Alchemy Gift Shop — Local services in City of Niagara Falls

Please either hire a new piercer or train the current one properly, Im not one to complain that often but after a certain point someone has to. I originally went there because two of my friends recommended the shop to me, at 18 you’re excited to be able to get your first piercing. However, none of us knew the old piercer was not there. When I walked in, I received no client consultation and was immediately sat in a chair, which also meant I had no idea what gauge size I was getting, no checking for placement on the piercing, etc. I asked for a septum piercing and she didn’t tell me she didn’t have the right clamp, went in with one that should not have been used, switched it out for a tube and then pushed the 14 gauge through my nose. She also did not use anything to dot the placement on my nose. (Small warning for a bit of gore I suppose) I felt the needle go through every single layer of skin and afterwards blacked out. The pictures below are of the piercing (I apologize for the awkward angles), as you can tell, it is crooked, very low hanging and not able to be flipped up. It is near the very under skin of my nose, not through any cartilage and when I mentioned it was fairly low hanging, she told me that was her preference for how they look, even though I was not asked beforehand. It hurt constantly so I decided to call the shop a few days later asking what to do, I was advised to either go there and take it out or if a ball fell off, then I could take it out myself. Lo and behold, twenty minutes later a ball fell off. I called the next week and was told by a worker I could come and get it redone for free in two weeks after the scar is healed and I would have a different piercer. Once healed, I went back and was told the piercer was out on break. I didn’t mind waiting so my friend and I stayed. The same piercer walked back in and sat me down in the chair. I again did not receive a proper client consultation so I told her my issue with it. She went on to apologize and told me how she has the proper clamp this time. I also asked her if I could get a sixteen (16) gauge instead since that’s the usual and more common jewelry size. Once again, my nose was not dotted, I was not checked for placement or thoughts and I am also fairly sure she was intoxicated in some sense seeing as I could smell some marijuana coming off of her breath. I almost blacked out again but thankfully I didn’t.

Moving on, two of my friends went to get piercings earlier today. The girl wanted a bridge piercing and the guy wanted a tongue piercing. They had been there before and had only seen the old piercer before but still continued anyways. The girl almost blacked out and said it was her most painful piercing even though it is one of the less painful spots to get pierced and she has multiple facial piercings already. The piercing was crooked, no placement for the piercing was talked about before and there was no dotting with a marker. The boy blacked out three times. Originally, the piercer went with a sixteen (16) gauge needle, felt lots of resistance and kept stopped to push it through once again and again. She saw the needle, took it out, and decided it was too small, so she proceeded to take a fourteen (14) gauge needle and re-pierce it in a new spot on his tongue in the same session. His tongue is black and blue and swollen beyond belief. He called to complain and she told him he could come back on Monday to get it pierced again even though two days is not nearly enough time to heal.

But please, someone provide the proper training or a hire a new and fully experienced piercer, even to just train her. I don’t want to see anyone lose a job, and that’s not my intention with this. But at some point a line needs...

We love the place, we love the tattoos, and I love the work on my girlfriend's body. The owner is super lovely and nice.now Now my girl texted the owner about her tattoo, which had faded within less than a month of getting it. She never once told the owner it was infected, just that it was faded. The guy who did it was out on vacation, so she wanted someone else to do it, but couldn't because the guy had to fix it - no big deal. But the minute she walked in there to get it fixed when he came back, he said she can't get a tattoo by him again, that's fine. He said not to bug the owner and she said she can call her to clarify everything because what he's telling her doesn't seem right for what she told the owner and she was super confused by everything that he said. He was basically yelling at my girlfriend in the shop, with people around, He told her that the owner almost fired him because of my girlfriend and raised his rent to $1,000. He said he's going to go to the police department to make a false report about me, her boyfriend, over the tattoos I paid for. I am upset that it faded within a month and wasn't what we asked for, but threatening to report me to the police over a tattoo is mad weird. Isn't part of being a tattoo artist taking trial and error and at least trying to get the person what they want or similar to what they want, not threatening people because you can't take criticism and knowing that you messed up a little bit? 🤔 So my girlfriend did message the owner to clarify everything up whatever happened to that tattoo artist is on them you don't make up lies and threaten people over a tattoo and a...

Anybody thinking of getting a piercing here, please don’t. I don’t know who is rating this place anything above a one star. The employees are nice people I’m sure but this place is extremely unprofessional when it comes to piercings. They only offer surgical steel jewelry when that is not adequate for brand new, healing piercings. In my most recent encounter with them, I asked to get my rook done. I said it verbally and wrote it down on the paper the piercer had me sign. What was given to me was my daith and a DEEP one at that. I had it checked out by a more reputable piercer and they said it may never heal because it was pierced through more tissue than was necessary. I’ve gotten many piercings and the daith I got that day was the WORST pain I think I’ve ever experienced. Not only was it the worst pain I’ve ever experienced but I had a constant headache for a week after due to healing. On top of that, I called and asked if I can have my money back and they said they don’t do refunds. In a situation where I asked for the THINNEST piece of cartilage in my ear to be pierced and they pierced arguably the thickest, I think some sort of refund should be given. They did offer to take it out and re-pierce it correctly for free, but I really do not want them touching...