There’s a booming market for temporary tattoos. sangeetaskurtz talked to customers at Ephemeral, which offers “made-to-fade” tattoos that look like the real thing
Photo: Courtesy of Ephemeral I don’t have any tattoos myself, but I’ve always envied those who do. Obviously you look cool and hot, but it also speaks to your character. Imagine having that kind of commitment to permanence, to an aesthetic. It seems at once reckless and resolute.
Turns out I’m not the only one who feels this way. There’s now a booming market for temporary tattoos, led by venture-backed start-ups like Toronto’s Inkbox and the New York–based Ephemeral, which offer customers “made-to-fade” tattoos that look like the real thing. While Inkbox has found success in trendy collabs with figures like Rupi Kaur and BTS, Ephemeral can probably thank its success on TikTok for its latest $20 million in funding.
And Ephemeral has arrived on the scene at a time when the Y2K aesthetic — complete with lower-back tattoos — is everywhere. Of course, most of its clients are Gen Z and millennials. The Williamsburg studio’s interior, crafted by an ex-Casper designer, seems well aware of this, swathed as it is in soft pinks and greens. Incense burns in a lounge area, while large tabletops and plush couches give the impression of a co-working space with a Botox studio in the back.
When I pay a visit, I learn that while the tattoos are designed to fade away after 12 to 15 months, they’re pretty much the same in the ways that count: cost and pain. For the size, Ephemeral’s tattoos — which range from $195 to $450 — are around the same price as traditional ones. Ephemeral’s tattoos are also applied with a real needle; as one customer reported, the process feels pretty much like getting a regular tattoo.
This is my first tattoo. I’ve wanted a tattoo for a while, but I’m Jewish and we don’t usually get permanent things on our bodies. My buddy and I would always say, “Man, I wish they made temporary tattoos that look real,” and about a year ago we started calling places in South Jersey to see if they had anything like this. We just got laughed at. Then we found this place on the internet. I traveled about an hour and a half to get up here. My tattoo is a Hebrew word meaning inner strength.
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