A bit of background: In my first year of university I met a boy and we dated until July this year, which is my final year. When we met I had my tongue, eyebrow and nose pierced as well as 17 in my ears and over the course of our relationship I added a tragus and a lip ring to the collection. Gradually, without me paying much attention, I managed to retire almost all of them, just leaving 4/5 in my ears, my lip and tragus. There was always an unspoken assumption that eventually I would "grow up" and take them out and I always thought that was what people did. Just as the relationship started going downhill I found BME and it dawned on me that I the person I wanted to be anymore.
At A Glance Author Venusdiablo Contact Venusdiablo@bme.anon IAM venusdiablo When A week ago Artist Jon Studio Blue Banana Location Cardiff December 2005: I've been single for 5 months which have been spent trying to figure myself out. I've had several piercings done and was happy until two weeks ago when a manager took me to one side in work and said they'd had a complaint about my piercings as there is a policy of only one facial piercing. I knew for a fact this wasn't true as they hired me with 3 and on reading the policy it actually stated "subtle facial piercings". This annoyed me as the managers hadn't said anything about them as I got them done. Around this time my mother offered to pay my rent until I finished my degree so I could concentrate on studying, which meant I could quit work. Time for a celebratory piercing!
It had to be cheeks. I love them, I love the way they look on people and I love the way they scar as dimples if done well. With this decided I headed to Cardiff and the by now very familiar Blue Banana where I was told that they didn't have the right length of bar but they could order them in. I agreed and they told me to come back in 2 days time. That night, with her usual timing my mother called about me coming home for Christmas and said the usual line "I hope you haven't had anymore of those piercing things". As she hadn't seen the monroes yet I thought cheeks might push her over the edge so the idea went on the back burner.
A week later, when I got back I ventured back into town. "You do come back then?" is what I got greeted with at the counter. I explained why I hadn't been in and he showed me the 16mm (5/8) bars that were about to be poked into my cheeks. I had a sudden moment of panic but was told that there was a bit of a wait and I had to come back in 20 minutes. I went to get something to eat because I wasn't ready for the shame of passing out after a piercing!
And then it was time. Ably assisted by my mates Jon marked (and then remarked twice because I'm moany) my cheeks. I was expecting them to hurt way more than they actually did but the only problem I had was the left one bled and then laughing so hard when he went to do the right one as my friend had missed him doing the first!
As always he was the perfect professional. That is until I was done and he grabbed the camera and took my picture looking like a kid at Christmas! I went back out into the shop and everyone had a good look. The general consensus was that they looked amazing so I was very pleased.
That night I met a friend who had both cheeks done but lost one due to excessive swelling. He told me that his were done at 22mm and laughed at my chances of keeping them at 16mm. I went home and ordered 20mm bars just in case as 16mm was the biggest the shop had in stock.
Day 2 was fine, even after drinking a considerable amount of cider the night I had them done (don't do it!). A little bit swollen and it hurt to laugh. Day 3 the swelling began properly, I was terrified as there was only 1 day of mail left before Christmas and the longer bars hadn't arrived. I woke up that morning covered in what I thought was drool but was actually blood and lymph which was pretty nasty. The left one started to embed into my cheeks a little but calmed down with some ibuprofen and ice. Day 4 and still no longer bars, I had visions of spending Christmas in hospital having them cut out so more ibuprofen and ice.
Day 5- I woke up and they were fine, admittedly a little crusty but not embedded anymore. I put it down to a Christmas miracle! They're a week old now and doing very well, the one thing I'd advise with them is that they do go crusty quite a bit so it's handy to have some saline solution and tissues with you if you're out and about. They only dimple properly when I smile but apart from that I'm so happy with them. I thought that they might attract a lot of negative attention, being quite uncommon and considering I have a number of piercings around my mouth but the reactions have been mainly positive.
All in all, a piercing and an experience I would definitely recommend!