A Belgian teen who claimed she had fallen asleep while being tattooed and woke up to find her face covered in stars has confessed to lying.

18-year-old Kimberley Vlaminck insisted she dozed off after requesting three stars be tattooed on her cheek - only to find she had 56 etched in her skin when she woke.

She even told the media she planned to sue tattoo artist Rouslan Toumaniantz for the money to have them removed.

But she has now admitted she asked for the 56 stars and only lied after her dad hit the roof.

"I asked for 56 stars and initially adored them," she said, according to the UK's Telegraph newspaper. "But when my father saw them, he was furious. So I said I fell asleep and that the tattooist had made a mistake."

Tattooist Toumaniantz, who had always maintained the girl has asked for the tattoos, had originally offered to pay half of the costs of removal. But he has now withdrawn his offer after Vlaminck's confession, adding that he plans to get written consent from all clients from now on.