The artist has only followed the lines of this person’s stretch marks as they are, but, using luminous rainbow colors, the effect is striking. If this isn’t a tattoo, this person should definitely consider getting it permanently etched onto their skin. What better way to celebrate their stretch marks?

Cinta decided to start working on her art after her own journey to accepting her stretch marks. She knew that most of us have stretch marks somewhere on our bodies, and she realized that she had to stop hating hers and finding a way to get rid of them. Over several years, she learned how to accept her stretch marks – and, resultantly, accept herself.

After a few years, Cinta was finally in the position where she could say she truly loved herself. She realized that stretch marks were part of her story – part of what made her unique. She didn’t just learn to accept them – she realized that they were quite beautiful, and was shocked it had taken her so long to discover this.

Cinta makes art out of stretch marks, but the options aren’t limited – there are also tattoo artists who produce beautiful permanent artwork using scars as their guide. This bluebird is perched on the raised skin of a scar on this person’s wrist, and the whole look is perfect.

Some people believe that birthmarks mark the spot of the cause of death in a previous life, which is eerie but kind of cool. This person chose to take a more humorous approach to their birthmark of the past, which just so happens to be in the shape of a ghost.

Is there any cooler thing to turn your scar into than a UFO beam? Maybe this person is a fan of the extraterrestrial, or maybe they just couldn’t resist the opportunity to display an alien abduction on the inside of their arm.

This tattoo would have taken a bit more thought, because the person’s scarring spreads all across her side and hip. But the finished result is incredibly clever: a large oak tree, complete with circling birds and looming “clouds” (which are actually a part of the scarring).

Some scars are just meant to be something else. In this person’s case, there’s no denying that their scar had the intention of being a lightsaber. All that was missing was the “Star Wars” character to wield it – so, naturally, a tattooist drew one in its rightful place.

The good thing about constellations is that they’re essentially just a random scattering of stars in the sky (anyone who’s familiar with stargazing would probably disagree). For this person, she could use her birthmark to her advantage – it already looked a little like a constellation – and her tattoo artist added a few other space-y things for extra effect.

Some people choose to embrace their scars; others would rather cover them up. This person decided they’d rather have a pretty floral tattoo in place of their scar, and the end result is truly beautiful. Because the tattooist used a deeper shade of red than the scar itself, it works well as a coverup.

From a scar coverup, we move onto a person who’s proud of their birthmark, and wants a humorous way to embrace it. What better way to do that than to tattoo a spilt wine glass at the edge of the birthmark? 10 points for creativity.

Some tattoo artists out there are incredibly creative when it comes to being able to visualize a singular shape as an object. In this case, the tattooist was able to create a beautiful owl in a cage out of a person’s birthmark. The end result is astonishing – and you’d never know it was centered around a birthmark.

This is another example of when a scar or a birthmark was clearly intended to be something else. This person’s scar looked too much like a fishbone for them to ignore the resemblance – so they hired a tattooist to turn their vision into a reality. It’s quirky, and probably a great conversation-starter.

Lucky if you end up with a scar that looks like it needs stitching up – especially if you’re a sewing enthusiast. This person’s tattoo is one of the most creative “needle and thread” tattoos we’ve seen, probably because their scar makes the whole thing look a lot more genuine.

Scars aren’t always neat and tidy – it’s not like the majority of us intend for the scar to appear on our bodies. This person’s scar stretched across their stomach and their side, but her tattoo artist still found a way to cover the whole thing with a beautiful, colorful birdcage tattoo. Now she has a reason to smile every time she looks down at her stomach.

Burns are usually a sign of struggle and bravery, and any burns victims find that honoring themselves as a survivor as an important part of coming to terms with their scars. This person’s beautiful floral tattoo draws attention to her burns in the prettiest way. The cherry blossoms are a symbol of hope and new beginnings.

One of the most beautiful emerging trends at the moment is to get a tattoo to cover up a mastectomy scar. It’s one way for breast cancer survivors to not only come to terms with their illness, but honor their scars as a physical sign of their survival. This floral pattern is particularly well-designed.

Operation scars can often be easier to incorporate into a tattoo because they tend to be neater and straighter than unintentional scars. This person’s straight spinal scar was just asking to have a pretty vine tattooed around it. It’s understated but still eye-catching.

Getting older means accepting new “flaws” that you’re not so keen on, or covering them up. Whichever – it’s your body, so you get to choose what to do with it! This person opted for a tattoo coverup for their varicose veins, and the flowers are definitely much more interesting to look at.

Remember the birthmark-turned-owl from a few posts back? If you’re more into sea creatures than birds of prey, this turtle birthmark tattoo might be more your thing. Again, the color of the birthmark has been incorporated into the overall tattoo, and it looks really cool.

This person’s birthmark looked so much like blood splatters that they couldn’t help themselves with this slightly morbid design. It’s definitely not for everyone, but we’ve all got different senses of humor – it’s what makes us unique. We’re getting a Banksy-style vibe from this tatt.

This person looks as if they’ve been through a tough time – but the good news is, the scars are old and healed, and they were ready to move on by covering them up with a tattoo. They found a tattoo artist to create a bandaged skeleton design, with the scars creating a cool 3D effect across the image.

Tribal-style tattoos have been trending for nearly a decade now, and this creative eagle makes the best cover-up for this person’s shoulder scars. It must have taken a seriously skilled tattooist to produce such a bold, clean design.

This person’s birthmark is only tiny, but they felt it was too obvious to ignore. So rather than cover it up, they drew more attention to it by turning it into a Pac Man pellet – and having a tattooist make Pac Man himself look as if he’s chasing after it.

This person’s scar looks like the impressions that a spider’s legs would leave if it was on his skin – so he paid a visit to a tattoo artist, who produced one of the most realistic tattoos we’ve ever seen. Look away if you’re an arachnophobe!

The great thing about potatoes is that they’re so randomly shaped (or, some would say, shapeless), that it’s pretty easy to turn a birthmark into one. This guy went for the iconic Mr Potato Head from Toy Story, and it might just be the funniest thing ever.

You know when you open a book and it has a map on the front page, and you think, “This is going to be a good book”? Well, this person has a map on their birthmark, which slightly resembles an island. You could make up so many pirate-themed stories from this.

This person’s tattoo is a clever copy of the cover of Neutral Milk Hotel’s album “In The Aeroplane Over The Sea.” You can’t even tell they’ve incorporated their birthmark into it unless you look closely – it’s the “shading” in the middle of the faceless woman. Very inventive.

If you’re a fan of fashion, sports, or both, you’re probably aware of the “Jumpman” logo. Owned by Nike to promote their Air Jordan basketball sneakers, the logo is a silhouette of NBA player Michael Jordan. This person’s mole looked a bit like a basketball, so what did he do? Get a tatt of the “Jumpman”, of course.

If you weren’t quite impressed enough with the previous map in this slideshow, take a look at this one. Based on a bigger birthmark, there’s a bit more going on – we’ve got pictures of boats, random dates, and references to Thailand. Definitely looks intriguing.

Red birthmarks are a little too obvious for some people when they’re left as they are – but if the red was incorporated into a rose tattoo, nobody would give it a second look. Not unless they were admiring it, anyway. There’s something tragically romatntic about this tatt.

This person has quite a large birthmark covering one side of their back. But once their tattoo was finished, the birthmark became completely hidden. You’d have no way of knowing it was ever there, and the tattoo is really well done.

It’s always interesting to see exactly what creative design somebody will choose to cover up a birthmark. This person went for a a fish and lily pad design, with the scales of the fish covering the area of her skin that she wasn’t too fond of.

Birthmarks aren’t always neat circles. This person needed a tattoo that would follow the twists and turns of his birthmark – and what better than a crawling dragon? Where the actual dragon doesn’t quite cover the birthmark, the tattooist has done some clever shading to add some depth to the design.

This person’s scar is hardly something that would attract unwanted attention, but they chose to honor it with a tattoo anyway. They decided on a tiny swimmer diving into the water – a symbol of freedom, we’d say. Watch she doesn’t belly-flop.

It’s a pretty mind-blowing thing that Saturn is a planet that genuinely exists in space, and not something made-up like the majority of cool concepts. This person may or may not be a space fanatic – either way, they decided that their mole would make a perfect tiny version of Saturn, rings and all.

There was no hiding this person’s mole entirely, so she decided to embrace it in the coolest way possible. Who wouldn’t want to be part-leopard? Especially as leopard print is a trend that returns again and again. It’ll never fully go out of fashion.

This person’s birthmark looks a little like those random unknown islands you see when you fly over the sea. So their tattooist kept things simple and outlined them, making them more prominent. Wonder what he’s called his “islands”?

This might be one of the best cover-ups of burn scars we’ve seen. The scars add texture to the beautiful floral design, and the pattern winds all the way down her arm. We’d have this anyway, not just as a cover-up.

You don’t even notice the scar on this person’s arm because you’re too busy checking out the great white. In this design, the scar actually works really well to give the shark a bit of extra menace – he’s been through a few scrapes, and he’s not afraid to show off his battle marks!

When you have a straight-line scar, there are limits to how creative you can get, unless you’re going for a full cover-up. This person kept things simple and turned their scar into a road for a running Forest Gump. Now that’s a way to celebrate a timeless classic.

There’s something breath-taking about ruby jewellery. Instead of wearing a ruby necklace every day, this woman used the color of her birthmark as a base for a large jewel heart in the middle of her chest. Have you ever seen anything prettier?

This tattoo reminds us of something out of Harry Potter. The scar almost becomes the Sword of Gryffindor, with the snake being Voldemort’s evil companion. If you’re not a Harry Potter fan, don’t worry – we’ll stop here.

This tattoo is one of the cleverest in this whole slideshow. The tattooist had to consider not only how they’d cover up the scar, but how the indents of the scar could be incorporated into the piece. They did an exceptional job, and the final result is breathtakingly beautiful.

If you saw this man from a distance, you’d never know that his left eye is actually tattooed on. While The tatt obviously won’t help him see again, he probably feels a lot less of a sore thumb in a crowd now he has both his eyes. He’s even had an eyebrow tattooed in place.

With this birthmark being slightly wider than it is long, its owner saw an opportunity to turn it into a butterfly. This one’s pretty simple, but it works really well as a cover-up. You’d never know the birthmark was hiding behind the vibrant blue of the butterfly’s wings.

There are so many beautiful red flowers out there, it was hard for this person to choose just one kind to incorporate into their birthmark. In the end, they chose a design with both roses and poppies, and they couldn’t have made a better decision.

The “messy” watercolor style is a big tattoo trend nowadays, and it pairs really well with this person’s scar. The butterfly taking flight looks like a symbol of peace and new beginnings – exactly the sort of positive message you’d want on your body.

For many of us, there’s nothing more humbling than watching a sunset over the sea. This person wanted to associate their scar with the happy thoughts that arise from witnessing a sunset, so they incorporated their scar into a clever sunset tattoo.

You could never look at this tatt without smiling to yourself – it’s just too darn cute. The little Pokémon character turns this person’s relatively boring birthmark into something worth exclaiming over. We love that it’s acting as a puff of smoke in this scenario.

Actually, some scars don’t look too far from the luminous, slightly ethereal tentacles of a jellyfish. This person’s tattoo is small and simple, but it’s incredibly pretty. You’d never know that one of the tentacles was actually already a permanent feature on her skin.

Why try and cover a scar up when you could turn it into a Rick and Morty tattoo? We’d love to know where this colorful black hole would take the pair if they accidentally fell into it.

If you’ve ever been lucky enough to find a peacock feather, you’ll know they’re about the most beautiful things on the world. So it makes sense that this woman opted for a peacock feather scar coverup. The scar blends perfectly into the feather’s form.

We know we promised no more Harry Potter references, but this stunning flying phoenix tattoo reminds us of Dumbledore’s very own bird. Phoenix birds are a symbol of renewal, rebirth and reincarnation – perhaps exactly what this woman was looking for after getting her scar.

This person’s original scar almost looks like the very first outlines a tattooist would make before getting started on a design. There was nothing she could have put on the back of her wrist other than a flower – her scar had made up her mind for her!

Back to a stretchmark coverup, now – and you’d never even know this tattoo was hiding something. It’s in a perfect location for the design itself. People would get this even if they weren’t looking to cover up.

This person looks as if they’ve been through a lot. The positive news is that their self-harming is in the past, and now, they’re ready to move on without the reminder of their scars showing up on their legs. This hedgehog tattoo makes the perfect coverup – the texture of the scars blends right into the design.

Here’s another breath-taking mastectomy design. The florals are so beautiful that the design must give this woman hope every time she looks down at her chest. What a perfect way to honor her fight.

This person looks like they’ve suffered through an awful lot, but they’ve come out strong on the other side. Their angel tattoo demonstrates their belief in a power from above in guiding them through their trauma and helping them to come out stronger on the other side.

Yep, we can totally see how this person’s scar looks like an open zip. It might be neat, but the staple marks resemble the tracks of a zipper. There was nothing else for it aside from tattooing a zip in place.

‘Mind over matter’, as written on this tattoo, is a positive mantra to live by. It’s all too easy to fall into a hole of self-hatred when looking at our “imperfections”. This inspiring tattoo inspires us to accept who we were born to be, especially the fights we’ve won in the past.

This tattoo has got double the beauty going for it. Not only does it cover up this woman’s stretch marks, but it’s also shaped in a love heart, as a reminder for her to love herself and spread that love far and wide.

This person might have wanted to cover up her scars, but she didn’t want something discreet and understated. She went for the brightest, boldest lotus tattoo, which she knows will catch other peoples’ eyes for the right reasons.

The quote “This too shall pass” is a reminder that when life isn’t going as planned, the bad times won’t last forever. This person had the quote tattooed over their self-harm scars as a reminder of what they had already overcome, and to prevent them from feeling tempted to repeat their acts again.

This is a completely unique stretch mark coverup design that works so well. What girl hasn’t dreamed of being a mermaid when they were little? The glittering, glimmering mermaid scales look so pretty – and she might even fancy adding a few more if she ever wants to cover up future stretch marks down the line.