"I'm wearing short sleeves, I don't want to expose my tattoos."…read more-Jerry Seinfeld Well now I DO wanna wear short sleeves to let my new honu peek out a bit! Been wanting to get a honu ink'd to remind me of where I came from... where home really is. Everytime I go back, I run out of time or just didn't want to give up the beach day. This time the whole fam was IN... when I explained my design concept, both my wife and daughter wanted their own version, still honu themed. da Scene: Determined to get this done done during the 16 day visit back home on Oahu, I did my research early and narrowed it down to 3 spots initially. After some dm's, email exchanges and finally some voice calls, it was Lai @ Tattoo Hawaii who I connected with most, so we scheduled an in-person consult and then our sessions, with 2 days left on our trip - only lost 1 beach day (it was a perfect one too). da Service: Every contact before our session was courteous and replied to promptly. I did have to be insistent on Lai doing our work, even if it meant spanning multiple days. His work on social media and Yelp! most connected with me. At our consult he explained how he would approach my design concept and adapt it to my wife and daughter. Lai was confident he could get us all done in one afternoon/evening session. The shop is tucked away on the 2nd floor of a little building on the corner of Kapiolani and Piikoi... parking is a challenge, so arrive early to wait out a spot. The shop is comfortable and can accommodate 3-4 artists working, with friends looking on in support. da Work: Kai was up 1st as hers would be the least complicated. She went with 3 petroglyph style honu, each about 3.5" diameter, ink'd fairly heavy - vertically on her upper arm, pretty classic design. She has several tattoos already and was surprised that Lai didn't work with a stencil... he simply free-handed the design with several pens, directly on your body. He's a very cool, confident cat, laid back and within minutes has you chatting it up like you went to high school together. I went next as my wife wanted to see how mine's worked out to help solidify her concept. Lai drew a honu/dragon/shark tooth design on my upper arm and I said "go for it". 2.5 hours later I was stunned at the fine details he added to the shark's teeth encircling the honu shell, as well as tribal accents in the honu, while incorporating the dragon profile. It really was satisfying to see my concept executed closely, while adding style and depth, bringing it to life. Carla was last up and really wanted to stick close to what I had done... just smaller and wanted the dragon to "pop" more. As you can see, Lai nailed it... however subtle, the dragon does appear more prominent on her piece. da Wrap: Really happy all-around, already thinking about how to add to it, maybe add color, grow it further down my arm, how to add to the story. It's a very personal thing and I really suggest you take your time to research and find the right artist. I'm confident that you'll find the right one at Tattoo Hawaii. We were there most of the day and saw several folks and artists' work, there was actually one guy there the whole time getting a large whole body piece worked on with a manual tattoo tool, that's an investment! HUGE shout out to Lai for making our sessions so enjoyable and comfortable... When he found out it was my and my wife's 1st work, he said he was honored to be 1st... such a humble guy, great disposition. We'll see you soon brother!

Many things have changed since my 2018 visit so the information in this review can stay relevant…read more I visited last week for a fairly large piece and Lai took care of it like he did with my two other ones. When you arrive remember to fill out the paperwork provided. This could probably be streamlined if it were made available online. Regardless, you can reach out to the shop via social media or even the shop's webpage too. We took multiple breaks on my last visit. What started out as a request for a pueo turned into a session to catch up since pre-pandemic and get back in the chair. Lai free handed the entire piece. I wanted a poly style piece with Lai's style and that's what I got. Very much appreciated for attention to detail. Reach out to the shop via social media and if you want specifics like cost and time, you better be specific about your request too. (i.e. size, color, design, etc). There are so many shops on Oahu and Tattoo Hawaii was the only one that gave me an accurate cost and time frame, not to mention some awesome conversation. Highly recommended and thoroughly enjoyed!

Lisa is an amazing piercer, I remember when I just turned 18, and having a 18-year-old's budget I…read morelooked and scoured all over to find the cheapest piercers and when I came across all the reviews on ink Pit, I saw that not only was it cheaper than literally everywhere else on the island but she is also amazing it hardly even hurt at all and earlier today I called a bunch of piercings shops and all of them are saying like 140+for a rook piercing?? You have got to be kidding me, but I always wanted to go to Lisa the only reason why I call other places in the first place is because they open it on the little bit later side and I wanted to get it done as soon as possible but long story short EVERYWHERE else has crazy inflation prices... Lisa is seriously the only person that I remember it being the same amount from 10 years ago that is so crazy honestly I feel like she should make everything at least $10 more That's how good her services, she ain't even answered all my questions that I have about why my industrial fill out before and all that this is literally my first good review normally I only review places when it's like extremely bad not just a little bad I can handle that but if it's like the worst place I've ever been to then I have to write something to one others but Lisa is my first good review and I'm very thankful that she took me in as a walk-in and had me out within 10 minutes maybe even 5 minutes at the most thanks again Lisa :) PS she even exited the tipping screen and said to not worry about tipping her but of course I want to~she already has her prices ridiculously cheap.. I have literally never seen anyone say no need to tip (especially in the service industry) If you need any piercings done please go to Lisa she's the best and honestly I'll never go to anyone else ^^

I got my daith and flat pierced here. it was a quick experience. When I walked in i was the only…read moreperson in the shop but Lisa was immediately rude and made me feel as if i was taking up her time and space. It was super odd, i've never had a piercer ever be so unfriendly. a few months later i went to my usual piercing place to get new jewelry and kinda talked about the Ink Pit to her. she knew who i was talking about because i guess Lisa "botches" her clients and has a reputation of it in the piercing world. my flat jewelry from the Ink Pit was so long but i thought it was okay, and my usual piercer said she was surprised it healed because it was too long to safely heal. i usually don't have trouble with my piercings, but this was so painful and hard to heal. as soon as i got a shorter piece, it stopped hurting and looks great now. their starting jewelry is terrible. this place is cheap and quick and im sure Lisa was just having a bad day when i was in there, but there are much better places to go. and remember, there's a reason why it's so cheap.

My daughter and I had an amazing experience at Black Palette Tattoo during our trip! We wanted to…read moreget hibiscus tattoos to remember our first family vacation to Hawaii, and this studio was the perfect choice. the space was so nice, clean, and welcoming from the moment we walked in. Kevin did my tattoo, and he was fantastic--incredibly fast but without compromising on quality, and the final piece is absolutely beautiful. Brandon worked with my daughter for her very first tattoo, and he was wonderful. He was so friendly and welcoming, which made her feel completely at ease and made her first-time experience so special and positive. her tattoo turned out beautiful as well The artwork is stunning, the service was excellent, and we will definitely be coming back here the next time we visit! Thank you, Kevin and Brandon!

Got my tattoos done by Veronica, who is only tattooing temporary in Black Palette as she resides in…read moreLA, but sometimes comes to Honolulu. Loved her style, she is a truly artist, designed at the moment what I had in mind combining a few pictures I brought, adapting it to what I was looking for. She is a master of fine lining and micro realism. Place is clean and location is convenient in Waikiki. They have many artists for all kind of different tattoo styles. Highly recommended if you are in the island! Thank you Veronica!

Holly tattooed me, she did amazing work and was helpful in the process. Worked around my schedule…read moreand made my idea come to life. Highly recommended.

This place has great hospitality! Morgan did an awesome piercing job! Was thorough and treated with…read morecare.

I have been wanting a Polynesian style tattoo for awhile and I did my research before coming to the…read moreisland for vacation. I ultimately chose this shop because the artists here are so talented. It was actually quite hard to narrow it down and choose which artist I wanted to do my ink - they're all crazy talented. But then I fell in love with a design I saw and I selected Brian and sent him an email to begin correspondence. When I arrived in Oahu I went by and we discussed what I wanted and I made and appointment and put down a deposit. My appointment was for Friday 2/9 at noon. Brian had drawn up the design for me that included the elements I asked for and it was even more beautiful than anything I had pictured. He managed to incorporate the ocean sunset design I loved, altered it to include flowers instead of leaves and he worked in the Polynesian element I wanted. He massively exceeded my expectations. The appointment was great. Brian is a skilled tattoo artist, he is very personable and I enjoyed talking with him as he used his 6-7 colors of black and grey to create my tattoo. I am very pleased with the result. Everything he used was new/disposable and he was meticulous in his care of keeping everything as clean and sterile as possible. I highly recommend this shop and Brian.

Reccomended to all!! if i can give more stars i will. got my first Tattoo it came out really Nice…read more Steve is really talented artist , so dedicated to his work! Excellent work Brother! Hope to see you soon again!

Levi James Purdy is my tattoo artist and he works out of this shop. Very professional and the shop…read moreitself is super cute and in the heart of Chinatown. Cash only-- but they have an atm machine inside if you forget. Surcharge is $5. Follow my artist on ig to see his amazing work: levijamespurdy He's the best!

The tattoo shop and most of the artist here is great. There is just one problem. KALLEY. She will…read moretake a $100+ deposit from you, schedule you an appt and not show up, then re-schedule you another appt and then cancel it and once you have had enough of that you ask for your deposit back and she denies you. Avoid this woman at all cost.

Went to the grand opening. The place had a good vibe. Very clean (I guess cause we went on…read moreopening day). Everyone was cool in there. I went to get a quote for a tattoo for me and my son and walked out with a tattoo of my favorite see creature the jellyfish . Definitely would go again. The only thing that sucks is the parking lot. Best to look for parking somewhere else

The butterfly pea lemonade was tasty. The music that they play really sets the vibe. I was in the…read moremarket for a tattoo while in the area, but couldn't come to an agreement with an artist this time. I enjoyed my time spent there anyhow.

Thank goodness for Yelp! I found this shop when searching for a place to get a small tattoo while…read morehere on vacation. It had great reviews and was only a 5 minute walk from my hotel. I dropped in on Monday and found that it was Cash Only so I came back in Tuesday night to put in my deposit. Since my request was small, they were able to fit me into Neil's already tight schedule - first appt of the day on Thursday! Shop was super clean and kept cool, which was a relief from the heat outside. Music played was also my style so I was able to get comfortable. Neil was great at distracting me with small talk and I'm super thankful for that! He did an amazing job (of course!) and I would totally recommend him to anyone looking to get a tattoo in the future! Overall amazing experience! Thanks Neil and Suite Dreamz Tattoo!

Second tattoo here and Neil is a bad ass. Shop is clean, a little hidden but definitely worth…read morefinding. He sketched out the idea and was open to any input I had but I had full trust in him. He does great work and definitely was affordable for being in Waikīkī and cheaper than a lot of Vegas places where I live. I recommend and will Definitely be back