I have several piercings now, and this was easily the time I have felt most confident about the process and people involved.

Tigerlily was exceptional. They were calm, professional and very clear on the health and safety aspects throughout, without sucking the fun out of the experience.

The receptionists/girls on desk were helpful when it came to making an appointment, and the artist was funny and incredibly competent. They are very clear on aftercare as well, and willing to see you again in the event that you have questions and to ensure that everything is healing up properly.

Alice 17 Nov 2011

Tigerlily

Around 3 months ago I had my bridge (top of your nose, kind of between your eyes) pierced at Tigerlily Oxford. This is one of the few piercings that are still done with a clamp, and it was relatively painless. I was impressed with the hygine standards and the girl who pierced it was realy nice and made me feel much more relaxed than I did when I had my septum and smiley pierced in Reading. I would definitely go back to Tigerlily as the people are very friendly and put me at ease. I've had no problems with my piercing, it's perfectly symmetrical and healed extremely quickly, infection free. Thanks Tigerlily. =]

habo 11 Mar 2010

I went to Acreedo Tattoos on Ock Street in Abingdon after seeing an ad saying that all their piercings are £10. I thought there was going to be some catch as I had previously been quoted £35 to have my tongue pierced.

Anyway, walked in. Place was immaculate and the staff were really lovely – especially as I was so nervous. They confirmed that all piercings are indeed £10 with no catch. So I went ahead and had my tongue pierced.

I was made to feel comfortable and given all the aftercare information. Didn’t hurt anywhere near as much as I expected and I will definitely go back there should I ever want another piercing.

happygolucky 10 Jul 2009

Getting anything pierced is not something you want to take risks over. At best it hurts and it's finicky to deal with till it's healed, and at worst you could end up with an ugly scar or you could get blood poisoning or some horrible disease transmitted by insufficiently sterilised equipment.

Having exasperated all my friends with my dithering to the point where I received pierced ear-rings two birthdays running, I decided to get my first piercing (ear-lobes) at Tiger Lily. It was that or a teenager with a piercing gun at one of the girly accessory shops. Tiger Lily do it with a needle, and needles are apparently preferable to piercing guns because they're easier to sterilise and are less likely to cause serious trauma to the tissue if anything does go wrong. They do have the disadvantage that the needle has to go in and come out, and then, just when the thing you want most is for no one to touch the wound, the stud has to go in. The woman who looked after me at Tiger Lily, however, is admirably light-fingered: there's one (well, one on each side) moment of eye-crossing pain, and then the rest is bearable, fading to a slightly shocked stinging by the time you leave the shop 3 minutes later.

Less reassuring was her pretty constant coughing and sniffing: there are some jobs you really shouldn't be doing in that state! Unfortunately, my concerns turned out to be justified: the placement of one piercing was sufficiently wonky to force me to remove the stud 24 hours later. I'm not going through life with lopsided earrings! I plan to let it heal and then go elsewhere to have the successful one matched. Tiger Lily were happy to re-pierce it for me, but weren't rising to the suggestion of a refund. And if they can't get it right the first time, I don't fancy letting them have another go. Watch this space.

On the plus side, neither piercing, two weeks after the event, is showing any signs of infection, and the one I removed is thoroughly sealed up and only slightly tender. One thing no one warns you about is the stiff neck from trying to sleep in one position - I'm only just starting to be able to lie on the pierced side, and I'm actually really glad now that I don't have to go through having both done at once.

You pay £30 for both ears, and they include the studs and two little bottles of lotion. You sign your life away on a bit of paper and most of the aftercare info is on that: they don't talk you through it as much as I was expecting, though they're happy to answer questions. The actual piercing studio is an indie-goth-kid den adorned with skulls and crossbones in nursery pink and blue. Not quite worth the price of admission, but entertaining anyway. There are two days in the week when they focus on tattoos, and they're busy on Saturdays, but if you're able to drop in on a weekday, they can probably do you straight away.

LovePuppet 4 Mar 2009

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