We caught up with Niki Sparkle, from Wrexham North Wales, she is owner/piercer aat Crystal Point Piercing. We chat about piercing, tattoos, health, fitness and her perfect day…
Check out her Instagram account @nikisparkle for daily health inspiration and piercing goodness.
We have been following your Instagram account and you often post fitness / motivational pictures, have you always tried to lead a healthy, active lifestyle? I was an elite basket ball player when I was a teen and very fit. Then life happened! Though I have never been seriously overweight my life style certainly hasn’t been always the healthiest by far. I have been going to the gym for years but doing it all wrong so didn’t see much benefit. I have only recently taken fitness serious over the past year. More intensively over the past six months. I post on Instagram so that I actually do the workouts…
I post before and after pics regularly to encourage myself. Hearing that others are getting inspiration from my posts is amazing and a mega plus. I have gotten to the point now where I want to push it and I will be working towards my first bikini competition (May 2015), which is super eek and not something I thought I would ever consider even a few months ago.
How do you motivate yourself to exercise? It’s a great mood enhancer and I enjoy the structure the gym gives my morning/start of the day. I go because I feel great when I go and it’s “me -time” although I do work and answer emails on the treadmill. Now with the impending bikini comp I am under the watchful eye of my trainer so I get up and go.
What are your favourites forms of exercise? I love core workouts, HIIT (high-intensity interval training), a good sprint, jump squats… any form of jumping about and really getting a good sweat on, followed by long stretch/yoga/Pilates time
As a tattoo collector, how do you cope with not exercising when you have a healing tattoo? I usually find a way depending on how sore I am. Or I just have a break until I feel the area can handle it. I have started to take time away from the gym when I have extensive work done as my immune system works stronger when I am not asking my body to do too many things at once. Lesson learnt on that one.
Describe your perfect day. Hmm I try to make every day count as quality. A beautiful sunrise, good music to kickstart the day, a HIIT workout and good nutritious food to fuel the day. A busy day making people gorgeously shiny using beautiful high-end jewellery. Meeting up with friends. Unwinding/story sharing/general larking/dancing…
How did you get into piercing? Completely by chance. I wore a fake lip ring and this guy (Jack Rubini, Gorlubb Piercing) called me out and offered to pierce it properly in his new studio in Copenhagen. I became his first receptionist (I think it was in the late 90s) while I was at business college and have worked in piercing/tattoo studios ever since. It took me years to get the courage to learn how to pierce. I was a piercing counter person for many many years before finally picking up a needle.
What is your favourite thing about the job? I love it all so much, but mastering techniques is up there. Always learning new things. Of course the best feeling is seeing healed work look divine on someone.
Any advice for our readers thinking about getting tattooed and pierced? Ask many questions, get to know your piercer and above all be safe in your choices. I’m a big fan of the Association of Professional Piercers approach to piercing. There is great information out there for piercing clients who want to research what to look for in order to get the professional procedure they deserve.
Any advice for those thinking about taking up exercise? It’s one of the best things I have done for myself, and I can only speak from my own experience, but it’s cured so many rough old habits. And the fact my body is in better shape now than it was when I was 20 is mind blowing and really fun. Little is better than nothing and small progress is still progress, so be kind to yourself and one day you will notice the benefits! I highly encourage anyone thinking of it to start. The Internet is full of help and advice and things you can do at home so there is something for everyone.
Don’t know about you, but we feel pretty motivated. See you at the gym?