Happy New Year's Eve! Wave goodbye to 2016 and pray 2017 isn't its bigger, badder brother.

I wonder am I being a bit of a hypocrite by featuring hand and finger tattoos for the 10th day of Kitschmas countdown, or count-up.

I rarely mention it on here these days, but I'm actually quite covered in tattoos. I've a complete upper sleeve on my left arm, with large pieces on the lower arm also. I've two swallows in the traditional chest-piece location.

Then, there's my finger tattoo. Or there was. One night in 2005 my then boyfriend & I went to a party in South Belfast, stayed up all night & in the morning, walked into central Belfast to the tattoo studio we both went to at the time, and asked the artist to give us a black star each, on our wedding band finger.

A good tattoo artist, like the one I ended up going to for my sleeve etc. would have flat out refused us. My tattoo artist now told me he would never have tattooed my hand when at the time I was really only someone who had two tiny existing tattoos. I wasn't someone with full sleeves, running out of room to place designs, so moving to my hands by default.

In the business hand, finger and neck & face tattoos can be nicknamed 'jobstoppers' because of their anti-social notoriety.

There's also the fact that I'm quite sure after being up all night partying, we should have been refused for still being under the influence of alcohol.

If that wasn't enough of a clue to refuse us that day, then maybe the fact we were still in bloody fancy dress might have helped. It hadn't even been a fancy dress party but we had turned up as Hunter S Thompson and a princess.

Nevertheless we left that morning with a jobstopper each. Convieniently considering we had them on our ring fingers, we ended up getting married. By that point however I hated mine completely. It made my hand look grubby, and it wasn't even well drawn, one side was thicker than the other. Wearing a wedding ring over it still looked bad, as the edges poked out.

My husband knew I hated how mine looked, but he still liked his, and said he would like to get his other fingers done too. So I felt if I did research tattoo removal it would hurt his feelings even more so than me saying I hated mine had done any time I brought it up.

Then in Nov 2014 we split- and by Christmas I had been for my first Tattoo Removal Laser session at Indulgence by Susan's home spa in Lisburn.

Goodbye tacky finger tattoo!

I had about four sessions with Susan and as you can see there is no scarring whatsoever. I could do with one final session to just blast that little bit of ink that remains where the thicker line was, so Susan, I will see you in the new year!

So maybe I'm being hypocritical featuring the very tattoo spot I disliked, but that's because it can suit other people. The artwork on show here is a lot better than my wonky star.

But I would advise anyone thinking of getting a tattoo in a place that cannot be covered easily, try drawing it on for a few weeks and see how you feel and how it looks with your different clothing & in different situations, because laser removal hurts ten times worse than getting the tattoo put on!

Giving the gift of laser tattoo removal may not seem like the most romantic Christmas present, but if your partner has a regrettable inking from their youth that they hate the sight of, this Christmas you could be giving them a body & life changing experience.

I have many tattoos that I love, but I've always disliked the look of the tiny star on my ring finger I had done ten years ago. Not only is it wonky, but I just don't like hand tattoos on myself, and am embarrassed by having it sometimes.

Now even though I can recommend you the best tattoo parlours in Belfast City (White Dragon, Skullduggery) and even though I once had a monthly column in a national Tattoo magazine, Things & Ink, when it came to tattoo removal, I actually had no idea who to go to, or how it really goes down.

So, I just Googled laser tattoo removal and found a Lisburn beauty salon Indulgence by Susan, offering the treatment.

Susan's salon is based at her home, but stepping inside it doesn't feel like that. There are several rooms in the large, suburban home dedicated to Susan's beauty craft. She has ten years experience in the industry, with teeth whitening, slimming treatments, waxing, makeup and the whole works available and performed with expertise.

Over the coming while I'll share more of Susan's treatments with you, but today I'm concentrating on the laser tattoo removal specifically.

The purple machine on the left is the laser, you can see the little gun in a holster, and it really is as straightforward a process as that- shooting the tattoo all over with little blasts of red light that help break down the ink and let it absorb into the body.

Susan tipped me off to buy some skin numbing cream, over the counter at a chemist and apply that to the area about an hour before my appointment. It costs just under £5 in Boots.

Having the laser treatment does involve some pain, but not as bad as waxing pain, and certainly not as sore as it was GETTING my finger tattooed. The healing process was painless, but that might be as my tattoo is so small.

This is a before shot of my star.

This is thirty seconds after the treatment.

As you can see, that's a pretty big difference. However the treatment will require return visits, as tattoos ARE supposed to be for life, and the ink is terribly stubborn and doesn't just break down after one attempt. The age of the tattoo also is a factor in how easily it can be removed.

Here is the star now after two weeks.

You can see the top, right lines have faded a lot, but as Susan had told me, it will take a couple more sessions to fade the entire tattoo. She recommends leaving three months between sessions, which feels like a lifetime, but it limits the scarring and Susan has been doing this treatment for years, so I'm taking her advice and holding off, rather than rushing back up after a month for more blasting.

So, are you tempted? Rid yourself of that regrettable dolphin ankle tattoo from that crazy fortnight in Ibiza in 2001? Why not contact Susan herself via her website, and she can advise a treatment plan for you.