Authentic Arts Tattoo & Piercing — Attraction in Town of Smithtown

TERRIBLE customer service from the shop manager/piercer, Alexandra. The man at the front desk was very nice and the tattoo work I saw of the tattoo artists looked to be of very good quality. That being said, DO NOT ever come to this shop if you are just looking to purchase jewelry - others have had the same issues I had with her. Piercings with her are probably okay since I'm sure she's able to put on quite the lovely face for those about to drop a ton of money with her.

Regardless, my experience with her was horrible enough to want to review it. She seemed to have an attitude the moment she walked up to me and I honestly should have walked out the moment I saw that I had more piercings than her AND she had dimple piercings, which are notorious for rejecting and healing badly, hence why many shops do not offer them (including my piercer back home in Texas). I did not want to be rude though and stuck it out.

It took her some time to grasp the concept of "I want new lip hoops because the ones in my lips right now are improper and just placeholders, I do not want studs". The lip hoops I had on were broken, with a sizeable, jagged gap in the middle of them. I'm visiting from Texas, otherwise I would've just gone to my normal piercer, but anyways, I think she was being intentionally dense because I told her my lip piercings were done about 3 months ago, to which she immediately said I should not have hoops in yet. Everyone has their opinions on this and, like everything, healing times depend on the body in question. My body has always healed all of my piercings (12, to be exact) on the quicker side of the sliding scale, and, regardless, I work closely with my piercer to ensure my body is ready before changing out jewelry in a new piercing.

She also said she wouldn't be able to put in the jewelry for me, as if that was supposed to be a big deal to me. Okay, so? You didn't pierce me, why would I trust you to change out my jewelry? I literally just want to buy the jewelry!

Anyways, we finally get to the jewelry part, and she tells me 2 plain chrome horseshoes would be $115. I quickly say I'll just wait until I'm back in Texas to get new jewelry then, since my piecer has his jewelry at half the price. It wasn't a slight to her, just a fact, but either way, there are 2 proper responses to a customer saying this to you since you have already lost the sale: "Understandable! Have a good day!" or "Haha, yes, New York is expensive!" NOT "Nooo, I promise you they're not selling you implant grade jewelry like us :)" and, especially when the customer responds with "Yeah, they do", you don't repeat that no, they don't, and tell the customer that their jewelry grades are listed on their websites with a snarky little smile on your face.

First off, Alexandra, where's your jewelry grades listed? I sure don't see it on your piercing section of your website!

Second off, my piercer has been piercing for 3x as long as you (30 years vs your 10), and HIS website clearly shows the material of his jewelry (ASTM F136 implant-grade titanium, by the way). Unlike yours.

Stop treating potential customers like they're idiots. I have more things I could say about her but it would just be flat out mean,...

My first experience with Authentic Arts was great. I had been in correspondence with Mikey Tubs via IG regarding a piece I wanted to get done. We set up an appointment and it came out beautiful. Only complaint was that I waited an hour and half past my appointment time for him to finish with another client and clean his area for me.

I was so impressed with his work that I knew I wanted to schedule another tattoo with him. I had picked something that I thought was beautiful and he told me he wanted to do something "more traditional style" which is not my style AT ALL. I told him this and he was very understanding and said he would draw me up what I wanted which was slightly different than the picture I showed him as an example (instead of Lillies, I asked for sunflowers). When I got to the shop for my scheduled appointment, I again had to wait about an hour past my scheduled appointment for him to be finished with his previous client. Then, although he said he would have it drawn up upon my arrival, I had to wait another 30-45 minutes for him to draw up my piece. When he came back with what he had drawn, he did not put the sunflowers in which makes me think 1. he never referred back to our conversation, 2. he did not care. Whatever, did it with the Lillies anyway because it looked beautiful and I am a firm believer in fate, like maybe it wouldn't have looked good with the sunflowers so that is why the universe chose for him to do the Lillies instead of referring back to my request. Anyway, sat in a chair for about 4 hours for an OUTLINE of a piece, costing me 800 dollars plus a super generous tip.

After my tattooed healed, I noticed that the lines were bleeding ink into my skin and that some of the thinner lines were almost non existent. I contacted him on October 21st to ask if he could make time for a touch up. After contacting him weekly from October 21 - November 23, and being told that he would "check his schedule and get back to me" every time I reached out and not getting a response, I was finally told to come in.

I got there for my 730PM appointment and AGAIN waited past my scheduled appointment. When approached by Mikey, he asked "what the problem was" with my tattoo. I indicated that some of the lines were non existent and some were bleeding ink. He responded "no they aren't" and I specifically pointed out the locations. Clearly he was not interested or happy about my arrival or request for help.

When he got his chair ready for me, he invited me back. My boyfriend came to the chair with me and Mikey was extremely rude to him, telling him "if he doesn't go back to the waiting area he's going to kick us both out." UM WHAT?

Okay, so my boyfriend went and sat in his car while Mikey once again rushed through my tattoo, and sitting in silence the entire time. The entire time I noticed how SWEET AND KIND the woman tattooing the girl next to me was, they were laughing, talking, making her feel comfortable. Mikey did not say one work the entire time.

So my experience is this: Mikey is rude, unable to be punctual, overpriced, and rushes through work he does not see fitting well into his...

I’ve been coming to authentic arts for piercings with Alexandra since I’ve been 18, I’m now 21. I came to get my tongue repierced. Expecting all the normal pain and discomfort. After getting my tongue pierced the left tip of my tongue went numb. I didn’t think much of it at the time. Mind you, Alexandra explained that she did pierce it crooked and said if i wanted it to be straight I could come back and get it redone. As I was driving home something didn’t feel right. I looked in the mirror and the piercing was COMPLETELY crooked. Pierced correctly on top and and incorrectly on the bottom. I took it out the second I arrived home. Next morning I cannot extend my tongue or move it properly without an almost “tv static” like feeling going through my tongue and the hole as well. I left work early to go to urgent care. Come to realize she actually pierced a superficial vessel in my tongue which is causing the feeling and pain. It will take 8 weeks at the very least to heal and that’s if it heals completely. I’ve had over 20 piercings before. To let a client leave like that is completely unacceptable. As well as using a clamp to pierce the correct spot and STILL pierced it incorrectly. I requested a refund and was issued one, at the very least. Alexandra called me and i calmly explained the situation to her. Her response was “drs often like to tell you things that will scare you.” She did apologize but I feel that the situation was not handled correctly. Needless to say, I will never step foot in this business again. I understand all piercings come with a risk but this could have all easily been avoided. I can’t speak for the other piercer, Sammie nor the tattoo artists who currently work there. Other than Tommy, the owner he’s great. Please look out for yourself and proceed with caution when booking a piercing. So sad to have to write this review. I don’t want other people to go through the experience and possible permanent injury I’ve...