5 Lubes I Totally Recommend

July 22nd, 2013

Lube is lube, you know? Most people pick something from the pharmacy and run with it, no matter how awful it was. I used to be one of those people. I know. What I have discovered as a sex toy reviewer and blogger is this: I do not like writing lube reviews. Some of them are terrible. Many of them are just a little bit different from the next one. Most of them do the job without complaint. Few stand out. Even trying to make this list in my head was a little difficult because lubes tend to blend together in my memory. However, a few lubes have stood out from the bunch.

  1. System Jo Premium Women Lubricant
    The only silicone-based lube on this list is by System Jo. I’ve liked several of their products, but this one stands out. Silicone lube feels, to me, like wearing a plastic bag. It’s how a condom feels to men. I hate it. Add in incompatibility with so many of my toys and the general thinness, and it’s out. System Jo Premium is thicker than most silicone lubes, and it’ll last you forever if using for penetrative sex. It can also double as a massage glide.
  2. sliquid lube cubeWet Naturals Beautifully Bare
    The thing about lubes is that they’re not made from my body, and I can feel the difference. I hate it, to be perfect honest. So when I tried this lube from a company that I didn’t think was necessarily spectacular, I was surprised to note that it does feel like more of my own lubrication, at least in the water-based formula. Just don’t confuse the silicone lube and ruin your favorite VixSkin toy, guys.
  3. Maximus
    This is the go-to lube for anal lovers. It’s thick and long lasting. It’s compatible with silicone toys. Unlike most water-based lubes, it isn’t sticky. Once I tried it, I understood why everyone loved it.
  4. Frolic
    While I enjoy thicker lubes, I don’t want them to be solid. They need to come easily out of the bottle. I shouldn’t have to feel like I’m forcing a solid into my vagina. I’ve had that exact experience, so don’t think that I am exaggerating in the least. Frolic has a handy pump bottle that has a cover to lock it. It’s thick enough to stay in place but thin enough to spread, and it’s affordable.
  5. Sliquid Naturals Lube Cube
    Sliquid’s Lube Cube isn’t one lube, but it’s this awesome sampler pack that lets you try various flavors and formulas. The sweet flavors are the best I’ve ever tasted, and most people love Sliquid lube. The company actually makes four different cube options, but I reviews Sliquid Naturals.

What are your favorite lubes for activities like toy play? Vaginal and anal sex? Massage? Let us know in the comments!

 

 

8 Comments

Categories: Articles

The Best Alternatives to EdenFantasys Affiliate Program

June 7th, 2013

While this isn’t my job, I make a few dollars here and there, and I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunities that I’ve found. If you want to be a reviewer, blogger or affiliate shop owner and don’t know where to stop, then this post is for you!

My most profitable affiliate programs are SexToy.com, Babeland and Good Vibes — in that order. I also use Adam and Eve and PinkCherry (Canadian).

  1. Babeland offers 20% commissions, a full product feed, text and banner links and the website has a limited but high-quality product selection. You must sign up at PepperJam and join the Babeland advertiser campaign. If your site isn’t approved, you can contact Samantha, the affiliate team leader.
  2. SexToy.com has been my most successful affiliate endeavor, and this is likely due to the fact that the prices are drop-dead cheap and you get to have your own store. Mine’s located on a subdomain on my domain, which is pretty awesome. You can customize to your heart’s content, offer coupons to entice visitors — right now, you can save $25 off $100 to celebrate my birthday! — and commissions up to 25% are available based on performance. There’s no referral sign up, but this link will get you started.
  3. GoodVibes has rebooted their affiliate program a time or two but despite minimal effort, sales always trickle in for me. GoodVibes is also one of the few affiliate programs that still offers sex toys for review to bloggers like myself. Like Babeland, GoodVibes has a smaller selection than EF or, say, Amazon, but I enjoy their own branded items, and they have frequent sales. Sign up here.

Adam and Eve and Pinkcherry’s affiliate programs actually use the same software, which makes it easy to see your stats at a glance. The stores could potentially provide incentives, but neither utilizes this option to the full potential. It’s not as easy to create links (by just adding on a code), but the system will save every incoming link that you create.

Adam and Eve has the benefit of having many more products with a full product feed to link to any of them and better search options. There’s more links and banners to choose from, too. I’m currently earning 30% on sales there, which is the highest amount on this list. You’ll also earn 5% for referrals. There’s only a $25 payout, too. The only reason my earnings aren’t higher is because I prefer to link to a lot of specific products that A&E doesn’t necessarily carry.

Still, Pinkcherry is located in Canada, which means  your customers might prefer a store that offers more reasonable shipping fees if they’re from the great white north. PinkCherry’s affiliate program has a $100 payout minimum.

Finally, I’d like to mention Amazon here. If you already have an associates accountwith them, it’s easy to add another tracking ID like I did. There’s about 14,000 sex toys on the site, which makes linking convenient. Not ever toy you’ll want to showcase is on it, however. Still, you’ve got options for your aStore and widgets, which are handy. I use Amazon far less frequently because there’s so many restrictions, but it is an option. Just don’t rely on it alone.

I have earned hundreds of dollars through a combination of programs and, often, the one I use has more to do with which stores carry products I’m linking to at the best price because I know that’s what my readers want. Find a program or three that works for you, and get to know it well.

Now, plenty of my fellow bloggers have had success with other programs, and I encourage them to leave comments if they’d like to leave a link, but these affiliate programs have worked well for me without all the stress induced by EdenFantasys.

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Categories: Articles, internet

Dildo: The Sex Toy Acclaimed World Wide, Now in Videos

February 25th, 2013

This guest post brought to you by World Nowadays, the trend of searching for porn videos has greatly increased. Even children have see porn, and they know the categories, too. Sex toys, of which dildos are now the most familiar, are used in all parts of the world. People use dildos to give more excitement and pleasure as it offers a more seductive feeling. So by viewing toys online, consumers can imagine these things in real life, and that’s the reason behind the popularity of sex toy videos. Some people are very much acquainted with dildos, but there are others without knowledge about using dildos in the most effective way. For them, viewing videos online and searching for sex toy videos by group is helpful to fulfill sexual desire.

DildoPeople use dildos with suction to increase the pleasure, but if someone doesn’t know how to use it, then these videos are really helpful to get to that stage of sexual pleasure. While seeing that a woman is riding above the dildo just like she might with a partner — without any support — can increase the viewer’s pleasure, the performers also receive pleasure from insertable sex toys. These videos offer a vantage into sexual desires and hands-free sex ride thanks to suction cup dildos.

Some dildos have a contoured head and bulges on the shaft. These all are safe to insert, and the person who uses a dildo can feel it while watching videos of playing with sex toys. Many high-quality dildos offer functional storage aside from pleasure, but for the person who is unfamiliar, dildos in videos is helpful. If you search for sex toy videos, then World Sex is one of the better site where you will find the high-quality porn videos from Anal to 69, amateur to mature, hand jobs to gay sex, group sex to dildos and toys among others. All are available there.

Inside world sex videos, you will find a variety of sex toys in use — by girls and guys who are all all having fun. Dildos are becoming more popular day by day, and not only that, but dildo or sex toy videos are gaining more visitors, too. Some people find these videos are the best ones to watch while masturbating, and on World Sex, you will find both short, between 4 and 5 minutes, as well as long videos. This site is popular among porn sites as this site contains sex toy videos featuring a variety of techniques. Just log on and watch sex toys videos on World Sex. Search by category to find motivation to go wild with your own dildo. You could surely have an erotic experience.

 

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Categories: Articles

2012: Best Of

December 30th, 2012

I did a “Best of” last year. It really covered more than a single year, but I wanted to continue the trend into 2012. 2012 hasn’t seen as many reviews as other years. My love life also didn’t pick up until about a week ago, so that’s okay. Unfortunately, some really cool reviews won’t come until after the first of the year, but that’s also okay. If you didn’t notice, the world didn’t end, which means there is a 2013 coming to an Earth near you. I think it will be pretty good.

As for 2012, I’ve seen worse. Some of the items on this list were revamps of toys I’d already liked. In many ways, this felt a little uninspired. A good toy probably isn’t going to get worse. This is how I felt about the Lelo Mona 2. However,  the G4 Big Boss was larger than life in a lot of ways. I actually haven’t used it since I moved, but I know how I’ll fell when I do:

By the time I got anything inserted, I felt like I’d used an entire bottle of lube. It was only like 1/4 but, you know, I was all sorts of slippery. This was a freakin’ masturbation adventure, and who doesn’t like adventures?! The countoured head of this and a little lube and my clit is, like, the best adventure I’ve ever been on.

Trojan Midnight Collection Multi-position

On the other hand, some toys really surprised me. I mean, the Trojan Midnight Collection Multi-position Vibrator? It’s by a company that most people would write off. It doesn’t seem particularly awesome when you look at it, but I liked it enough to say “The first setting is lackluster so I turned it up a few times and found the sweet spot that make me squirt and squirt and squirt. It took me by surprise.” Babeland has dropped the price $20, too, which means I recommend the Midnight Collection vibe that much more.

I also gushed — pun intended — about the 24K Double Pleasure. It’s a gorgeous dildo. It feels nice. It photographs well. I would ask it to marry me if it had cuddly arms.

I reviewed a variety of bath and body products on of Sex and Love. I don’t know if y’all really like them, but I do, so you just have to put up with them, okay? I tried a whole bunch of the Pink Cupcake scented products from Classic Erotica, but it was the body mist that really stood out. In fact, I’ve been trying to get other stores to carry Wanna Be Sexy Flirty Body Mist, but they just won’t listen. Their loss, I guess?

Red Velvet and AbsintheI didn’t do as much erotic reading this year, but I was really impressed with one of the volumes that make it on my shelf: Red Velvet and Absinthe. This book has really set the standard as to what I want to see in my clit lit: sex, creativity, unusual settings, paranormal activity. It made me write werewolf erotica. Can you give it a higher recommendation that that? It wasn’t the only book I liked, though. “Crazy Little Thing” might not get you off, but it sure will open your eyes.

Not everything that I tried was on of Sex and Love, however. I recently posted about the strongest vibe I’ve ever tried that doesn’t plug in — the Form 6 G3.  After losing the cord to my Delight, I also bought a new one, and I fuckin’ love it:

This it the type of toy that I really get into. I find myself moaning without thinking about it. The experience is whole-body and wholly primal. Sometimes I just want to get off quickly, and sometimes I want to forget about the world around me. The Delight provides the latter

milk made nourishing bath & shower bubblesI also finally found a product that helps with shaving issues. Unfortunately, it isn’t the end all and be all of shaving. I still managed to get a follicle infection. Ugh. But it’s nice, and seems to be lasting much better than my previous aftershave products.

Only two pieces of lingerie makes this list, but they’re nice enough that I don’t really care that everything else failed miserably.  Coquette’s Holiday ruffled garter belt  is feminine, comfortable and practical to wear. While Baci’s sizing is weird, the lace boyshort is super cute. I like the way it feels on me, and my shrinking ass means it fits better now than when I first got it. Can’t complain.

And now, the last for least. I fuckin’ love Cake Beauty, and I will forever buy Milk Made body wash and shower products until I die.

Like I said, I already know that 2013 will bring with it some positive reviews. I hope to try more new things. I am hoping new romance means more content for this blog. I’ve missed it. I miss all of you. I want to be better, but I’m not quite as happy with or ready to review any ol’ dildo that comes across my doorstep. That’s a good things in terms of my overall satisfaction and the quality of my time spent, but it means less blog fodder, too.

So, what were your favorite products of 2012? Which of my reviews did you like best? Do you have anything to say about anything else I did on this blog or could do in the future? Let me know in the comments!

6 Comments

Categories: Articles, Reviews

5 Weird Things People Do During Sex

December 19th, 2012

This post has been in the works for a while. I kept getting distracted, which is kind of funny, because that’s something you shouldn’t do during sex. I guess it’s okay for bloggers to be weird. At best, I can make you uncomfortable and you’ll leave. On the other hand, you can’t sneak out unnoticed when you’re in the middle of sex and your partner does one of these things.

  1. Announce Orgasm
    As soon as I mentioned this one to a friend, she laughed because we — that’s us women — have all been there. So many men have to announce “I’m cumming” right before they do. Do they think maybe we won’t notice? Or they should get a cookie? I don’t know, man. I already spread my legs. What more do you want?
  2. Work on the To-Do List
    Okay, this isn’t weird per se, unless you’re one of those people who always gets into sex 100%. It’s actually pretty common for men and women to think about what needs to get fixed, cleaned, bought and otherwise done in the coming days and weeks while in the middle of sex. Two birds, one stone, right?
  3. Count the Squares/Dots on the Ceiling
    I’ve never done this, thank God. I’ve always tried to at least enjoy having sex or to make it known that now isn’t the right time, but some people would rather have sex so their partners stop asking or some other reason. They grin and bear it. They count out invisible things or focus on the ceiling above them, memorizing tiles, spots, cracks and other “features.” I would never want to waste my time doing this, so it’s weird to me.
  4. Talk on the Phone
    Bitch, pay attention to the person who has his penis inside you or the dude who’s got your dick in his mouth. It’s common fucking courtesy. If you’re talking, texting or playing God damned angry birds, you can’t really be wanting sex at that moment. Do everyone in the room a favor and say “No” if you mean no. There will be other times to have sex. I promise. However, there are exceptions. If you’re foolin’ around just a little bit and get a phone call only to have your fiance start fucking you while on the phone to see if you can keep a straight, er, face, it’s pretty funny. Still weird, though.
  5. Give a Play By Play
    You know what? If you’re going to announce everything you’re doing in bed, I’d rather you talk on the phone. It’s bad enough if you tell me you’re going to orgasm, but that shouldn’t be a followup to every other thing you’ve done that night. Otherwise, I’m going to say “Growing annoyed with you now.”

So, what’s the weirdest thing you’ve done during sex? Guilty of anything on this list? Have you had a partner who’s done something that makes these things all look paltry? Sound off in the comments.

11 Comments

Categories: Articles

The Rules

December 11th, 2012

I try not to have “rules” when it comes to dating. I want to find you attractive. I want to hold a conversation. We need to be able to laugh and you’ve got to have your shit together, which is an umbrella phrase that covers a lot of things:

  • You’re mentally and emotionally stable — I’m not your mommy. I won’t fix you.
  • You’re completely available. No married folks, sorry.
  • You can support yourself. There’s leeway if you’re living with your folks or temporarily unemployed, but if you need to date someone to make sure you have a place to live or don’t have a single possession or cent to your name, you’re out.

Really, I want this to be a functional relationships, and that’s what these guidelines add up to.  Of course, everything else is pretty much open, but certain things definitely mean that it’s more likely you’ll fit the criteria. For example, if you’ve got a similar sense of humor or we have overlapping interests, we’ll probably be able to hold a conversation. If you’re a hot geek type, then I’ll probably be attracted to you, so I gravitate toward the things that I know I already like, but that’s not a rule.

I don’t want to be one of those Jerry Seinfeld types, finding something tiny wrong with everyone and sending them away for silly reasons. I just expect a stable foundation, a strong connection.  This, I feel, is not too much to ask. Rationally, I know this is a good thing to look for. This isn’t a post about why the rational isn’t happening, though. That just happens to be semi-related.

No, this is about rules. I don’t care about superficial things about the job or car you have. How much money you make isn’t my business or something I care about. Imperfections can be overlooked.  Others have rules that I would find ridiculous however. They don’t care if you treat them well or are stable in any way as long as you have money. Some don’t mind being the third wheel if the sex is good. The list goes on, of course. Others have rules that I find absolutely ridiculous. But others have rules that, while they wouldn’t make sense to me, make sense to others.

There’s other types of rules, too. For example, some people wait a certain number of dates to have sex. Some have requirements for meeting someone’s parents, calling after a date or sex, dating multiple people at once and every other thing you can’t imagine.

The thing about rules that people fail to understand, however, is  that they don’t exist as a metric for finding potential matches. I’ve met plenty of people who more or less meet the requirements, but we just didn’t click. Really, I’m not so much looking for someone who will fit within the guidelines. The opposite is true. I want someone who will make me break all my rules. I want someone who makes me want to have sex the first night, skip out on planned dates, do crazy things and otherwise throw caution to the wind.

I don’t know if others are like this, but my rules don’t exist to weed out the wrong people. They’re there, instead, to help highlight the right person.

2 Comments

Categories: Articles, Dating

How FeedBurner Outed Me, Twice

September 16th, 2012

A while back, I decided to burn my feed to give readers more ways to subscribe (email being the big one) and let me track those subscriptions more easily for giveaways. FeedBurner was the obvious solution, and I’d already used it with other blogs. I don’t personally subscribe to any feeds via email and few feeds at all. I check on Google Reader or my phone’s RSS app, but I prefer to stay up-to-date with blogs that I read by actually visiting them. I’m old school like so.

So when I burned the feed for of Sex and Love to to normal FeedBurner account, I thought nothing of it. I didn’t realize that you could actually see a link to my Google+ profile and that FeedBurner used my email address as the sender’s. One of my readers notified me. We joked a bit, and then I quickly set out to rectify the situation. Feedburner includes a handy option to permanently transfer ownership, so I did. I thought all was well and good.

I was wrong. I signed in to my normal Gmail, which I rarely use, to see a kind message from someone who enjoyed my reviews and followed them via FeedBurner. I knew something was wrong, but the actual copy of the blog post to which she was replying didn’t show my photo or email address at all. It took some Google-fu to figure out that, despite having switched ownership, to sender email had remained the same for my feed.

I headed back to FeedBurner once more, but couldn’t find the location to change this for the life of me. I was feeling frustrated, because FeedBurner’s navigation and layout is overly complex. There was also no location where I could preview exactly how email updates would look to my readers. I eventually found the solution (Publicize > Email > Communication Prefs) and changed my sender’s email. Now, all my email subscribers will see messages from Adriana @ of Sex and Love, like it should’ve been when I permanently switched ownership. That seems like something Google should do for you.

Regardless, I never expected this to be a problem. Judging from the reactions of my Twitter friends, neither did they. At least one person changed her information after talking with me.  Google has really been the bane of my existence when it comes to (trying to) blog anonymously. I don’t have much to lose, but others do.

The moral of the story is, ultimately, to avoid mixing any accounts or emails between your identities even if you think that there’s no way it could be a problem. Setup PayPal with additional email addresses. Use an address specifically for your sex blog/reviewing identity. Create separate instant messaging accounts. Sign up for Disqus twice. Anonymity, like freedom, requires you to plan for it.

5 Comments

Categories: Articles, internet

Image © MisterUnlucky; used with permission.