LACED WITH POISON: Tie me up, tie me down - these laces can be used for more than your shoes, and the skulls and crosses give you creepy kudos. They can be used in lieu of handcuffs or on your super-sized skull-emblem sneakers. Since Damien Hirst brought skulls back into the design limelight with his diamond-encrusted masterpiece a few years ago, it just gets cooler to dress up in death.

Available at Ke Ai for random Asian stuff in Greenside, R25, www.keai.co.za

LOVE BITES: Though I'm always game for neck biting and friendly sucking, I'm less inclined to drink my partner's blood, let alone baste my baby chicken in it. Love At First Bite: The Complete Vampire Lover's Cookbook might just change that. With recipes like blood-chilling gazpacho, "I vant s'mores", bloody Mary fondue and the underground favourite, coffin cake, who could resist getting gory with some red food colouring, vampire teeth gums and fresh butchered flesh?

Available at Love Books in Melville, p rice on request, call 011-726-7408

COUNTRY OF MY SKULL: Empty eye sockets, bare teeth and nasal cavities might not be the most romantic way to say I love you. Yet, I, for one, would love to be the proud wearer of this sexy skull ring by Jan Bekker, if, and only if, my boyfriend were the kingpin of the Angel's most hard-core local sect, the leather-clad Vespa-riding Hell's Bagels - of Norwood. If leathers, studs and straps are not hardcore enough, this dead head surrounded by delicate flowers ought to do it for you.

Available at Tinsel, Melville, R5000, 011-726-7269

AORTA HAVE ONE: It's one thing to wear your heart on your sleeve, but it's even better to wear it around your neck. Though hearts on chains have been done by jewellery designers from Lalique to Dior, this is the first time I've seen such a witty, quirky and, in fact, rather ghoulish version of the theme. With veins, aortas and arteries intact, this heart on a chain will really get your blood pumping.

Available from Tiaan Nagel and Anatomy Design's new showroom at 44 Stanley Ave, Milpark

NO BRAINER: There's a strange eerie place where lost things go. It's haunted by all the ghosts of possessions past. When you die and you're heading towards the bright light, you pass through the tunnel where all the things you have lost in your life went, so that before you reach oblivion you have one final moment of peace. My tunnel will be littered with bunches of keys. Not a month goes by when I don't lose one. A bright and cheerful skull key ring is what I need as an antidote to my curse.

Available from Ke Ai for random Asian stuff in Greenside, R35, www.keai.co.za