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!
Considering sex toy storage? Look no further!
I’ve also reviewed sexual health goodies.
Don’t forget all those accessories and non-sex toy reviews.
If you’re looking for a particular review, please use the search bar at the right.
Smartballs
Smartballs have been reviewed a million times. Probably more. I can’t think of any toy which has been reviewed more. I actually cringe when I read another new review for them so I don’t want to inundate you with what you already know but I still wanted to try them for myself and PinkCherry provided them for me to do so.
In the event that you forgot or haven’t stumbled across one of those reviews, here’s a quick rundown: Elastomed (specially treated, non-porous elastomer), weighted, silicone retrieval cord, 0.3 lb, 4 1/2″ length, 4 1/2″ circumference, “ribbed”, dual-colour (with multiple colours available), vaginal exercisers with flexible connector which can be washed with soap/water or toy wash (but no boiling); made by Fun Factory (with Fun Factory’s standard packaging).
There are a couple things which are remarkable:
There are also a few things I experienced:
My personal preference for kegel balls is not Fun Factory’s Smartballs. They are certainly well made but my specific shape and the oblong balls do not mix very well. I think all of my issues would be solved by making the Smartballs round and while I know every woman is different, I think that one improvement would make them more enjoyable for the majority of women.
It is of significance that Fun Factory has released a sort of Smartballs 2.0 with their Teneo Duo Smartballs. These exercisers do lack the painful, pointy place as the way the retrieval cord is connected has changed. However, they still appear to be oblong.
And for a limited time only (meaning: forever) you can read about my first sex toy, ever: Devinn Lane’s Pleasure Pal, a waterproof, multispeed vibrator in purple glitter!
Silicone Intimate Diver
$29.88
from PinkCherry
My experience with under the sea creatures as sex toys has proven unpleasant more than once now. For whatever reasons, dolphins and their cousins the porpoises are perhaps a little too realistic for comfort. Such was the case with the Intimate Diver, a dual stimulation vibrator.
A little information about this toy. Made of TPR silicone, the Intimate Diver is waterproof, of course. A note that this is not pure silicone and while it’s generally more hygienic and less porous than jelly or cyberskin, for instance, it’s still porous so anal use or sharing without a condom isn’t a good idea. You’re also limited to water based lubes, here.
My pink porpoise is posed so it’s forked tail – the clit stimulator – curls over its back, toward it’s head – the internal/G-spot stimulator. The very tip of this toy is his nose and he has a “fin” on each side as well as a vertical fin on his back. The body is this sea creature has a little give but is mostly firm. The fins, tail and nose have more give because they’re thinner but you won’t experience any rabbit ear floppiness with this tail (like on rabbit vibes with much thinner parts).
His head contains a bullet style vibe which is powered by 2AAA batteries that slip into an EZ load pack. As you can imagine, this doesn’t make it the most powerful toy. For me, the lowest and middle settings will do little more than tease; the highest likely won’t get me off but it’s decent. Unfortunately, the thicker TPR silicone isn’t great with vibrations and it’s definitely more difficult to feel them in the tail. Furthermore, once inserted, vaginal muscles have a tendency to muffle some of the vibrations which even worsens the problem. Stronger vibes and a thinner tail might help with this but I just prefer toys with bullets at the clit, too, because of the pressure it gives. Unfortunately, the TPR silicone was soft enough that it wasn’t a good toy to grind with, either.
What ultimately turned me off from this sex toy is that its fins hurt upon insertion. I could plainly feel the side fins poking at me painfully because they’re much denser than the tail or nose. I’m not really sure what purpose they’re supposed to serve; the back fin could possibly provide G-spot stimulation (although it didn’t, for me) but those side fines are pointless. It’s hard to feel aroused when you’re in pain. The moral of the story here: just because you want to model a vibrator after an animal does not mean it has to be completely anatomically correct. Fins server a purpose in the water, not in my vagina.
It’s good to see California Exotic working with higher quality materials than jelly (even if they’re aren’t as quality as they’d have us believe) but it seems like a lot of corners were cut to make this toy.
PinkCherry also has a Canadian website, PinkCherry.ca
I almost overlooked the potential of Nova because it wasn’t what I expected. Perhaps that is a lesson I need to take with me in every aspect of life? Needless to say, giving this tiny vibrator a second chance revealed its potential in a way I never saw coming. I definitely had to rethink my approach when writing the review after it made me squirt.
Rabbit Rider
$34.65
from Store.OfSexAndLove.com
The Rabbit Rider is a toy I’ve had my eye on for a while because it tackles an issue many woman have with rabbit style vibes: placement of the clitoral stimulator. It’s not exactly the only toy which does this but most other toys use a sort of springy cord rather than placing the rabbit bullet on a ring around the shaft as if he were riding it. The Rabbit Rider is aptly named. Unfortunately, this great idea has yet to become a wonderful implementation.
The Rabbit Rider is actually a versatile kit but isn’t really a typical rabbit vibe. It includes a vibrating bullet and a standard plastic vibe, both which have pink Cyberskin sleeves. The sleeve for the bullet includes a bunny’s head and ears, as well at the band which goes around the shaft, and the other sleeve is very typical, with a realistic texture and contoured head. Both sleeves are easy to remove and replace on each part and could potentially be used with other bullets or standard vibes, should you so choose. You can also use the rabbit clitoral stimulator alone, or the vibrator alone. Take off the sleeves and it’s almost like you have 2 new toys.
I’ve even seen suggestions of using the bunny as a cock ring and, while this is possible, it’s probably not especially pleasurable. The band is larger than any cock ring I’ve seen and super stretchy; I even wore it around my wrist for a short period of time. I just don’t think this piece makes a functional cock ring.
Like most basic vibes, the one included is made of hard plastic, powered by 2AAs and has a dial base. The vibrations are surprisingly powerful and not whiny at all but this toy is much louder than I find to be acceptable unless we’re talking about my Miracle Massager or something similar. Granted, the sound is muffled once inserted; still, I felt self conscious at the noise of this one. The dial base wasn’t smooth to use – it was kinda of jerky and reluctant. I usually had to use one hand to hold the base and the other to turn the dial. Like any dial toy, twisting too far in the direction of “Off” can pop open the battery case.
The mini bullet which serves at a clit stimulator is like no bullet I’ve tried before. There is a power/mode button on the bottom of the bullet as well as a High – Low dial on the side of the bullet. The bullet has 5 modes; the first three are pulsation (medium, slow and fast respectively) and the last 2 are steady vibration with the very last being the stronger. All of this is powered by 4 small watch batteries and there are 2 sets (8 total) included. Note that 4 batteries are in the bullet initially and it won’t work until you move a small piece of plastic from the bullet. The ability to adjust the strength of the vibration on a bullet impressed me and even if this isn’t the strongest bullet I’ve tried, it’s incredibly varied. Furthermore, the pulsation was more than satisfactory. Unfortunately, you have to cycle through all 5 modes to turn it off and if you have the dial set to Low, you may think it’s off and drain the batteries. Out of everything in this kit, the bullet is the one thing I will likely continue to use.
Cyberskin was also another first for me. I’m not a big fan of realistic sex toys so I’ve never tried a Cyberskin toy. Immediately, I was amazed at just how soft this material is. I totally understand why they would make fake vaginas out of this stuff. However, vaginas and penises are different animals and I wasn’t sold that it would be a good material for a woman’s toy. I was also wary at the quality of this material. It’s extremely porous nature, fussy upkeep, lint attraction and musty smell are enough to deter me from Cyberskin toys in the future. From the washing the Rabbit Rider in the bathroom to the bedroom, it had collected a mass amount of lint and cat fur. I don’t even want to think about storage and since I have nothing to powder it with I’ll probably just see how long until the sleeves deteriorate.
I am happy to say that the Cyberskin did feel much more realistic in my cunt than in my hand. It could probably pass for the real thing and the vibrations were strong enough to stimulate a sweet spot or two, at least sometimes. But together with the clit stimulator, the Rabbit Rider was a flop. Literally. The soft nature of the Cyberskin offered little control over the precise placement of the bullet. It just sort of fell to the side and seemed limp. I think that even folks who like gentle vibrations of rabbit ears would find it difficult to get much out of the stimulator but a person likes me, who needs the bullet to rest snugly against the clit, would be especially disappointed.
I tossed the bullet aside and tried to use the sleeved vibrator against my clit to get off with much effort on my part and little help on its. Of course, if I had wanted to get off that way in the first place, I wouldn’t have been using the Rabbit Rider. I applaud Adam and Eve’s take on an idea that seems to be mostly unexplored but there’s a long way to go before it’s perfect. For starters I would swap the Cyberskin sleeves for a hygienic silicone vibe. Instead of a standard, straight shaft, I would use an ergonomically curved shaft with rotating beads and perhaps solve the issue of floppiness by using an open, hard plastic ring (think a thicker version of a fake jewelry ring which is not a full circle) or a band which opens on a hinge. I do like the functions of the bullet but I like them to be physically larger.
ID Moments
7.09
from Of Sex and Love Store
I’m a big fan of ID Glide. It’s my go-to lube and it’s versatile because it’s water-based so when I got my last package from PinkCherry.com, I was surprised to see a little 2.7 oz bottle of lube by the same company. Moments seems to be ID’s take on a hypoallergenic water-based lube for folks with sensitive skin by removing ingredients like paraben and glycerin and, while I’ve never had many issues with sensitivities to lube, it seemed like a nice addition. Somewhat ironically, ID Moments is one of only two lubes which has caused irritation to my skin.
However, let me describe the specs of this product before going into use. ID Moments comes in ID’s typical round, flip top bottle with the top and labels in a deep shade of pink. Because it’s water-based, it can be used for any activity or with any material and easily washes off with water (so wet activities might not be the best use). While it has no glycerine or parabens, it does have nearly a dozen other ingredients. The bottle was also sealed (beneath the top).
The very first thing I noticed – I mean how could you miss it? – was the atrocious scent of this lube. It does seem like I’m the only one whose nose was offended by this, though; some people even seemed to really like it. The smell originally reminded me of something which had fermented, in a bad way. In fact, I checked the expiration date (it was fine) because I was sure no company would intentionally make a product smell like this. Furthermore, I could find no mention of this product having a fragrance so I checked ID’s website and it says it is fragrance-free. It’s right there on the front page. Even if my preference for certain smells is unique, I would be very disappointed in this lube if I bought it believing it was fragrance-free. I am happy to note that the smell seems to have eased up and now I interpret it more as a very, very sour fruity smell – like the scent equivalent of a Warhead (which I hate LOL).
I did a quick taste test and ID Moments has a slightly sour/fruity taste as well. I also wanted to check out the thickness. ID Moments is not the thinnest lube around but it’s not as thick as ID Glide which is a con for me; I like my lubes thicker because I don’t like to deal with the mess. On the other hand, ID Moments is rather silky and rubs into the skin without becoming sticky at all.
But I can’t say how it works internally because I was too busy wondering why my genitals were burning to notice. I have double and triple checked and can’t find any mention of this being a warming lube so the logical assumption here is that ID Moments and my girl parts just do not mix. It’s just kind of funny that the girl who has only been allergic to 2 things in her entire life would be irritated by hypoallergenic lube, right?
I wanted to be really thorough so I used the lube 3 times, each time with a different toy just in case it was toy material and not the lube causing the problem. It was the lube. Luckily, I never used a ton of lube (I don’t normally) and the sensation quickly went away as soon as I stopped my activities.
I know that mine might be the only experience which goes badly but I’d rather err on the side of caution and just not recommend this lube to anyone. With that said, PinkCherry also carries Wet Naturals Beautifully Bare (read my review), a lube which is also paraben and glycerin free which I have used to much success.
I am hard to please. I can admit it. I don’t want to have to adjust to my sex toys; they should adjust to me. This is one of the reasons I’ll probably never own the Sasi even though it seems really cool. I just couldn’t use it in my way. It’s also why I wouldn’t have picked out Evolved’s waterproof Seduction myself. While it’s a nice toy, it’s just not the best toy for me. You can read more at my review on EdenFantasys.
