Arch Nemesis Tattoo & Piercing — Local services in St. Louis

I went in with a request to brighten up a 20-year-old tattoo and add some detail. I told the artist Manda. The only thing I wish I could change is the shading around the first tattoo. I had never been a big fan. I asked for two dragonflies to partially cover up this feature. She was confident that she could do what I asked and I was excited about her planned design. Her next appointment wasn’t for two months, so I paid the deposit and came back then. The tattoo was on my upper right shoulder, so she began to work, and when she stopped to take a break, I looked down and noticed a considerable amount of black ink on my shoulder. I looked at her and said is that permanent and she said yes, that’s what you wanted. I couldn’t believe what I saw and went outside to take a few breaths. I returned and said I did not want to go any further. I got my stuff and tried to leave, and she became hostile along with the rest of the staff and threatened to call the police. They said I had to pay money since she had worked on me. Even though what she did permanently damaged my body. I would not pay so they called the owner. I waited for the owner to come; her name was Nikole. I told her I didn’t feel comfortable with Manda or anyone else there after the incident; she said if Amanda didn’t work it out, she would take care of it. She seemed to understand and offered to make it right but did say I needed to pay for her artist time spent. I felt she was genuine and would take care of the issue from this point. She said to wait for the tattoo to heal and then make a plan with Amanda and if she couldn't come up with anything that she would take care of me. After two calls, the tattoo artist said the owner would take care of the mistake from there because she was not able to. She never even gave me a new design. Then the owner emailed me and asked me to give her time to review information and pictures. I did. Nikole happened to respond during the week my grandma died. I could not respond and didn’t check emails for about a week. She then emailed me within that time frame, saying she now assumed I didn’t want to proceed and stopped communication. I emailed her and said I had lost my grandma and wanted to move forward with correction. I waited two weeks with no response. So I filed a complaint with BBB and the attorney general. That’s when she finally called me. She said she was not liable because the tattoo artist was an independent contractor and she no longer works there. In other words she thinks she is not responsible and she is no longer holding to her word.(verbal contract) Beware of the next person allowed to work there. There is no standard of work or code of ethics at this shop from what I have experienced. Nonetheless, this matter will be going to court. In summary this business allows a tattoo artist to make a mistake and does not take responsibility for the issue. Makes the customer feel like a criminal and then drops the ball on a promise to correct. I waited almost two months before writing this or filing a complaint. Hoping this women owned and ran business would ring true to the standards us women live by. Unfortunately it was one of the worst experiences I have had as a consumer. Lastly, I had a friend with me the whole time who witnessed the consult and the mistake. *The first picture shows a tattoo consult, and the second is what is...

While I will say that these tattoo artists truly have lovely work, the shop itself is darling, and I LOVE an all women staff, my review isn't going to be the best…but it will be honest.

In April, I decided to get a piercing for my birthday. I'd done research on Ashley vs Vertical Labret and chose to do an Ashley as I felt it would be pretty and complimentary on my face.

I went in on April 26th and when I arrived, the piercer helped me choose my jewelry, which was $115. We go to the booth to do the piercing and she mentions to my friend that because I have small lips, this piercing should have less issues with swelling.

I loved it. And she was right, I didn't really have issues with swelling, however…

Less than a week later, the post to the jewelry busted in half out of nowhere. I immediately contacted the shop and they said to come in, but the soonest I could was the next day (non driver.) They told me to flip the post upside down and make sure it stayed in until my appointment. I had to secure the post in place with a breathing strip because nothing else would work, and the post scratching my inner lip made me worried, but I did go get it “fixed.”

This time, the piercer told me that because of my very full lips, I should not be using the push in jewelry, and then proceeded to just replace the one that had broken rather than asking me if I would be okay with one that would be more secure. If she knew this about my lips, I wish she'd said she originally instead of letting me spend over $100 on jewelry that wouldn't last, and also to make the comment about small lips if my lips are so full they break jewelry.

Nonetheless, I went home and ordered a piece that was threaded and ideally wouldn't have this issue again- and before it was delivered a few days later, the second piece of jewelry from Arch Nemesis broke the exact same way the original had.

Because of this needed jewelry swap multiple times before I should have changed it even once, I was worried for the healing timeline.

It has been nearly 7 months and my piercing has never fully healed. Daily, it has bled, wept, and looked awful no matter how much I've cleaned it and been gentle with it. I also recently noticed that the angle of the piercing does not allow jewelry to lay flat, so my jewelry is perpetually sticking out. I have plenty of friends with this piercing and I have others of my own, this should not have been my experience.

I've taken the piercing out to allow it to heal and while I'm bummed, I do want others to consider elsewhere before moving forward with Arch Nemesis for piercings. When I took my jewelry out, it burned and now that its out, there is a hard bump inside of my lip, which isnt normal. I spent a total close to $300 for a piercing that barely last 7 months and caused a lot of physical pain, and can't...

EDIT TO ADD

Nikole reaches out to me and got me in for an appointment. She took into consideration everything I want and the finished product is amazing!

I can’t give a review based on any work done here because I never even got passed the consultation. I scheduled an over the phone consultation for June 9th (I’m from out of town) in order to get an appointment for early July because that’s when I’d be in town. The consultation got approved and the artist made contact with me via text saying she’d call at the time I had requested for the consultation, great. She never calls. The next day I reach back out and she said she had been busy at that time and would call later that day and gave me time, okay great. She never called. I waited two weeks and reach back out to her still hoping that I have time to have the consultation and get in on the day I’ll be in town even though it’s last minute. She said she was tied up at the moment but would text me later that day to make sure I was available. She never text me back or called. So at this point I’m not considering getting a tattoo here if they can’t even do a consultation when they...