My new cheek piercings.

So yesterday I got my cheeks pierced! I've been wanting them for years  because I just think they're so cute and plus they give you dimples. I think they look adorable! I remember seeing this photo and being like ahhh I want them!

(sorry Im not too sure who this is otherwise I'd source her!)

The thing was I'd always been a little scared to get them because they're quite an 'in your face' piercing if you get what I mean. I work as well as study, and have been working there for 3 years and I wasn't sure my work would be happy with them. But as I'm flying to Florida next week and have a month off work, I thought I could get them pierced and by the time I got back I'll be able to put retainers in them so it wouldn't be a problem! An annoying thing though, is my orthodontist told me I'd have my braces off by July, but didn't book me an appointment to get them off till September, so I do have them pierced with my braces which is a little annoying, but at the moment it's ok!

So anyway, I thought I'd talk about my experience, the price, the pain, aftercare and how they're feeling now.

I went to my local piercing shop in my town. I know and trust the piercer and the shop, I've had 3 tattoos there and  the piercer has pierced my lip and many of my friend's bodies and we've never had any problems. I think with cheek piercings its super important to make sure you go to a trained piercer who has experience because they're a tricky piercing to get right and the healing can apparently be hell even if their pierced right, so imagine what it would be like if they were pierced wrong?! I basically went in and told her I wanted my cheeks pierced, and I wanted them to be like dimples. They cost £60 for both.

I was in the piercing room for about 15 minutes. It took a while to get started because with cheek piercings you have to be precise with them. If you're like me and want them to look like dimples, you want them symmetrical  but also in the right place so they look like actual dimples. My piercer did a lot of measuring - from my nose to my cheeks, lips to my cheeks. She also took a close look at my face haha, and decided I already had teeny natural dimples so we could go from there. She drew dots on my face then asked me to smile. We eventually worked out where to pierce them. She then measured the inside of my mouth to see what length jewellery to put in. Apparently I have a tiny mouth so I'll be able to wear 10mm bars when I'm all healed which I'm super excited about because I wanted tiny bars! She decided to pierce me with 14mm's, she said she could of done 12mm but she wanted to make sure I'd have room incase my cheeks swelled up. She also brought in these huge 16mm's with massive balls incase 'I had massive cheeks' haha, they looked so scary and I'm so glad my cheeks were small enough for the 14mm's! I'm unsure of the gauge size. 

So then the piercing time! Even though I've had 4 tattoos, been pierced lots and had many injections and braces I still got nervous. It just does seem like it will be a painful piercing. I had some mouthwash and then it was time! My piercer explained it was going to be a slow process so just to take a deep breath and swallow. She clamped my mouth and put a needle in my cheeks from the inside. It actually was not that painful! Like the needle going in the gum was fine, (if you've ever had an injection to pull a tooth out you'll know what i'll mean) it was just very slow and you could feel it go through every layer... kinda like a lip piercing, it only really hurt when the needle reached the skin and there was a pop! Putting the jewellery was fine. I'd give it a 4/10 for pain. 

So here's what they look like!

So as you can see when I smile i get little dimples! They should get deeper the longer I get them in. When I don't smile they just look like piercings. I really do like them. Because I want tiny bars eventually, I was worried they'd look horrible in me too big but I think the 14mm is ok!

After care wise, I was just told to clean the outside with salt water and clean the insides (after every meal) with alcohol free mouthwash. I've only had them for a day but so far I've not had a lot of swelling actually, I'd watched loads of videos on youtube warning of swelling (one girl said she couldn't get out of bed for the first week!) but I think mine only swelled a bit, they hurt a little when I woke up this morning but now they're ok. My boyfriend also accidentally wacked my face and it didn't cause a problem haha. Eating is also fine, I can eat normally, but earlier at the cinema I had popcorn and they got a bit stuck, but again its just like having braces and its fine if you clean it out with mouthwash.

So, so far so good! I know healing can get worse though and the possibility of keloids >.< but I'm hoping if I look after them well it should be ok. I'm not sure how long I'll keep them for. I didn't think long because I just wanted the dimples, not the piercing, but I'm starting to like them a lot ^_^.

So anyway, I hope that covered things! If you have any questions, ask me on my tumblr !

and it would be super awesome if you followed me on there and also my twitter and instagram, totoro does! heh

anyway bye for now lovelies xoxo