American tattoo artist Amanda Graves has become famous for her glittering tattoos, which somehow appear to be shimmering on the skin.

Maryland-based Amanda Graves never claimed to be the inventor of the glitter tattoo technique, but when it comes down to it, she is universally considered the best glitter tattoo artist in the world. Her tattoos are so good that people often ask if she actually uses glitter ink to do them (spoiler – she doesn’t), or if her artworks interfere with X-rays. In reality, the glitter is an optical illusion expertly created by Graves using the painstaking pointillism technique. She creates each speck of glitter by overlapping colors with small gauge needles, but the end result is nothing short of awe-inspiring.

Photo: Amanda Graves/Facebook

Graves said that she discovered the glitter technique by layering a bunch of colors, like blue, yellow, purple, pink, and white. She noticed that she was on to something so she kept refining the process until it looked like actual glitter.

The young artist has legions of fans online, many of whom are obsessed with her glitter tattoos, but there is also a lot of skepticism surrounding her works from people who believe that the glitter style doesn’t really hold up as well as more traditional tattoo styles. However, Graves addressed this very point on TikTok last year, when she showcased a year-old tattoo that allegedly won first place at a convention.

It’s tough to say how well a glitter tattoo will look in 10 or 20 years, simply because it’s such a new style, but for now it’s easy to say that this is one of the most original styles in the tattoo world, alongside holographic sticker tattoos.