TikToker gets freckle tattoos—and it goes horribly wrong

There are all kinds of questionable trends on TikTok.

Since the app shot to popularity back in 2018, it has grown into one of the most talked-about social media sites on the planet. Due to this popularity, users are always looking for ways to out-do one another. This has led to a range of extremely questionable trends and challenges. Many could lead to genuine bodily harm, while others are just inadvisable. Take, for instance, the people tattooing freckles onto their faces.

Tattoos are great, we get it. As are freckles. But tattooing tiny dots onto your face—for a shockingly high price, at that—doesn’t seem to work. In some cases, the new ink is transformative. Formerly blank canvases of skin end up looking sun-kissed and lightly speckled. In other cases, the tattoos look far more like tattoos—not exactly what these people are looking for.

Take TikToker @runitmomma, who recently uploaded a video detailing her less-than-successful attempt at changing up her look.

The video begins with a photo of a gorgeous young woman with natural-looking freckles and lightly tanned skin. In the background, a woman can be heard weeping.

“This is what I wanted, OK,” a TikTok sound bite begins as a finger emerges and points to the natural-looking freckles. “This, the pastels. And this is what I got!” The camera then switches to reveal @runitmomma’s freshly inked face. Her new look is very much missing the “natural” element she was looking for.

The video concludes immediately after. As @runitmomma explained to commenters, she has always loved freckles and wanted to enhance her look by getting a smattering of natural-appearing speckles on her face. Instead, she has permanent dots scattered across her cheeks, nose, and forehead.

A year and three laser tattoo removal appointments after @runitmomma’s unfortunate experiment she has a lovely—albeit minor—smattering of freckles across her cheeks and nose.

Hopefully, anyone else looking to attempt this questionable trend will take @runitmomma’s disastrous experience as a lesson. According to a commenter on the video, there are more successful methods to obtaining the look. A cosmetic tattoo artist who goes by Jessica on the platform noted that freshly inked freckles are likely to look “big and dark.” Once they’ve faded a bit, assuming they still look unnatural, Jessica recommended “retinol products or salicylic acid products.”

If you’re looking to obtain the look @runitmomma was going for, Jessica recommends going to a cosmetic tattoo artist, rather than a traditional tattoo artist. “The pigment and technique we use is meant to be more natural/fade over time rather than regular tattoo,” she wrote.

Her lesson comes a bit too late for @runitmomma, but maybe someone else can learn from Jessica’s advice and @runitmomma’s mistake.