FAQs

Yes. Your artist’s aftercare comes first, always. How soon you start depends on the size of the piece, the hours in the chair and the detail in it. Nine times out of ten, the first night it’s left alone to breathe. Restore Balm starts the next morning: the thinnest layer on clean, dry skin, matte not shiny. The full routine reaches your inbox the morning after you buy at the counter, or once your set has landed online.

Usually after seven to fourteen days, depending on the session. Once flaking has finished and there are no open patches, the balm stops and Recovery Cream carries on alone, daily, for the months it takes to settle. On heavy work the cream is already in, layered under the balm from the first days. It’s the half most people skip.

Because the routine is the product. Every piece needs both, one after the other: Restore Balm while the skin closes, then Recovery Cream through the months it takes to settle. That step-down decides how a tattoo reads in a year, and in ten. Heavy work (full days, reworks, solid fills) needs both from the start, layered. Selling one without the other would be selling half the job. So it’s one sealed set, one price, never sold apart. Seventeen years under the needle says so.

Both lists in full, exactly as they read on the jars.

Restore Balm
Petrolatum, Vitis Vinifera (Grape) Seed Oil, Paraffinum Liquidum (Mineral Oil), Cera Alba (Beeswax), Microcrystalline Wax, Chamomilla Recutita (Matricaria) Flower Oil, Lavandula Angustifolia (Lavender) Oil, Curcuma Longa Root Oil, Vanilla Planifolia Fruit Extract.

Recovery Cream
Aqua (Water), Glycerin, Propylene Glycol, Paraffinum Liquidum (Mineral Oil), Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter, Cera Alba (Beeswax), Cetearyl Alcohol, Dimethicone, Glyceryl Stearate, PEG-100 Stearate, PEG-20 Stearate, Panthenol, Phenoxyethanol, Methylparaben, Tocopherol, Sodium Hyaluronate, Xanthan Gum, Portulaca Oleracea Extract, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Extract, Chrysanthellum Indicum Extract, Houttuynia Cordata Extract, Paeonia Suffruticosa Root Bark Extract, Opuntia Streptacantha Stem Extract, Scutellaria Baicalensis Root Extract, Butylene Glycol, 1,2-Hexanediol, Hydroxyacetophenone, Vanilla Planifolia Fruit Extract, CI 19140.

The cream carries the conditioning half: glycerin and sodium hyaluronate to hold water, shea butter and panthenol to soften and comfort, tocopherol, and a botanical set led by purslane, aloe, houttuynia and baicalensis.

Every batch is tested, with a three-year shelf life.

Patch test first: a small amount on the inside of your forearm, wait 24 hours.

Worth knowing before you start. Restore Balm contains lavender, chamomile and turmeric oils. Recovery Cream is preserved with phenoxyethanol and methylparaben. If you have a known fragrance or essential-oil allergy, that is the part to check.

If you have a skin condition or a known allergy, check with your doctor or pharmacist before use — and always follow your artist’s instructions on fresh work.

Depends on the size of the work. For a typical piece, Restore Balm sees out the balm stage with plenty in reserve, and Recovery Cream gives you months of daily care. Thin layers are the trick — thick layers look shiny and waste product.

Free standard shipping Australia-wide, dispatched from Surfers Paradise within 1–2 business days, tracking emailed. Express Post is $15 at checkout. Or skip the wait entirely — it’s on the counter at Squires Ink, Shop 7/26 Orchid Ave, Surfers Paradise.

Unopened, sealed sets can come back within 30 days. Opened products can’t, for hygiene reasons — but if anything is faulty or not as described, the Australian Consumer Law has you covered and so do we. Full detail in Shipping & Returns.

That’s half the reason it exists. Dry skin scatters light and makes black look grey. Hydrated skin holds colour. Recovery Cream freshens older work and helps colour read fuller — sixty seconds after a shower.

Benny Aquilina — seventeen years under the needle, still to this day — owner of Squires Ink Tattoo Studio in Surfers Paradise. Everything is built in-house and worn on his own skin before it carries the name. Read the founder’s story.