I am on my honeymoon in Virginia, and decided to start married life off right - by covering up a horrible tattoo on my back that I got when I was 18. I first went to Studio Evolve, but they were booked for a week - and snobby as hell to boot. I asked if they had any recommendations for another parlor, as I was only in town for a week. First they asked if I used google, which is a pretty dick think to say, and then they pointed me towards this shop. And I'm really glad they did!
First of all, huge difference in attitude when I first walked in. The guy behind the counter was friendly and helped me out when I said I wanted a coverup, but didn't know what I actually wanted to put there. He steered me towards two books of the artists he thought would be able to take on the project, and when I voiced my concern about color quality (the awful tattoo was color and it had already faded to almost nothing in only 6 years), he recommended Jaimeson. We met, talked about what we could put there, sketched a bit, and set up an appointment a few days from then. He was cool with me emailing him ideas, and cool when I asked him to change the drawing around.
The tattoo itself is awesome. The color looks absolutely stunning, and I'll be sure to update this review in a few months with how it holds up, though I'm not worried because I saw one of his tattoos on someone and the color looked incredible.
The process of getting the tattoo was also great. He talked to me when I wanted to talk, and he was quiet when I wanted to be quiet, without me having to say so. I think he's pretty good at reading what people need.
I sat for about 3.5 hours before I had to call it quits. I will be flying back in a few months to finish! It's unfortunate that people have had bad experiences at this place, because I can't speak more highly of it! Yes, tattoos are expensive. When they're not, well....that's how I ended up needing a tattoo covered.
I visited Ocean Mystique Ink Gallery recently to get a new tattoo on my forearm. Â My other tats have been from other establishments and I had never been there before so I was slightly wary at first, but those feelings were quickly dispelled. Â The people at the front desk were friendly, and had a tattoo artist come out to talk about what I wanted. Â I had brought a sketch with some script and stars around it. Â He advised me that the stars should be a bit bigger otherwise they wouldn't look right. Â He made a design inspired off my sketch and it looked wonderful. Â It was just what I had in mind, but just couldn't adequately put down on paper. Â Needless to say my tat looks beautiful, and several people have asked where I got it done. Â Thanks Stan!!!!!!
Review Source:I go here frequently, and it is not so drastically dismissive. I feel very sad that a previous review had such an awful experience, I love these guys. Both of my calves are covered in amazing artwork from Gentleman Jim, who works at Ocean Mystique.
I have been to Ocean Mystique 5 times over the last 6 months since my Artist of preference Gentleman Jim has moved there. While they could in fact use a permanent counter girl that just focused on customer service and solidifying price quotes & concepts between artists and clients - they are amazing at what they do.
When you walk in, you need to go right up to the counter and tell someone why you are there, because the piercer is usually the one out front and he does not know regulars from those who may be wary or looking around. This will immediately clear up the "being treated  out of place" attitude that a previous review seemed to feel she encountered. The thing about people with tattoos is, we don't care if you have tattoos :)
All their books and artwork binders are hanging on the walls so you could spend hours looking for a tattoo that identifies with you. All of their artists will be very honest with you in terms of size, color, cover-up, placement - you just need to speak with them and have an open mind about what's going to be best for your tattoo. I have personally been told 'NO, that will not look its best, how about we __________' and it resulted in my favorite tattoo thus far.
I strongly suggest giving them a chance. They also have a Norfolk location.
I have 5 tattoos - each from a different tattoo parlor.
At Ocean Mystique they were somewhat dismissive when my best friend and I arrived... Â I just got the feeling that since I was in my business attire from work that they assumed I knew nothing about tattoos and I was out of place (though I have about an 18 inch tattoo on my back that can't be seen unless I'm in a bathing suit). Â While no one was outwardly rude to us they seemed like we were wasting their time or just idiots in general which was annoying to me but I suppose they figure the big tattoos like arm pieces and back pieces that take 5 hours are more worth their time than our small 10 minute tattoos.
My friend and I both decided to get very small tattoos for $60 each - which is probably the minimum price for a tattoo there, no problem, they also told us when we paid there was a $3 service fee for a credit card, ok - no problem I get it. Â
Before I paid I told the girl I wanted a pink bumblebee tattoo - not yellow and black - and that I had heard pink was hard to show, etc. etc. and asked about it. Â She said no worries the guy would do whatever I wanted so I went ahead and paid.
My friend went first, she got a small orange heart tattooed on her wrist - it was over quickly and we didn't have to wait very long at all - maybe 10-15 minutes before she got her tattoo so that was nice.
The same guy tattooed me who did my friend. Â Things started out simple enough, he drew the bumblebee on my foot and I got the feeling he was insulted "as an artist" when I didn't like the drawing he did on my foot. Â It didn't look like what I wanted and I told him I wanted it to have a bigger head so it looked more cartoon-like as I wanted it to be more cutesy wootsy and less realistic. Â He proceeded to argue with me for about 10-15 minutes about what looked right and how it needed to look on my foot and how he needed to do what he needed to do to make it look "right". Â Which pissed me off anyway because it's my foot and I have to see it for the rest of my life. Â He redrew it once more and it still looked more like a caterpillar with wings to me than a bumblebee and he asked another tattooer that was back there doing a big back piece to look and "tell her it's the same". Â
At this point I said, "I'm not trying to argue with you but it's my f*cking foot after all." and the other tattoo artist just said if that's what she wants then make a stencil and do the tattoo she wants...
My tattooer acted all put-out and threw his tattoo pen down to go make a stencil. Â When he came back I told him I didn't want the lines really thick as I wanted it to look more like a sketch and he got mad about that. Â I also told him I wanted it to be pink and he said, "I don't do pink on people" to which I replied, "Well if the girl up front would've said that when I asked before I paid, I wouldn't have gotten the tattoo." Â (I have pink hearts on my other foot that are over 5 years old and they are still as pink as the day I got them). Â He said, "With all due respect she wasn't a tattoo artist" Â and I said, "Well maybe you should tell her that". He eventually relented and did the pink but not before telling me it would fade and I would be back in 5 months (like I said my pink hearts are going 5 years strong right now - on my other foot). Â
By this point he seemed really pissed off and it appeared to me that he was taking everything personally, which I didn't get because I just wanted the tattoo that was going to be on MY foot forever to look the way I wanted it to. Â The quick sketch he did when we walked in on paper was adorable and I loved it, so I had already said I liked his artwork... I got the feeling he was thinking he was some bigshot artist and I was insulting his ability which wasn't my intent, I simply wanted the tattoo to look how I wanted it to look because it was my foot and I had been thinking about it for about 6 months, not how some complete stranger I just met wanted it to look that would never see it again.
Once he started tattooing I tried to be nice and make some small talk or break the ice but he was having none of it and was basically an a**hole the rest of the time I was there with short answers and a REALLY bad attitude.
Overall it was a terrible experience and I would NEVER go here again or tell anyone else to.
While I understand some placements or requests are ridiculous and you take the artist's expertise on it (and I have done so in the past) until this I've never had a tattoo artist argue with me about what I want on my skin or the colors I want and tell me what he will and will not do to people. Â It was ridiculous. Â
My bumblebee is cute - but for all the trouble - it wasn't worth it.
We were in VA Beach for the weekend. Decided I was going to go ahead and get this tattoo I've been thinking about for a few months. Went into Ocean Mystique and didn't have to wait very long, only about an hour. JB did my tattoo and he was very friendly and funny. Could have hung with this guy! He even touched up my other tattoo that I got in Thailand (it looked quite jailhouse) for no extra charge. I highly recommend JB for your next tattoo!!!
Review Source:
Not Logged In
BUSINESSES
Local Businesses
Near Me
My Favorites
SOCIAL
Blog & News
MY ACCOUNT
Login
Register
Contact Us
