Board Thread:Off Topic/@comment-25396609-20171207232020/@comment-26397825-20180114054904

Hazel stabbed himself, not gave himself a Dust Tattoo. They're two completely different things.

From what I saw, Dust tattoos would be like dust infused in clothing - you can lift the element out of the tattoo and cast elements that way, but infusing it directly into your bloodstream allows your entire body to be infused with the element, which is different. One is an immediate personal application to your body, another is a ranged application that can be made short range if you're clever but does not infuse your body.