Scandal Corset with Cuffs

October 27th, 2014

I’ve kept my eye out for the pieces in the Scandal line because I love love love the black and red design — even if it matches nothing in my bondage drawer! The control cuffs worked well, and the “corset” is pretty sexy. Unfortunately, the corset is also once-size-fits-most. What do we know about this kids? That one size never fits all and rarely fits most and usually pisses reviews like me the fuck off.

But let’s back up. This corset is really a small waist cincher. There’s no boning, either plastic or metal; although, the fabric is definitely reinforced. There’s a series of hook and eye enclosures on the back that secure it. To either side of the fasteners, which you won’t see in any of the photos, is a thick strip of elastic, which makes this adjustable — and also less attractive from the front. CEN has added another ribbon – 31 inches of it on either side — for you to tie over the elastic and hooks to make it prettier. In the front, it’s laced with ribbon like corset, so you can extend it a bit if you loosen it or lace with with longer ribbon instead. As this stretches, skin will peak out from the front.

The default setting was one that I could just squeeze into. As a general size XL in most tops and lingerie, I could just make this fit, but it wasn’t comfortable, and I worried that I would damage it if I wore it for long or during strenuous play. I would say this is probably most intended for someone in the size medium to large range. Lying flat, it measures 17 inches in half. It will stretch slightly more than 34 inches thanks to the elastic, however.

By default, the corset comes with an extender with 5 hooks, like you might buy for a bra but obviously 4 inches wide, the same width as the hooks and elastic part of the bra. This is a fantastic idea on the part of California Exotics. If you remove it, you can tighten the corset by several inches, and you can gain 2.5 inches if you add it. Technically, you could buy another 5-hook bra extender in black to add more inches, but that’s not something that I care to do. You could do that and have amply ribbon to tie over it, however.

I did find the height to work well. You can wear it over a top — black or red makes the most sense — of course, or with a bra. There’s also the option to wear the corset by itself if you want to bare all.

Of course, this matches everything in the Scandal line, but you don’t need separate wrist cuffs because a pair is included. There is a D-ring on either side of the corset to which the cuffs attach, which keeps arms relatively prone as your sides. The cuffs are detachable, so you can instead attach them to one another or even

Aside from the red and black fabric, the cuffs are secured with long Velcro straps. There’s potential that someone who is strong enough could break out of them, but whether that would happen before a seam in the corset itself would give out is up for debate.

scandal coset with cuffs

scandal coset with cuffs

The cuffs are intended for wrists and just over 2 inches thick but would work for some ankles. They measure about 10.5 inches around with no overlapping. They’re lined with a super fuzzy material that I absolutely love, but the squishiness makes it more difficult to overlap the cuffs to make them smaller in diameter. There are about 5 inches of Velcro that you can adjust to make it wider, but it’s not going to hold as well.

The hardware on this is surprisingly impressive for this line, especially when you consider that there are decorative cuffs connected by a strand of faux pearls. Remember when I reviewed one of those? Nope. There’s nylon wrapped around an O-ring to securely attached it. Each cuff has its own double ended bolt snap — like this — painted black to match. It’s attractive and effective to both connect the cuffs to the corset or to one another.

While the Scandal corset with cuffs certainly isn’t one size fits most, it’s an attractive piece that’s going to work well for some people who care a little more about form than function, which is kind of the purpose of the entire Scandal line. But with a price around $50, you’re better off getting something a little more functional.

CEN Sexpert

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What Sex Toy Retailers Can Learn from the EdenFantasys Scandal

October 13th, 2013

Let me preface this article by explaining which scandal I am talking about because there are many. EdenFantasy has been doing wrong by employees, clients, manufacturers and reviewers for years. But several months ago, the owner “discovered” there was barely enough revenue left to keep the company afloat. He fire all the employees and shut down all the clubs and programs, including Sexis and EdenCafe, that had been going on. He, then, decided to cut how many points — points that contributors had earned — that contributors could put toward their orders. This resulted in a strange “point consideration proposal” by Fred who literally and liberally berated the community for abusing the system that he had championed for years.

I quote:

You will be asked to submit a reconsideration request. It is optional. If you chose not to participate, your points will remain as they are now.
We review the submission manually and decide whether your points will be restored or completely erased.

All your points (or converted Gift Cards) will be cancelled and removed if company finds that you accumulated 500 points or more by intentionally abusing the system.

EdenFantasys is not a store you an trust!

Around this time, many products were “discontinued.” Reviews and orders were being canceled left and right. Some, mind included, took months to get out. Anyone who wanted to buy something was hard-pressed to do so. Affiliates who had reached their payouts were not — and some still haven’t been, 5 months later — paid. During this whole thing, Fred refused, and then denied when I brought it up, to discuss or admit the state of the company. He banned many contributors and limited the accounts of others, myself included. However, many of the previous employees began to speak up about how this was just the cherry on top of the shit sundae.

Reviewers and shoppers who wised up by reading posts like mine left in droves, many opening up a blog for the very first time. Others took to Twitter and other review/affiliate programs in light of Fred/EdenFantasys’ policies.  SheVibe opened their own forum.

There’s no doubt that it’s a ridiculous scandal and one that could have been completely avoided. It hurt the company and left the community scarred and fragmented, but that’s not all there is to it. Eden’s fallacies are absolutely a lesson that other companies can — and should — learn from. This is far from a cohesive list, so I encourage you to add your thoughts in the comments. I may even add them to this post. The scary part is how many of these facts are simply common sense.

Business Management

  • Don’t turn a blind eye to things like the bills. They don’t go away. Quite the opposite. They pile up, and you ruin your reputation with consumers, manufacturers and other companies with whom you have a relationship. When it gets to the point that the company needs to be shut down or sold immediately because you ignored or tried to deny away the problem for months or even years, there’s no one to blame but yourself.
  • Yes, you have to spend money to make money. No, you shouldn’t spend thousands or millions of dollars on projects that don’t bring in money and ultimately bleed the company dry. Yes, working with bloggers can yield positive results. No, it shouldn’t be your only end game.
  • Don’t blame the customers for your bad business practices. This falls under the “there’s no one to blame but you” category, but I’ll talk about it more anyway. Don’t blame customers for taking advantage of programs or sales that you created.
  • It’s such a sleazy thing to base your business on the idea that you will make deals with others. That you will slip them something a little extra under the table or that you’ll bow to their demands to appease them, especially if you’re hurting your customer in the process.
  • Don’t try to do it all. Even if you have the best of intentions, you can’t do it all. You just can’t. Determine what you can do and do it well rather than spreading yourself too thin. Otherwise, you wind up starting clubs and giveaways and blogger outreach. The best case scenario is that it works with a few hiccups or that it doesn’t, and you can gracefully back out. Sometimes people will understand. On the other hand, if you don’t realize that you’re setting yourself up for failure, you might make a bunch of promises that you can’t deliver on, which may result in some unhappy customers.
  • Treat your employees well because they are what make your company run. They may be the face that customers see. They have the power to testify against you in court and to tell your dirty little secrets.

Community

  • When you reward your contributors for listing pros and cons about things, they’ll do the same for your company. It’s not about bloggers, it’s about pissing off vocal people. And bloggers will talk — even Metis Black mentioned how quickly the network works a CatalystCon West —  partly because we like to talk to begin with, but it’s more than that. I feel as though I owe readers the truth, whether it’s about a a toy or a company. I feel an obligation to tell buyers that a company isn’t reputable. As a blogger, I feel a sense of community with my fellow bloggers, and I want to help protect them from companies that will take advantage of them. So it’s my job to talk about it on this blog, on Twitter, on Tumblr, on Facebook or on your forum. Wherever I can talk about what you did wrong, I will. It’s not about you. It’s not petty vengeance. It’s about raising awareness of wrongdoing.
  • This leads me to my next point: don’t lie. The truth always comes out. Either you wind up telling bigger lies to cover up the succession of untruths, you get caught in the act or you wrong a person whom you trusted with your secret, and the truth comes out. The truth always comes out. Can you deal with that?
  • People don’t react to change well, especially not if it’s sudden. Yes, you may have to change the focus or programs that your company has. If you do it all at once, people will complain because they’ve become accustomed to a certain lifestyle. You can attempt to smooth things over by explaining why you have to change, and even though you don’t have to explain how your company works or what you’re doing, a little transparency goes a long way. When you start lying, even if it’s just by having shady practices, people stop trusting you.

And that trust? Yea, it’s kind of important when you use marketing campaigns about how people can trust you.

 

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