It is Spring, so isn’t it time to smell like it? It is time to spritz on a new fresh fragrance for these sunny days of Spring, and ditch your heavy scents from winter. Don’t you agree that you deserve to smell like something sweet, fresh, and floral?

First on our list of lovely fragrences is TOCCA the iconic, fragrance brand. They recently introduced Violette, which blooms along the Champ-Elysees awaken the youthful spirit of love. It evokes a whirwing romance between a young soldier on leave and a young girl at the gragrence counter of Le Bon Marche in Paris in the 1940s.Some ingredients include: Itialian Bergamot, Ginger Oil, African Violet, Bulgarian Rose Creamy Cedarwood, Cashmere Musk, and a Touch of Benzoin. Violette from TOCA retails for $68 and is available now at Anthropolgie as well as on their website here.

Next up, is Blooming Meadows Scentations Lotions for hand and body, comes in three distinct lotions. This trio includes, Dark Bergamot Lotion, French Daisy Lily Lotion, and Magnolia & Mandarin Lotion. This fun and flirty lotion pack is extremly affordable and can be purchased online here for $8.50.

Last, but in our eyes, never least is Elizabeth Grant’s iconic (Created for the Cannes Film Festival in 2007,) Emotion Eau De Parfum is a modern, sophisticated and romantic fragrance with all the characteristics of a world leading perfume. The top note is a sparkling, fruity and floral bouquet of Bergamot, Peaches, Plums and Lychee. The heart is a young, feminine, white floral harmony of Orchid, Muguet, Rose, Orris and Gardenia. The base notes of this perfume work to support its light, floral elements with Ginger, White Pepper and warm Oak Moss. This perfume will make you feel utterly beautiful. This wonderful Spring Scent can be purchased, along with more of her perfumes on Elizabeth Grant’s website here.

Here’s what I would do with this: I would make like a tub full so I could eat a sandwich right away and then have enough left for lunch tomorrow. Yes. That’s exactly what I would do. Image and recipe via Plumpie Cooks.

Ingredients

2 chicken breasts (bone-in, skin-on)
1/4 cup pecans, toasted and roughly chopped
1/3 cup granny apple, diced into small chunks (1/4-1/2 inch)
1/2 cup dried cranberries, roughly chopped
1.5 tablespoons shallot, minced
1/3 cup Greek yogurt
2 tablespoons light mayo (I use Duke’s but use your favorite)
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar (or champagne vinegar)
1 tablespoon rosemary, minced

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Rub chicken breasts with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast for 35 minutes until chicken is cooked through. Set aside to cool.

Once chicken is cool enough to handle, remove skin and cut chicken breast off the bone. Shred chicken breasts using your fingers or two forks or dice with a knife to about 1/2 inch cubes.

Mix together greek yogurt, mayo, apple cider vinegar, and rosemary.

In a large bowl, combine, shredded chicken (about 2 cups), pecans, shallots, green apple, and cranberries. Toss with dressing until well combined.

Season to taste with salt and pepper. Chill for at least an hour until ready to serve.

Songs about exploration: A playlist for wanderings.

’81 – Joanna Newsom

Never Going Back Again – Fleetwood Mac

Onward the Indian – Devendra Banhart 

In the Aeroplane Over the Sea – Neutral Milk Hotel

Someday – Wise Blood

North Hills – Dawes

Temecula Sunrise – Dirty Projectors

Jackyl – Gregory Rogove

The Look – Metronomy 

Brand New Start – Little Joy

Remember the leg lamp in “A Christmas Story”? Well we’ve found something WAY cooler to jazz up your casa: giant Ice Cream Lamps! Measuring over 2 feet tall, these babies come in three different flavors, including Chocolate, Vanilla and yummy Strawberry. And the best part is, they’re zero calories! That means all you Ben & Jerry’s lovers out there can finally decorate your home with your favorite food minus the worry of packing on pounds. Just make sure you don’t invite any really dumb and/or highly intoxicated friends over, as unfortunately, these lamps aren’t edible.

Scoop yours up at FredFlare.com for a mere $50.00.

The state of health care is certainly not funny [Funny Not Slutty]

Recycling is in style all year long [Endless Beauty]

How to get whiter teeth the natural way [Beauty Sweet Spot]

How to go about online dating the right way [iVillage]

The who wore it better bridal app is hilarious [BRIDEfinds]

Awesome colored jeans for under $50 [Real Beauty]

The coolest paddle brush I’ve ever seen [Beauty Blogging Junkie]

To wear makeup or not to wear makeup? That is the question [Kimmy Erin]

I love how vacations are really an excuse to shop. It feels amazing to go on a swimsuit, sunglasses, and miscellaneous travel gear rampage, but afterwards you may feel a little guilty if you really went overboard. Well, no need for guilt if you stock up for your vacay with H&M’s Fashion Against AIDS line. Not only is it fraught with island-eque bright tribal prints ideal for a getaway in the sun, but the best part is that 25% of the purchase price of an item from this collection is donated towards HIV/AIDS education and prevention programs.

Each item is affordably priced in true H&M fashion, so doing your part is easy. Choose from a full range of vibrant, fun outfits, but when it comes to travel gear, my faves are the tribal print phone case necklace so you never lose your phone on your trip, as well as the matching bikini and sunglasses!

Available at H&M stores or at hm.com.

Summer is right around the corner, and we are all scrambling to lose the last 2 lbs haunting our fupas and mid-sections. Given all the work that we put into our bodies it makes sense that we should commemorate our progress with a sexy bikini body photoshoot. Still need convincing? Read on:

1.You worked hard to fit your body into that size eight tankini. Even though you didn’t reach your goal of 6 lbs Mary Kate ounces, you should still be proud of losing any weight at all. Kevin Jonas has been trying to lose 135 lbs of beard-wife for a year now with no progress at all.

2. You probably won’t stay so svelte forever. Years from now you will want to look back on the time when you lost enough weight to fly in an airplane without buying an extra seat.

3. Your kids are going to need some photos to make fun of. The unhappy fact is that unfortunately, fashion trends come and go. Be a cool parent, and give your kids a photo that they can share with their friends and say “My mom thought she was a sex panther when she wore this leopard thong, and apparently she was right because I was conceived on this day.”

4. Want to get back at your husband for turning the basement into a man-cave? Hanging a photo of your scantily clad self over the fireplace mantel is the perfect revenge, especially when his parents come over.

5. Ever sat around with your girlfriends talking about how fat you are? You haven’t? Oh, so you are a liar too? Taking photos of your slimmed down physique is the perfect way to stick it to the bitch that stole your prom date in high school, or maybe the one who eats whatever she wants without any gains. You may be best friends now, but a little competition never hurt anybody. Except of course, Nancy Kerrigan.

I bet now she wishes she had photos of her bikini body from back in the day.

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Don’t lay a finger on my Butterfinger! Actually Butterfinger is my absolute favorite candy bar. I love the mix of salty, peanut and sweet all at once. Yummy! Here’s a great at home recipe you can make via Plain Chicken.

Ingredients

1 lb. candy corn
16oz jar peanut butter (I used Peter Pan Honey Roasted peanut butter)
16oz pkg. chocolate candy coating

Directions

Melt candy corn in microwave on high 1 minute. Stir and continue cooking in 15-second intervals til melted, stirring after each interval. Stir in peanut butter. Spread mixture in an 8×8 pan lined with parchment. Cool completely. Cut into squares. Dip in melted chocolate candy coating. Lay on waxed paper to set.

Have you ever noticed that you constantly date the same guy over and and over again? Maybe he’s an artsy, out of work actor. Maybe he’s a bad boy with a juvie record longer than Jennifer Aniston’s list of failed rom-coms. Maybe (like me) he is a fresh out of the closet gay cross-over that is destined to want to fuck his way down the Eastern seaboard. For whatever reason, we constantly go after guys who we have proven time and time again, will not fulfill us. Why do we do this?

We are scared. Its human nature to be wary of what we don’t understand, and our own souls are at the top of the list of things we don’t understand. We are worried that if we go after what would really make us happy, it will be somehow un-fulfilling and will confirm what we have thought all along: That we are incapable of happiness. Perhaps we are worried that once we get what we really want, we won’t want it anymore. Maybe we are delusional about our true desires.

The majority of our decisions are based on fear. If we stop to really think about it though, we can narrow down what we really want. Instead of going for a crazy, dangerous adventure perhaps we should go after a strong sense of security and comfort. We might find out that the reason we wanted adventure in the first place is because we have never known security to begin with.

Constantly doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result is insane. So take a different path and go after a different guy that you would never normally choose. I can’t promise you will be together forever, but I can promise that the experience will finally be different. Maybe something different is exactly what you need to stop sabotaging your own happiness.

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Decades Vintage in Los Angeles

I find that one of the most comforting characteristics of fashion is its cyclical nature. Just the other night, I was helping my dear friend sort his wardrobe into four piles: “keep”, “store”, “donate”, and “don’t even donate because even the needy would be ashamed to wear that”. When deciding in which pile to place his rather extensive collection of designer bootcut jeans, we both cringed at the thought of bootcut at the moment, but were even sadder to think of getting rid of them altogether. My friend – a fashion student himself – pointed out with a sage tone of voice, “Fashion is cyclical; they’ll come back in style.”

So into the “store” pile they went.

This brings me to my point: vintage stores can be excellent sources of modern looks, not just those straight out of the 1970s. Scouring the racks of vintage shops can yield some pretty satisfactory results with the right amount of searching. Celebrity stylist Rachel Zoe suggests avoiding head-to-toe vintage. Try mixing a vintage piece with a modern piece, such as a 1960s dress with a brand new pair of super-current shoes.

Hitting the vintage store may not even be necessary; if you’re like my friend who mindfully stores his quality, yet not so now pieces in his closet, an exciting and inspiring outfit may be as close as your very own clothing rack. Go ahead and toss those Crocs, though – they were never in, and if they ever approach popularity in the future, please boycott.