TikTok has become the perfect platform for customers to call out botched tattoo experiences. This time, a TikToker has gone viral after sharing her alleged experience with Ink Master Season 3 contestant Madison Loftis. In a video that has amassed 256,600 views, Tamara (@tamaralitton) explained what purportedly transpired after Loftis offered $1,200 worth of tattooing for $800.
Tamara said that since she had work done by Loftis before, she she went ahead and purchased the promotional deal. But cracks soon began to show for Tamara when, according to her, Loftis became unresponsive for months and continually delayed the appointment. Tamara said she eventually got an appointment but claimed Loftis was three hours late. “That should have been my first red flag,” she said.
Another subsequent “red flag” for Tamara was that the appointment purportedly took place in a “cramped” music studio. Despite arriving at 11 o’clock, Tamara claimed Loftis didn’t start freehanding the tattoo until two hours later, alleging the artist kept going for “smoke breaks.” Tamara said at that point, she felt anxious about the “botched” work she was seeing and left the session early by faking a family emergency.
According to Tamara, it was when she got home that she truly realized how botched the tattoo was, which she said led to her “crying and hyperventilating for 24 hours.” She then provided pictures of the purported tattoo for viewers. The image depicted an arm with uneven, misshapen, unfinished flowers tattooed on it.
What did the TikToker do next?
Tamara said she confronted Loftis with images and videos of the tattoo, calling her out for her “awful” work. She provided viewers with a screenshot of her whole message, where she wrote, “I can’t believe I paid you $800 to scribble on my arm recklessly.”
The TikToker then shared screenshots of Loftis’ purported response to her message, in which she appeared to defend herself, saying she “wasn’t done” and that her “process had changed.” With this reply, Tamara said Loftis took “absolutely no accountability” and blamed her for not letting her finish. Tamara claimed that after she replied to that message, Loftis “ghosted” her.
@tamaralitton Sorry I’m not too good at talking on camera😅 you cant tell me anything in the comments that I havent already told myself, plz be kind #badtattoo #inkmaster #madisonloftis #fyp #exposed ♬ original sound – Tamara
Next, Tamara claimed she shared her experience publicly on Facebook. This reportedly led to others sharing similar experiences they had with Loftis.
The final nail in the coffin for Tamara was that, allegedly, Loftis offered her alcohol during the tattoo session—a practice considered unsafe because of alcohol’s blood-thinning qualities.
“If she doesn’t want to take accountability, then I’m going to post this everywhere,” Tamara said. “If I can save even one person from getting tattooed from her, I will.”
Tamara didn’t immediately respond to the Daily Dot’s request for comment via TikTok comment or Instagram direct message.
Has anyone else experienced this with ‘Ink Master’ tattooists?
In the comments section, it soon became apparent that multiple people had horror stories about Ink Master tattooists.
“If I’ve learned anything from TikTok, it’s to never trust someone who was on [Ink Master],” one viewer wrote. “I also got a horrible tattoo from an Inkmaster,” another claimed. “[The] same thing happened to me with this artist,” a third wrote. “I had the exact same experience.”
Furthermore, this isn’t the first controversy to befall Ink Master. Back in 2020, longtime judge Oliver Peck left the television show after images emerged of him wearing blackface. “The offensive photos of me which recently surfaced from many years ago can only be a distraction to the amazing show I have loved being a part of and its many talented artists,” he said in a statement to TMZ.
Loftis didn’t immediately respond to the Daily Dot’s request for comment via email or Instagram direct message.
Update 7:46am CT, Aug. 22: Loftis shared her side of the story in a series of voice notes sent to the Daily Dot via Instagram direct message.
“I’m a freehand artist, so I draw on everything with Sharpies. And I have for 22 years, you know?” she began. She said she has a unique process that she informed Tamara of immediately. “Right from the start, I told her about my process with other artists, and I started tattooing like I paint. So I tattoo a little bit differently,” she claimed.
Loftis also said there were immeasurable reasons beyond artistic inspiration for why she handled Tamara’s tattoo the way she did, and the uninitiated wouldn’t understand.
“There are reasons that even the background—no one has an idea what was in my head of what I was trying to accomplish, as well as [Tamara], obviously,” she said. “I had such a great time with her. I don’t even know. Like, she never even told me about … anything. She didn’t even give me a chance. And she just ran out and said there was a family emergency, so she really gave me absolutely no chance to finish the process.”
Loftis did not deny keeping Tamara waiting for three hours; however, she felt the TikToker was wrong to complain about it. “I’ve never seen someone so entitled to, you know, time as she is to make something like that such a bad thing,” she said.
She added that she is a single mother who “can only be [at the studio] when I’m there. And my clients know that.” Loftis also claimed she told Tamara she would “work extra long to make sure and make up for the times that she did have to wait and that [she] appreciated [Tamara’s] patience.”
Loftis also denied using drugs and offering Tamara beer during the appointment. She slammed Tamara’s claims that she did so as slanderous. “She is using my popularity as a way to, you know, get her little five minutes of fame, and it’s really gross,” Loftis continued.
“I wish that, you know, she would accept my apology for that—that she felt like I did her wrong … because I was going to make her such a beautiful piece, and I was going to execute with grandeur. But she didn’t give me a chance to do that,” she concluded.
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