Celebrity tattoo artist and famous beauty guru, Kat Von D, has shared the latest update of her blackout tattooing process.
Von D, real name Katherine von Drachenberg who sky-rocketed to fame for her stint on reality TV show, LA Ink, has uploaded the results after 'blacking out' 80% of her body with tattoo ink.
The 41-year-old KVD Beauty Makeup Collection founder took to Instagram yesterday (19 October) to share with her 9.5 million followers a video of the symbolic ceremony. Have a look:
She took to the social media platform to provide fans with a 'black out tattoos FAQs' in the caption of a video showing the lengthy process.
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Von D, who was recently baptised, revealed she has undergone '17 sessions' over the course of 'almost 40 accumulative hours' to get to the point of being 'about 80% done with blacking out' her body.
She explained she had been 'consistently flying out' to Philadelphia to get tattooed by the artist, Hoode Philly, at his 'lovely tattoo shop' called the Black Vulture Gallery.
Von D began the Q&A reminding her followers: "Maybe before commenting any negativity, just remind yourself: What you consider ugly, might be beautiful to someone else."
The first question up on the list read: "If you don't like your tattoos, why don't you get them lasered off?"
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"I actually did start lasering tattoos," Von D explained, "and although I think laser tattoo removal is effective, I personally wasn’t a good candidate considering how much coverage I wanted to remove.
"Laser is a slow (and extremely painful) process, that depending on your tattoo, can take more than 10 sessions, including long healing periods in between."
Second up on the list was the question: "Are you going to tattoo white over it?" to which Von D simply replied 'Nope'.
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She added: "I love the simplicity of the black — but definitely have seen some beautiful ones where people tattoo white over their black out."
For all those wondering about how the blackout tattoo could impact her health, Von D assured: "I’ve been getting tattooed for almost three decades, and have never felt a negative effect.
"Personally, I believe there’s more toxicity in most of the foods we eat, makeup we wear, and chemicals in cleaning supplies."
She went on to ask: "Are you eating 100% organic, eliminating all seed oils from your diet, cutting out all processed foods, sugars and food dyes? Wearing perfumes or makeup without hormone disrupters, lighting candles without fragrance, cleaning without harsh chemicals?"
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Von D noted that we can 'always try our best to pick our poisons', before adding: "Personally I try my best to do all those things above, but I do love me some lipstick, candy and a tattoo every now and then! And I’m ok with that."
And, last but not least, is probably Von D's most-asked query: "Why are you covering up all your tattoos?"
She responded: "I had many tattoos that represented a part of my life that no longer aligns with who I am today.
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"Some people are fine with keeping these types of landmarks in time on them — I personally grew tired of waking up to them, and seeing those constant reminders every time I looked in a mirror."
Von D concluded: "Also, I really love the aesthetic. I know it’s not for everyone but it is very satisfying to me to see a clean slate when I look down onto my arms," before signing off with a 'lotsa love' to her fans.
Rhiannon Ingle