A Very Sexy Halloween with ILovesexy.com [Review]

October 27th, 2013

Cheetah-Licious Costume

Cheetah-Licious Costume
$34.99 - $51.38 from Amazon

Cheetah-Licious Costume

I’m something of a crazy cat lady, so this costume made perfect sense for me. Unfortunately, it’s just not a perfect costume. It’s all about sizing, but even though I ordered mine, this isn’t super flattering. It’s due to the sizing. It runs snug. Think original Star Trek uniforms. This is so small/tight as to be a top, and it might look cute with some leggings. I’m not a legging person, however. I was really hoping to wear it with the petticoat but there’s just no room.

So let’s start from the bottom up. The furry border on the bottom barely covers my own bottom (maybe some booty shorts would look cute). This is standing up. There’s no way it’ll cover anything sitting down. I like to wear petticoats to help cover my ass with costumes, but it fits like a second skin, so there’s really no room.

This is snug around the midsection in a way that I find unflattering. Period. The velour material seems thinner than other costumes I’ve worn, so this only adds to the issue. The costume isn’t for you if your middle is your trouble section and you won’t wanna wear some Spanx.

This costume has some problematic.. spots

This costume has some problematic.. spots

The breast area probably looked the best, but it’s not without its own issues. The neck is low and square, so my bra wanted to show. A demi or shelf cup would be best. Even though the top was tight around my breasts, there’s only C cups, so the lace didn’t pull apart as much as you’d expect. I think there’s simply a bit much material and a wider V cut would help with this. Mine came laces backward, with the bow on the bottom, but it’s easily fixed.

The neckline leads you to the hood, which is huge. You’ll see it in the photos. It hangs down over my nose. I didn’t have the help of a partner to take a picture of this, however. While you can wear it further back, the ears so of become lost. The ribbons and balls that hang down are for looks only. They do not actually adjust the hood, so keep that in mind.

The arms are probably my favorite part. Long sleeves can sometimes be quite flattering on me. These were snug but with enough room to move. The fur at the ends was cute, but be careful not to drag it in your party dip. I’m only 5’2 and these were a tad long, but they may be short for taller women.

Of course, on a taller woman this would literally be a hoodie, and that’s the problem. Plus sized costumes usually are longer — as is the case with the petticoat — but this one just isn’t. It makes me wonder how long the other sizes are. The measurements follow:

  • Length (shoulder to hem): 32″
  • Width at hem: 22″ flat
  • Width breasts: 18″ flat
  • Waist width: 16.5″
  • Arm length: 23″

These numbers certainly don’t suggest an XL to me.

If I were to try to wear this, I’d go with leggings under the leg warmers, which are also kind of a fail. They run long on my 5’2″ frame but tight. The elastic around the top stretches to around 8 inches, but it feels super tight. I have muscular calves. Around the bottom, it’s open to cover your footwear — 11 inches flat. The leg warmers are just under 18 inches long. However, they’re more easy to adjust than the rest of the piece.

Thigh highs always look sexy

Thigh highs always look sexy

Sheer Lace Top Thigh High Stockings With Backseam

I experienced the same “issues” with the thigh highs as I do other plus-size items. I tend to fall directly between one size and plus size. So these went on easily. They sat against my skin nicely. They didn’t cut in, but they also weren’t snug enough to keep up. This was especially true with the first garter belt I used them with, which has longer straps. There was just too much slack in the garters, so I switched it out to another pair with shorter straps. This worked fine but, as you know if you’ve ever worn a garter belt with stockings, it’s just a pain to get them into place. Fortunately, I did this before Halloween, so I know which one to use when it comes down to it.

Although this comes with a large band, which I think is more flattering in curvier thighs, there’s no elastic backing. So you’ll definitely need garters to keep it up. The lace band measures about 8″ across unstretched. It stretches to at least 10″, but I don’t have a third hand so that’s a fuzzy estimate. As for length, I found these a little long to sit at mid-thigh with my shorts legs. At 5’2″ I’m definitely on the bottom range. The thigh highs weren’t quite as taut as I’d like them, so these would ideally fit someone a little wider in the thigh and taller for me. However, that’s really good news for anyone who’s a little higher up in the “plus” size range.

The appeal of these stockings is definitely the backseam. It’s super sexy, but hard to photograph by one’s self with such short arms. You’ll have to adjust it after you pull them on, even if you think you’re pulling them on straight. However, it’s super visually attractive.

I’d generally recommend these but with a few caveats. There won’t last more than a couple wearings, even if you handwash. The nylon is delicate, but that’s really the case with all thigh highs. There’s no reinforced toe, so it might be especially likely to rip or run there. Of course, I found that the mesh and lace got caught in my nails, which is hard to avoid when you have nails. However, my garters didn’t immediately put holes in the lace, which is good.

Petticoat: also long and fluffy!

Petticoat: also long and fluffy!

Plus Size Petticoat

I’ve already got a pretty pink petticoat that I love, so I knew what I wanted when it came to getting on in black. In short, I want fluffy! This petticoat has two layers to offer some fluff. A satin panel toward the top helps with modesty, too. I generally like it; however, it’s far longer than the product images. This is likely due to the fact that the product page uses the one size model, and the plus size is cut longer/larger.

For reference, the petticoat is about 17 inches long at the longest point. The satin panel is 5 inches. The waist measures 14 inches flat/unstretched. There’s a lot of stretch to be had in this, so while it fits me almost loosely, it’ll go up to the 1x or 2x range, too, I’d think.

As for length, you can simply roll up the elastic band or pull it up higher if you’re wearing it under something else. That’s what I did.

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Wonderland Vibrator Giveaway

October 22nd, 2013

Wonderland - The Heavenly Heart

The Heavenly Heart

With Halloween soon approaching, I thought one of the Wonderland vibes would make an awesome giveaway prize, and the kind folks over at Shhh have agreed to give on of my readers their own taste of Wonderland. (Side note: I found Once Upon a Time in Winderland too convoluted for my tastes. How ’bout you guys?)

So I thought this giveaway would be excellent given the time, and while I haven’t had a chance to use them, they look adorable. I don’t own too many novelty toys at this point — though, I’ve certainly love a nice tentacle dildo — but I’ve enjoyed the look of this line since the very start.

The Wonderland series has four models designs that represent characters or topics from

Shhh carries the first three on the list, all of which are available for £40. Each is a gentle vibrator that uses a single AA battery for power. The toys are waterproof and each have multiple functions.

If you want your chance to win one for free, use the widget below.

Click here if the widget doesn’t load.

Giveaway ends November 20.

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The Adventurous Couple’s Guide to Sex Toys Review + Giveaway

October 16th, 2013

It’s interesting that I’ve read Violet Blue’s blog on and off for years without reading anything of hers in print (well, I did read books that she’s edited). Now, I can add that to my to-done list, which is my version of a bucket list — only I add things that I’ve already done. The Adventurous Couple’s Guide to Sex Toys is intended to be the book about sex toys, the Bible of sex toys. I’m not quite sure that I’d swear an oath on this book, but I’d probably recommend it to most people.

If you’re not familiar with the author, her work or her expertise in the field, the forward by Charlie Glickman talks about her experience working for Good Vibes. You can also check out her blog here. Charlie, who has asides through the book, co-wrote the Ultimate Guide to Prostate Pleasure, which I really liked. Both the forward and the content of the book really dive right into the subject. It’s a no-nonsense approach that could maybe be a little more “inviting” by giving some stats about how many people enjoy sex toys of something of that nature. If you’re curious but not quite adventurous, you’ll get the gist that sex toys are fun, but this book might not be as reassuring as you’d like.

This doesn’t mean that the book isn’t useful, however. On the whole, the things I had problems with were very specific and probably only bothersome to me because I do know as much as I do about sex toys. The gen– doesn’t mention not to use silicone The Adventurous Couple’s Guide to Sex Toys was just fine. Most people would be just fine if they followed the advice that I have to nitpick, and many people wouldn’t even notice what seemed like errors to me. You want examples? Okay!

Cons

  • Violent mentions water-based lube as the most common (true) but only discussed silicone-based lube as an aside. I saw no mention of not using it with silicone toys.
  • In the first chapter, which contains information about cleaning toys, Violet recommends antibacterial soap but doesn’t mention that soaps containing triclosan must remain on an item for 2 minutes to be effective
  • She also says that no clear silicone exists. While translucent toys typically are made of jelly/rubber/PVC, Jollies dildo are somewhat translucent.
  • Although she mentions wooden dildos, there was no mention given to any of them or brands like NobEssence. Um, what?
  • While she mentions vaginal balls, I don’t recall a specific naming of any brand or recommends about safety; i.e. don’t use disgusting balls with string connectors. Eww.
  • There’s no mention of the Liberator Throe, which I haven’t reviewed on this blog but still remains one of the most coveted items in my collection.
  • Violet spends a bit of time on camming as part of cybersex. I guess I don’t personally find this to be toy-y in my mind. Anyway, she talks about how webcams basically suck and that you have to buy them, ignoring the fact that almost all computers are equipped with a cam, and many phones have front-facing cameras. She then goes on to give a very specific HTML code about refreshing your website when showing your streaming cam but doesn’t say how to do that in the first place. Given the lack of relevant and timeliness, this entire section is unnecessary.

I did find it curious that every.single.time Violet mentioned a website or brand that I was not familiar with, the website no longer existed. This was the case with Luv Seat and Clear Ecstasy. The latter is a glass dildo maker and while I can find items from the company on retailers, they’re unimpressive and not what she was talking about. Similarly, Violet mentions a programmable vibrator by Je Joue, which I believe to be the predecessor to Sasi, which the company no longer makes. A little fact-checking would have gone a long way. This is especially true when you consider that this is the second version, which means it should specifically correct those errors.

I didn’t hate the book, however. It’s just much better suited to someone who couldn’t have written it. In fact, I found that there was very little information that isn’t freely available online, some of it even on Of Sex and Love.

Pros

  • Violet includes a section about risks of spreading diseases and infections through sharing sex toys, anal/oral and penetrative sex in the very last chapter. This might be the most useful representation I’ve yet seen of
  • The book is neither homophobic nor heteronormative. With general references to partners, gay and straight people alike will find it suitable for them.
  • The information about sex machines was definitely more than I knew before picking up this book — er, the PDF version, that is.
  • The same goes for USB toys, some of which you can actually have a partner control from their own computer. I had no idea about this before.
  • The Adventurous Couple’s Guide to Sex Toys walks you through the basics of toys, bringing them up to partners and a bit of anatomy to
  • Of course, you can skip any chapter and go right where you need to be. Sol while I might bitch about something, I don’t need to read it.
  • At just shy of 150 pages and is an easy read, you can finish the full thing in less than 2 hours!

So, if that’s piqued your interest at all, you can buy the book on Amazon.

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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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Platinum Edition G-Bliss

October 12th, 2013

This is a weird vibe, and not for any reasons that you’d notice on the outside. It looks like a slew of other vibes that CEN has released before. But the features — of lack there of — are kinda weird. You see, there’s no steady vibration, and while my G-spot certainly responds to pulsation, I generally prefer the sensation of steady vibrations.

What you have instead are escalation like an airplane, escalation like a race car, escalation like a car that’s about to break down, pulsation like a bumblebee, fast pulsation, longer pulsations, fast-fast-slow pulsation and something that I’m pretty sure is Morse code.

Some of them just seem too similar for me, and while the pulsation is decent due to the power source — 2 AAs — I don’t want fancy. I can’t bring myself to care that this is waterproof when it doesn’t do what I want outside of the water. I just want what works. This is all controlled by heart-shape buttons. Gag me, and not in the erotic way.

I also found that the shaft doesn’t work for me. It’s just under 1 1/4 inches wide, and I feel like I want something bigger these days. The little wave on the shaft doesn’t extend enough to reach the clit, so it’s just for looks, but I’m not sold on the look of this vibe.

The target demographic is just not me. It also seems like this toy is geared toward beginners with its price tag of less than $25. In fact, it really seems like a step down from some of the company’s recent efforts, which use silicone and rechargeable vibrators. There are words embossed on the base about recycling and such, information that’s on the box and certainly doesn’t need to be on the toy itself. The use of this translucent TPR seems like a way to produce a cheap toy, especially after this recent discussion about TPR on Twitter, but this is ultimately one of those toys that I would advise shoppers to get only if they’re not absolutely sure that they like toys.

 

CEN Sexpert

 

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Revive EnerG Review and Giveaway

October 11th, 2013

I just got off the phone with Cinnamon, and we laughed as I said that I didn’t need another G-spot vibe. I really don’t. At this point, it either works or it doesn’t. I could sum up all my reviews in two or three words if I really wanted to.

Except for this one. What makes the EnerG the exception? I’m going to guess it’s the dual motors and the specific patterns that my G-spot seems to respond to, but let me backup.

It’s yellow. Bright freakin’ yellow with a tinge of green. It’s a brighter version of the pistachio green than my new Layaspot came in. It’s exactly the type of color for someone who hates pink. Also, I kinda like the box with its greens and purples. It’s modern, but it could do without the forever-happy chick laughing on the side. If you took that away, I’d really like the packaging, which is recyclable and easy for me to forget about.

One thing that I didn’t forget about was the bag it comes with. It’s this super smooth microsuede type fabric with bright yellow ribbons to cinch it. However, after I popped the vibrator into the bag for a few days, there were dark spots on the silicone when I pulled it out. It’s like wearing a brand new pair of jeans that turn your legs blue. It doesn’t mean you can’t use it, but it certainly makes the vibrator less pretty to look at as you can see in the picture below. I have a leper vibe, now.

The newer vibes do not ship with this bag for this very reason, though.

Dye spots on the Energ

Dye spots on the EnerG

 

This is also a good shop of the design of the toy. There’s a G-spot curve and a silver band toward the base, which gives it a rather attractive appearance overall in my opinion. It’s not a gigantic vibrator by any means. It’s 7.5-inches long overall, with about 5 inches are insertable. The vibe curves and flattens out in different ways. Toward the base, it’s flatter — think the Minna Ola — and about 2 inches wide, though you may not fully insert the toy at this point. The G-spot curve is narrower across but about 1.5 inches wide through the front and back.

I found it comfortably filling. The silicone, while flexible, has a density that lends to this sensation. The curve worked well for me, and it was easy to use. The red backlight under the buttons, which have audible and tactile feedback, makes them super easy to see. You could almost use it as a flashlight in the dark.

One button powers it on, the other cycles through settings. Blush describes this as having seven functions. There’s a high and low steady vibration from both the motors — the one in the tip and the around the silver band. There’s usually three settings on vibes, so keep this in mind. They are of medium strength but quite buzzy. The other five settings are a slow pulsation, long pulsation, fast pulsation, a pulsation back and forth between the two motors and fast pulsation of both motors.

The regular pulsation is pretty typical, and the single motor isn’t impressive by itself. While I didn’t enjoy the steady vibration from both vibes simultaneously, my G-spot really responded to the back-and-forth sensation. I found myself squirting more forcibly and.. with more length than I ever have. It was a surprising but fun shock.

I can’t make any promises for anyone else, but with a price of just over $60, this rechargeable vibrator is quite the deal. When it comes to charging, there’s a port on the bottom and a thick cover that protects it from water. The charger that this comes with is USB, and it comes with its own adapter. I am liking USB-powered vibes.

With that said, one of the readers at Of Sex and Love will have a chance to win their very own EnerG. Good luck!

Revive EnerG Giveaway

Follow the prompts in the widget below to enter. I’ll contact the randomly-generated winner for shipping information. I am not responsible for prize fulfillment.

Click here if the widget doesn’t load.

Giveaway is open to US and international residents where shipping is allows and ends November 10.

Blush-assorted-toys

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Make love to your long distance lover online

Crisis

October 9th, 2013

I am having a blog identity crisis.

Halp.

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