The House Of Art Doll — Attraction in University City

Update — I appreciate the owner reaching out to apologize on behalf of one of her artists. Thank you! Just the gesture alone means a lot.

Tattoo faded after a month. Delayed responses (took 1.5 weeks to confirm appt.) Late for corrective appointment. Rescheduled appt at the last minute and was even late for that. No customer care. No apology.

FULL DETAILS BELOW*

The professionalism and customer service at this establishment is in need of some work. I got a small flash tattoo during House of Art Doll's Galentine's Flash Tattoo event on February 16th. It was a girlfriend's and mines first tat, so we thought why not? Smya was my tattoo artist and she worked quickly. It was all done in about 20-30 minutes. She applied my second skin, I tipped her and I was one my way.

I did everything I was told and kept my skin moisturised after the week of wearing the second skin. However, the tattoo began to fade in some areas after only a month and a half. I reached out via Instagram towards the end of March requesting an appointment to touch up my tattoo. She asked me if I could come in on the 8th of April at 12pm. I confirmed I could, but after I week I hadn't received a response. I was able to get in contact after a week via her phone number and she asked could we move it to 4/9 at 12pm. I said no problem.

The 9th comes along and I am headed to our appt. I see that she has texted me barely 15 minutes before our appt to ask if she could move it to 1pm because of lack of sleep and rushing. I was a bit annoyed because I had other appointments, but reluctantly agreed. I walk into the shop at exactly 1pm and an artist greets me and I tell her who I am here for. She hands me paperwork and I sit down, taking note that I do not see Smya yet. I don't see any updated messages from her either. After about 5-10 mins the same artist said she would reach out to her and when comes back she says Smya is on her way. I sit there another 20-30 minutes and at this point I'm pretty annoyed. She finally texted me around 1:30pm to say she was on her way. I was sitting by the front door and I saw Smya come in, walk past me and give me an abrupt wave over her shoulder. She began to set up her station which took another 5-10 mins. Then she calls me over to come sit down. She immediately gets started with no apology and/or explanation for tardiness. She finishes up quickly, saran wraps the tat and gives me instructions on healing. She says goodbye and I head out. Again, I left with no apology from her at all. I feel like there was lack of concern for my time because I was just a touch up. There wasn't money on the line.

No one besides that artist that briefly came up to inquire about my appt spoke to me, offered any water or anything. The owner didn't apologise for their artist's lack of professionalism. They all just continued to chit chat towards the back of the shop. I understand tattoo artists are like independent contractors and no one else owed me anything, but it would have exemplified some type of couth had at least anyone made up for their coworkers shortcoming. I understand this is a relatively new business. However, these type of interactions are what can easily ward off a potential frequent customer. Overall the tattoo was decent enough but I will continue to look for where I will get the remainder of my...

From one Black woman to another, it pains me to write this review, but I feel I must. My daughter has always wanted her and I to get matching tattoos. So a month or so before my daughter’s 18th birthday I happen to see a post on TikTok of a Black woman tattoo artist in STL. I was so excited as I always look in my community first for services. Going to The House Of Art Doll website I saw that Sherelle specialized in fine-line surrealism and the images she posted of her work were beautiful. I also saw from her website that we had mutual acquaintances so that made me feel even more comfortable. All we wanted were 2 fine-line stars behind our left ear. Representing Disney, Second Star to the Right, Tinkerbell etc. The first image is what I sent to her to show her what we wanted. And then another pic I drew out to give her a better sense of what we were wanting. I know some tattoo artists don’t like copying tattoos they see online. They like to draw their own. Sherelle said she’d seen this before and it should be no problem. So I made the appointment for Feb 22, 2025. When we got there Sherelle pulled out her iPad and showed us the images she drew. They were a little different from what I sent her, but it was my daughter’s decision. It was close enough. It would not have been my choice but again it was my daughter’s decision, and I would be happy with whatever she chose. The next images are of the inspiration Sherelle drew and the final result. Needless to say, the final results were amateurish at best. I am not sure how you could stray so far away from the inspiration/impression that was laid down first behind my ear (less is more) but here we are. I was very sad at this point as I convinced my daughter to give Sherelle a try. I sent a text to Sherelle 2 days later on Feb 24 expressing our dissatisfaction. She was apologetic and offered to go over them once they healed and even offered a free tattoo. I told her that was not necessary for the free tattoo, and I would be in touch once they healed. I told my daughter to give it some time to heal and maybe it would look better. Well life and work got in the way, and I finally reached back out to Sherelle on Jul 3, 2025, asking to set up an appointment for me to come in. At this point my daughter got used to hers and really didn’t want it messed with anymore. I on the other hand really wanted mine to be improved on. Sherelle told me she was booked until Aug and would contact me when she had availability. It is now Aug 28, 2025 and I still have not heard from her. At this point I really don’t want her to touch it up, with something so permanent you just never know. At least it is behind my ear, so I really don’t see it and remind myself daily of how far left this went. I was looking for something sweet and it looks like a preschooler drew it. I am just really sad about this as I wanted to give another Black woman the opportunity. Something I could even brag about and send more business her way. So take from this review what you will. From her website her work looks great! Would I go back to her, no...

I had the absolute pleasure of getting tattooed by the owner of this uniquely themed tattoo shop right in the heart of the city. From start to finish, the communication was excellent I did follow all booking instruction listed :-). She made sure I was comfortable, informed, and confident in the design we were going with. Aside from the expected pain that comes with getting a tattoo (she does offer numbing cream) the entire experience was amazing. She went the extra mile to make sure the color was an exact match , and during the session, she was as gentle and attentive as possible. Easily a 10/10 experience...