Tattoo Artist's Cover-ups Go Viral: How She Makes Bad Tattoos Disappear

Magic Outside of Hogwarts: This Tattoo Artist Erases Bad Tattoos So Well, It’s Hard to Believe.

We all have that one friend. Or maybe, that friend is you. The one with a sad, blue dolphin from the 90s on their shoulder blade, a Chinese character on their ankle that was supposed to mean “eternity” but actually means “noodle soup,” or worse, the faded name of an ex on their forearm that has outlasted the relationship itself.

In the past, such “mistakes of youth” had two possible futures: either a painful and expensive laser removal session or an attempt to cover it all up with a massive black square. But times have changed. The tattoo world now has real magicians who can not only hide a bad tattoo but transform it into a piece of art. And one of these magicians is currently blowing up TikTok.

Meet Liv – Your Personal Exorcist for Bad Tattoos

Liv, a tattoo artist from Bristol, UK, has become an internet sensation. Her videos showcasing cover-up processes are racking up millions of views, and the comments are filled with words like “magic,” “sorcery,” and “how does she do that?!”

And honestly, we get it. Looking at her work really makes you question the laws of physics. She takes a faded, blurry, and sometimes just plain ugly tattoo and, in a single session, transforms it into a detailed, vibrant, and completely new design. The old tattoo isn’t just covered—it vanishes without a trace, as if it never existed.

What’s the Secret to Her “Magic”?

Liv’s secret isn’t a magic wand (though her tattoo machine works wonders) but a brilliant approach and a narrow specialization.

Style – Botany and Nature. Liv doesn’t try to cover an old design with something abstract. Her specialty is flora and fauna. She uses dark and saturated elements from nature—flower petals, snake bodies, moth wings, beetle shells—to perfectly “absorb” the old tattoo. The dark lines of an old tribal piece become the veins on a leaf, and the clumsy letters of a name become the body of an elegant snake.
Working With the Shape, Not Against It. Unlike artists who just put a “patch” over the old tattoo, Liv weaves the old design into the new composition. She uses the darkest parts of the old tattoo as the foundation for the darkest parts of the new one. This creates the illusion that there’s no cover-up at all, and the design was always meant to be this complex and layered.
Flawless Technique. Her work is distinguished by clean lines, solid color packing, and attention to detail. The new design is so bright, detailed, and interesting that it completely draws all the attention, and the eye simply doesn’t look for traces of the past underneath.

Hope for All Who “Stumbled”

Liv’s phenomenon isn’t just a success story of one artist. It’s a beacon of hope for thousands of people who are embarrassed by their old tattoos and think nothing can be done to fix them.

Her work proves that:

Almost any bad tattoo can be covered. The key is to find the right artist.
A cover-up doesn’t always have to be a “black blob.” It can be an elegant and beautiful tattoo.
Don’t cheap out on your artist. It’s better to pay a professional once for a quality cover-up than to spend a lifetime hiding the result of an amateur’s work.

So, if you’re still looking at your old “masterpiece” with sadness, don’t despair. Maybe somewhere out there, your own magician Liv is waiting to turn your tattoo regret into your tattoo pride. In the meantime, enjoy her work and believe in the magic of quality cover-ups.