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.
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This is an archived review. Babeland no longer sells the Octopussy dildo. Furthermore, I have had a Pipedream dildo break because it is a lower quality glass.
I strongly recommend reading Lilly’s guide to glass sex toy safety before making any glass dildo purchases!
My last experience with an Icicles dildo didn’t turn out so well because it fucking broke. In fact, my first was pretty lackluster, and I wound up trading it away so maybe it was a little risky for me to try another one. However, I thought the elongated tentacle design of this dildo would better fit me than any of the Icicles dildos I’ve tried thus far. I was right.
In fact, I would go so far as to say that this dildo is shaping up, literally, to be one of the better G-spot dildos I’ve ever owned (aside from Pipedream’s shitty glass). I know that it won’t be fantastic for everyone. If you need that drastic curve, then you might try Fun Factory’s Curve or the Pure Wand, which most people love for its curve. In fact, I found it difficult to find reviews of dildos with intense G-spot curves on Of Sex and Love. I just don’t like them! I’ve tried more G-spot vibrators that hit the spot, that’s for sure.
So this glass dildo head a curve, but it’s less intense. There’s also a bulb. I personally find that the shape perfectly cups my pubic bone and reached my G-spot with ease. It provided perfect stroking and while I don’t have trouble with squirting, it was so easy with Icicles No. 52. The gentle curving really made it easy to use even if it wasn’t necessarily the most filling toy I’ve ever used.
This is a fairly long and narrow dildo at 7 1/4 inches long. You can technically insert most of it if you’d like. Although, I don’t think you’d want to. Toward the center of the shaft, the diameter is 1 1/4 inches wide. It’s not a very intimidating toy in my opinion, and I use just a dab of lube with it. You may not need any if you’re already warmed up. The bulb on the head is smaller than that, however. You can insert under 1″ thick if you don’t insert the dildo very far, and I found that I didn’t need to.
The glass provides rigid stimulation if you like it that way. The design is lighter than metal of a similar style but heavier than wood. There’s also texture on the shaft that is reminiscent of a tentacle. It’s engraved rather than ridges so you might not notice it as much. The sides of the shaft, which flattens out a bit, are smooth. So is the other end, which is an open loop that servers as a handle. Maneuvering this dildo is easy, even if your hands are full of lube.
Like all glass, it’s nonporous. You can clean it in a million ways. It’ll warm up against your body and in warm water. You can cool it down, too.
Icicles toys come in foam inserts in thin cardboard boxes. There’s no storage bag so you may want to invest in one if you’d like to protect it. I have enough fabric storage in my drawer that I can rest a glass toy in there without worries. A towel will also do the trick.
This is an archived review of a discontinued product. You can still buy Pjur Med Clean Spray, however.
I’ve had a bottle of Pjur Med-Clean Spray for some time. I don’t use it as much as I should simply because it keeps winding up in my spare toy drawer. However, I was always super impressed that it wasn’t your run-of-the-mill toy cleaner. It’s gentle enough to clean your toys and leave on if you don’t have physical dirt to remove. I recommended still rinsing your toys if that was the case in my review of the spray. However, it’s tough on bacteria an germs. Pjur’s cleansing products are designed to help combat bacteria, fungi and viruses, and I don’t know anyone who is a fan of those things. Especially when you consider how long HPV can stick around on your toys — even the porous ones!
The product description uses the phrase “ an intensive antimicrobial effect against bacteria, fungal infections, and viruses such as Hepatitis B and HIV.” I remember reading this years ago. This has always stuck with me, but I never got around to trying or buying the wipes, which are formulated more for your body rather than your toys. The wipes aren’t different than others I’ve tried in use. Open the package, remove a wet wipe. Wipe down toys or yourself. They are unscented, but there is a slight “clean scent.” It fades quickly. I sometimes reach for the wipes when I want to freshen up without a shower. They do that, and the smell doesn’t linger in a way that would put me off from oral sex.
I know that Doc Johnson is making products to freshen up specifically for oral sex, but these are more versatile, and they’re a better value, too. The Oralove lign isn’t readily available. A 5-pack of those wipes costs between $5 and $8 while Pjur’s wipes come in a 25-pack for just under $12 from SheVibe. They’re obviously a better deal and that isn’t even factoring in the fact that these wipes may possibly help inhibit the spread of STIs or bacterial infections, and we all know that I am not a fan of those. Because of this, I would even recommend using wipes after sex to help lower the risk of UTIs if you tend to be prone to them.
I’ve experienced exactly zero reaction from using these wipes. They’re intended to be safe for sensitive and even irrited skin, which is important when I run out of Aftershave Oil. The ingredients list is as follows:
These are exactly the same ingredients as the spay, so you could probably mix the spray with some soft towels of your own to make wipes like this to be honest. I’m a little lazy (and sloppy!), but that might be more cost-effective. If you don’t experience irritation from the spray, then you’ll be good with the wipes and vice versa.
I do rather enjoy the quality of these wipes, though. They’re soft but not linty. They don’t easily tear like some of the cheaper wipes I’ve used. It may sound silly, but you really get what you pay for when it comes to these things. Some store brands are fucking terrible.
Now that I’ve been reminded how much I like these products, I will quickly use
Flying High
$15.95
from Amazon
Now, I’m not a member of the mile high club, but I think there’s something to be said for having sex on airplanes. Otherwise, why would so many people fantasize about it? I imagine it has something to do with being able to have sex with so many people around and not having them notice or, if it’s your thing, because you want them to notice. Perhaps the challenge of having sex in such a small place only makes the adrenaline run faster. Some people might rely on the release and reward of sex to calm their flying nerves or pass the time, which certainly seems to crawl by when you’re 30,000 feet above sea level with nothing but clouds out your window.
However, writing about sex on airplanes certainly presents another challenge. How do you make your story stand apart from those written by others? Indeed, I imagine that Rachel Kramer Bussel saw many similar themes, but the editor at Cleis Press was able to pull together enough stories to create an anthology that remains interesting and less than redundant. Although, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend reading the book in one sitting as it could become rather mundane.
Flying High does a good job of providing us with situations — strangers meeting on an airplane for sex, cybersex on airplanes, voyeurism, masturbation airlines and more — to keep things interesting. Many of the authors have added fantasy elements, which keep the stories in the book from being more of the same.
Like I said, I understand why sex on an airplane is appealing to some even though it’s not number one on my list of sexual acts to do. So I was pleasantly surprised when I opened the pages of this book and began enjoying it right off the bat. In fact the first story by Bill Kte’pe, one in which two couples who met online have arranged for a sexual rendezvous in the sky, is one of the most memorable of the book. It helps the book take flight without a hitch. The surprise ending adds to the story in my opinion, but I won’t spoil it for you.
Like any anthology, not every story in Flying High was for more. I skipped over one or two completely. In some cases, the airplane is really almost inconsequential. In stories like “Top Banana,” being on an airplane and one operated by a specific airline creates a recurring theme. In that particular story, Craig Sorensen relies on the theme to craft an interesting story and colorful visuals with an ending that I didn’t quite see coming — no pun intended.
The style and skill of the authors in Flying High varies as much as the particular plots of the stories. Some were simply not to my liking, and others seemed a little inexperienced or lacking the subtlety that I think makes a good story. However, they all brought something different to the table. Flying High might not be a book that you reach for constantly, but it’s worth checking out if you have a thing for the mile high club, especially if you’re not quite bold enough to go there yourself.
I suppose it’s not a rarity at all that I review two toys with similar functions in a row. However, both the Sqweel Go and Lelo’s Ora intend to be oral sex simulators, and there aren’t that many of them around. Both of them are basically revamps of existing technology, and Lovehoney has gone through a couple iterations of the original, which I reviewed many years ago. I wasn’t a huge fan, and neither were many women who tried it.
There are a few design tweaks between the Sqweel Go and the last one that I’ve used. There’s still a rotating wheel of silicone “tongues,” but the encasement is much smaller with the Sqweel Go. It’s not going to fight for space with my vulva! There’s a much smaller space to grab, but I don’t generally find this to be a problem. Lovehoney has also incorporated a single push button to cycle through the 6 settings. The button is big and raised and easy to find in the dark.
When it comes to the Sqweel Go, it seems like less really is more. The Sqweel Go is intended to be the portable version of this oral sex simulator, but I think Lovehoney really should have started with this size to begin with. A problem that I and maybe women had with the original was that it was so big as to be clunky, and it fought for space with our vulvas. Because the tongues and the entire unit are smaller, it fits between my labia, especially if I push them apart.
At just a few inches in length, this is portable, but you’ll want to grab the USB cable before your trip. My Sqweel Go arrived charged, which was nice. I haven’t had to charge it yet, but your mileage will vary depending upon which setting you use it on. The Sqweel Go is
The tongues themselves are still soft silicone. Remember how the original was not made of silicone? The Sqweel Go survives the flame test. Smooth plastic — white or purple — replaces the black case, too. There’s no cover, which might be a hindrance for travel. You also can’t remove the spinning wheel for cleaning. So far, I haven’t found this to be a problem. The wheel is smaller an extends less “far” into the toy. You can soap it up and rinse with water while pushing the wheel around or simply turning the toy on to rinse. I think I prefer this. It involves no taking apart, which was annoying. This one is also waterproof. Though, I don’t think you’d get much sensation under water.
The sensation is quite similar to the original, but the smaller tongues means there’s less time between tongues. More contact equals more sensation. I approve. The smaller size fits better with my personal anatomy, and while this still doesn’t feel like a real tongue on my clit, it does feel good when it’s lubed up. The additional settings, are more interesting, and I can more easily tell between them. The settings are:
I think I like the new speeds and the pulsations are interesting. Although, the last setting feels quite a bit like the steady settings. The Sqweel Go also has a bit of an annoying wine that I could do without.
However, the Sqweel Go suffers from the same drawback this time around — no pun intended — as it did the first time. I cannot apply pressure. Well, I can apply some, and it doesn’t stop as easily as the original, but I can’t grind against it the way I would a normal vibrator, a person’s face or leg or even the Lelo Ora. I’m not even sure how Lovehoney could continue with this design while adding that. I think it just might be impossible. This ultimately places the Sqweel Go in the category of “warm-up toy” but because I don’t use toys for warm up — it’s all or nothing — I can’t see myself breaking it out of the toy box often.
Let me tell you a little bit about myself. I love oral sex. Now, you’d figure that’s a given, but I have met many women who say they can take it or leave it. I’m told that I should accept this as their preference, but it is not mine. I like the feeling of tongues, which can be pointed and hard or broad and soft, against my clit and between the folds of my labia. Oral sex is awesome, and I hold my breath, almost afraid to break the spell, as I wait for whoever is between my legs to make contact with my body and claim it in the name their tongue.
Yes, I know this is fucking cheesy, but there is nothing quite like oral sex, which will invariably end with me grabbing the back of your head and grinding my cunt against you until I come if you’re done at least a halfway decent job and if I want to get off.
So the idea that a toy mimics oral sex is something like the holy grail for me. It has to provide pinpoint sensation like the tip of a tongue. It has to be something I can get pressure from through grinding. And, no, I don’t want a disembodied head. At least, not for orgasmic purposes. To put it bluntly, an oral sex simulator has big shoes to fill, and no one’s gotten it quite right yet.
However, Lelo wants us to forget that others have tried and in quite similar ways to the Ora. You see, this little vibrator is basically the SaSi by JeJoue with a few refinements and a small size. I actually like the change in size, functions, and build, but that doesn’t negate the fact that the idea is not new.
Oral Sex.. from a Toy?
Like I said. This toy is quite similar to SaSi. So the Ora is a round-ish toy with one flatter end where the ball is. The oral sex part comes from a rotating “marble” or ball bearing beneath a thin and flexible layer of silicone. When you press this against you, it’s supposed to feel like oral sex. When the ball moves, it pushes the silicone up out of the little valley where the ball mechanism is situated, and the ball itself extends a little higher than the sides of the valley.
The rest of the toy is covered with taut silicone and is very similar to many of Lelo’s other toys. It reminds me an awful lot of Alia, but it’s definitely bigger. This is good. Alia was too small to insert your fingers to grasp, but Ora works just fine.
There are three buttons, the same as the Insignia line, embossed into the silicone. Let me say straight out that I hate these buttons. My fingertips might not be very sensitive, but I can never differentiate between the buttons to find the one I want, so I always have to pull the toy away from me and change it. I don’t like toys that do this. The Form 6 is similar but the buttons are further apart, which means I can figure out which is which. Lelo really needs to ditch this three-button-in-silicone design. Like now.
The buttons work in an interesting way. The + and – buttons do exactly what you think. The center button cycles through settings, but it also increases vibration strength if you hold it for 3 seconds. After doing this, you get a steady vibration boost kind of like the Boss. The difference between the boost and not boost is noticeable, both to my ears and clit. In fact, the boost actually feels deeper and stronger. The boost stays on if you turn the toy off and back on again. I think this is a bummer. It’s like toys that start on High. Why would you do this to us, why, Lelo?!
The settings are as follows
Ora’s protruding ball
Unlike the Sasi, Ora allows you to have both the movement of the ball and vibration. There’s a setting where just the ball moves, but you don’t have to pick or choose. You can have both. The downside is that whenever vibration is on, the ball’s movement is a little less intense. This is to be expected and could possibly be minimized with a larger ball. Read more on that below.
So, I like the boosted vibration, but I actually like some of settings, which might very well be a first for me. I always, always, always discounted silly pulsation and escalation, but the later settings with an interesting pattern combination both feel good, and during the vibration’s pause, I can focus on the movement of the ball. This is pretty much a first for me. I do tend to return to steady vibes during orgasm time, but that’s about it.
Because the Ora is more narrow, it fits between my labia better and I get more direct contact with the ball. SaSi was kind of a letdown when it came to this. I had to hold my labia out of the way. The ball being in the “dimple” means that the rigid shell meets my labia, and this provides the pressure that I like. Yes, I can ultimately grind against the Ora, and I got off with it this way.
SaSi also couldn’t take a lot of pressure. While placing more pressure on the ball used in Ora is going to slow it down and you’ll hear it strain, I couldn’t force it to completely stop with my hand while I was trying. Of course, I imagine this stress would make the toy wear out faster, but it’s good that you can get a little pressure without the enjoyment coming to a screeching halt.
Speaking of audible noise. You’ve got both a mechanical wine due to the ball bearing and the sound of vibration. This is louder than a bullet vibe and Siri, for example. But it’s definitely not the loudest toy I own.
Room for Improvement?
There’s no doubt that Ora does this better than any other toy I’ve had. But it’s also not something you’d confuse with a real, human mouth and tongue. The mobile ball beneath the thin layer of soft silicone just doesn’t protrude enough. It could be a little larger, given the shape and size of Ora. or Lelo could go back to the drawing board and come up with something a little larger for a much larger toy. Either way, I’d love for it to extend past the edge of Ora and make better contact with my vulva.
Even with lube, the texture isn’t exactly human. A heating element might change things. I don’t think this is particularly realistic, given the size of Ora, but it’s a thought.
I don’t necessarily love the rounded shape on the other side. Perhaps it wouldn’t bother me as much if the buttons were easier to find and differentiate. It doesn’t cramp up my hands as much as most, but keeping my fingers inside the loop doesn’t feel natural, either.
The Standard Spiel
Yes, this is made of silicone. Use high-quality silicone or water-based lube. Wash with soap and water. Be careful of the charging port. There’s nothing to cover it and while technology works wonders, I’m still wary of open ports. Plug it in and charge for a couple hours to power it. Silicone picks up lint, as you can clearly see in my photos. It comes with Lelo’s box, warranty, and a storage pouch.
Final Thoughts
Essentially, this toy is less-than-perfect but allows me orgasm and enjoy sensations. That doesn’t typically happen. Orgasms are hard work. They’re about release, not pleasure. I can get both with Ora. It’s not necessarily easy, but it happens.
I think Ora will get a fair bit of use from me, but I will likely keep reaching for my old stand-bys when I want to get off quickly.
Love Rider Butterfly Lovers
$49.95
from Of Sex and Love Store
My body has changed since I first started reviewing. At one time, rabbit vibrators were my favorite type of vibes despite the fact that so many people seem to have so many problems with them. 6 years ago, my g-spot hadn’t yet awakened. I couldn’t squirt and I wasn’t familiar with that acute pain that occurs when my g-spot needs to squirt but can’t because something is blocking the vaginal canal. If this sounds weird, well, it is.
So I would use rabbits to get intense external stimulation with a little internal stimulation. I enjoyed the cupping of my pubic bone, which we all know is alien shaped or something. In fact, very few rabbits did much for me internally at all. The Passion Wave was one of them. Guys, that was 6 freaking years ago! And now my g-spot isn’t like that. Rabbits tend to get in the way, now. When I need to squirt, I need to get all toys and cocks the fuck out of my vagina. And the increased sensitivity of my g-spot also means that rabbits, most of which have rigid mechanisms in the shaft, kind of hurt.
So I don’t use rabbits much. In fact, when I use G-spot/internal and clitoral/external toys, I tend to use them different. Vibration gets me off clitorally with a lot of pressure. A little vibration and/or a few strokes internally literally milks my g-spot to ejaculation. Most masturbation sessions are the former because I want to get off. If I am aiming to squirt, which isn’t accompanied with an orgasm, it’s usually because I am reviewing a g-spot toy or simply want to feel some sort of accomplishment.
Where is all this leading? To the fact that this is a review for a rabbit vibrator, and it’s so weird for me now. But it wasn’t when I owned over a dozen of them. In many ways, it seems like sex toy makers have also moved away from rabbits, and perhaps for good reason. There are so many complaints.
The size issue keeps many women from enjoying rabbits because it’s hard to find one that will fit you. For me, personally, this wasn’t an issue when I was just forcing the rabbits to work, I guess, but I can no longer do it. The nice part about the Love Rider Butterfly Lovers is that it isn’t so huge so this could be a decent toy if most rabbits are too big for you to use comfortably. The shaft only has about 5 inches to insert, and the diameter is about 1.5 inches. The product listing says 1.75 inches, but this is actually the size of the flared base. See, a modern aspect of this rabbit is that it’s harness compatible. You’re going to want an O-ring smaller than that, though. A 1.5 inch ring, I would think. I don’t have a harness to check. The base also works as a suction cup, but I have no use for this.
However, the silly butterfly design for the clitoral stimulator isn’t new at all. There’s a very similar version with a rabbit clitoral arm. I think that I’d like that better. It also just doesn’t hit the right spot or do much at all. The shaft has no silly faces on it, just some surreal sort of swirls and a gently curved head that should be able to provide some G-spot stimulation. The silicone is firm enough to provide pressure but not rock hard because there’s no internal mechanism. It’s also the type of silicone that works best with lube. I did find the shaft to be rather comfortable during insertion. The length of the shaft and clit stimulator aren’t simpatico for me, however.
The motor for the toy is in the base of the shaft/clitoral arm, so it does have the strongest of the vibrations. They traveled up the shaft enough to make me squirt, but I feel like some people would be disappointed. 2 AA batteries provides vibrations with more depth, and the vibes are decent enough. You control this vibe from a detachable battery pack. This is convenient if you want to use this as a harnessed dildo without vibration, but it doesn’t do much for me when it comes to washing because the wire stays on the toy and just seems to get in the way.
The control pack is different because there’s a master power button on top and a trigger-style button on the bottom to cycle through the settings. Now, I don’t really like the trigger button for this purpose, but I love the idea of a trigger button. I want to shoot all my sex toys, er, something like that.
The other settings are:
I hatehatehate when vibes start at the highest setting because you expect to be able to increase the vibrations, but then you can’t. However, the pulsation is all rather effective and there’s no escalation, which really does nothing for me. The vibe returns to the last setting you had it on when you turned it off.
This rabbit vibrator is also fairly loud, certainly louder than any of my Lelo toys. I’m used to toys that are pretty quiet, but maybe you won’t notice.
So, overall, this toy doesn’t make me love rabbits again. Internally, it fits better but it doesn’t offer true dual stimulation for me. Like I said, I might like the rabbit better. Or maybe I just want to focus on one thing and do it right.
101 Vagina
$13.68
from Amazon
When I first received the pitch to review and give away this book, I wasn’t quite sure what it was. Perhaps that’s because it’s such a simple concept that describing it takes away some of the.. “magic” of it. I’m normally more pragmatic than that, but the description causes it to lose something special.
You see, 101 vagina is a book featuring 101 photos of vulvas and 101 pieces by the owners of those vulvas. The book is printed completely in black and white, and it has a sleek white hard cover to boot. See? You can sum up what it is so easily. But I’m not sure that you can sum up the significance of this book quite so easily.
You see, the women in those photos have different body types, skin colors, scars, body modifications and pubic hair styles. And those women all have different feelings about the reproductive organs. And some of them even have different understandings about their organs, which brings me to my first and only complaint about this book.
The photos are really of vulvas, not vaginas. In fact, the photographer Philip Werner does address this in the back of the book. I’m glad because the terminology did bother me. However, while the pictures are of the external body parts, he wanted to create a medium for discussing the vulva, the vagina, the physical and the spiritual, and the English language doesn’t really provide this.
However, many of the women who agreed to be photographed for this collection do use the Sanskrit term “Yoni,” which I’ve heard but haven’t used before. Accordingto Wikipedia:
Yoni (Sanskrit: योनि yoni) is a Sanskrit word with different meanings, most basically “vagina” or “womb”. Its counterpart is the lingam. It is also the divine passage, or sacred temple (cf. lila). The word can cover a range of extended meanings, including: place of birth, source, origin, spring, fountain, place of rest, repository, receptacle, seat, abode, home, lair, nest, stable.
The women who tend to use this word as they write about their vulva, vagina, uterus and more do tend to use more flowery descriptions. The first few photos had captions like these, and they weren’t my favorite. However, women wrote about their vaginas in many ways.
Some were reverent. Some were saddened. Some expressed anger. Some were clinical. Others wrote poetry. Some wrote so much that the text had to be shrunk down to fit the book’s intended format. Other were quizzical or awed. The feels were sometimes intense and sometimes indifferent. It was simply interesting to read them. In fact, I sat down with the book as soon as it arrived in the mail and had read more than half of it before I knew it!
A few of the women chose to write about the experience of being photographed nude. I thought this gave interesting insight into the project itself. It seems like the photographer made everyone comfortable and his desire to create a body positive book really worked out well.
I think that some people would chuckle or roll their eyes at the intent and the result, but I also believe that most people could benefit from reading book like this. Cis-women could certainly feel a little more comfortable about their bodies and reproductive organs. Other people could appreciate the range of womanhood, both physically and mentally through the written word.
Here are a few of my favorite lines from 101 Vagina:
Of course, there are many more than I enjoyed. There is one in particular that I cannot currently find, and some of them are too long to write up in full. and I wouldn’t want you to miss out by not reading them in their intended format.
If you’re at all looking for an interesting coffee table book or simply want to understand how women feel about themselves, 101 Vagina is certainly going to provide plenty to talk and think about.
