Temporary Tattoos | Fake tattoos | Body art

Temporary tattoos are a beautiful accessory. Easily applied with water, these temporary tattoo body art designs are feminine, chic and a unique and very different fashion accessory. Temporary tattoos are an emerging trend.

Old fashioned temporary tattoos, which were first made popular as inserts in bubble gum, were poor quality ink transfers that often resulted in blurry designs and could easily be washed or rubbed off. These lick-and-peel temporary tattoos became a well-known piece of North America.

Modern temporary tattoos

are made of ink and glue, and last much longer than older temporary tattoos. In this process, the temporary tattoo is applied to the outer surface of the skin and remains until such time as the image fades away (typically after 3–5 days) or is removed. While most temporary tattoos are created commercially for advertising or as novelty items, the process of creating has been adapted to the fine art of lithography as well. And even more recently, Chanel, the Parisian fashion house, has set up a themed area in Selfridges on Oxford Street offering customers the chance to have Chanel's own transfer tattoos applied by experts. The designer offerings has been advertised (as part of Chanel's Paris Spring and Summer 2010 farmyard barn theme recreated in London) as an opportunity for fans to have the chance to have tattoo transfers applied to "areas of the private nature". Temporary tattoos usually consist of five main elements: the front of the sheet of paper, the back of the sheet of paper, ink, glue and a protective plastic sheet. The front of the sheet is covered with a special coating upon which the tattoo image is printed with special inks. A layer of glue is then applied on top of the image. A thin, transparent plastic sheet is placed over the front of the sheet to protect the image and glue layer. The back of the sheet is left untreated and has a list of ingredients and instructions printed on it. Transfer temporary tattoos are usually applied by removing the plastic sheet, placing the image face down against the skin and moistening the backing by wetting it thoroughly. The backing can then be carefully removed, leaving the image in place. In 1980, temporary tattoos were created using different and exotic ink systems. 3M designed and developed a special coating called Micro-Fragrance that made scratch-n-sniff technology possible. The temporary tattoo industry adopted the scratch-n-sniff concept and a few companies, such as Dallas-based Highgate Products, released scented tattoos. Around this time advances in ink and screen printing were also developed. These advances made the temporary tattoos last longer and look more realistic. As temporary tattoos quality increased, so did demand. People began seeing temporary tattoos as a product that could last and could be used outside of inexpensive giveaways. Today, temporary tattoos are sold everywhere from vending machines to check-out counters at mass retailers to high-end boutiques and can be customized and printed through a color laser printer using specialty color laser transfer paper. A variety of tattoo designs exist; everything from Marvel superhero tattoos, to glitter designs, to Ed Hardy temporary tattoos for trendy adults and clubbing designs for young people. source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temporary_tattoo