Girl who claimed her face was tattooed while sleeping comes clean

Kimberly Vlaeminck, 18, made headlines when she claimed last week to have woken up from a tattoo session with 56 stars on her face. She said she had asked for just three small ones. Turns out though, Vlaeminck was lying. From the Sydney Morning Herald:
Startatttttt "I asked for 56 stars and initially adored them. But when my father saw them, he was furious. So I said I fell asleep and that the tattooist had made a mistake," Ms Vlaeminck told Dutch TV.

(Tattoo artist Rouslan) Toumaniantz - who is covered in tattoos and piercings - had insisted Vlaeminck wanted 56 stars tattooed on her face.

But he had said he would pay for half of the laser treatment to remove the tattoos, The Telegraph said.

"Kimberley is unhappy and it is not my wish to have an unsatisfied client," Mr Toumaniantz said.

But after Ms Vlaeminck's confession he had withdrawn the offer, The Telegraph said.
Girl who said she woke up with 56 tattoos on her face admits lying

Discussion

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She is a meme already.

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You might want to proofread the quoted text.

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OK, who didn't see that one coming?

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called this one, although i thought i might have been because they came out *awful*

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Jordan you might want hit submit only once ;o)

anyway what i was going to say was DUH!

You don't fall asleep while being tattooed, especially not in a sensitive area like the face.

I say keep them, they look fab!

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LOL! I did, and it said there was an error. So I posted again, and presto!, two posts. ^_^

Tattoos always look awful until they heal.

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That is the reason I don't have any tattoos. I do my best to avoid doing anything I can't undo. I'm very much waiting for the day that I can just digitally change my skin as often as I like. Then I won't even have to worry about sagging later in life.

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er, yeah...anyone who has gotten a tattoo KNOWS she was lying.

Good she 'fessed up, but whose dad wouldn't be completely livid to see that on his daughter's face?

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The only surprise here is that she admitted it.

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I'm surprised.

I had expected some drugs to be involved.

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To echo RKWALTON, no...there is no way you can sleep through a tattoo being applied to your face unless you have significant nerve damage or a local anesthetic. The pain is so much more intense when the process occurs over bone. I imagine the nose had to have hurt the worst. Fleshy parts, meh, not as bad.

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I swear that nothing can wake my girlfriend up from slumber (thank God cuz I'm a hell of a snorer), but something tells me 56 face tattoos might do the trick.

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15/20 years ago this kid at my school tried to burn his off with an iron. I don't know if it was before or after his father found out, but he did it b/c of his father.

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Damn you #1 for posting that meme site link.

I'm not getting any work done today.

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#15 posted by Anonymous, June 23, 2009 10:46 AM

When I went for my first tattoo, I was informed that they did not tattoo above the collar bone. At the time I thought it was an odd statement, now I see why.

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At least it wasn't a backwards B.

I wonder how her dad fell for it. I mean, she didn't expect him to be quite so angry, right? So there had to be a point in the conversation when she decided on her story...

Girl: Hey Dad, I'm home!
Dad: WHAT DID YOU DO TO YOUR FACE!?
Girl: ...OMG I KNOW, I'VE BEEN MUTILATED! D:

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there is a HUGE stack of money waiting for whoever comes up with a sure, painless tattoo remover. I've heard lasers work but it's far from optimum.

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#18 posted by Anonymous, June 23, 2009 10:53 AM

great, so now she is not only the girl with face tattoos, but everyone knows her as a liar.

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#19 posted by sworm, June 23, 2009 10:56 AM

Good luck finding a job with a face tattoo.

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#20 posted by EH, June 23, 2009 11:07 AM

#18: Facial tattoos are actually considered to be a handicap and you can receive Social Security due to limited job prospects.

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#21 posted by Anonymous, June 23, 2009 11:07 AM

She reminds me of Ellen "Mac switcher" Feiss. http://bit.ly/5TLyX

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Oh good, I'm glad we got the truth on this one. I was very curious because I found both possibilities so implausible. Who would fall asleep while getting tattooed? But then again, who would want 56 stars on their face? I thought she might have had narcolepsy or something.

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@16 EH -

SERIOUSLY? Wow.

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#24 posted by acb, June 23, 2009 11:17 AM

The story had her listed as an "18-year-old housewife". I'm wondering about the thought processes that lead someone in a modern, post-industrial society to choose a life of domesticity at the age of 18. My guess is that she's more prone than most people to doing things that seem like a good idea at the time without considering the long-term consequences.

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#7: "Tattoos always look awful until they heal."

Maybe the body is trying to say something.

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I don't have anything against tattoos, per se, I just have yet to encounter any image that I love so much that I'm sure I'll want to see it all the time on my own body for the rest of my life. This would go more for tattoos that aren't ordinarily hidden by clothing, and even more for facial tattoos, which will be the primary thing the majority of people you encounter in your life will see. To get something so seemingly arbitrary, with little enough conviction that you immediately chicken out AFTER the fact... I mean, wow. If you're going to do something as batshit impulsive as that, you should at least face the consequences.

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#24: AMEN. However, I think most people never learn. And so they end up lying a lot.

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@ #13 posted by jimbuck

I knew a guy in the Navy who tried to scrub his tattoo off using a scrub brush, water, and salt (not salt water). Nasty scab.

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The US has to get six more states now, so we can arrange the stars on our flag in that pattern.

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#31 posted by Anonymous, June 23, 2009 12:53 PM

I recall a pretty disgusting youtube video of a guy having a chest tattoo removed with a belt sander.

Oh, and this girl is an idiot. I'd say 90% of the tattoo's I've ever seen are awful.

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#32 posted by Anonymous, June 23, 2009 1:08 PM

Didn't I read somewhere that an "expert" said she passed out because of something along the lines of the needle going too deep into her forehead?

Also, to those of you who think it's not at all possible to fall asleep whilst being tattooed; it's not. Happened to me a few times, though it was during 4-5 hour sessions and only for a couple moments at a time AFAIK. This, however, is pretty intricate work that would've probably required her to move her head around quite a bit..

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#33 posted by MOGLOG, June 23, 2009 1:21 PM

the tattoo has made her eye look lazy just like Paris Hilton's - that's awesome !!!!!!

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#34 posted by nanner, June 23, 2009 1:27 PM

have you seen the tattoo artist that did the work?

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/06/17/article-1193384-055E4FE3000005DC-456_306x481.jpg

Now, personally - i don't think you'd go to this guy unless you wanted something extreme. I don't think the little sorority girls would seek this guy out to put a little rose on their ankle.

and... what's his story?!?

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Oh my God, it's full of stars!

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Rob Cruickshank:

Sir, you Won the Internet today.

(LOL)^n

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Per the nose - everyone I have ever known, myself included, with tattooing on their nose agrees it is the most painful spot

As for facial tattooing being a disability qualifying one for aid (Social Security), I tentatively call this a myth as I have never been able to find any documentation for it. The best supposed evidence is a picture of Jack Dracula (who once worked at Coney as the tattooed man) holding his SS disability check with his face clearly tattoed but many have argued that he was getting the check for other reasons than his tattooing.

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#38 posted by Anonymous, June 23, 2009 3:29 PM

I think she looks great

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Next on BoingBoing :

OJ was lying about not killing those people.

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Rule of thumb: if you still live with your dad, you probably aren't mature enough to decide whether or not you should have your face covered in tattoos.

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#41 posted by aeon, June 23, 2009 5:14 PM

@20: "Facial tattoos are actually considered to be a handicap and you can receive Social Security due to limited job prospects."

That may depend where you live. In this part of the world "ta moko" are part of the indigenous Maori culture:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tā_moko

..and certainly don't qualify the bearer for social security payments.

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First flemish meme ! Hurrah ? Seriously though the whole family look like marginal characters. Junior's got that classic vacant stare and dad's already thinking about what he's going to do to that photographer. Mom just looks happy to finally have a family portrait.

I wonder if someone already sent it to awkwardfamilyphotos.com ?

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If that's the dad (looks too young), she's got it in her genes!

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#44 posted by Anonymous, June 23, 2009 6:37 PM

have another look! she's better looking with the tattoos! she can get regular work in a circus now, unlike some others...

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#45 posted by Anonymous, June 23, 2009 7:33 PM

I half expected her to start talking about how her Windows machine ate her homework (beep beep beep beep beep) and then started giving her star tattoos. But maybe that's just me.

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#46 posted by Anonymous, June 23, 2009 7:38 PM

Facial tats are a big commitment. You're not going to get a conventional dress-up professional office job working for a bank or something, but an 18-year-old female with facial tats is probably more likely to get certain kinds of customer-service work where the clientele and staff are all supposed to be "hip." Or whatever the term is this week. She should be able to ride this into her early thirties at least. Not everybody's going to be a lawyer.

In another generation maybe nobody will care and she can get that job at the bank after all. Businesses went from firing people for being gay, to offering same-sex spousal benefits, in about 30 years. Start the clock.

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#47 posted by Anonymous, June 23, 2009 7:53 PM

At first I was shocked and I think this was a terrible decision. Now that I have seen this girls face many times it has grown on me. It looks good, I like it, she could have picked something worse.

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#48 posted by benher, June 23, 2009 9:00 PM

I'm a tattoo artist, but you certainly don't have to be to have called this bluff long before the mainstream media did.

An 18 year old lying to get out of trouble is totally unsurprising. And sadly, neither is the media circus that frenzied around this girl to make her a victim when this story broke last week.

I've been tattooed over 50 times, and my experience is that it's not easy to fall asleep. Especially with the machine mere centimeters from your ear.

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Is it criminally irresponsible to give an eighteen-year-old girl a job stopper tattoo like that whether or not she really really really really wants it or not, or am I being old-fashioned?

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#50 posted by Anonymous, June 24, 2009 2:18 AM
Is it criminally irresponsible to give an eighteen-year-old girl a job stopper tattoo like that whether or not she really really really really wants it or not, or am I being old-fashioned?

No, because at 18 she's called a "woman."

Give it a try. WO- MAN. WOMAN. Say it.

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#51 posted by Anonymous, June 24, 2009 2:40 AM

Why 56?

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@32 Also, to those of you who think it's not at all possible to fall asleep whilst being tattooed; it's not. Happened to me a few times, though it was during 4-5 hour sessions and only for a couple moments at a time AFAIK.

I have to admit that my first thought was "how is it even possible to fall asleep while being tattooed?", but after reading your post it reminded me: I was able to fall asleep for a few moments at a time while I was in labor, so I guess it wouldn't be impossible. Of course, I hadn't slept for over 24 hours and I was using quite a bit of nitrous oxide.

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#53 posted by benher, June 24, 2009 4:13 AM

@Frank W Criminally irresponsible? no. Irresponsible? Yes.

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#54 posted by Anonymous, June 24, 2009 6:32 AM

omg that family! First we gave the world skinhead, now chav is spreading...Britain, the gift that keeps on giving.

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#55 posted by Purly, June 24, 2009 6:51 AM

What an idiot.

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#56 posted by Anonymous, June 25, 2009 10:17 AM

This is shocking that she lied to her father. What a disgrace. I mean look at her face and her father turned down the offer even though he doesn't like it. Well i say.

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#57 posted by hbl, June 29, 2009 8:55 AM

Don't trust people with tattoos. Got it.

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