Cleopatra INK Tattoo & Piercing shop Orange County Review, Prices, Services, Images

Had a visit on Friday, 5/3/24, for an appointment with no real idea of what I wanted. These artists did a wicked job taking in the influence of different art styles I liked and created a piece for me to wear proudly.

Fantastic line work, in depth shading and done by an artist who clearly had a passion for their craft.

There’s no point looking for another shop once you’ve found the best.

Pictured is my cover up piece. Two day one photos and lastly after day three

My experience at Cleopatra Ink was not a great one.

1) the designing process
When I went in for the consultation, the artist told me the picture I showed him wouldn’t work well. He proceeded to pull up pre-made designs on his program and showed me images that were not what I was asking for (I wanted a rattlesnake and he kept showing me regular snakes). Then I finally picked one and we discussed framing it. I said I just wanted grass, he kept putting in tropical plants around it and I had to repeatedly say no, just grass. I did not felt like I was being listened to and also upset that these were just premade designs being used.

2) the tattoo itself
When I arrived for the tattoo, this is the first time that I realized the artist was not actually the one doing the tattoo, which is a red flag IMO.
The tattoo ended up taking 8-9 hours, every time we took a break the artist would go chat about with his friends for upwards of 30+ minutes, making it a much longer than necessary process. The end result was unfinished but after all that time I was too tired to stay and ask for more detailing. The more I look at it, the more I see flaws and it needs a touch up essentially right away. (See on photos: missing shading/scales on the head, part of the body just disappears into thin air, and shading on the lower part of the tail does not match the rest – too fine/sparse)

3) the price
All of the above for over $2k. 3x what I spent for my last tattoo (at a different facility) of similar size and detail.

I don’t hate it by any means but I think it is an embarrassing show of work for them and they charge way too much for the sloppiness of the product.

I had an amazing 1st time experience getting $13 flash tattoo by Fred. Highly recommend coming here. The staff were very professional, friendly, helpful and hygienic.

WORST TATTOO EXPERIENCE. First, you don’t actually meet with the individual doing your tattoo until the moment they begin. The tattoo design is done with a “designer” who then assigns you to whoever he thinks is most appropriate tattooer. Despite bringing in many images as examples, the designs that were proposed were completely off-base from what I had envisioned and non-artistic. I ended up way scaling back the original concept and will have to go somewhere else to get it completed. I would have walked away completely but they had already charged me a $200 deposit. My original quote was $600 – which I knew was WAY overpriced but even after I changed the design substantially and made it super simple, they charged me $400, which is obscene for the size of this tattoo. It would have been MUCH less at any reputable studio. I do think their artists are talented but there is little to no interaction with them so it feels more like a tattoo factory. I recommend you find an artist at another studio who is willing to work with you from the beginning and will charge you a fair price.

The place was extremely clean. The staff was super friendly. Sat down with me when i went for the free consultation and we spoke about the old design and talk through what I wanted. Ali did an amazing job n Farhat gave the best advice. It was the best experience I have ever had.
I would highly recommend this place.
Thank u so much.