New Life Tattoos

Okay, I'm gonna give this place a 3 start rating. For personal experience, I'd give it a lower one, but for what they did on my bf, I'd give it a 5, so this seems like a good compromise.

I went here to get an industrial piercing. The guy who did it was really nice. He did two single piercings, inserting rings because he said this way it heals better since you can rotate the rings during the healing process, which you can't do with a bar. Sounds good to me. Several months later I figured it was time to put the bar in. It was a little hard to do, but I loved it. A few days later, my boyfriend noticed that it was digging into my ear. I looked in the mirror and sure enough, the bar had cut a somewhat deep gash into my ear, so the skin of the ear was covering the bar! Gross, I know. I folded a bandaid and put it underneath the bar so that the bar rested on that instead of causing more damage.

Since I was in Chicago, I went to another piercing place where they told me that part of my ear is raised too high, so an industrial piercing won't work on me. That was pretty disappointing to hear. I wish I had been told that to begin with because that just lost me $50 bucks (including tip). On top of that, the girl told me that even if I could have the piercing, the two holes weren't lined up correctly. She figured this out when she was going to give me two mini bars in each hole to give the illusion of a bar and realized that they wouldn't line up.

It's a tough call on this place. My boyfriend had both of his industrials done here and they're great. He also has two tattoos that look really amazing. Looking at him, its hard to knock this place down and I really don't want to because the people here are really nice and know what they're talking about. I just didn't have the best experience.

Lunchbox is awesome!  Great piercer and very sanitary. He calms you down and walks you through every step of the process, especially if you get a cartilage piercing. Only thing that I even thought twice about was the price - piercing plus the sanitary salt spray (optional) was a bit expensive. Otherwise, loved the vibe of the place. Looked through the tattoos while there, very creative and inventive pieces. Definitely check this place out, a central part to campus culture.

I can't recommend this place enough. I've been pierced at a couple of other local shops, and gotten one tattoo No Regrets (also in Champaign) and another tattoo in LA, but my other three (so far) and my industrial piercing are from here. And I've only strayed to the aforementioned places due to certain circumstances, I wouldn't dream of truly leaving New Life as my go-to place.

Joel has done two of my tattoos, including my proudest one yet: a large koi on my upper arm/shoulder. My mom got the same one with slight differences in water design and color, and Joel took the time to negotiate on size and discuss color with us extensively. Once we'd all reached final designs, he took all afternoon/evening to first tattoo me and then to turn right around and do it all over again on my mom. The price was EXTREMELY fair, and I tipped him obscenely to compensate.

Lunchbox is an awesome artist with a good sense of humor. He did my first tattoo ever, a swallow on my shoulder blade, and he recently did my industrial piercing. He's always professional and helpful, and never fails to provide an enjoyable experience.

I love the atmosphere in here. They have great artwork and flash hanging around, and they're always playing good music. They're funny, laidback guys who keep you in a good mood the whole time. Their minimum price is pretty standard ($60) and in my experience with other shops in town, they're about as cheap as it gets. This in itself isn't a reason to go (permanently marking your body isn't a time to bargain hunt), but the fact that their work is so good for such a good price is what makes them the best place to go.

As far as I've experienced (for myself or through friends) any other place is either snobby or standoffish or overpriced, or maybe even all three. And there is one place in town that's consistently cheaper, but that's because they're trashy and are known to make spelling errors in tattoos and have low standards as a shop.

So really, there's nothing else to say. This is just the place to go.