If I take out the piercing, how long does it take to close up?
I've never removed mine for long periods of times, but it does start to get smaller within 4 - 5 hours if I've taken it out for facials, etc and forgotten to put it back in. I'm fairly sure that it would close fully in a few weeks.
Is it hard to apply makeup around the nose ring?
No, not really. Sometimes I remove mine to put makeup on, others I don't and just clean my stone with a q-tip after.
Left or right side of nose?
I'm not sure which is more common, but I have mine done on the right side of my nose.
What price is decent?
I think that I paid about $30-35 for the piercing and maybe $30 for a gold nostril screw, then I found out I'm allergic to gold in my piercings and switched it out for plain old stainless. I have 5 or 6 nostril screws now and they normally run me about $25 each.
Any nose ring horror stories?
Not really. I was so afraid to have it done and was sure it was going to hurt, but honestly, I barely felt it. My upper cartilidge ear piercing and industrial hurt much much worse in my opinion. Mine was only painful for about the first three days I had it and then only if I scrunched up my nose.
The only problem that I really have is that most nostril screws are too long for my nose and tend to stick out at the bottom unless I rotate it into a certain position. Most have a length of about 7mm I think, and I need the elusive ones that are only 5mm long.
Make sure you go to a professional piercer that uses clean, sterile one use needles and not someone that uses a gun.
I prefer the nostril screws, or l-shaped jewelry opposed to the bones because the bones are too loose and kind of hurt to remove in my opinion.
The one thing that I will say is that if you get it done, just be vigilant about cleaning it. Clean it twice a day with antibacterial soap and water and really work it into the piercing, rotate the jewelry. Don't try to change the jewelry too soon, or you will have issues.
Good luck! I love mine!