Though trips to a sex shop can sometimes be, ahem, necessary, no one enjoys the awkwardness of walking into skeevy palaces of smut. But Coco de Mer's chic dcor and healthy, playful outlook on sex makes for fun and shame-free shopping.

"Let lovers be crazy, disgraceful and wild, wild, wild. Those who fret about such things aren't in love." The quote by Deepak Chopra, scrawled on a peepshow room wall—more about those later—best describes the attitude at Coco de Mer, the British sex boutique that recently moved in next door to Elixir on Melrose Avenue. Past the hot-pink-and-chocolate arch and through the lush courtyard, visitors enter a red-walled adult oasis with tables and shelves so quaintly arrainged that one forgets they are peering at candles shaped in certain female body parts. Along with a fully stocked library of erotic literature and a glass case of goodies (both battery-operated and not), Coco de Mer also carries a signature lingerie line including a Japanese bondage outfit involving silk and rope. The fitting rooms feature a camera allowing shoppers to take videos of themselves wearing said bondage outfit, and are connected to another room where significant others can sit and watch via peephole. If it gets too hot inside, escape to the back garden, which will soon host workshops on what to do with that bondage outfit. —Enid Portuguez