"These women are truly my soulmates and I can think of nothing more fitting than sharing a tattoo with them!"
Getting tattooed is the most magical experience. But there's nothing quite like sharing that experience with your best friends by getting matching tattoos.
I've got matching tattoos with my sister (matching roses by Cassandra Frances), my mum (matching flowers in memory of a dear friend) and loads of my mates.
One of my fave ever tattoo experiences was getting impromptu matching hair grip tattoos by Abbie Williams at Brighton Tattoo Convention with three of my BFFs. It was a fun experience all around and now we have a forever memory inked into our skin.
But there's a plethora of amazing ideas out there for best friend tattoos. You can go cute and small, massive and meaningful, colour or blackwork, or you can even get sort of matching but not. We've scoured Instagram for some of our fave bestie tattoos to celebrate friendships in ink...
Same but different sister tattoos
We love these sister tattoos created by tattoo artist Miryam Lumpini, aka The Witchdoctor™ who lives in Los Angeles. The octopus are different colours with different details but with very much a matching vibe.
Teeny tiny matching tattoos
Along the same but slightly different vibe, these tiny tattoos are by LA-based E-nal.
Matching wine glass tattoos
An idea for the girlies who love to have a little wine and a catchup together. Super cute and small wine glass tattoos by Shibumi, who works at Lucky Horse Tattoo in Donostia, Spain. Cheers to that.
Tarot sun and moon friendship tattoos
"I had the pleasure of tattooing Eve and Caitlin matching Tarot cards," says tattoo artist Sarah Louise, who owns Sacred Coven in Nottingham. "The Sun and The Moon – it was so fun to commemorate a beautiful friendship."
What we also love about these? That each friend got the tattoo exactly where they wanted on their body, you don't have to get a tattoo on the same body part for it to be meaningful.
Matching feminine tattoos
Twin tattoos on twin sisters. "This is my matching tattoo with my twin," says Jade Cooper-Collins, who's an art director at Cosmopolitan magazine. "We wanted something that shows feminine energy and growth."
Jade can't remember the name of the tattooist who did the tattoos – "it was a very spontaneous trip and we got last-minute spots at a local place." We love to see it!
Matching tattoos for soulmates with different tastes...
Tattoo collector, Amber Carnegie has matching tattoos with two friends."My first matching tattoo I got in 2015 to celebrate 10 years of friendship with my best friend, Jess! We got matching moons held up by a hand by Meg Langdale," says Amber.
"My second matching tattoo is 'Be Kind' hearts by Becky Pope with my mate Aimee, they solidify our 'be kind, work hard and take no shit' ethos."
"We picked Becky because of the beautiful adaptability in her work – we have different tattoo tastes – so it was amazing to get a design that could be done in both black dot work as well as bold colour."
"These women are truly my soulmates and I can think of nothing more fitting than sharing a tattoo with them!"
Drowning girl tattoo
Drowning girls on Alice Snape and tattooist Amie Culver
Glasgow-based tattoo artist Fidjit tattooed her first "drowning girl" in 2015. Now these tattoos have become known as "drowners" and anyone who has one becomes part of the Drowning Girl Club (Fidjit has tattooed over 3,500 drowners, and counting).
The image stands for lots of different things. "It represents keeping your head above water," explains Fidjit, "for some it represents the battle they endured through sexual assault, domestic violence or mental health issues. For others, it's a sign of solidarity that they stand with people who've suffered." But mostly the drowning girl can be whatever you want to it be.
Super cute matching ant tattoos
We absolutely love these little ant tattoos on a mother and son, by tattooist Amie Culver who works from Good Company Tattoo Studio in Brighton.
Share your matching tattoos with us over on Instagram @storiesandinkskincare, we want your cute stories too...
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For more ink ideas, amazing artists and tattoo aftercare advice, check out the Stories & Ink Journal.