From January-May 2014 I was in Montreal, Canada, and while I was there I wanted to get a tattoo. I already had 4 from before and had an idea for a 5th one, and I always do a lot of research before getting a tattoo. In Montreal I didn’t know anyone who already had a tattoo, so I couldn’t ask someone who could recommend me a good tattoo studio. I therefore looked up a bunch of studios on Google and wrote down 8 places that I wanted to check out. I wanted to see how the studio was, how service minded, helpful and nice the staff was, what the cost would be roughly (I had a picture with me of the tattoo that I wanted to get), and how long one would have to wait for an appointment.
This is the tattoo that I wanted to get on my right forearm, and it’s a quote by Albert Einsten – “Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is to not stop questioning.”
This quote means a lot to me and it’s something that I try to embrace and live by. I have always had a tendency to get too stuck in and dwell too much on the past, or think about and worry too much about the future. I’ve always had trouble to leave stuff in the past, and I know that I must ‘learn from my mistakes’ and not let the past take over the present. I can also sometimes get too stuck in thoughts and stress too much about the future, so I must ‘look forward to tomorrow’ and not let those thoughts take over the present. I must learn to enjoy the present more and focus on the “here and now”. This message is therefore very important to me, which is why I wanted to get this tattoo on my forearm; so I can see it and be reminded of it every day.
Learn from yesterday – Don’t keep repeating your mistakes, take it with you and learn from them.
Live for today – Live in the moment, don’t get stuck in the past or worry about the future too much. Life is short and life is now.
Hope for tomorrow – Hold on to your dreams and aspirations, things can always get better.
I put together a summary of all the different studios that I visited and I thought that I would share this information with you, if you were thinking about getting a tattoo in Montreal! :
- Slick Styled Steel
Here they said that the tattoo would probably cost in between $120-$150, but probably under $150 (the cost is $120/h). The recommended SmAshley who’s good with writing, and I could call and book and appointment with her about a week in advance. I could also book a consultation with her first so she could take a look at and listen to my ideas and draw up a good size of the tattoo. You can read more about the studio and SmAshley’s portfolio HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE.
This studio also seemed to have gotten some good reviews, especially SmAshley, and I liked her portfolio, she has done many nice tattoos. They were also very friendly and helpful at the studio, they took the time to listen to my ideas and came with suggestions and such, so I really liked this place. (At another place that I visited, someone also recommended Slick Styled Steel and said that they’re great there, which sounded positive!) - Adrenaline
They said that it would probably take them around 1,5 hour to do the tattoo and it would therefore cost around $150. I could contact them only a couple of days in advance to get an appointment. They recommended the tattoo artist Kassie who’s good with text tattoos. You can find more info about the studio and Kassie’s portfolio HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE.
From what I could see this studio seems to have gotten some good reviews, but there are also people who say that this studio is not the biggest and the best as it tries to come off. That there’s too much hype around it. However, when I checked out Kassie’s portfolio I found that she seems to know what she’s doing and she has done many nice tattoos. Also, they were very nice at the studio, but they had a lot of things going on and not so much time to listen to my ideas and such. - Tattoo Mania
The tattoo here would cost me between $200-$300, and you could get an appointment within 2 weeks. It would probably have taken around 2 hours to do the tattoo, to get it just right and in a good size so it would look good, and they would’ve charged me for the tattoo rather than by the hour. They recommended either Scal, Olivier, Cat or Alex. The woman here mentioned Cat twice and said that she would probably be the one who could have done it. You can see her portfolio HERE and HERE.
The staff here was very friendly, the woman who talked to me took the time to look at and listen to my ideas, and she came with suggestions and such. They said that you could book a consultation first, to sit down and discuss the tattoo with the tattoo artist before to get it just right. So I liked this place, too bad though that it sounded like it would cost me a lot to get the tattoo here. - Excentrik
The cost here is $130/h, and they said that my tattoo would probably take around 1,5-2 hours to do. Nola was the girl that I spoke to who said that she could do the tattoo. You find her portfolio HERE and HERE.
She was nice and she took the time to look at and listen to my ideas. However, she didn’t have that much time for when I wanted to get my tattoo, they were very booked (and it seemed like they didn’t have many tattoo artists there, the studio was quite small). - MTL Tattoo
Here the tattoo would cost me about $160 + taxes. Since it was going to be such a small tattoo they would charge me for the tattoo rather than charge me per hour. I could contact them at least a week before to get an appointment, and whichever tattoo artist here could do the tattoo.
There were nice people who worked there and they took the time to listen to and look at my ideas and such. However, it felt like they didn’t take it all too seriously since the tattoo was so “simple” and not that big or complicated to do, so they simply said “come in and anyone here could do it”. For me it still felt like a big deal to do that tattoo (I feel that it’s always a big thing to do a tattoo!), so I therefore wanted to find a nice tattoo artist that could take the time to sit down with me before and draw up the tattoo for me so it would be in a good size for my forearm. So it would have been nice if they could have mentioned the names of some tattoo artists there so I could check out their portfolios a bit before. - Tattoo Lounge
They said that the tattoo would probably cost me around $200. They recommended Joel who’s good with writing, and they could do it within 2 weeks. You find Joel’s portfolio HERE. Sure, he’s done some nice tattoos, but they’re a bit bigger and more advanced than the simple tattoo that I had in mind.
The woman who worked there was very nice and she listened to my ideas. She also asked about what other places that I had visited and when I mentioned Slick Styled Steel she said that that place is very good. She also mentioned which studios are the “Top 5” in Montreal: Slick Styled Steel, MTL Tattoo, Tattoo Lounge, Imago and Tattoo Mania. - Imago
Here they would charge me between $145-$215 for the tattoo, it would all come down to how long it would take, and they could do it anytime. It would cost at least $145 (that’s their hourly price).
I didn’t get the best vibe from this place. They weren’t very service minded or helpful, they barely took the time to listen to me or look at what kind of tattoo that I wanted to get, and they couldn’t even recommend me a good tattoo artist. No, I didn’t feel like I was very nicely treated here, a tattoo is actually a big deal to get since you’ll have it for the rest of your life, so therefore you would want the people who work at the tattoo studio to take their time to listen to you and your ideas. - Bodkin Tattoo
The price for the tattoo would be in between $140-$160 and I could come in and do it right away, they said that it would probably take only 20 minutes. They even said that they could squeeze me in between two other appointments, and that anyone here could do it.
I did not like this place at all. The staff wasn’t service minded, they were rude and not very heplful. They barely took the time to look at what kind of tattoo that I wanted to get or listen to me, and just because the tattoo was kind of simple and not that big it seemed like they just thought of it as not such a big deal. I mean come on, 20 minutes? (And the studio that I visited before this one said 2 hours!) It didn’t feel like they took the tattoo that I wanted to get very seriously or like they would put down a lot of time to do it well. Since I was going to get a tattoo on my forearm that is going to be very visible for the rest of my life I wanted them to take their time and make sure that it’s going to look very nice. One of the snide comments that I got when I said that I was checking out many different studios in the city, to compare them, was “So you’re letting money decide where you’re gonna get your tattoo?” No! They said it like I didn’t know what I was doing, but I do have four other tattoos from before. Money is just a part of it, the rest has to do with how the studio and the staff is, and how the portfolios of the tattoo artists are, and with that bad attitude and treatment they could forget that I was ever going to do a tattoo at their studio. So I put a big no no on this place!
I got the best impression of Slick Styled Steel, Adrenaline and Tattoo Mania. Tattoo Mania was a bit too expensive for my taste though, so I felt that it would come down to either Slick Styled Steel or Adrenaline. Both SmAshley and Kassie seemed to be very good tattoo artists and I felt that it would be interesting to get a tattoo from a woman. Partly since my four previous tattoos have all been done by men, and partly since I wanted to get a quite feminine tattoo, so I felt that it could therefore be nice to get some views and opinions from a woman.
So eventually I decided on Slick Styled Steel. I got a very good feeling and impression of that place, so I booked a consultation with SmAshley to discuss my tattoo. However, we ended up doing the tattoo the same day as the consultation because she had gotten a cancellation! She drew up a good size and found a good placement for the tattoo and I felt happy about how it would look, so then it was time to get inked. Afterwards I felt very happy and pleased with the result!
It took her about one hour to do the tattoo (+ she did a touch up of another one of my tattoos, a small one!) and for that I payed $130. She really took the time to do it well, making sure the tattoo looked really good, and I ended up getting a very nice tattoo! So I’m very happy with my choice of Slick Styled Steel and SmAshley. The studio was really nice with a very nice staff and SmAshley was just great. She was very good at what she was doing and she was also very nice to talk to during. I feel like if I ever want to get another tattoo in Montreal I’ll definitely book an appointment with SmAshley!
The studio also offers a free touch up of your tattoo after one month has passed, so I went back there after about 7 weeks to get my touch up, and SmAshley took the time to also do the touch up really well. I am once again very happy with the result, and the tattoo looks great!
So thank you Slick Styled Steel for good service and thank you SmAshley for my gorgeous tattoo, I couldn’t be more happy about it!
Time to get inked by SmAshley!
The result! I love it, and I think it looks very good!
I love this tattoo and I am glad that after thinking about it for years I finally took the courage to do it! (The pictures above were taken when the tattoo was new; in march, and the picture below was taken a week ago; in june!)
