Not So Temporary Tattoos: Friends Group Underestimates Lasting Power of Removable Ink

A group of friends learned the hard way that the temporary tattoos they put on their faces weren't all that temporary.

Their collective blunder was documented in a viral TikTok posted to user @onemicirci's account, which accrued over 5.1 million views on the popular social media application.

The TikToker's video opens with a picture of a Muppet's face, its eyes are bugged out.

"Our face when the 'temporary' tattoos done the night before won't come off until January 2025," a text overlay over the image reads.

A second part of the overlay reads: "A slideshow progressively worse," before the clip transitions to a recording of a gathering of people sitting around a computer.

Next, the same group of folks can be seen reacting to what appears to be the application of these temporary tattoos.

Following this, the temporary tattoos in question are shown off in a series of images. One person displays what looks like an infinity symbol on their wrist. Next is someone with a World Wildlife Foundation Panda plastered on their right cheek. They look into the camera with what looks like watery eyes.

Another person sports a crescent moon design in the middle of the chest, which they display by lifting up their shirt. Afterwards, the TikTok transitions to a face of someone who got a power button symbol decorated on their cheek, which is followed by someone else who appears to have several temporary tattoos put on their fingers.

There's an eye, a cross, a smiley face with a halo, and what looks like a highly stacked cheeseburger on their pinky finger. Another person in their group has a revolver plastered on the back of their neck. Which looks faded more than the designs on the previously tattooed individual's digits.

Following this, there was another person who uploaded an image of a triangular design placed smack dab in the middle of their forehead.

This geometric design probably pales in comparative coolness to the next person's artwork that they showed off. Well, that depends on how you feel about aquatic mammals.

That's because they were rocking an image of a dolphin wearing sunglasses on their face. This oceanic art trend extended to another member of the group's face — it looks like they placed a shark on their countenance. It's difficult to determine whether or not the underwater predator is also sporting eye-wear.

And if you were thinking that you could chalk up the lack of foresight to the fact that the folks in the video were too young to understand what they were doing, Micirci's caption for the video dispels that notion.

"We're in our 30s," she wrote.

Temporary tattoos are nothing new, but there are levels of durability to the semi-permanent ink. Clearly, in the aforementioned TikToker's video, the ones that they used definitely last longer than the ones you'd find in a Cracker Jack box or that come with your Baked by Melissa miniature cupcakes.

There are companies that manufacture semi-permanent tattoo options designed to last for varying time frames. Like Inkbox, which even sells markers designed to be used for folks to draw on their skin. Again, don't use this design if you're looking to get rid of them quickly, however.

That's because these semi-permanent tats can stay on your body for a few days up to a few weeks. EasyInk also sells "semi-permanent tattoos" that last "1-2 weeks" thanks to its "REAL AF" ink. And then there's this business, Easy Tat, that also offers a wide bevy of different designs, too.

TikTokers who responded to her video thought that the structure of the video was very much in line with the ages of the folks in it. One commenter penned: "The tattoos chosen, the fact that it’s not an actual slideshow, this is so very millennial."

Another person was tickled pink by the fact that a lot of the folks in the video decided to plaster the designs directly to their mugs. "I love how most of you went straight to face tattoos."

This was a sentiment expressed by another user on the app: "I wasn’t prepared for just how many of these were face tattoos."

Honestly, if you thought you'd be able to simply clean a tattoo off of your face almost immediately after you applied it, wouldn't you want to try and plaster one on your kisser as well?