Below you’ll find all of the sex toy reviews I’ve written at Of Sex and Love. Find my opinions on vibrators, dildos, media (sex education books, porn, DVDs and erotica), bondage and BDSM gear, lingerie, anal toys, lube, massage products, and more!
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I’ve also reviewed sexual health goodies.
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Love Bunnies
$20.00
from Babeland
Some bunny loves me.. but it’s not one of the Love Bunnies. I requested to review these tiny vibrators from Babeland because they’re absolutely adorable. I didn’t know if they’d get me off but tis the season for bunnies and bright colors and all that bollocks.
So the Love Bunnies come in a super colorful box. It’s definitely reminiscent of a child’s toy and you may even want to keep it out of your kid’s line of sight because of the design. While fun, it’s sort orf confusing. To add to the fun, the package comes complete with an “Official Adoption Certificate.” Lovehoney’s packaging is amazingly detailed with this product and I almost want them to come out with actual children’s toys.
The colorful Love Bunnies vibrator sits in a plastic holder inside the box, against a brightly colored backdrop. The bunnies themselves are pretty straight forward. A tiny bullet vibrator sits inside a bunny shape–complete with ears and tail. You have to uncap and remove a paper tab before you can use the Love Bunnies. There’s a single push button for the single speed. I found that it likes to stick so sometimes I have to press it twice or more to actually get it to work.
Of course, as any watch battery-powered toy, the vibrations a both weak and buzzy. They’re the type that I quickly become “numb” to after a short period. That is to say, I literally cannot feel them after a few minutes. This is a shame because the roundness of the Love Bunnies actually stimulates me in a way that I find quite enjoyable. You may prefer to surround your clit, nipples or other sensitive parts with the ears but I like round shapes and pressure rather than pinpoint stimulation. The Love Bunnies actually provide both, unlike some other novelty vibrators (coughIRubMyduckiecough).
What disappointed me even more was that, as I used the Love Bunnies vibe for the very first time, the batteries died–maybe 20 minutes in. As these type of batteries can be difficult and pricey to obtain, that’s definitely a major drawback. I toss toys that require speciality batteries or suck them dry into a drawer, rarely to be touched again.
Washing up was easy enough; although, I don’t know if these vibrators are supposed to be water or splash proof. There’s very little information in the packaging. As I began to type this, I didn’t even know what the Love Bunnies were made of. Silicone, as it turns out, but this information is sneakily printed on the bottom of the box.
So while cute and silicone, easy to use and packaged quite nicely, the Love Bunnies best get to hoppin’. They just don’t cut it.
Cake Lip Plumper Angel Food
This product has been discontinued since I originally reviewed it.
I don’t know about you but I own a lot of lip glosses. I don’t know why exactly. I just love when my lips are shiny and shimmery and smell good, even if I’m not being kissed. I expected that I’d love the Cake lip plumper because I also love sweets.
This plumper comes in a .20 fl ounce tube with the typical lip gloss applicator. The tube is a little smaller than most of them I own but that’s not a bad thing necessarily. The design is super cute: black and liht teal with red accents. The tube and box feature a pin-up style woman and even the font alludes to a previous time.
The product makes a couple claims. 1) It tingles. This is pretty accurate. You can definitely feel the plumper at work after you apply it. If you’ve used other lip plumping products, then you’ll be familiar with the feeling. It can get a little uncomfortable so you may want to be pretty sparse with our applications at first.
Secondly, the product is scented. I received the Angel Food Cake scent; however, there are other cake scents available. My biggest complaint with the product is that it does not smell like angel food cake. There’s a distinct mocha sort of scent and, as I’m not a fan of coffee, this is both confusing and a turn-off.
At least it’s not as terrible as the rancid-smelling body butters in this line.
Lastly, the Cake Lip Plumper is supposed to taste like cake. Let me tell you this: the cake is a lie. It is not flavoured. It tastes like wax, which is typical of many lip products. Thus, you won’t want to run around licking your lips the way you would when wearing VS lip gloss. Just sayin’. Nevertheless, this lip gloss is far less sticky than any I’ve tried by VS, which I do like.
Appearance wise, the Cake gloss adds shine but no color. As for the plumping abilities, I can’t say that I noticed much of a difference and this obviously isn’t intended to have permanent effects.
I’d still be satisfied with this product if I enjoyed the scent and I suspect that I probably would enjoy some of the other scents (cookie dough, devils food), if they’re actually what you would expect. The Lip Plumper is decent as a lip product, with vitamins E and C. I just wish the angel food scent was accurate.
Bondage I Rub My Duckie
$19.99
from Pink Cherry Sex Toys
I think we’re all glad that this is my last review for any item in the I Rub My Duckie line. I’m kind of sick of repeating myself and I have officially drawn the line. No matter how cute these damned things are, I don’t need another one especially when they just don’t cut it.
The Black and Red Mini Bondage duckie is probably one of the best designs, in my not so humble opinion. The original bondage duckie is awesome but this color scheme is just spectacular. The details, from the spiked color to the corset lacing in front, are immaculate. The ball gag is adorable and, once again, the painted eyelashes indicates this duckie is female. As you can guess, this duckie is much less inconspicuous than its brothers and sisters so you’ll want to tuck it away when Mom and Dad visit (unless you’re parents are into BDSM!).
But aside from that, this duckie just doesn’t cut it. The shape doesn’t work well to stimulated any area or to hold while you struggle to get off. The spikes on this one can actually be a little uncomfortable or painful, too. It doesn’t float. The molding is sloppy and water gets into the battery area. The duckie flops on its side when in water (boo!). There’s only a single speed of vibration and the knob requires a bit more effort than a button. The vibrations are buzzy and ridiculously weak, as you would expect from a vibrator powered by a single AAA battery. You need a fingernail or steel, a coin or some other flat device to open the battery compartment in the first place. For its size and strength, the duckie is just far too loud. All the ridges and text and other crap on the bottom of the Bondage I Rub My Duckie Travel Vibe just create a ton of space for lubes and liquids to make themselves at home. I will never feel like any of the duckies are truly clean.
For $20, you can get a decent bullet and actually get off. Consider the duckie vibrators as novelty only.
Usually I review toys but sometimes I receive some information about other things that sort of strike me fancy and I agree to review them. Such is the case with Faceless Voice, a website that supplies erotica audio as opposed to porn. It seemed an interesting concept and we all know that pornographers are always ahead of the tech curve. The developers gave me a sample of the goods so I can provide you with a review.
Let me start by saying a bit about the design. Faceless Voice is easy enough to navigate but it feels a little web 1.0, that it to say, outdated. It lacks the touch of a professional design and, as such, some folks might not feel comfortable spending money there. I’m also a little confused by the distinction between males and females. When you click these links on the splash page, it simply changes the template from light, white and pink (for females) to black and red (for males). I don’t think this really adds anything to the visual appeal of the website.
The main page includes featured bog posts and stories. The featured stories seem to include a free download teaser and new releases. The site is arranged so that each story gets a “cover” image, much like if you were browsing actual porn. Like the website, the design on the covers could use a bit of finessing but this doesn’t detract from usage. As you click around on the covers, you will get a brief description of the stories. To me, this is pretty imperative to aid in your finding the right story. You can also sample each story with an on-screen audio button, another plus.
The developers have provided each story as told by a man–Duane Dale–and a woman–Lucy Blue. I do like this because some people may prefer a different narrator and it helps to mix things up if you frequently listen to the stories. One thing I noticed lacking on the individual story pages was a price listing. This shows on the bottom of every page and there’s an interesting scheme. Individual stories cost $3.99 but the price per story drops as you add more to your cart. So it’s definitely better to buy in bulk and cheaper than most porn anyway. Considering as you get unlimited use out of the stories, I’d say you could do worse.
Although I was offered a free sample, I took a look at the checkout page. I noticed there’s no sort of backing from Verisign. Again, consumers like to see these things so they know that their money and CC information is in safe hands. Perhaps a PayPal option might make some feel safer.
Once you’ve purchased your audiobooks, you will be able to download them as MP3 format. This enables you to listen to them on your computer, MP3 player or phone. Most everyone knows how to deal with a straight up MP3 file so this is a point in their favor. Most of the files are between 10 and 15 minutes long so download time takes only a little longer than if you were downloading a song.
Faceless Voice doesn’t have the largest selection but it has a few dozen titles right now. The biggest concern you may have is whether or not you will like the stories. Unfortunately, there’s always going to be a percentage of luck when looking for porn or erotic stories or audio books that meet your fancy. I listened to a few and none of them really got the juices flowing. I’m not patient enough to listen to every sample but the biggest issue I noticed was that I simply didn’t think the writing was all the interesting or erotic. Lucy especially has a great storytelling voice that is quite sultry but even that can’t save a poor story. Although there is a list of authors, there’s no extra information so I don’t know if these guys are amateurs or professionals or a mix of both. Authors can submit their work for a 20% royalty so I suspect some of the authors are just getting started. It’s pretty cool that you can submit that way, however.
One interesting aspect of the website is your ability to select how hardcore you want your audiobooks to be with the “good” “bad” and “naughty” girl links beneath the header. I like the idea but I’m not sure it’s done very well. The site’s theme changes depending on which level you’re on but I didn’t notice this at first. I was simply confused by the changes. In addition to this, the “bad” girl setting is kind of an odd olive yellow/green that’s pretty unattractive. Rather than a theme setting, I’d simply like to see some text on the audiobook page with a hardcoreness rating. I do like the option, however. It helps steer you toward the ideal story. Some tags or categories based on sexual activities, settings, characters and story elements would also be nice.
Faceless Voice is definitely a unique concept and I think it has a lot of potential. A more commercial layout would probably help with branding and probably attract advertisers, too. It just feels a little “home grown” right now. The content and organization works fairly well as is. Perhaps the company should work on contacting new authors to spread the buzz. It seems like Faceless Voice is pretty new so it will be interesting to see how it develops.
Jopen Vanity Vr.6
$130.00
from Babeland
I first ran across the Vanity by Jopen line a few months back. I was intrigued. Cal Exotics has really been trying to bring higher quality items to the market and while it was good to see that from one of the big five (four?), none of the products I’d tried really caught my interest. While better designed, they all lacked power. So while I was intrigued, I tried not to set my expectations too high because I’d been disappointed before.
Let me get straight to the point: Cal Exotics has finally gotten it right in terms of power. The Jopen Vanity Vr.6 has vibrations that show both great strength and depth. The vibrations are deeper than Lelo’s Ina, for example. For me, this means I don’t have to adjust them too much to find the right setting and my G-spot responds ridiculously well. When I turn on both functions, each with their own motor, it’s a damned experience. A++++ as they say on Ebay. Of course, no toy is really whisper quiet. You can hear this one; although, I can’t say it operates at an unacceptable volume level.
And turning them on is really easy. Cal Exotics has created two simply buttons. One push turns them on. Push and hold to increase intensity and push and release to turn it off. It’s similar to the Couture Collection wand I have. I can’t fault them because it works but I can say it kind of feels like they’re reinventing the wheel and that if you frequently use other toys that require you to push to get to the next setting, you may find yourself turning off the Jopen vibrators and this can be frustrating. Really, I like the style of the controls but I probably won’t be able to get used to them unless the entire sex toy industry adopts them.
Design-wise, the Jopen is attractive but not stunning. I still prefer the look of Lelo toys. The Vr6 is a bit boring with its all-over color but I have to say that, in person, it’s a lovely shade of fuchsia that just doesn’t show up very well in pictures. It’s slightly more pink/red than the images show and is more attractive. It’s still purple and that’s still majorly overused in sex toy design but it’s an interesting sort of purple.
I usually yell at people who do not explicitly spell out what a toy looks like in their review so the Jopen Vr6 is a rabbit vibrator that has a shape similar to the Lelo Ina. The clitoral arm curves toward the boy while the shaft curves upward, toward the G-spot. The shaft is quite thin but grows into a bulbous animal at the end. It’s a pretty typical design in terms of contemporary rabbit vibrators.
As I mentioned, the all-over color is due to the pure silicone exterior of the Vanity by Jopen line of toys. Like any claim of seamlessness, this isn’t quite the case. You can see it and feel it with your hand–although, not in use. It’s note one of those seams that’s going to let water in, however. In fact, California Exotics claims 100% waterproofiness despite the fact that you still plug the AC adapter into a port on the back of the toy. The port is snugly surrounded by silicone that retains its shape after you remove the charger, like some of the newer Lelo toys. To be honest, I never play with toys in the shower but I’m pretty messy when I clean them so as long as a toy holds up to soap and water, I’m fine.
Speaking of silicone, the texture on this one is velvety and, yes, attracts lint more than my couch during shedding season (that’s now boys and girls!). It feels nice to the touch, offers a bit of drag which could be a pro or a con for some.
I haven’t mentioned how this performed for me, because, well, it sucked. California Exotics has finally created a quality toy that I want to love and I just can’t. The specific design of the Vr6 just doesn’t sit right in my body. The shaft struggles for space, against my pubic bone, in my vagina. The bulbousness, the length and the angle all seem to be wrong for me even though the numbers (1.5″ diameter and 4.25″ insertable) are not intimidating. Pretty run of the mill. Yet, I can’t even fully insert this and because I can’t fully insert it, the clitoral arm comes nowhere near my clitoris. It just pinches against my pubic bone on the outside. So, really, they could call this the “Destroyer of Adriana’s Pubic Bone” and be right on the money. Nevertheless, I have long suspected that my bone sits at a unique angle and, perhaps, pokes out a little further into my vaginal canal so I suspect that most will not have that problem.
One thing I am happy to announce is the Cal Exotics is slowly introducing better packaging. The white box is simple and the logo may not be that impressive but it’s not a giant, plastic box that cuts you and breaks open during shipping. The company has also included a storage pouch with this vibrator. A gigantic, stretchy pouch that I could probably stuff one of my cats in. It’s huge. A little overkill, to be honest. There’s almost so much fabric as to be unwieldy.
So, hats off to some great improvements. Overall the Jopen Vanity Vr.6 is a pretty fantastically functioning toy but be sure to take your time when picking out the vibrator that’s right from you in this line. They all seem so similar but I’m willing to bet those subtle differences have an astounding effect.
BabeLube Natural / BabeLube
$12 (Natural), $8 (Regular)
from Babeland
I think we all know that I am not exactly a lube connoisseur. Generally, as long as a lube doesn’t irritate me or have some characteristic that I cannot stand (such as being silicone-based), it will go in my nightstand and whichever I happen to reach for is fine. I don’t usually do comparison reviews but I figured it would be a good format for writing my review for BabeLube Natural, Babeland’s natural and “organic” version of its water-based lubricant.
There’s a major difference between ingredients. BabeLube actually has a shorter list but it includes chemicals like polyoxyethylene, sodium carbomer, Phenoxyethanol, and ethylexyglycerin. Glycerin, as you probably realize, is one of those ingredients that can cause irritation in some folks. On the other hand, BabeLube Natural’s slightly longer lists consists of purified water, plant cellulose, aloe babadensis, vitamin E, carrageenan, extracts of hibiscus, flax, green tea and sunflower seed, citric acid, and potassium sorbate. The list definitely sounds more natural and I know both aloe and vitamin E are common in products that are touted as natural and a few lubes that I’ve heard of also include carrageenan.
In use, I found the BabeLube Natural to be slightly thinner but it still has a gel-like consistency and won’t drip all over when you’re applying it to yourself or a toy. Regular BabeLube is a bit thicker and I actually find it difficult to apply. Both lubes come in a squeezable bottle with a press-top cap and BabeLube doesn’t like to move. I have to take the cap off and stick a finger in or bang it around for a few minutes so it becomes mobile.
I did a quick rub test for both of these and the result was that, while BabeLube felt fairly slick, BabeLube Naturals felt even slicker and was longer lasting in terms of lubrication. As BabeLube dried, it became a little tacky but, once completely dry, I could no longer feel the tackiness and didn’t need to wash it off. BabeLube Naturals, however, was tackier and remained tackier for a while. Eventually, you won’t notice but you may want to wash it off at first.
Because of its thickness and slickness, I’d opt for BabeLube Natural but I’d probably enjoy regular Babelube a little better for clitoral stimulation as I am quite bothered by tackiness around my vulva. Both are compatible with all sorts of materials and activities but neither is going to do you a lick of good in wet situations because they’re water-soluble. For those activities, you’ll want a silicone-based lube. I recommend Uberlube (read my review).
iRide Mountable Vibrator
$189
from Amazon
The iRide certainly puts the “novel” into adult novelties. That is for sure. In pictures, it sometimes looks like it might be a smaller toy, something that simply sits between your legs, almost like those panty vibrators. It’s not. It’s a big honking piece of plastic and silicone in God-awful Barbie pink. It looks–and feels–like a real child’s toy. It certainly doesn’t have the sort of design that’s so sleek and attractive that the toy itself can arouse you.
When I got it in the mail, it was in a big box. The actual packaging is a medium box that is, again, reminiscent of something Barbie-esque. The iRide sits in a plastic holder inside the box. I quickly did away with the box. It’s not that much bigger than the toy but it’s neither discreet nor better than storing this giant vibrator on its own.
So, the iRide is kinda of like a saddle that turns up in the front and back. It sports an insertable, vibrating shaft and a round/semi-sphere nub for clitoral stimulation (supposedly). The base is made of hard plastic while the parts that touch the skin are soft, TPR in, again, Barbie pink. The shaft is approximately 4″ in length and tapers slightly toward its rounded end. Its pretty straight, all in all, and probably a bit big for a newbie. At the base, it has a diameter of 1.67″ so we’re looking toward the medium-large end of the spectrum (although it’s not huge by any means) The clitoral nub is pretty huge and only 1/2″ or so from the position of the shaft. Unfortunately, because of the ridge plastic and the nature of the design, the iRide offers absolutely zero customization. Either it works for you or it doesn’t. At a price of nearly $150, I would advise you think long and hard before purchasing this vibrator.
Despite its size, the iRide runs onl AA batteries. I guess I was expecting C cells. Doc Johnson crafted this one with a battery covery with springy sides that you pinch to remove (from the bottom of the unit) and an easy-insert battery pack that holds the 4AAs. Although I used some batteries that were probably less than fresh, I found the vibrations to be a bit buzzy. The shaft on the iRide is really comparable with some of the insertables I already own. It’s definitely enough to make me squirt but, of course, I prefer deeper vibrations in terms of sensation.
This is the type of toy that you have to mount so I lubed it up and tried it out. The TPR has enough give that insertion was easy enough but I quickly found that the angle of the shaft on the iRide and the angle of my vaginal canal are not suited for one another. I found myself leaning forward to that the shaft wouldn’t stab into the front wall of my vagina. Nevertheless, it still aimed in that general direction quite forcefully. The more I leaned forward, the further from the clitoral nub did my clitoris move. See, mine’s much further than 1/2″ from my vaginal opening, plus I’m a little fleshy, so the nub just wasn’t far enough out or away from the shaft to work.
Logistically, the shape of the iRide just wasn’t working for me. It seemed to be a bit too wide between my legs (only 5″ but when something’s snuggled up against your pussy, that seems a lot, I guess) and kneeling like that left me much taller than the toy anyway. There wasn’t any way for me to hunker down so I could really get to grinding or rocking with the iRide, but I’ll be the first to admit that I’m got some curvy thighs on me, so I’m not entirely surprised. It’s sad because there’s only so many positions you can do with this thing. While on the iRide I also felt a bit.. as though I were wearing a giant pad or diaper. It’s 12″ from stern to stern, and that thought just isn’t one that’s really conducive to sexy time.
I do have one more complaint about the iRide. Simply put, this giant beast is a bitch to clean. If you go the soap and water method, you wind up rubbing on some soap or cleaner and have to shove it in your sink and turn it this way and that to rinse it out (like the baking sheets that are just too damned big for your kitchen sink) and I highly doubt this thing is all that water resistant as there’s no seal around the battery compartment. Otherwise, you can wipe it down with something like Pjur Med or Afterglow wipes but that’s a little less than ideal because the TPR catches lint and hair and such and it’s really essential to use running water to rinse those away.
I honestly think we’d all be better off spending our money on one really good vibrator and a position pillow with some sort of pocket that can hold our beloved vibrators. At least, that way, it’s possible to customize the toy.
