Halsey showing off a bunch of her tattoos in the "You Should Be Sad" music video
While Halsey is most notably known for her singing career, she is also known for having an astounding collection of 38+ tattoos. The Halsey Wiki has tried to do their best job by listing most of them below, in no particular order:
| Photo | Explanation | Quote |
|---|---|---|
| Anchor, banner, heart, with her mother's initials on her foot: Halsey’s first tattoo was the anchor in her right foot, which she got when she was 16 years old. It has a heart and a banner with her mother’s initials “NCF.” Her mother also got a tattoo to match. | ||
| Dagger with the number "13" on her thigh: Halsey has had this colorful dagger tattoo on her right thigh since she was 16. She has revealed it was to commemorate the death of a friend that had pink and turquoise hair. Traditionally the colors for the kind of tattoo are yellow and red. | ||
| Roses on her shoulder: Halsey got the outline of two roses tattooed on her right shoulder, when she was 17 years old. She seems conflicted on whether she wants to color the tattoo. | "my rose tattoo is my favorite! Had it since the beginning of my senior year of highschool! I cant bring myself to color it!” – Tweeted on June 2013
"neeeeeed to fill in my rose tatttooooo! And get tons more! I want half a sleeve by Fall! I’m determined.” – Tweeted on June 2013 “I wish I could go back in time and tell myself not to get the two roses tattooed since everybody else in the worldhas one now.” – Tweeted on May 2014 | |
| "Ferox" on her thigh: Halsey has a tattoo on her thigh which says “FEROX” in capital letters. A friend did this homemade tattoo in October 2012. Her previous tattoos were done professionally and this was her first DIY “stick and poke” style inking. | “Ferox is Latin for wild, courageous, spiritable. It was given to me with a sewing needle, India ink, and a lot of vodka.” – Instagram post | |
| 17 on her knuckles: Halsey got her lucky number “17” tattooed on her knuckles in March 2013. It’s on her right hand index and middle fingers. | "2013, that's the year I became Halsey" | |
| "511" on her elbow: Halsey got the number 511 tattoo on the back of her arm in August 2013. It is for her brother Sevian Frangipane’s birthday which is on May 11th (5/11). | “Today is so special to me I’ve had it tattooed on my body for years. Happy Birthday @sevianfrangipane I love u 4ever" – Tweeted on May 11, 2015 | |
| Star Wars Mythosaur on her elbow: Halsey got this Star Wars inspired tattoo from artist Darci Munster in August 2013. It is the face of the fictional creature Mythosaur and it’s also the emblem of the Mandalorians in the Star Wars universe. The tattoo is on her right elbow. | “I just love Star Wars so much it makes me emotional. Padme is crying I can’t do this. I’ve seen it 472953 times and I’m still not ready.” – Tweeted in 2013 | |
| Twinkling Star/Sparkles Tattoo on head: Halsey got this tattoo in October 2020, after she shaved her head. | ||
| ‘929’ on right hand: Halsey got this tattoo inked to represent her birthday, September 29, i.e. 929 (9/29). She got this tattoo inked on August 11, 2019. | ||
| Bjenny Montero comic baby chick tattoo on right forearm: Halsey got this tatoo inked on October 26, 2020 by tattoo artist NAL | ||
| Om on her forearm: Halsey got this tattoo of the Om symbol on her arm in August 2013. Om is the sound of the universe in Hinduism and other Dharmic religions. | ||
| "Serendipity" on her side: Halsey got a tattoo that says “Serendipity” below her left breast in July 2014. It represents the luck that she has had in both her personal and professional life. It is a matching tattoo with her mother that represents how fortunate they are to have each other. Over time, as her music became popular and her fanbase grew, the tattoo began to take on a new meaning. Halsey attributes much of her career success to serendipity, knowing that so many artists who are equally as talented as she is never achieve the success that she has. | "I have this tattoo that says “Serendipity” and my mom and I have it matching together. My mom and I have two matching tattoos which is funny because when I was 16 I hated her. But now that I’m 21 I’m like “let’s get matching tattoos!” So things change. But it’s serendipity, and it sounds really sweet. Serendipity is a happy accident. It’s something that happens that you’re not expecting that ends up being so perfect, with so much synchronicity. And I think that’s how my mother would explain my birth. So it sounds like a really sweet story until I tell you my mom calls me a happy accident. It’s very special because it’s come to mean so much more than that. There’s been a lot of serendipity in my life. A lot of things that have happened to me over the course of my career, over the course of meeting you guys, over the course of making this record, have seemed almost too perfect and too random to be true. And that’s the best part about all of it. I talk a lot in interviews about how there’s no such thing as math. I mean, math exists, but there’s no such thing as math in life and in making decisions. There’s no way to wake up and say “I’m going to follow all these steps to become the most famous musician” or “I’m going to follow all these steps to be the best mother” or “I’m going to follow all these steps to be the best girlfriend.” It doesn’t work like that. It’s a series of changes and it’s a series of failures and a series of successes. Sometimes things just happen. I can’t explain why I’m in the position that I’m in. And I also know a lot of really, really talented musicians who just can’t seem to make it work and I don’t know why, because it should. Because according to math, it should. But it’s not about math, it’s about serendipity. So it’s a very important tattoo" | |
| "XXX" on the back of her hand: In July 2014, Halsey got an “XXX” tattoo on her right hand between her thumb and forefinger. Her grandmother also used to write "x's" for her and her two brothers. | “Now I’m the human version of a parental advisory sticker” – In a tweet. | |
| "These violent delights have violent ends" on her forearm: Halsey has writing along her right forearm which says “These violent delights have violent ends,” a line from the Shakespeare play Romeo & Juliet. She got this tattoo in July 2014. | ||
| Flowered upside-down horseshoe on her upper arm: Halsey got this horseshoe and flower tattoo on her upper right arm from artist Joshua Marks in September 2014. It is done in heave black ink with negative space and very little shading. Instead of having the horseshoe the right way up, so the 'luck' stays inside, it is flipped upside-down. | ||
| 'Little Prince' elements (cactus, volcano, fox, rose) on her thigh: Halsey got a tattoo on her left leg consisting of four elements inspired by Little Prince book. | ||
| Knife with a belt: Halsey got a tattoo of a knife with the belt around it on her right ankle. This tattoo is inked by Tattooist, Emily malice in September 2014. | ||
| Music score on her upper arm: Halsey has a sheet music tattoo on the back of her left upper arm. The four whole notes aren’t random — they are the identifier of producer Lido. They can be heard as a signature in songs that he has produced, including some of Halsey’s own music | ||
| "Everything" self-portrait on her upper arm: In November 2015, Halsey got a minimalist portrait tattoo on her left upper arm with the word “EVERYTHING” written below it. It is inspired by Norwegian electronic musician Lido’s 2016 album Everything. | ||
| Mars on her forearm: Halsey and her friend Sean got matching Venus and Mars tattoos on their elbows in July 2015. | “My friend Sean is an Aries so his ruling planet is Mars and mine is Venus and his birthday falls EXACTLY on my half birthday so we got each other’s ruling planets!” – In a reply to a question about the tattoo. | |
| Match on her forearm: Halsey got this match on her forearm as a matching tattoo with three of her fans in May 2015. In an interview she explained that she picked the lucky fans randomly on Twitter. She relates to her fans, most of whom are around the same age as her, and wanted to give them something more than just a hang-out session. | "I got match-ing [get it] tattoos with them, and that’s the joke. I also told them that an unlit match represents not playing all your good cards like you have one. It’s unlit and I think what that represents is potential. You can strike at any moment. And I told them that when they feel like they’ve reached a point of potential in their life, or they feel like they’ve done something that they wanted to do for a long time, I told them that they should go back, get a flame added to it, and then let me know when they do, because it’s a significant moment. And I told them I would do the same, so I’m just holding out for that moment because I don’t know when I’m going to reach my potential. But hopefully one day something will be enough for me." | |
| "Hopeless" on her butt: Halsey has a tattoo on the left side of her butt which reads “HOPELESS.” She got this tattoo at the same time as the kissing lovers on her leg in August 2016. The “Hopeless” tattoo was shown off in her Twitter icon a few weeks later. Both of the new tattoos represent her sophomore album Hopeless Fountain Kingdom. | “Got zapped twice last night by my main @curtmontgomerytattoos. Here’s one of them. The other one is a secret (for now)” – Instagram | |
| Two mouths kissing on her thigh: Halsey got this minimalist illustration of two lovers kissing tattooed on her right thigh from artist Curt Montgomery in August 2014. | ||
| "Baby": Halsey has a tattoo that says "Baby" on her lower abdomen. | ||
| Dice on her forearm: Halsey got a matching dice tattoo with Paul Klein from the band LANY on November 5, 2016. Halsey had joined LANY onstage for a surprise guest performance at their show in Minneapolis and decided to get matching tattoos that night. She wound up at Leviticus Tattoo where artist Brent Bartel gave her a pair of dice on her left forearm. Paul got the same design justbelow his elbow | "Who in Minneapolis wants to come tattoo me in my hotel room rn, Or wants to keep their shop open for me?” – In a tweet. | |
| "Heaven in Hiding" on her forearm: Halsey’s tattoo on her right forearm says “Heaven in Hiding” which is one of the song titles of her album Hopeless Fountain Kingdom. She chose an unusual placement for the hand-written tattoo, putting it at a diagonal angle. | ||
| "Brat" on her forearm: Halsey has a tattoo on her right forearm which says “BRAT” in graffiti-style capital letters. She showed off the brand-new tattoo in a May 2017 instagram photo. In a message with a fan, she explained that she got the tattoo because her mom and dad call her a brat. A brat is a spoiled child and it’s usually an insult, but Halsey sees it as a term of endearment instead. | ||
| "Nightmare" on her spine: The full meaning behind this particular tattoo hadn't been revealed by Halsey until she released a song in May 2019 called "Nightmare" (one year and 5 months after getting the tattoo) which is about women being forced into a submissive role, and it became a very poignant feminist anthem. She got the tattoo back in January 2018 | "Not sure how I ended up getting my neck AND spine tattooed this month but I guess life comes at u fast." / "Someone like me can be a real nightmare, completely aware. But I'd rather be a real nightmare, than die unaware" – Lyrics to "Nightmare" (May 2019) | |
  Instagram Post / jonboytattoo |
"I'm a loser baby" on her neck: Halsey stopped by Jonboy's studio to get a neck tattoo worthy of the Beck song it was inspired by. The dainty words on her neck are the lyrics to Beck's 1994 song, "Loser". Halsey has yet to explain what prompted the beautiful new ink. | "Soy un perdedor, I'm a loser baby, so why don't you kill me?" - Lyric from "Loser" by Beck. |
| 'Playboy' Jeans on her upper arm: It is assumed that this new tattoo is a symbol that she is a multidimensional woman. After she was critised by a fan for doing a nude Playboy shoot. It is inked beneath her horseshoe tattoo. | "Newsflash. A woman can be multidimensional." | |
| Queen of Diamonds on her face: She posted this on her Instagram. | "Headed straight for the castle. @nal.tattoo thanks for my first (and only hopefully) face tattoo." | |
| Butterfly on her forearm: It isn't entirely known what the complete meaning of her butterfly tattoo is, but it is believed that the winged insect has ties to her 2017 album, 'hopeless fountain kingdom.' | ||
| "The Crazy Kind": The words "The Crazy Kind" is a lyric from the song "Him & I" a collboration between her and her ex-boyfriend. | "We got that love, the crazy kind" – Him & I, 2018 | |
| Barbed Wire, wrist tattoo: Halsey covered her "The Crazy Kind" tattoo in 2019 after her break up, she covered it with a barbed wire, very detailed. | ||
| Sins (weigh symbol) Forgiveness: Halsey was pictured with this tattoo around November 2018. She got it during her surprise guest appearance with Lil Wayne on SNL. It is also in his hand writing and references his lyric, “On my Libra scale I’m weighin’ sins and forgiveness,” from the song ‘She Will’ feat. Drake. ’ | ||
| Marilyn Mansons' face: Halsey has a tattoo of details of Marilyn Mansons' face, he was a big inspiration to her growing up. | “Absolutely obsessed, Manson by mega babe,” halsey had to then clear up that she was talking about Marilyn Manson and not Charles Manson (a cult leader and murderer) | |
| Poor Thing knee tattoo: On July 27, 2019, Emily Malice shared a post of herself tattooing Halsey, the first photo was of Emily tattooing Halsey's knee and the second was of the tattoo after it was done. The meaning is not known yet but it might be something to do with the fact that she gets easily injured on her legs and knees from performing on stage. Halsey also shared a photo of the tattoo (pictured left) to her Instagram the next day. | ||
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Seeds: On June 21, 2020, Halsey and her boyfriend Alev got matching tattoos of the word "Seed" from tattooist Amanda Owley. | Amanda stated that Halsey said "This is cosmically the best week to plant seeds in your life" |
| St. Patricks Day Clover: The tattoo was first noticed in a paparazzi shot of Halsey at an event after giving birth to Ender. Later, a fan questioned what the meaning of it was and Halsey responded. | "4 leaf clover cause alev bday is St Patrick’s day haha I gave it to myself one night while watching euphoria" | |
  NOTE: Later, the flowers cover-up was removed and the Manson tattoo remained. It is unclear whether or not the tattoo was all lasered off and then re-done exactly or this cover-up was a temporary tattoo and faded. The removal of the cover-up was first noticed September 24, 2022, during the iHeart Radio Music Festival 2022. |
Manson cover-up: Less than a year after Evan Rachel Wood publicly named Marilyn Manson as her abuser, Halsey got a flower tattoo to cover up her Marilyn Manson tattoo of Mansons' eyes and lips. Halsey seemingly waited until she finished breastfeeding her son as it is recommended for both pregnant people and people breastfeeding to not get tattoos or to get any lasered off. The flowers cover up was first seen September 3, 2022, during a show in Istanbul for the Love and Power Tour. |
