Valentine’s Day is coming and perfume is always a sweet gift for ladies and gentlemen. If you’re looking for crowd pleasers, look no further than Mariah Carey’s new fragrance Forever and to Rocawear X for men.

Mariah Carey’s newest perfume Forever is a white floral scent, with tuberose, gardenia, lotus blossom, neroli, white musk and woods. It’s a fresh scent, not too heavy or cloying on the flowers, and very feminine. It’s perfect for a romantic evening, but not too overwhelming for daytime wear either.

I love the bottle. The faceted glass is elegant and fun, and would look lovely on a ladies’ vanity or dresser.

For the gentleman, do check out Rocawear X for men. This fragrance was created to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the Rocawear brand, established in 1999 by Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter. It’s definitely one of the more interesting and pleasing men’s scents I’ve come across in a few months. The notes include goji berries, pomelo, lime, lapsang souchong tea, eucalyptus, amber, cedarwood, guaiac wood, and musk. I get the tea (but not the smokiness of a true lapsang souchong *sigh*) and the woods and the zesty citrus notes, when I sniff it. This is just a great scent! Zesty is just the right word for it. I think it smells great on a guy (and I wouldn’t mind stealing it for myself!).

I wish the bottle were better, though. It looks like a hunk of brushed aluminum, but not in a good way. Oh well, make your man store it in the medicine cabinet or something *wink*

What would you like to get for Valentine’s Day?

I visited the Oregon Coast last week with my husband and sister, and stopped in at a cute little home decor shop called Sesame and Lilies in Cannon Beach. I loved this shop! If you happen to be visiting Cannon Beach, do stop in. The decor is very well chosen and you are sure to find something to please. They had a particularly lovely selection of bath-y stuff, including delectable soaps and lotions, and best of all, the entire Tokyo Milk line of perfumes!

I have admired Tokyo Milk’s perfumes for a while, ever since I found them in Anthropologie. Unfortunately, there is no About Us page on their website, so I can’t tell you much about the company, other than their products are great!

The product line includes eau de parfum sprays, solid perfumes, lip balms, candles, and more. Each product has awesome packaging, with funky retro designs. The perfumes are all interesting, with none of them being boring or run of the mill (although a few smell kind of similar to each other, to my nose.)

I picked out Cherry Bomb, which is described as having notes of Wild Rose, Osmanthus, Chocolate & Vetiver. Amusingly, Cherry isn’t mentioned, but it’s definitely there. It’s not nearly as sweet as the name might suggest. It’s flirty and fun, without being cloying or artificial. I think that’s what I like best about the Tokyo Milk perfumes – they do all smell quite fresh and REAL, not overly synthetic.

Cherry Bomb doesn’t have the greatest staying power on skin, but isn’t the worst. It stuck around for a few hours before fading away, the chocolate notes remaining the longest. At $28 each, they won’t break the bank and you can even afford to pick out a couple for the price of one department store perfume. Tokyo Milk gets two thumbs up!

Do you love chocolate? I know I do. I love to eat it, and I also like the scent of it. When I was offered a chance to check out Godiva’s new Chocolate Strawberry Rose candle, I knew I had to give it a whiff.

The scent is inspired by Godiva’s freshly dipped chocolate strawberries. The scent of strawberries is wrapped in rich milk chocolate and accented with delicate rose petals. It’s a great combination, and smells very true – no off notes or overly artificial scents. The candle has really good throw – it definitely scented my whole kitchen where I had it burning.

The candle comes in a heavy glass jar, tinted red. Each candle is 7 oz. and has a 50-60 hour burn time. This would be a lovely Valentine’s Day gift for someone special. You can find Godiva candles at CandleLuxury.com, and they are offering a free shipping special right now too.

I love good cosmetic bags. I have quite a few, because I’m a total sucker for them, so it was with no small anticipation that I checked out the new bags from EcoTools. EcoTools partnered with vegan actress Alicia Silverstone to design the bags, and the result is a line of functional yet pretty cosmetic bags (and a brush set).

There are three cosmetic bags, a brush bag, and a five piece brush set with a brush bag. My favorite bag hands down is the Train Case. Its got a lot of inner room, and the best part is the removal clear bag tucked up in the top of the bag. The cosmetic bag and the overnight bag are pretty cool too, and the overnight bag has removal inner bags as well.

All the bags are made out of a very sturdy hemp material, and lined with recycled plastic. The hangtags on each product are even made with tree-free stone paper! These are very eco-friendly bags.

The brush set is great! It includes a blush brush, lash & brow groomer, angled eye shadow brush, and a finishing brush. I love the EcoTools blush brush, and the angled eye shadow brush has become a new favorite in my arsenal. The finishing brush is nice for dusting on powders like highlighters or some of my various sparkly powders. The set does duplicate some of the other brush sets offered by EcoTools but I still think it’s worth it for the awesome travel case it comes with and the eye shadow brush.

You can find these bags at Target, Walgreens, Ulta, and Drugstore.com.

I’ve been wondering about Yes To Carrots for a while now. I see them at New Seasons Market, at Target, and online, so I’m really happy to have the opportunity to really check out the products! First up, is the Lip Butter, a certified organic lip balm that comes in yummy flavors.

Yes To Carrots is committed to creating paraben-free products by utilising nature’s best kept secrets: rejuvenating Dead Sea mud minerals, combined with the antioxidant and youth-enhancing properties of Beta-Carotene, a natural form of Vitamin A. All products in the range are derived from organic carrots and other fruits and vegetables, so they are 100% natural and packed with goodness.

The lip butter contains such yummies as olive oil, jojoba oil, beeswax, shea butter, pumpkin seed extract and carrot root extract. It comes in five flavors: mint, berry, melon, citrus, and carrot. So far melon and carrot are my favorites!

The staying power is quite good, and the formula stays pretty solid even when I keep it in my pocket. It’s also certified organic, which is something I appreciate a lot. Overall, I give Yes To Carrots Lip Butter two thumbs up!

More Yes To Carrots reviews to come!

Everyone, meet my sister Annie. Annie is 18, and has naturally curly hair. She prefers to wear it curly, so she pretty much never straightens it. Enter the Ken Paves Nano Silver Tourmaline Ceramic Styling Iron (Travel!) and some down time of an afternoon, and you have two giggling girls playing with hair.

Ken Paves, as you may or may not know, is a hairstylist to the stars. He has a line of clip-in hair extensions with Jessica Simpson, and also a line of products including styling tools. The Nano Silver Tourmaline Ceramic Styling Iron (whew!) is a travel version of his flat iron. The tourmaline ceramic plates are supposed to heat hair strands evenly, and the iron reaches 410 degrees. It features a swivel cord and comes with a thermal lined travel pouch.

Let me say that my sister and I are basically flat-iron newbies. I really don’t know what to look for in a flat iron other than “does it work” so that’s pretty much the basis for this review. Did it work? Yes! Does her hair feel fried? No! It’s a win! LOL.

So, I sectioned her hair with a big clip, and set to work straightening out those glorious curls. The 1 inch plates mean doing a whole head of hair is going to take some time, but it is a TRAVEL iron after all. Presumably using the regular full-size version would be faster. It took me about 25-30 minutes to do her whole head. Since her hair is so curly, it did take multiple passes to fully straighten each lock.

When I was finished, her hair was reasonably straight, although there was still some wave in places, but was also quite smooth and not fried. I liked how smooth the plates were, no catching or grabbing of the hair. Overall, I think we are both pleased (as the owner of the hair and the “stylist”) with how it came out. Due to the size, this is definitely not going to be the iron you want to use on your whole head every day if your hair is really curly. It would be perfect for touch-ups, travel, and anyone with shorter or perhaps less curly hair.

Good job Ken!