Would You Get a Tattoo That's Meant to Disappear After a Year?

Ephemeral, a new tattoo shop in Brooklyn, addresses your fear of commitment with a revolutionary type of temporary ink, as well as your desire for self-expression. Getting a tattoo can be exciting, but how do you know you'll love your body art for the rest of your life? Instead of taking the risk and subsequently facing laser tattoo removal, Ephemeral tattoo promises genuine ink tattoos that will fade after a year. The special ink the shop uses consists of smaller particles that  disappear naturally from your body after nine to 15 months—which is, of course, also ideal for trying out your long-cherished tattoo. As its website states: "Regret that 4 a.m. text. Not your tattoos."

The ink was developed by Brennal Pierre and Vandan Shah, both Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from New York University.  "Whether tattoos could fade was a question that got us thinking," says Shah. "With our background in biomolecular engineering, we've worked with protein stability and protein development," Pierre adds. "Tattoos are just interactions between the skin (the protein in this case) and the ink, so that's why this issue was interesting to us."

Ephemeral ink is made from pigments that are FDA-approved for use in cosmetics, medical devices, and drug products and materials that are natural and generally recognized as safe. The tattoos are currently only possible with black ink, but the sky is the limit when it comes to creating your own design.

For now, Ephemeral Tattoo only has one parlor, but the more requests it receives in a particular city, the sooner it may open in that place.