DRESSED in a smart suit with her hair perfectly styled in a neat coiffure, Julie Bolton looks every bit the well-turned out businesswoman she is.

But lurking beneath her neatly pressed blouse lurks a hidden gem - a belly button ring. And that's not her only secret. She also sports a heart-shaped tattoo on her shoulder blade and a pierced tongue.

Twenty-five-year-old Julie couldn't be prouder of her 'body art', and she's not alone, as she explains.

"I had my belly button done first about six years ago," said Julie, of Giffard Drive, in Malvern. "I thought it would look good and everyone else was doing it.

"A lot of my friends had it done at the same time and I was at college, living on campus away from my parents so they weren't there to tell me not to do it."

Not content to stick with just a pierced navel, Julie soon went onto have a heart tattoo on her shoulder blade.

Then four years ago she took the brave step to have her tongue pierced. The decision was not made lightly though.

"I was concerned people at work might notice because my tongue had swollen up and I thought my speech was different, but they didn't seem to realise," said Julie, who is head of retail for the Worcester News.

"I do think employers might be put off by it. If I was thinking of going for a job interview then I'd take out the tongue piercing.

"I think people do automatically judge you negatively if you have tattoos or piercings, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. It's just society and an attitude that will probably never change."

But with the likes of Robbie Williams quick to show off their many tattoos and members of pop groups such as the Sugababes having piercings galore, this type of 'self expression' is becoming ever more accepted, says Peter Watts, proprietor of Rings & Needles, in Quay Street, Worcester.

"More and more women are having tattoos," he said. "In fact tattoos and piercings are now popular with a wider audience because so many celebrities are getting it done.

"One of my oldest clients was a man in his 70s who had a tribal pattern.

"It used to be frowned upon 10 years ago but in the last two or three years people are more interested and intrigued and less inclined to judge."

And according to Lee Broadway, director of recruitment firm Backup Staff Ltd, in Castle Street, Worcester, employers no longer seem to be turned off by body art.

"I think generally people are more accepting of tattoos and piercings," he said.

"It's a piece of self-expression and it doesn't matter what you look like.

"Having said that there are some of our clients who have said they don't want to employ someone with tattoos all over their face and hands.

"But we had a guy come in recently with lots of piercings and tattoos and we were happy to register him on our books, it doesn't matter to us because we take people on for their skills.

"I think if you were going for a job where you had lots of interaction with customers, such as a receptionist it might put people off. But again, our receptionist has piercings in her tongue and upper lip and that's fine by us.

"Sometimes because of hygiene, clients will ask people to put tape over their piercings, but that's purely down to health and safety for employers like manufacturers or caterers.

"I certainly don't think it will stop you getting the job you want."

George Cowley, aged 68, of Windermere Drive, in Warndon, Worcester, said he was also all for body art.

"It doesn't bother me at all, every generation has to have a craze," he said. "Although I think it's only something for younger people."

But not everyone is so keen. Fifty-eight-year-old Kath Nody, of Kempsey, said: "As a massage therapist, I often see people with tattoos.

"I don't like them much on anyone, man or woman, but particularly dislike seeing tattoos on young girls. They rarely have much artistic merit and it seems such a shame to spoil healthy young skin with ugly, usually meaningless symbols that will scar them for life.

"As a mother, I was distressed when my son came home with a tattoo and have appealed to my daughter never to have one. What seems like a fashion decision now could be something she would regret for the rest of her life.

"I don't like facial piercings either, but don't think they are quite as bad as tattoos, because they are reversible."

Well, love them or loathe them, it seems tattoos and piercings are here to stay.