While the TikToker’s tattoo is small and rather subtle, it doesn’t stop her from nearly tearing up every time she sees it.
A TikToker's tattoo might be tiny and simple, but that hasn’t stopped her from calling it the “ugliest tattoo in the world.”
For some people, getting a tattoo is a spur-of-the-moment choice, often happening on a memorable vacation or a transformative year abroad.
It's like a lasting token of a big life experience.
For others, the decision is deeply thought out, ending up with a design that has personal meaning or pays tribute to something special.
Either way, plenty of people still wind up with some less-than-stellar results. And one woman from Florida is convinced she has everyone beat in the “bad tattoo” department.
Marie Armstrong, known as @marieaarm on TikTok, says her tattoo is so disappointing that she has to fight back tears every time she notices it, despite its small and low-key appearance.
In a video posted in February, Armstrong revealed that the tattoo is on her index finger and was intended to look like a half-peeled banana.
At first, everything seemed fine. The tattoo turned out well, blending nicely with her other small designs on her fingers and hands.
But while it looked decent at the start, the banana tattoo eventually started to fade, leading Armstrong to get it redone. She’s done this with a few of her other finger tattoos as well.
"You could not tell what it was. I didn't even count it as a tattoo," Armstrong commented about the faded tattoo.
"So when my boyfriend told me he had a tattoo appointment and that he was getting a tattoo done by this artist who's really good," she added, "I was like, I'll go with you and I'll get my banana re-done."
"I show him a picture of right when I got the banana done the first time, and he goes ahead and starts free-handing, like, adding on the rest of the banana to what he can already see and sketching it," she explained, recounting how the tattoo artist began working on it.
"I didn't really expect him to print [a] stencil because, like, you'd have to size it perfectly," Armstrong continued, trusting the artist’s skill. "So I'm like freehand, fine. You're an artist, like, this is what you do, you know what you're doing."
Then came the big reveal. I have to admit, when I saw the redone banana, I couldn’t help but laugh out loud. It’s hard to describe, but it doesn’t quite resemble a banana.
"I look at it, and I am trying to not cry. Like, I know that these are stupid, silly, little, goofy tattoos and maybe to you, like, it doesn't matter how the f–k they look, but I actually care," Armstrong shared her feelings about the final outcome.
Now, Armstrong is just hoping it fades again, as it did before, although her social media followers will probably keep teasing her about the almost-banana that now lives on her finger.