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! Â 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.
Review Source: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.
After asking around about the local tattoo parlors, I finally decided to get a piercing done here at the recommendation of my more body-modified friends.
I'm actually surprised about the bashing the guys at New Life are getting here as I felt that out of the parlors I checked out in Champaign, New Life's staff was the most friendly, helpful, and patient with my questions/concerns. Â In fact, my first experience went so well (Lunchbox did the piercing), that I went back again a few months later to get another piercing (this time done by Matt). Â The facility is very clean/sterile with interesting memorabilia hanging around (including Lunchbox's lunchbox collection =P) to gaze at while you're waiting.
Price-wise, it's no different than what you would find at other parlors - tattoos included.
Think about it - you'd pay the same price to get your ears pierced here  as if you were to get them done at the mall by some minimum wage 15-year-old high school girl wielding with a piercing gun except these guys know what they're doing.
The only reason I'm not giving them 5 stars is because I haven't actually been here to get a tattoo (yet) so I can't speak on their behalf in regards to that, but expect an update should the day come when I decide to finally get inked.
I was very eager to get my first tattoo and although I have no regrets about the artwork itself, I'm very sad about the establishment I had it done at. Â With the exception of "Lunchbox," these are the absolutely rudest and most pretentious tattoo artists I've ever met. Â One of the artists, whose name is Adam if I'm not mistaken, told me that I would "regress his portfolio." Â "Lunchbox" ended up doing the tattoo and he was very nice about it and did a perfect job based on what I wanted, but in retrospect, because of the overall experience I would like one of my friends to re-tattoo it to renew and bring it back to life. Â I think it's pretty sad about how it came to be on my arm.
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