I never thought that Parisian fashion house Chanel would have much in common with my local off-licence but guess what?  They both sell temporary tattoos.

The Chanel version is sold to a waiting list of label-loving, fashion hungry women and the latter is sold in-between sheets of pink bubblegum to the kids on bikes at the end of the street.

The Chanel version retails for around £60 for 3 sheets of transfers and consists of pearls, chains, and delicate little birds.  Well now River Island have brought out their own example consisting of pearls, chains, and er, delicate little birds.  The main difference of course is the Chanel set contains the interlocking ‘C’ logo, natch.

I’m tempted to get myself a set of the River Island ones just to have the 5-minute novelty of seeing a tattoo on my own skin.  I’m pretty certain I won’t ever get a real tattoo as one of my gripes is that apart from preferring flesh, practically thinking, there is no design which is going to feel right with every outfit, mood or style.  So the idea of an interchangeable tattoo in the name of fashion, is, I think, actually quite good.

In this case though it leaves me with an unusual quandary.  I wonder which would look cheaper on the skin – the Chanel logo or the £5 River Island example?  Because if we’re honest, to look as though you have chosen to burn a designer logo into your skin you’d have to either be pitifully insecure or be supremely able to pull off such a thing with a huge helping of irony.