Skullduggery Tatu

I had a tattoo done in Skullduggery a few years ago, and I’m glad to have the chance to review the place.
It looks great both inside and outside — the exterior looks very individual and arty without being pretentious, and inside is scrupulously clean and tastefully decorated. It is nice too, as Geraldine D says, to see a female tattooist, mainly because they’re few and far between in Belfast.
However, personally I’ve had far better service from muscle-​bound male tattooist types (calm down there at the back). I first went in for a consultation as I had a certain type of tattoo I was thinking of but couldn’t find a design. The tattooist I saw was certainly a talented artist but I felt she could work on her customer service skills, as she got more and more impatient when the rough sketches she came up with wasn’t what I wanted.
And to be clear, because I understand it must be annoying for tattooists to have to deal with people who don’t know what they want, I was as specific as possible and was only saying things like ‘Perhaps the nose should be smaller’ or whatever (I was looking for an elf design). She just didn’t listen to me and then got annoyed when I didn’t think her sketch was what I’d said. Then I saw a picture I did like in one of the display books and showed it to her, and she said she wouldn’t do it for me as she ‘didn’t think it would suit me’!
For some reason, perhaps because I did want to support a new business, I went back a few months later to have a small Tengwar rune on my right wrist. I gave her a printout of it, expecting it to be scanned and then printed to outline on my wrist, but as the tattooist said she didn’t use computers, she drew it freehand. Fair enough.
The first attempt was much too big, which wasn’t a big deal in itself, but she actually scowled and tutted at me when I pointed this out. This, together with the same scowl and tut when she asked if I wanted some music on and I had the audacity to say yes please, made me feel like walking out. But, as anyone who has had a tattoo or piercing might also testify, once you get the nerve up to do it, you just want to do it. So I sat on. But I was definitely given the impression that I was inconveniencing her and that my tattoo wasn’t ‘cool’ enough for her to bother with. Maybe it’s because it was a small tattoo so pretty cheap, or because it wasn’t her own design, but again, not good customer service.
I was happy with the tattoo at first, until a couple of days later when it was starting to heal I saw a mistake where the needle had obviously slipped. Now mistakes happen, even if they shouldn’t for something permament like tattoos. But this, coupled with the tattooist’s dismissive attitude throughout, means I’d never go back to Skullduggery and have un-​recommended it to several friends.
It gets two stars rather than one because I have heard some OK feedback of the place (as well as some negative), but with the plethora of tattoo places around the city I’d recommend going elsewhere.

My sister wanted a tattoo and as I am now a resident of Belfast and she is living in a much smaller town she asked me to hunt out the best places in ‘the big smoke’
I asked my mate who is covered in them and she recommended Helen in Skullduggery on the Dublin Road.
I went up to have a look, mainly to check if it was clean really, which it was. The building itself is weird but it suits the type of services on offer. The front is bright blue with two shutters that are decorated like pieces of art in the metal work genre. Upon entering the small studio you can see many pieces of Helen’s work, both tattoos and paintings. She is a talented lady.
I often feel slightly uncomfortable in these types of places but I felt at ease looking at the previous tattoos and explaining to Helen about my sister’s flower idea. She was very nice and helpful and as a female I felt at ease — she is the only artist that works there and I was expecting a big pierced and tattooed man who would give me goosebumps.
Anyway, I rang my sister and told her that Helen’s was clean, decent and recommended but she had forgotten about our whimsical tattoo conversation and had moved on to her new fantasy topic of a sports car (?!)

Pretty decent tattoo place also do piercing nice and clean staff friendly enough good range of tattoos.

Great little place, clean inside and very friendly staff. I got two piercing done here, and one of the staff designed an album cover for my friends band (The Pocket Billiards). Very professional.