Love Tattoos

Sometimes a heart isn't enough and you want the word itself. Our love tattoos say it in letters: a handwritten or typewriter-style "love", an "I love you" in script, calligraphy in other languages and alphabets, or a short line about self-love.

Next to the words sit the symbols that travel with them: infinity loops, overlapping hearts, heartbeat lines and tiny hearts with sparkles. Script pieces are happiest along a finger, the inner wrist, the collarbone or the side of the forearm, anywhere a line of text can run straight. Fonts range from airy cursive and fine line handwriting to bolder serif letters, so the same word can feel shy or loud depending on the one you pick.

Each design goes on in 2 minutes max and starts out faint; allow 24 to 36 hours for it to deepen to blue-black. Once the first 8 hours have passed, water won't bother it, and it lasts up to 2 weeks, a little less on fingers. That makes temporary love tattoos an easy way to test a word, a font or a placement before you commit to permanent ink.

After hearts on their own? Head to heart tattoos. For more fonts and phrases, browse lettering tattoos, or put your own words on skin with a custom tattoo.