I'm not an artist, but I've heard nothing but good things from the artists that I know use them.

The Truth????? like there is some government conspiracy going on or something...hahahahahaha
the truth is john montgomery and joshua carlton worked VERY cloely in the lab with the people making this product...i hear it is all organic...no fillers (plastics ) ..
tried a few reds and loved em....

Well the truth is I made all Realistic Blood and Zombie inks
and
YES it all came directly from SKINCANDY!! I have all the formulations
and measurements in my digital dispenser. And yes all pigments for tattooing are organic, though organic pigments have enough chemicals in em to make your head spin, the term Organic Pigment is the way the colorant industry refers to as a CLASSIFICATION ONLY. It is not safe for ingestion but basically safe for tattooing..just barely.
There were no plastics used, but all the reds were made with acrylic dispersion, acrylic is a liquid plastic resin, most tattoo ink companies use it today, only National, Classic and Waverly do not. The lab they speak of is the Skincandy factory, I NEVER.. got paid for the
lab work, nor was ever offered payment. If you like the reds they are exactly the same as Skincandy Wino, Candy apple red and Red Hot. Zombie colors are Skincandy Mushroom, Black and Yellow and Citron, John had told me I was going to make the entire line, he came into my factory, bought a few pales of product, stole a few trade secrets and took off
and started making it himself, outside a controlled lab environment
and milling it in the back of his shop, at least that's what his apprentice told me. I have no reason to lie about this. But sometimes TREASON and ETHICS in this
industry need to be talked about. Thanks August..owner Skincandy l.l.c

I used the blood and zombie colors when they first came out and they heal like crap. The zombie tones are barely there when healed and the blood ones heal real dull and patchy.

Eternal has been the most consistent for me along with a couple Starbrite and Intenze colors. I'll mix my own blood and zombie colors......

I love this shit...it's so funny because most all of the skin friendly pigments used
in tattooing are the same, the only difference is the strength, dispersion vehicle, and blend, I think people like to talk shit because of a name brand they don't like
or 1 bad experience, which is ridiculous because everyones skin is different and you can never judge an ink by 1 or 2 tattoos.
I did this test when I first manufactured the Sun ink. I gave 2 different bottles with the exact same ink batch and color to the same artist and he said the
Skincandy one was crap, and the Sun was awesome!!! hahaha
Did the same comparison with Sun Crimsun red and Eternal Lipstick red at a few conventions, they all worked in exactly the same and later healing feedback showed great results. I never said Alla Prima was crap, its an ethics issue.

HOLY SHIT....i guess hearsay is a killer in this industry huh...you take people at face value thinking they are honest and integral BUT from what you have said.....that is FALSE
thanks for the information man you know what you are talking about it sounds like..
can i get your email...ifd likt to rap with you about some stuff...
thanks
b

I know of people that got really fucked over by John Montgomery,
heard he's a real piece o work
sent a couple of his clients to the hospital.

August,
I have written you before and tried to discuss this with you man to man and never got a reply. You need to know what you are talking about before you start spreading false information.
I know John did work with you briefly as far as matching some of the tones we were looking for, other than that there was no bussiness with you. You were paid for the products John used.
Allaprima never intended to be partnered with you or any of your people. Your pigments were never good enough for what we were looking for and the allaprima system is 100 percent our own, having absolutely nothing to do with what John mixed with you in the early days. It amazes me how you keep going to these forums and slandering us to try and make you look better. This just shows what kind of business you run. We have never, and will never slander any body elses pigments just to try to make a buck. My email is carltontattoos@gmail.com contact me anytime and we can deal with this correctly.-Joshua Carlton

And lets not forget that your IP address tells all, and yours matches Hurts Doughnut, (the message about clients and hospitals) This only proves my point of you bashing others to up your sales. Shame on you.-

Yeah I know, pretty funny isn't it???? Hurts Doughnut??? I admit it... SO WHAT?! think I give a fuck? I was told I was the manufacturer PERIOD!!!, lol Your being billed for the lab work, once that's paid, I MIGHT let it go.
You guys are idiots, FDA approved ingredients??? NICE AD...haha..no ink is FDA approved!! nor are FDA approved ingredients approved once they are used in TATTOO INK!! John wanted those pigments thin, thus making them
weaker. And I notice your still selling my Black and White which if it sucks so bad why am I moving 400 gallons a month? You guys are babies in this industry, and I'm not through with you by a long shot!!! Johns managed to piss off some really big industry players, I've gone out of my way to tell the major distributors not to touch Alla Prima. This ALL could have been avoided with A LITTLE RESPECT AND ETHICS, you could have said, hey Aug, this isn't working out! But NO I had to find out through a misleading ad. That info about John fucking up clients came from a friend of yours, I'll have him call you this week.

One more thing, Joshua, if you were paying attention, notice, I would never slander your ink! I was informing people what was in it. All tattoo inks have chemicals, most new ones have acrylics. I was slandering your Ethics AND BUSINESS DECORUM! I don't need to boost sales, I have much more than I can handle as is, I'M EXTREMELY GRATEFUL TO ALL MY CUSTOMERS FOR IT.
August
owner
Skincandy l.l.c

Again AllaPrima is 100 percent our own. I am not sure why you think we are using your black and white, I was Just in California personally overseeing the process and theres not a thing there that has anything to do with your ingredients.
If you feel like you were not compensated for the work you did with John I would suggest you take it up with him instead of spreading lies on a public forum. If you want to talk about this in person my number is 317-395-4139.-Joshua

yeah August, your professionalism has gone right out the door when you start slaggin people on a public forum. Skin candy? More like candy ass... Oppse, there goes my professionalism, see what happens? Please take your drama and sour grapes elsewhere.

My problem is not really with you Josh, it's actually with John Montgomery, it might have been better if you had been part of the development process, and I asked John on several occasions that you contact me, but he did not want us to talk for some odd reason. After I sold him product he said all the feedback was excellent and did not want it changed. which is another reason Im very upset. I dont know you Josh, but I can say all of the people that have spoken to me about John Montgomery here have had really awful
things to say.
I re checked my source on the info about the hospital stuff yesterday, it was a bad business deal That John fucked someone on, I sincerely apologize for that, The source was very reliable but miscommunicated. Candy Ass???
that's cute, sorry but I get pissed on issues of ethics and treason, I don't take it lightly, nor do I have respect for those who side with it, especially if they were not present.
I do admit I took it a little far though. I'll call you after you write your next reply...But keep talkin smack, it's great for biz...lol

you know, its an internet forum so I dont expect much, but this whole thread you started is very... well, there are no mature terms to label it... I *hated* high school for this very reason. Thanks for treating this forum like a bathroom wall. Now, once again, please kindly take it somewhere else. Im sorry for calling you a candy ass.

August I don't know you and don't think I ever would like to come across with a child like you.
I have to also agree with Gabe here. You started this topic of defamation in several boards not only this one. I saw the same shit on AON site.

Even if truth, it's hard to buy your shit considering the way you are presenting this whole situation.
You may have made great inks but I feel that other people like me that have bough your product will no longer support your industry.

Why don't you learn from Mario Barth and conduct the business sin a professional matter.
I guess business is not doing that well for you since now you have to come out and take a few ducks down to make some noise once again.

I'm disgusted at reading your post.
Hope thread like this one extinguish one day. You have now earned the ward of "TOOL OF THE YEAR 2009"
You well earned it.

BTW your Skin Candy is sold by most scratcher suppliers.
I guess you can't get that picky when your pigments are cheap and they are on sale most of the time. Or under clearance. needlejig.com
Oops another supplier trying to get rid of from what they can't even sale at a good price.

..Mario Barth was the one friend who said I should be pissed..needle jig sold my inks about 2 years ago before we improved it, they are no longer a licensed distributor. Business is fine, Technical supply, Powerline u.k..over 20 major distributions worldwide., we move over 200,000 bottles of ink a month
not including Black and Roan
our pigment is NOT milled behind a tattoo shop in a blender or a rock tumbler, but under strict supervision in Fiber optic Euro Certified dispensers in a certified clean room, plus only Skincandy and Mario Barths Intenze are the only tattoo inks that have passed documentation and certifications in azo/amine/microbiological/spore testing from CTL BELFIELD GERMANY,.You may request copies at anytime. You may not like me, which is fine, and you may think I'm a child for being pissed that I got raped by an unscrupulous air brush tattooer. But I have NEVER EVER FUCKED ANYONE ON A BUSINESS DEAL, If you guys back that, you are bias and playing favorites. Once again please forgive me for my anger outbursts.

Not for nothing but I have used both of the inks in question (Skin Candy and Alla Prima), and they are NOTHING alike.

I will leave to people who know more than I do about "formulations" and "dispersion methods", but simply put, I threw a few hundred worth of Skin Candy in the trash not too long ago, and Alla Prima has been more than slightly impressive in the few instances I have gotten to use it.

Fuck professionalism, not a day goes by that I don't wash my balls in the scrub sink, but this is a simple matter of results.

(kiddin bout the scrub sink thing)

I've come to the conclusion that most of this does not matter in my world.
My entire back piece was colored by Eddie Deutsche 222 S.F. with all my inks a couple years back, go to skincandy tattoo ink myspace to view the reds... and
they look as decent as any other good ink I've seen out there, many well known guys use it, can't be that bad if they keep ordering it. some may have gotten a bad batch here and there, sorry to hear about it, and sorry if I ruffled some feathers out there, My temper gets the best of me sometimes and public forum is not the place to vent my personal business dealings.
Later

I'm no longer going to buy Skin Candy.
Very unprofessional.

Dear consumer. do you think lying to folks your trying to
help become successful right? is this professional? if so then please, I prefer you don't buy from us anymore, because Skin candy does not participate in this
sort of practice.

wait, that was wrong, i mean do you think being lied to by people your trying to help ok?

August,
A great tip about business and selling your product that I learned a long while back, is if you want to be successful, talk about what your products does, not what someone else's doesn't. All else aside if you just keep poo-pooing Alla Prima, it doesn't make you look any better, and honestly the way you presented your argument didn't even make them look worse. If the things you said happened, yes that blows, and it is really unprofessional and sucks ethically, but you handling it the way you did in the forum, just put you on the same level as the folks your accusing.

The way you addressed "consumer" just furthers the point I'm trying to make. They addressed your lack of professionalism and said due to that, they would no longer be purchasing your products, and your response was to throw out something else you claim alla prima did to you, rather then addressing what they were actually complaining about. It's a great way to walk yourself in a big dramatic circle, that certainly won't help you succeed personally or professionally.

Point well taken, thank you Mary! for the record,
I never stated Alla Prima was a bad ink, only stated what was used in
the original formula. In fact, if you ever read Colour Courner
by August Worchell in Crave Magazine, It's a column I write,
I have promoted and raved about MANY inks! to mention a few. Dermaglo, Intenze, and Classic. all from companies I believe in, and check this... Skincandy
will be the VERY 1ST west coast distributor for Classic Inks from Australia.
I'm way over this Alla Prima thing after this episode, too busy focusing positive new projects. Thanks again Mary!

I personally think Fantasia is some of the best ink I've used...and I've tried them all...ya dig...you all should do yourself a favor and try it....

I apologize to anyone I may have offended with my comments or threats.
I have since personally written Josh Carlton privately on the matter and awaiting a response.

August. You are pathetic bro.
You apologized of shit you said tons of time. Like you finally realize how childish you were when you started this thread. Your intention was defamation to other people and just ended up costing you customers.

You know publicly show to the world wide net what a piece of shit you are and that every artist out there should refrain from buying your inks.
No one deserves to do business with you.

Thank you for opening the eyes of tons of artists like myself.

I believe August has every right to be pissed, if this is true. If it was me, I would be trying to shit on the guy who fucked me too. It seems that professionality went out the window when and if he got ripped off for his formulas... and so there starts the unprofessionality. does anybody really hate this guy only because he wanted to be heard?! what the fuck ARE these forums for if everyones going to piss and moan everytime they hear something that dosent fit in there agenda, or blasphemes their little hero in the tattoo hierarchy.Have none of you ever had pictures stolen out of your portfolio? sucks dosent it. you just know some shitbag with some chinese tattoo kit off ebay is using it as a tool to lure the minors he tattoos in his basement.... well if this really happened, then id like to know that im using pirated shit. Skin candy is also cheaper, so if this is true, i can thin my own shit. either way, im going to use whatever works best, and all those who said... " Im not gonna use your ink anymore! " boo -fuckin- hoo. lol who cares... your one of thousands. why say some little crying assed shit like that. Like that helps. Get a life. Use these forums for info, not to suck the balls of the people making real points...quit trying to be their personal yes man( or woman..)

Guys... i'm from far away country ( ip will tell ya ), about 2 months ago i ordered skin candy jap pink and red from my local supplier.. honestly august its a good ink. So i ask my friends in states... they said use WAVERLY ( i just noticed its a thick ink ), but damn the jap pink and orange is the BEST ( coz i ordered that 2 colors only from lucky supply-for sample ). As a tattoo artist, this ALLA PRIMA make me curious, so anybody has try this ink, send me the result ? ink.slink@gmail.com . coz i will order it from unimax.

Inkgod, you have a very simple view of professionalism. If August has a problem, shitting on people in a public forum will only make him look like an asshole, not convince everyone of his professionalism and quality product. In fact, it takes away pretty much all credibility to his argument in my opinion... Nevermind the fact that I dont know any professionals that use skin candy... At least none of the artists that come through off the map... *shrug*

Actually Gabe, I have a very complex view of proffessionality. its funny that you say that as i am actually a college graduate in human interaction.....lol. I'm actually majoring in bussiness and ethics right now, and I own a tattoo studio.
See the thing is, I use both inks. Skin candy is pretty solid ink, and i'm crazy about Alla Prima. I've been stuck on it since it came out. Great stuff. Eternal ink is alright at best... intense has a few okay colors.... these are the only two brands in which i havent found any weak or poorly made colors... This isnt about better product. Its about dirty deals. I have actually met Josh a few times. Ive bought a machine from him, all of his tutorial videos and books, and I have never had a bad deal with him.
I am a tattooer because I love the art, But I am also a tattooer because I hate having a boss, and a structured chain of command. I want to work for my, and my customers satisfaction. I love all of the great things that have been perks of the body mod world since way before its "evolution" into proffessionalism. Freedom from the norms of society, individualism... Why should a business owner and inventor have to shut up and take it in the rear for proffessionalism? I hate to tell you, but if that shit happens to me.... expect the same. And i hate arguing on a public forum. It's so tacky. Im a strong believer in karma. Someone is wrong in the situation. Whoever it is.... they'll get theirs.... Either way... I'm going to use WHATEVER inks I get the best results out of...

Actually Gabe, I have a very complex view of proffessionality. its funny that you say that as i am actually a college graduate in human interaction.....lol. I'm actually majoring in bussiness and ethics right now, and I own a tattoo studio.
See the thing is, I use both inks. Skin candy is pretty solid ink, and i'm crazy about Alla Prima. I've been stuck on it since it came out. Great stuff. Eternal ink is alright at best... intense has a few okay colors.... these are the only two brands in which i havent found any weak or poorly made colors... This isnt about better product. Its about dirty deals. I have actually met Josh a few times. Ive bought a machine from him, all of his tutorial videos and books, and I have never had a bad deal with him.
I am a tattooer because I love the art, But I am also a tattooer because I hate having a boss, and a structured chain of command. I want to work for my, and my customers satisfaction. I love all of the great things that have been perks of the body mod world since way before its "evolution" into proffessionalism. Freedom from the norms of society, individualism... Why should a business owner and inventor have to shut up and take it in the rear for proffessionalism? I hate to tell you, but if that shit happens to me.... expect the same. And i hate arguing on a public forum. It's so tacky. Im a strong believer in karma. Someone is wrong in the situation. Whoever it is.... they'll get theirs.... Either way... I'm going to use WHATEVER inks I get the best results out of...

Actually Gabe, I have a very complex view of proffessionality. its funny that you say that as i am actually a college graduate in human interaction.....lol. I'm actually majoring in bussiness and ethics right now, and I own a tattoo studio.
See the thing is, I use both inks. Skin candy is pretty solid ink, and i'm crazy about Alla Prima. I've been stuck on it since it came out. Great stuff. Eternal ink is alright at best... intense has a few okay colors.... these are the only two brands in which i havent found any weak or poorly made colors... This isnt about better product. Its about dirty deals. I have actually met Josh a few times. Ive bought a machine from him, all of his tutorial videos and books, and I have never had a bad deal with him.
I am a tattooer because I love the art, But I am also a tattooer because I hate having a boss, and a structured chain of command. I want to work for my, and my customers satisfaction. I love all of the great things that have been perks of the body mod world since way before its "evolution" into proffessionalism. Freedom from the norms of society, individualism... Why should a business owner and inventor have to shut up and take it in the rear for proffessionalism? I hate to tell you, but if that shit happens to me.... expect the same. And i hate arguing on a public forum. It's so tacky. Im a strong believer in karma. Someone is wrong in the situation. Whoever it is.... they'll get theirs.... Either way... I'm going to use WHATEVER inks I get the best results out of...

This whole thread is crazy. I have heard nothing but good things from everyone who has used or tried Alla Prima inks, and some of these folks are top notch professionals with unquestionable integrity. Regarding Skin Candy and its owner all I can say is let your product speak for itself, especially if you cant be professional about it. It really casts a shadow over your company to see the way that the OWNER conducts business. I believe that Mr. Carlton has asked you to contact him and voice your opinion with him (very professional), yet you choose to poke and slander his product. Anyway all I can say is in my opinion Alla Prima is a top shelf ink, ran and produced by true professional tattoo artists, and dont knock it till you try it.

I have personally used both for extended periods of time, and have not found any problems with the prima. as far as the skin candy i used the rasberry cream and jam on a flower with starbrite greens about six months ago, the girl showed up a month ago and the whole tattoo was healed perfectly except for the purples, which were almost entirely gone and still healing in spots. i threw those two colors away, but after thinking about it , decided to toss them all rather than taking my chances! i really liked the range of reds and oranges with the skin candy, but the greens and blues never healed out well. just my 2 cents...

I think its funny how you cant find Skin candy on ebay or craigslist like you can some other tattoo inks. Not to mention that People are entitled to their opinion and not one of you guys on here that have left a comment doggin on august can sit here and tell me you wouldnt be pissed off or maintain your "professionalism". The people who say they arent going to buy Skin Candy ink anymore because the owner feels shafted and betrayed who the hell are you??? You mean to tell me that if coke got pissed at pepsi over a formula youd quit buying coke cause they out pepsi on blast!!! DUMB ASSES!!! SKIN CANDY FUCKIN KICKS ASS AND I HAVE SEVERAL TATS WITH SKIN CANDY INKS INCLUDING UV!!! TALK SOME MORE SHIT!! Ive read forums on ink and i think its very comendable when a BUSINESS OWNER defends his product and has the knowlegde to back it up... Thats why i chose Skin candy over alla prima or intenze, mom, starbrite. IM NOT SAYING THEY ARE BAD INKS SO DONT GET ALL BAD ASS ON ME!!! Skin candy is just what i prefer. AUGUST KEEP UP BUSTING OUT THOSE KICK ASS INKS AND KEEP KEEPIN IT REAL!!!! AND KEEP REPPIN S>C> AND DONT MIND THE HATERZ AND YEAH IM A FEMALE! Not some guy tryng to show my macho-ism.. I own all the skin candy colors and i love em!!!

Man Kandi, I'll snatch you up by the hair and slap you silly for even opening up that pie hole of your!!!! That's it, I'm coming over right now to show you a thing or two!!
I'll pop a cap in your.......
Oh wait....you said "DON'T" get bad ass on you.......sorry. LMAO

How does anyone get "Bad Ass" over a computer screen?? LOL

Obviously if you want to be bad ass all you have to do is hit caps lock and viola, intraweb killer.

Wow Bud your a genius.. You just made an idle on an internet forum with your ip address attached to it. Are you aware that thats against the law??? Your mom must be proud.You must be big man to go after a woman!!!! .Heres the kicker i let law enforcement know of your lil statement and gave them a copy. *!!*!*!* ROUND OF APPLAUSE EVERYONE!*!*!*!*!*! Theres no reason to go around threatening people just because you have nothing intelligent or anything valueable to say.. Wow!!!! And Mary lighten up!!! Im on here making a statement for a product i believe in if you cant respect a persons constitutional right then dont go on forums!!!

mr. bud (aka) roby thomas 586-871-3664 you really shouldnt threaten people since you clearly have no clue people can find you so fast good day dumbass

hmmmmmm... I LIKE UNIQUE... you can't even find the guy online, much less be subjected to his rash of verbal ejaculations spawned of his idle pre-pubescent girly hands. BOOOOOO-YAAAAAAAA

I have tried many inks and seem to be pretty loyal to Eternal, even thoughI have had issues in the past with the shades bieng inconsistance from batch to batch, so I got some sets of Alla Prima, the Flesh set and blood set...My only complaint is with the Flesh colors. The light is so watery and seperates in the cap, i cant use it, and the mid Flesh seems to dirty up faster than fast. I like the blood colors though but will not be using the flesh anymore, I use a combo of Eternal,and Intenze colors for my flesh tones..Long time ago I used to love Fantasia, adn it seemed they changed the formula cuz The colors starting looking like cool aid instead of creamy pigment..And by far the worst I ever tried was a full set of Stable colors....too thick, drying instantly and healing shoppy, but thats how it was for me. i cant speak about every artist, i know some that love the ones I hate. Just like machines, some machines people swear by, suck in the hands of others and vice versa. Sorry about the bad spelling...

WOW!!! I just stumbled on this and I'm in awe...

Both products are great, but I don't understand why all this is public. Next time you fuckers got a problem with someone, get ahold of them and either

a. talk about it, or

b. Whoop that ass.

Anything more gets all of us wasting the time we were SUPPOSED to be using to search for references instead reading soap opera beef. Not saying your beef isn't warranted, Im just saying, loco. I come from graffiti, when i got beef, I go fuck that shit up. So... none of you will ever hear about it. Now my dumb ass just wasted 20 minutes reading a bunch of garbage. I'm dumb...

Is there a 'bullshit" thread section? If so, Gabe, you should move this there, not at the top of the tattoonow forum

See, now I'm talking shit on a forum like a choad. Negativity facilitates more negativity. So does this thread

Sheez... OK

Tattoo now. Graffiti later.

Adrian Dominic

Dam that only took you 20 min's , shit took me about 45 ...... Ha HA HA !!! I agree what ever works for you but also your client's ... I got one thing to say - " It's all good , till it goes all bad" ..........

from my experience, neither product heals well, i have never and will never endorse these products. it's house paint, not tattoo pigment. both companies have the same goal, a big paycheck from those who don't know haow to make it themselves. i don't believe either party gives a crap about the tattoos being done with their product as long as the money keeps rolling in. there are some of us out here who still follow tradition and mix our own. don't care about your lab, clean rooms and plastic dispensors. tattooing has occured for thousands of years without all your fake sci-fi bullshit. and your drama is pathetic on both ends. this is more than enough reason for me and many others to not want to use either product.

If neither of these products heals well for you then you need to examine your abilities.

And what caliber artist are you that you can say that Carlton and Montgomery haven't made it?

You're a joke!

Our studio has done nothing but RAVE about Alla Prima shading inks, since we've gotten to try them. All of our artists are loving the shading system and the samples we've been sharing this week are nearly gone already. We're all looking forward to trying more from Prima!
Personally, I use a lot of Intenze, Sumi, Millenium, a few Fantasia and Skin Candy (plus I mix some of my own). However, I find many of the SC inks to be a little too watery (much like many StarBright inks). The blacklight selection heals poorly and it's color selection appears dull, but the regular colors I continue to use are vibrant and will stay in my palette, despite the extra work into skin. Mint deVille, for example... great color.
Now, a note on professionalism... if a dispute can't be settled, if someone has been wronged, then it's time for court. Bashing someone in a public forum like this is extremely unprofessional and makes one question... if this how the owner handles life then how professional can the product be? Just saying...
Karma being what it is, I wish you all success.