Nasa of Hammerhead Tattoo, Mount Maunganui. Photo: Joel Ford.
No discreet flower for Kate - her arm is covered in a colourful, complex design in shades of turquoise, yellow and vibrant blue. "I have always loved Japanese art for the beautiful detail in the design. I wanted it to be significant. I chose to have it on my arm because it showcases it there. I am going to extend it, and am thinking of doing the other arm, too," she explains.
The trend for women to show off tattoos is a departure from the past, when they kept them hidden.
"Only a few decades ago, women who had tattoos would have been on the fringes of society. When women did start getting tattoos they hid them away in the lower back, breast or bottom," says Nasa.
In the last few years, the rise of celebrities like Gin Wigmore, Angelina Jolie and Rihanna getting statement tattoos for show mean that body art on women has come out of the underground and become more mainstream fashion.
"It's more unusual to meet a woman who hasn't got a tattoo than meet one with. I would say around a third of Bay women have some form of body art."
They are no longer discreet but are colourful, intricate and bold statements - a far cry from a rose with a lover's name.
"The trend now for girls is to have tattoos in view. They want them on the forearm, and even on the neck. Me, I would not do a tattoo on a girl's neck, whatever money offered, unless they are already heavily tattooed."
Nasa says a good tattoo artist will have a big moral investment in the tattoo someone chooses.
"A tattoo artist must have ethics. You are doing something which can affect someone's life, and I must have peace of mind with what I am doing so I always spend time talking to the person."
At Hammerhead Tattoos, Nasa has two female tattoo artists, which is unusual in the industry - Skye Carson Wilson who is exhibiting at the annual tattoo convention in Hamilton at the end of the month, and artist Lisa Christiansen, who is in training. "A lot of women feel comfortable and more relaxed with a female."
Nasa also refuses to do names of lovers.
"There is a kind of negative magic - like a jinx - about putting a partner's name on. I don't do it even if they have been married for years."
Names of children, on the other hand, are the most popular tattoo among women.
"It's become almost a norm for girls, as soon as you have the baby to come and have the name. I am happy to do that because it is a name women will be always happy to have forever."
Women are also keen to get their own individual designs rather than the "cute butterflies" of the past.
"Everyone wants to have meaning behind the tattoo, to have something that is significant and unique about their lives."
Nasa says girls do like the colourful tattoos. "The Japanese ones are popular with girls. Not so much Chinese or abstract symbols anymore. But the biggest trend at the moment is words, whether it's names, saints' names or whole sayings or stories. Often, they will be in a different language or script."
Not just young girls are having tattoos. While we were talking to Nasa an elderly couple came into his shop with the lady requesting a rose on her arm for their anniversary. "Last week, I tattooed an 80-year-old nana who wanted a Kiwi design - a little memory of New Zealand to show her grandchildren in Australia. About two years ago, a woman in her 60s asked for a tattoo with a little bit of her husband's ashes mixed into the ink. I thought it was unique, that a little bit of him could be with her forever."
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But, for some women, forever is too long. When mum-of-one Fiona Barakat had the words "Mark, blazing forever" tattooed into a large design the width of her shoulders and down her back, it was when she was happily married. When the couple split, Fiona also wanted to part company with the tattoo. She is now having it removed by Michelle Wyper, who owns the Ink Off tattoo laser-removal business in Salon One, The Cove. It will take up to six sessions to remove it.
Michelle Wyper, owner of Ink Off, a tattoo removal business, with a client. Photo: Joel Ford
Michelle set up the business because there was no one in the Bay removing tattoos. "I wanted people to have the chance to change their past mistakes. I also had a name I wanted to get taken off."
Her business logo is pink and white to reflect her target market - women. "My typical customer might be a woman in her mid-30s who has an ugly heart with an arrow or something on her chest since her teens, and has now joined the PTA."
She adds: "I remove a lot of the horrible 80s-type tattoos - the hearts, roses, little cupids. Or poorly done tattoos done at home. Or impulse tattoos done after booze. I also get parents paying for their teenagers' tattoos to be removed."
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One potential client could be Papamoa mum Kerryn Alley, who had a tattoo done .
Kerryn Alley, who had a tattoo done when she was a teenager - and a little drunk - now regrets
it. She says it actually ruined her wedding photos.when she was just 16 which she now regrets.
"I was a little drunk and decided to get a rose on my arm.
"It looks horrible and I hide it with clothing, but I wanted a sleeveless wedding dress. I feel it ruined my wedding photos. I seriously regret getting it."
Former lovers' names are the ones that Michelle most commonly treats with the laser.
"For that reason I would advise women never to get someone's name tattooed on them - apart from their child," she says.
Michelle is keen to stress she is not anti-tattoos.
"I love beautiful, tasteful tattoos on women. I adore children's names in a beautiful script like Arabic. And the Japanese art is attractive."
Kerryn Alley had a tattoo done when she was drunk now regrets saying it ruined her wedding photos. Photo: Joel Ford.
Even Fiona Barakat is not put off having another tattoo.
This time she would follow the trend of having it on display.
"Now it's more socially acceptable and people want to show them off. They are so beautiful and complex now. Why would you spend that money and hide them?"
Tattoo artist Nasa says his advice to women thinking of a tattoo is to find an artist who will take the time to understand what you want, and who will help create designs customed for you, including where you will have it.
"A good artist will look at the shape of the body and how it moves - it is not as simple as just putting it on an arm. You have to look at how the muscles flow and where you will paint.
"You should think for a long time about the place and design of your tattoo and talk to the artist a lot so that you get to trust them and they get to uniquely know you. That way you will get a tattoo that you will never regret."
"The quality of tattoo tells your story - if it is thoughtful, unique and beautiful, it will be a good expression of who you are."