Hello! I'm having the same issue. Also the only way of keeping the tattoo after-death is by making it on the character creator so currently there is no way around unless you want to keep paint brushing yourself after every death. I suggest the Devs to make a "tattooing needle" exactly as the paint brush but retaining the after death properties - or just fix it!
I could load the tattoo in "stages" but by loading the current one erases the one before it.