Arsenic Fashions is a goth boutique that has undergone a revamp in recent years – before the Edwardian site design and boom in original clothing, they were called Irridescent Veil and featured a small line of dark accessories, the most notable of which were prom accoutrements of black rose boutinnieres and raven corsages. These were classic fancy-dress staples turned black for people who like to hit the ballroom all year long, and priced at about ten bucks, easily snagged for gifts or tarting up a shredded dress. We were disappointed to find them gone when they asked us to check out the new site, and an inquiry to the webmistress brought this response: “I’ll make you one if you send me a picture of you wearing it.”

So here I am! This is an accessory that goes very well with kitty ears, I think. The gothic prom accessories are still not on the site, but that’s the beauty of custom requests – ask her nicely and maybe she’ll make you one, too.

Halloween Visions is the online home of Twilight Tales Cottage, the studio of artist Rebecca Venable. It’s full of one-of-a-kind items to add a funhouse touch to your decor, lamps and clocks little drawer sets, and she sent us a little something from her Peppermint Twisted Gallery: a frosted glass bulb traced in a spiral of glitter and topped with a bloody-toothed skull.

And a little batty on the back!

It came all wrapped up with a pumpkin kaleidoscope, peppermint stick and a bag of tea, with their business cards reflecting a love for vintage Halloween images (apparently Rebecca has a huge collection and plans to do greeting cards for sale in the future) – I absolutely loved the homemade “blue cat” card, framed in silver sparkle and cutout stars. This is one of those merchants whose presentation is delightfully thoughtful and meticulous – right down to the swirly heart sticker sealing the envelope – making it a fabulous place for gifting dark-hearted friends, or just splurging on some unusual redecoration. Recommended!

PirateMod is an online shop founded by a group of designers fed up with cheap swashbuckling costumery and have instead created an original line of tees with great art, and along with sister site Sinister Candy, there’s something for everyone: seemingly endless Jolly Rogers that perfectly match a pair of bondage pants, sparkling bats completed with gothy fluted sleeves, or “Plunder Bunny” for the YARR!core. Our favorite: the lovely “Poison and Thorns” babydoll.

Both sites feature designs printed in metallic ink, and the graphics are clean, centered, and after a couple of trips through the machine, wash well. Along with the high-quality inks, the shirts are made in America, sturdy but wonderfully soft, which means they’re just going to get even more comfier with each washing. The sizes also run true, so if you like to wear your babydolls tight, there’s no fear of your boobs distorting the image if you go down a size (which happened with that Skinny Puppy boy-beater I picked up at their L.A. show a couple months ago. Sigh.) They also offer a large variety of clothing options you can get them printed on, from strappy little camis to hoodies, and prices are great considering this is an exclusive line. All this and great customer service!

**NOTE: Due to the holidays and the webmaster’s imminent move to SoCal this weekend, the Lucky 7 will return next week.**

Putrid Playthings is one of those sites where the stock seems chosen from the merchant’s whim: Halloween silliness abounds in spooky clackers, Munsters figurines, “water worms,” and other miscellaneous skulls and spiders. The couple who runs this site are currently looking for a bigger apartment – and yes, that means there’s a larger catalog on the way – but there’s a real treasure on the Current Items page: Lovecraftian button sets! Yes, fans of the giant squid who have had a hard time locating tentacled imagery will delight in these nine 1″ pins – also available separately – bearing the face of good ‘ol H.P., the Elder seal, and cute sayings like “Jesus saves, Allah protects, Cthulhu thinks you would make a yummy snack.”

Better speak up if you want them – availability is VERY limited.

Here come germs! A rare combination of education and amusement, Giant Microbes are a line of cuddly diseases that look right at home propped on your pillows. Originally designed for health care professionals – and a non-threatening way to teach kids about illness – these stuffed animals are growing popular as odd gifts, with the unsettling and creepy reduced to harmless, cute plush.

Take this Bookworm. Each microbe is accompanied by a tag to provide some background, which includes a picture of what it looks like in reality. The amusing part comes in when you see how menacing hooks are rounded off into white felt, with the insectile body done over in a nice bright yellow.

Flesh-Eating Disease is given a little knife and fork. And luminous eyes. Almost all of them have a “who, me?” innocent look.

Here’s a Stomachache, with a fringe of light orange flagella, and a velvety yellow Cough.

Bad Breath! You know, given the inexplicable rise of the alternative stuffed-animal industry I’ve seen over the past couple years, I think people would buy these things even if they didn’t come with the explanatory tags or know they were even supposed to be germs at all.

Sore Throat and Earache. These do make for fun get-well gifts, too.

The Common Cold, aka Rhinovirus (“virus of the nose”), in a lightcatching turquoise.

Sleeping Sickness, complete with peacefully closed eyes. This one sorta reminds me of Gypsy from MST3K (which we had on in the background of doing this review – it just seemed appropriate. The Castle of Fu Manchu, if you must know.)

This one’s for the boozehounds – the bulbous, droopy-lidded Beer and Bread.

The Flu is not so bad when presented in a perky light green, looking quite like an earnest cucumber.

And HIV, dressed in black, with red eyes and a ribbon. The success of Giant Microbes has prompted some public health professionals to ask for a line of sexually-transmitted disease dolls, so look for some upcoming designs on their “Giant Microbes Professional” page. Hepatitis is already covered.

Giant Microbes run about six dollars a doll, and are safe for children age three and up.

FeMaledictions, where shea butter has never looked so sinister, is proud to announce some new soaps for the upcoming Hallows’ Eve season. SCara’s original designs continue on the theme of using natural ingredients to craft creepy little bath and body goods, and recent additions to her site include fierce little pumpkins and skulls, scented with her Pumpkinhead and Dia De Los Muertos perfumes, respectively.

It’s hard not to love a shop that makes pentagrams out of the gift wrapping.

Baphomet is rendered in kosher-grade olive oil, with an impressive amount of detail, and available in your choice of scent.

As always, rich lather and heavy scent are a hallmark of Scara’s creations, so these are great to use in the shower for body wash. And for one of the best soap designs ever, don’t miss her Rosemary’s Baby Beds.

Art With Latex is a two-person design team from Texas that makes the ultimate accessories to wear with fetish gowns – original latex necklaces and bracelets squeezed and sculpted from a tube. We’ve been getting some great feedback about them from our readers since featuring them as an Oddity back in July, and when Kurt and Adam offered us a selection from their catalog, what else could we choose but the Black Horn Choker? From looking through their customer galleries, this seems to be one of their most popular pieces.

Now, you think this looks good in the catalog? Wait til you see it in person! There are tiny veins all throughout the wings, with raised dots and an elegant curl on the “latch” in the back. The colors are vibrant, totally standing out against the skin and attracting immediate notice. And it’s quite comfy – lightweight and flexible, the texture is akin to wearing an elegant gummi worm. The designers “know of no one else on the planet who currently does this,” and at 800+ reviews and counting, neither does the Chateau – so this is one of those shops where fellow clubgoers will either recognize your piece right away, or hound you all night about where you got it. Not to mention, each one is hand-signed.

The designs are arrived at through a combination of drawing, painting, and precisely aiming the tip of the bottle, and this takes some serious skill considering how intricate their designs can get – everything from fierce tribal points to delicate swirling abounds, so there’s something for everyone, and the prices are also great for this level of detail and originality. Just don’t leave them on the dashboard of your car!