

Valentine's Day Gifts For Bae That Will Instantly Make His Heart Melt
If your "BAE" has earned his title, then why not give him a prize that he will place before anything else? Exactly, we think you get our point.
Sis, Valentine's Day is just days away and it's time to pull out all the stops and get him a gift that will not only make his heart melt, but also make him sweat.
Have no idea of what to get Mr. Right? Then look no further. Since we don't want you to miss out on any of the romantic moments leading up to the big day, we curated the perfect list of gifts that will not only make your bae's heart skip a beat, but may also result in him throbbing with a thank you.
We know, you can thank us later!
For Your Beer-Drinking Sports Watcher: Fizzics' DraftPour
Amazon
No beer-drinking sports fanatic can resist the taste of beer fresh from the tap, but what if we told you that you can get him a gift that will bring that fizzy fresh pour home? Well, with the Fizzics' DraftPour you can. The portable beer tap dramatically improves the quality of any bottled and canned beer. Cheers!
For Your Sweetie Pie: McCrea's Candies
Forget buying chocolates, why not bless your sweetie with McCrea's Candies? Handcrafted in small batches, these luxe caramels are the perfect gift for a man that likes to experiment with the sweeter things in life. There are fifteen flavors including Single Malt Scotch, a flavor rich and spiked with smoky Ardmore Scotch.
For Your Tastemaker Beau: Tastemaker's Complete Cocktail Shaker Infuser Set
Amazon
If you have a tastemaker that loves to entertain, then the easy-to-use Tastemaker Complete Cocktail Shaker Infuser Set may be the perfect gift. The kit includes everything you need to make homemade infused spirits, making it a luxe gift! With a 9 fl oz infuser with a built-in stainless steel mesh filter, perfectly shaped rounded ice ball molds, and 10 Exclusive Drink Recipes, your beau will be more than ecstatic to party the night away with you.
For Your Music Connoisseur: Oomo's 3D 5.1 Surround Sound HiFi Earbuds
Amazon
Your music connoisseur's heart may skip a beat when he uses these Oomo 3D 5.1 Surround Sound HiFi Earbuds, but best believe, these earphones will never miss a beat. Perfect for music, movies, gaming, and travel, these earphones offer 3D Virtual 5.1 Surround Sound, allowing your bae to hear crystal clear bass without unwanted feedback. It sounds like a perfect gift to us!
For Your Flavor Savor Chef: Spice Madam
Crate Joy
Spice up your cooking bae's life with a spice-subscription box from Spice Madam. Each month, a box shows up at your loved one's door offering a culinary journey to a new destination with spices and recipes from around the world.
For The Bedroom Bad Boy: The Rabbit Company's G-Spot Couple's Playtime Set
Amazon
Playtime is in session with the G-Spot Rabbit Couple's Playtime Set, a high-quality adult intimacy kit that comes with pleasure products made to spice up the bedroom. With a little something for you and a little something for him, this gift is made for couple-shared stimulation and satisfaction!
For Your Sophisticated Spa Man: Travertine's Eucalyptus Steam Shower Spray
Amazon
Let your bae turn his bathroom into a spa. Perfect to soothe him after working hard on V-Day, the Travertine Spa Collection of Eucalyptus Steam Shower Sprays are the perfect gift to inspire your man to unwind using its soothing, aromatic, and relaxing scents.
For Your Gadget Guy: Force1's F100 Ghost Drone
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If your guy loves to play with gadgets, then the F100 Ghost will be all the rage. This ultra quiet brushless device can not only capture flight in HD using its detachable 1080p camera, but this GoPro ready drone has incredible maneuverability, 2 speeds, and is perfect for tricks and flips.
For Your Big Tease: Kisses 4 Us' Kiss Cards
Amazon
While we're quite sure you'll be getting lots of kisses this V-Day, why not spice things up with Kisses 4 Us, a game that will benefit the both of you all year long? This soft-touch laminated box is filled with 30 Unique Kiss Cards and it's ready to play right away. Simply choose a kiss card, follow the prompt, and let the smooching begin!
For The Romantic Gentleman: Get Maine Lobster
Amazon
If he's the guy that likes to treat you to an expensive dinner, then reverse the role and prepare him a lobster dinner right in the comfort of your own home. Thanks to Get Maine Lobster, you can have fresh Maine lobster delivered to your door in a variety of ways. From lobster rolls to buttery lobster tails, you don't have to wait for a table, you can serve your man in bed. Just be prepared to be dessert.
Check out xoNecole's other gift guides here.
Featured image by Getty Images.
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'Queen Charlotte' Star Arsema Thomas Worked At The United Nations Before Landing Her Breakout Role
Actress Arsema Thomas (Arséma Adeoluwayemi Hamera) may be new to the acting scene, but the star's standout performance in Netflix's limited series Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story is already leaving a lasting impression among many.
Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, a prequel to Bridgerton, follows the young queen's life as her marriage to King George of England sparks an epic love affair and a societal shift.
In the drama, Thomas portrays the role of a young Lady Agatha Danbury, a close friend and confidant of Queen Charlotte, and it also depicts Lady Danbury's journey.
The series showcases the struggles Lady Agatha Danbury experienced in her lifetime. The list includes being forced to partake in a loveless marriage to a former African king Herman Danbury, becoming a widow, and possibly losing her estate and title following her husband's death.
Since Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story debuted on Netflix earlier this month, it has dominated the streaming service's top ten charts and piqued fans' interest in the show's stars, including Thomas.
Although many may not know a lot about the Atlanta native, who goes by she/they pronouns, and how she became one of the breakout stars in Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, still, with the recent promotional tour Thomas has been doing for the show, she has shared some shocking details about her life.
Thomas' revelations within the past several months include details about her educational pursuits, previous work experience, her African culture, the steps she took to prepare for her role as Lady Agatha Danbury, and many more.
Arsema On Her African Heritage
Thomas, who is Nigerian and Ethiopian, is the daughter of diplomats.
The 28-year-old's parents, consisting of an Ethiopian mother and a Nigerian father, worked in the government to improve Africa's economic development.
Due to her parents' professions, the actress moved around a lot and lived in various countries like Kenya, Benin, Comoros, Uganda, and India, which exposed her to social issues. In an interview with Teen Vogue, Thomas opened up about having conversations about politics and government at a young age.
"Dinner table conversations were about politics, about African governance. I realized that in a lot of the countries I lived in, the effects of colonialism and imperialism were so blatantly obvious. That became the driving force for what I thought I should be doing as an adult," she said.
Later Thomas would ultimately reveal that her parents' work had inspired her to become a "doctor or something" because she wanted to make them proud.
Arsema Attended Carnegie Mellon University and Yale University
Prior to pursuing acting, Thomas revealed to Shondaland that she was a college graduate.
In 2016, she received her bachelor's degree in biophysics from Carnegie Mellon University. Following her graduation, Thomas interned at a mobile health clinic and a refugee camp in Kenya for over a year.
Around the same time, the star would continue her education by getting her master's in epidemiology and health policy at Yale University. Thomas disclosed that despite the educational success that she has achieved, acting became her main priority when she realized that this is something she could envision herself doing "100 percent of the time." This decision led Thomas to relocate to Paris, South Africa, and then to London to study drama.
"I packed up everything and moved to Paris because I wanted to do acting 100 percent of the time," she stated. "It was always something I had wanted to do, [but] I didn't think I would be able to. I thought it was going to be a hobby or a thing that I'd have to suppress in myself for the rest of my life."
Thomas would land her first role in 2021 as a guest star on the television series One Touch. Shortly after, she would participate in the 2022 film Redeeming Love as the character Rebecca. The rest would be history because, around that time, Thomas would receive the life-changing role of Lady Agatha Danbury in Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story.
Arsema On How She Prepared for Her Role In Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story
When the opportunity for Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story came along, Thomas took various steps to transform into Lady Agatha Danbury.
The actress, who has admitted to never seeing Bridgerton in the past, told Cosmopolitan UK's Up Close series that because she wasn't familiar with the fictionalized character, she decided to find things that she thought Lady Agatha Danbury would resonate with.
It includes reading books about women by well-known female authors who have made history in their own right, creating a Spotify playlist with music that Lady Agatha Danbury could listen to, and having waist beads made for her character.
"There was a lot of stuff I needed to get into this role because the character is fictional. So I read a ton of books about women or by women, that I thought that Agatha Danbury would resonate. So I read 'Ain't I A Woman' by Bell Hooks. I read Angela Davis' autobiography. I read Assata Shakur's autobiography, 'Tar Baby' by Toni Morrison, 'Eyes Are Watching God,' and 'Vaga Bonds' by Eloghosha Osunde. I made an extensive Spotify playlist, and I got waist beads made for Agatha," she explained.
Further in the interview, Thomas mentioned that she had waist beads made for Lady Danbury and wore them throughout the filming process because it helped ground her as she portrayed the character whom she described as entirely different from who she is as a person.
"It was a Nigerian woman threading these beads, and I asked her to thread beads specifically for this character, and I wore it throughout the entirety of filming," she said. "Because it was just kind of was a physical grounding point to this woman that is really, really actually far from who I am as an individual."
Thomas shared that talking to her grandmother, who had a similar background to Lady Danbury, such as having an arranged marriage at a young age, also helped her prepped for the role.
"I also talked to my grandmother a lot. I didn't realize how similar she was to this character. Because she was also married off when she was quite young," she revealed. "It was really interesting to kind of talk to someone in my life who I've known, who’s gone through something that is essentially the stripping away of their freedom, and someone who doesn't have any resentment or harbored anger towards the situation."
Arsema Worked At The United Nations
Thomas' work experience is an interesting one. Despite interning at three different health organizations, she previously worked at United Nations Population Fund, according to her Linkedin profile.
United Nations Population Fund's site states that the organization is part of the United Nation's "sexual and reproductive health agency." The gathered information on Thomas' profile says that she was an associate for the company from 2017 to 2018.
Some of Thomas' responsibilities included conducting "policy analyses" for United Nations Population Fund's sustainability and "supporting the regional desk specialist" in the program's division.
Arsema Speaks Five Languages
On top of Thomas' overwhelmingly impressive resume, the actress also speaks five languages.
According to the African publication Bella Naija, Thomas speaks English, Amharic, Yoruba, French, and Spanish. Although Thomas hasn't publicly talked about what inspired her to become multilingual, many can assume it is because of the various locations she has lived in throughout her life and her interest in learning.
Thomas may be a rising star now, but with the facts provided above, the actress has displayed through her work ethic and drive that she can soon become a household name.
Thomas' latest work Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, is now streaming on Netflix.
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Feature image by Dominik Bindl/Getty Images