the week. I paid for my wife's tattoo and we left. I'm totally blown but try to maintain for my wife's sake since it's her birthday and all.
So I wait until Thursday, don't hear from him, and call the shop. But then I'm told Dr. Mookie doesn't work there anymore. I didn't find this terribly shocking, I have to say. So I said that I still wanted to come in and get my tattoo, and it was just a simple name in a particular font so anyone should be able to do it. Stacy told me - okay sure, just come in around 1pm and it'll be no problem. I told her I couldn't make it at 1pm but it'd be more like 2pm-3pm and she said fine.
I wait until Saturday again and go in the shop, eager but nervous from already getting burned once. I told them I spoke with Stacy about coming in and that I was the guy who was there last week with my wife. They didn't seem to know who I was, and were not very welcoming in general. The only woman working there - I have to assume it was Stacy - says that she's now all booked up for the day, as are all the rest of the artists. So I'm screwed again.
At that point I couldn't be more done with this place. I started calling around and found out about Rick's Tattoo in Arlington - which has been in business for 30 years, has walk-ins on Saturdays, and Amy (whose been there 5 years) could see me as soon as I could get there. So we rushed over and I got the whole thing done with the font I wanted and no trouble whatsoever in about 30 minutes. It was a night-and-day experience, and Champion was just a nightmare.
Meanwhile as all this is going on, my wife's tattoo has healed since she had it done on the first Saturday, and it leaves much to be desired. The lines are not straight and the weight of the font is not even. I will be taking her to Rick's next weekend to have it fixed.
Champion Tattoo might be a decent place if you have experience with tattoos and manage to actually get the attention of some of the more skilled artists, but they are not the place you want to go if you're looking for someone to help you along the way and make your first experience a good one.
Butch was wonderful. He tattoo'd me and my two girlfriends last Saturday and we couldn't be happier. This was my third tattoo and I really enjoyed his professionalism and guidance. He gave us all exactly what we wanted. The shop was clean and pleasant. I would recommend Butch and look forward to getting my next tattoo from him soon.
Review Source:It's more than fitting to say that I will be frequenting this parlor for ALL of my tattooing needs... and I foresee an abundance of needs in the future. The first day I walked in to get an estimate and make an appointment I was promptly greeted and taken care of. Kyle was my artist (I strongly suggest his services!), and he did a beyond excellent job of bringing to life the design I had been envisioning in my mind. My tattoo turned out way better than I had expected, even after I made a few last minute adjustments that he was still able to accommodate. The quality was great and the price was even better, which is music to the ears of a semi-starving graduate student. It didn't take that long to finish either.
Overall the shop was very clean with a nice and inviting open layout. Pretty easy to find too - it's right above the Popeye's on Barracks Row. My ONLY qualms - 1) they aren't yet open on Sundays because they currently only have a few artists (I wanted to get my tattoo done on Palm Sunday), and 2) Kyle was a tad bit late for our appointment. However, that wasn't his fault, so all is forgiven :) If you're looking to get a quality tattoo done with a professional artist for a pretty good price, I would highly recommend this place. Loved it!
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