We all have our vices, and what better way to acknowledge that than with a brilliantly etched poison bottle tattoo?

Pick your poison-this tattoo can echo bottles of old, with a cork stopper and threatening skull and crossbones imagery.

Or it can be more fantastical, with many facets and a vividly colored liquid sloshing maliciously around its insides. Whether your poison more closely resembles a whiskey bottle or a chemist’s beaker, the shape of the tattoo can be very symbolic.

Poison features heavily in many tales, from tragic love stories to fantasy epics to murder mysteries and even true accounts of history. Shakespeare wielded poison as a plot device in six of his famous plays. A poison bottle tattoo whispers of eeriness and intrigue. But it’s not necessarily a negative symbol. Game of Thrones writer George R. R. Martin wrote that laughter is poison to fear.

Perhaps your personal poison staves off the bad things in life to preserve the good.

A poison bottle tattoo is a premium choice for a history buff. Poison has been around since 4500 BC, taking on many purposes. The first masters of poison were known as witch doctors and medicine men.

Maybe, like these ancient men, you have learned how to confront that which you fear most-to imbibe that poison in tiny amounts until you have built up an immunity. A poison bottle tattoo can signify this willingness to face death, the understanding that sometimes, one must drink the poison in order to heal.