It's not uncommon to regret your choice of tattoo some years down the line after your tastes and style have changed a bit. However, you would at least expect your ink to look like what it was originally supposed to resemble. One woman has been left rueing the day she sat down in a tattoo artist's chair some eight years ago, with her body art now more or less unrecognisable from the original design.
Lauren Hughes opted for an inspirational message tattoo during a holiday to Spain eight years back, which she had inked across her ribs in swooping italics. The once poetic message reads, "sólo se vive una vez", which means "you only live once" in Spanish.
![](https://i2-prod.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article27765279.ece/ALTERNATES/s810/1_I-got-cute-rib-tattoo-of-inspiring-message-on-Spain-holiday-but-eight-years-later-it-looks-awful.jpg)
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Unfortunately, Lauren isn't quite so happy with her inspirational tat eight years on, and has shared starkly different before and after pics on TikTok.
As shown in these photos, the message was written in fine, detailed lines, each letter visible. However, nowadays it's barely legible, having thickened out significantly in the years since, and looks like a completely different piece of body art altogether.
![](https://i2-prod.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article27765287.ece/ALTERNATES/s810/0_I-got-cute-rib-tattoo-of-inspiring-message-on-Spain-holiday-but-eight-years-later-it-looks-awful.jpg)
Lauren, who goes by the TikTok username @loz_hughes, shared a vid that begins with a Pinterest screenshot of the original ink, which she'd proudly captioned, "Getting a cute rib tattoo on holiday in Spain."
The video ends with a reveal of what Lauren's ink looks like nowadays, complete with a gagging face emoji.
Lauren, who captioned her clip with the hashtags #tattoofail and #tattooregret, admitted: "Yes I uploaded it on my Pinterest account under 'Quotes'."
This comes after fellow holidaymaker Nancy Gill, who goes by the TikTok username @loz_hughes shared before and after pics of a "cute fine line tattoo" she'd had done in Thailand, taken two years apart.
The first pic shows a titchy tiny airplane looping around a delicate infinity sign, while the second shows how the same ink looked noticeably thicker two years on.
Have you had a tattoo done that you've later come to regret? We pay for stories. Email us at julia.banim@reachplc.com