Tattoo artist documents ‘amazing’ experience flying to Las Vegas to ink Katy Perry

A tattoo artist has shared footage of the once in a lifetime experience giving a tattoo to Katy Perry and her entire team in honour of her Las Vegas residency.

Liz Kim, a 31-year-old tattoo artist based in Los Angeles, was flown out to Las Vegas by the “Roar” singer to celebrate the closing of her two-year residency at Resorts World Las Vegas. Perry’s “Play” residency began in December 2021 and will end on 4 November this year.

On 15 October, Kim posted a video to Instagram with the caption: “@paingardens and I got flown out to @resortsworldlv to tattoo @katyperry and her incredible team to commemorate her Las Vegas residency PLAY! 50+ tattoos over three days later and we’re dead.”

“Thank y’all so so much for having us, we had such an amazing time!” she wrote.

Kim chronicled her journey to Las Vegas, along with fellow tattoo artist Shannon Elliott, as they were commissioned to give Perry and her team commemorative tattoos. The video showed Kim first tattooing Perry, and then cut to a montage of mushroom tattoos on various members of Perry’s team - placed behind ears, on wrists, ankles, fingers, and more. The video has since received over 55,000 likes on the platform.

As for Perry, she posted her own video of herself getting a tattoo to Instagram. “To commemorate the last two years of waking up in Vegas, me + 51 of my tour crew continued the tradition I started after my first Hello Katy tour, and got matching [mushroom] tattoos,” the “Teenage Dream” singer wrote.

She also gave Kim a shout-out, thanking her: “TYSM [thank you so much] @lizlizkimkim for the ink I love it so much.”

In the video, Perry showed off other tattoos she’s gotten to remember her past tours, starting with her first tour in 2009, the “Hello Katy Tour”. After Kim finished tattooing a small, colourful mushroom to her wedding ring finger, Perry told the artist: “Liz for the win. I love it so much.”

The singer then jokingly apologised to her fiancé, actor Orlando Bloom, after realising that her wedding ring finger had been tattooed.

In an interview with Insider, Kim explained that Perry’s management had reached out to her via Perry’s Instagram, asking her if she would be interested in inking Perry and her staff. The tattoo artist reportedly said that she hopped on a call with the pop star to go over the details, and Kim enlisted the help of Elliott to tattoo the large group.

She explained to the outlet: “Katy Perry and her team provided me with a few reference photos for the design. They specifically wanted a mushroom as it’s a strong theme for her residency, and also makes for a nice tattoo!”

According to Kim, Perry’s management planned the trip for them so as to make the process as “painless” as possible. The two tattoo artists were even able to watch Perry’s show on their first night in Las Vegas, witnessing “just how talented the people we were tattooing are”.

The tattoo artist added that Perry was “surprisingly chill”, considering the tattoo was placed in a typically painful area. The pop star kept a fun energy throughout the process, and Kim noted that in her nine years of tattooing, this was the most “surreal” experience.

“It’s not every day you get flown out somewhere to tattoo that many people, let alone a superstar and the people who help run the show,” Kim said.