Tattoo Tea Party Was A Big Step Forward For Us

I’ve been a bit late getting this blog written because things have honestly been non-stop lately with the business.

Tattoo Tea Party was a pretty important convention for us though, because it was the first UK mainland convention we’ve sponsored since starting Cool Soothe, and it also felt like the first time we properly noticed people recognising the brand and taking a real interest in what we’re doing.

The whole weekend had a really good atmosphere around it. There seemed to be a lot of positivity towards the brand, which was genuinely nice to see. You could definitely tell people were starting to become more aware of Cool Soothe, and there was a bit of curiosity around what we were doing differently.

We were main sponsors for the convention, so Cool Soothe branding was everywhere throughout the weekend. Our logo was on all the artist lanyards, attendee wristbands, and we also supplied the tattoo rinse water bottles in Cool Soothe branding as well, which was pretty surreal seeing spread around such a big convention.

The stand itself stayed busy pretty much all weekend. A lot of people were coming over because they’d either heard of the brand online already or because someone had told them to come and smell the products.

That’s still one of the funniest parts of doing conventions really. People almost always react the same way when they smell the products for the first time.

Pina Colada and DR PEPPER were definitely the stand-out favourites over the weekend. Everywhere you looked there seemed to be someone opening a balm tin and passing it around for everyone else to smell.

One thing that stood out was how many studios and artists were interested in stocking something a bit different. There were loads of conversations throughout the weekend with people saying they were tired of seeing the same products everywhere and wanted something that actually stood out in their studio.

That was probably one of the most rewarding parts of the weekend for me personally.

I’ve been tattooing for years, and Cool Soothe has grown naturally out of that world, so seeing artists properly back the products feels both proud and humbling at the same time.

What surprised a lot of people as well was finding out we’re not some huge company with investors and corporate backing behind us. Quite a few people assumed Cool Soothe was a much bigger operation than it actually is.

In reality it’s still completely self-funded and family-run.

Jonathon, who’s a close friend of mine, worked the stand alongside Faye for most of the weekend and did a brilliant job speaking to people about what actually makes Cool Soothe different from other brands. By the end of the convention I think they’d probably repeated the same conversations about scents and tattoo healing hundreds of times.

Michael also came over from Northern Ireland to represent Raw Premium Pigments alongside Cool Soothe, which was massively appreciated considering how busy convention weekends already are.

Sam was there as well filming content across the weekend and managed to get loads of footage from around the convention. The usual mix really — product shots, tattooing, crowds, and somehow always ending up filming fire performers at some point during the night.

Manchester itself just felt normal to me really. I lived there for about 12 years, so conventions there never really feel like travelling away. It’s more like going back to familiar ground.

I didn’t get loads of time to properly walk around and look at tattoos because the stand stayed busy most of the weekend, but one artist whose work really stood out was Kaz Bahm. He produced an incredible black and grey piece over the weekend, and seeing the healed work on the same client looked even better.

As always though, the least glamorous part of conventions is packing down afterwards.

Anyone who’s done conventions knows exactly what I mean. After a full weekend everyone’s exhausted, then comes the chaos of waiting hours for vans, pulling displays apart, queuing at the one tiny exit, and watching it slowly descend into complete disorder while everyone tries to escape at once.

It somehow always feels like the longest part of the entire weekend.

Overall though, Tattoo Tea Party felt like a really important step for the brand.

It was probably the first convention where Cool Soothe stopped feeling like a completely unknown new company and started feeling like a recognised part of the industry conversation.

Which honestly means a lot considering how new the brand still is.