Imagine the perfect evening with the lights turned down low, the moonlight peering in through the window and just you and your thoughts, soaking together in a tub of hot chocolate.

Yes, hot chocolate! Agnes Chen, owner of Butterfly Pond Hair Care and Beauty Salon in South Mumbai says, "Chocolates are sensory products. When covered in a chocolate wrap, the fragrance gives rise to different emotions in the brain, bringing a feeling of goodness." Butterfly Pond uses a concoction of cocoa-based products in their beauty treatments.

Chocolates are no longer a mere delicacy. In fact, there are a variety of chocolate and cocoa beauty products available in the market. Where you ask? Remember the advertisement where Karenna Kapoor is covered in chocolate… her skin is glowing, all thanks to Lux's Chocolate Seduction soap. The brand claims that the soap's combination of cocoa, strawberry and vitamins nourishes your skin and leaves it gorgeous.

Besides Lux, brands like Marks and Spencer have a range of beauty and bath products like Cocoa Butter and Vanilla Talc, Cocoa Butter and Vanilla Shower Gel, etc.

But if you really want to be pampered, then a chocolate massage is just what you need. Senior Therapist, John Thomas of the Windflower Spa and Resorts, Mysore explains the process, "A body massage with chocolate oil is followed by a chocolate body scrub and a body mask. This is topped with a dip in a chocolate bath. And finally, a soothing chocolate lotion body massage." Umm… divine, don't you think?

Chocolate Lover

Soon-to-be-wed, Ankur Jain from Mumbai keeps his fiancé smiling with a box of her favourite chocolates and flowers. "I don't know if it is the chocolates, but whenever they are around, everything is rosy. Also, it's always a pleasure to see her go all ga-ga over it," he quips.

Eating chocolates improves your sex life. Or so they say. According to Dr. Naik, the chemicals released in the brain at the time of eating chocolate are the same as the ones released during sex. "It has often been assumed that women who eat chocolates regularly have an exceptional sex life," reveals Dr. Naik.

Although the percentage of these chemicals released is much lower than during sex, slurping down a choco shake just might put you in the mood for luurve. In fact, Nigeria's Federal Agency for Food and Medicine recommends a dose of cocoa to boost libido.

Sexologist, Dr. Prakash Kothari believes otherwise. "Other than psychological, chocolate does not have any effect on sex drive," he confirms. But if a bottle of Hershey's syrup is what gets you going… then why not? Whatever works for you baby!