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!
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Mia Black
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Lelo has since released the Mia 2, which you can buy for under $100.
Lelo has recently revved up the motor in their USB-charging, lipstick-style vibrator, and I figured I’d give it a go. I hadn’t ever given a lot of thought to lipstick vibrators until I recently tried to We-Vibe Tango and, as it turns out, I loved it. I decided it was time to feed my inner geek with another high-tech gadget. Generally, I put off writing reviews or even using my new toys for some time, but I was pretty excited this time around and gave Mia a whirl as soon as I could.
Charging was as easy as inserting the device into an open USB port. It sits there and could maybe pass for a flash drive or other USB adapter/dongle. Lelo also includes a few inches of USB extender cable if your setup doesn’t allow for the dongle-style charge. This is a pretty handy accessory in and of itself and I’ll probably steal it for use with my other hardware. The light on the Mia blinks during charge and turns solid when charging is complete. It may be that I wasn’t paying attention, but the charge didn’t seem to take long at all. The website claims you can get 1.5 hours of vibration out of a 1-hour charge.
When you’re not charging the Mia, you’ll want to replace the cap. Obviously, you can’t have the USB plug out in the open during playtime or for washing. The cap fits snugly but not so much that this toy is waterproof. It’s splash-proof enough for cleaning with soap and water, however. It’s angled in a way that really adds to the lipstick presentation. This adds discretion and aids portability. This is the type of sex toy that you could easily toss in your purse or bag.
Use is extremely easy. Lelo has created just two buttons, the standard + and -. Holding these simultaneously will lock or unlock the device, which is nice for travel and storage as well. The vibrations are buzzy, as I suspected, and located in the rounded tip of the Mia. The We-Vibe Tango definitely has this one beat. If the claims that this model is twice as strong as the original are true, I feel pity for anyone who had the original. The highest level of steady vibration that the Mia has to offer is probably around the medium setting of the Tango but feels less impressive because the vibrations are more shallow. The vibrations are deeper than a lot of the CEN toys that I’ve sampled, however. The pulsation settings are more effective because of this.
Still, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed Mia. Its cylindrical design was thin enough to slip between my lips and I could rest the vibrator in my panties while doing something else, such as reading erotica, for instance. Mia provides more acute stimulation than I usually go for but it still got me off, several times, and with varying degrees of satisfaction. Much of this is probably due to the amazing erotica that I was reading, but I quite liked the shape of this vibrator despite how different it is from my heart’s favorite, the Laya Spot, or something like Siri.
The noise level is quite minimal. In this area, Mia succeeds.
After my first use, I wiped Mia down with a cleansing wipe but I noticed some gunk had gotten under the cap around the charging area. I wouldn’t go overboard with lubes and would even be careful with this vibrator if you’re a squirter because of this. I haven’t had any issues with the cap coming off; it’s just not that seamless.
Like other Lelo toys, Mia comes with a satin storage bag. Unlike other toys, the box is much smaller because there is no need for space for the charging adapter. While I initially liked Lelo’s boxes because they added something extra to presentation, I quickly found them to be bulky and less functional than I realized in the beginning. Mia’s box is much shorter, so I might actually consider keeping Mia in the box.
I didn’t expect to like Mia as much as I do. I figured it would be novel–and it is–but it works, too. It’s probably not the most effective toy in my arsenal, but I can see myself reaching for it in the future.
GUSH
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This is an archived review of a discontinued item but you may still be able to buy it secondhand.
My first experience with an instructional DVD was interesting–well, sort of. I didn’t really know what to expect with Gush: The Official Guide to the G-spot and Female Ejaculation. I guess I expected some video with someone narrating it. It’s not that.
What Gush is is a look into a radio show called Interview with Dr. Carol Queen, whom you may have heard of (I’ve read some erotica by her!). The good doctor answers a question or two from callers about G-spot techniques and toys and ejaculating and other related issues, live on Swirl Radio with Michelle Meow. The calls are broken up by scenes between one or two performers each. The women and/or their partners (both male and female) are providing stimulation to the G-spot to work toward orgasm and ejaculation. After this goal is achieved, the scene tends to end; however, a few of them go for multiple orgasms/ejaculations.
The calls were helpful, and I liked the way Carol Queen answered questions informatively while remaining friendly. Her answers gave helpful suggestions but she steered clear from saying that any technique or toy worked for all women–which I like. A lot of G-spot advice has a tendency to come off as one-size-fits-all in a way that can make you feel failure-iffic if you’re a little different from the norm. I know this because I fall into that category, so Ms Queen’s suggestions were quite helpful, especially if you’re new to G-spot exploration.
I can’t really say the same about the scenes in between. They would probably be more helpful to someone with less G-spot experience but there wasn’t anything new to me. Nor did I necessarily find them to be useful as masturbation fodder. All of the actors–save one–were incredibly unattractive to me, and that really distracted me from the experience. I found myself waiting for the scenes to pass in the beginning and simply skipping them toward the end. One thing I noticed was that the scenes became really repetitious. Most of them focused one oral sex with manual G-spot stimulation and perhaps this is for a reason. Carol Queen does say that this is one of the easiest ways for a woman to achieve ejaculation. Still, I was done with it before the first scene ended.
Production-wise, I have to say that the calls seemed much quieter than the instructional scenes. I was constantly reaching for the remote as I watched this film, and that was pretty aggravating. It comes off as a bit.. unprofessional. I get the same feel from the cover. The scheme is pink and black against white, and I can dig that–but it’s extremely homegrown in feel. Good Vibes should consider spending a bit more time polishing up their productions’ look and feel.
Gush: The Official Guide to the G-spot & Female Ejaculation is probably best geared toward those who are just adventuring into G-spot land. I can’t say that any of the answers necessarily taught me anything that I could put into play. It was all old news to me. It’s all pretty easily summed up in a couple of paragraphs on a website or in a pamphlet, too. If you’re not necessarily looking for some sexy G-spot scenes, I’d probably steer you in the direction of a book, like this one or even the Good vibes Guide to the G-spot book, rather than this film.
Vanity by Jopen #5
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This is an archived review of a discontinued item
Because I’ve already reviewed the Vr 6, I don’t want to rehash all the details. These two vibrators are quite similar, and you can read all the details here. The most important difference between the #5 and #6 vibrators in this line is the shape. #5 has a shorter clitoral arm (only .75″) that balloons out slightly and doesn’t angle toward the body like the arm on #6. In addition to this, the shaft bulges slightly, narrows, and bulges again. At the narrow point, there is a bit of flexibility, so you can angle just the head. The clitoral arm is also much more flexible than the arm on #6. The shaft retains about the same amount of length as #6 (4.25″), although #5 isn’t nearly as wide at any point. The widest point is a circumference of 1.25″ so it falls toward the smaller end of the spectrum. The head is slightly bulbous and more angular, for more precise G-spot stimulation instead of the broad pressure that #6 provides.
However, Vr5 is also a rechargeable rabbit vibrator, made of velvety fuchsia silicone. There are two motors that are controlled by separate buttons. California Exotics has used this button style before and I’ll remind you what I think about the way they function:
One push turns them on. Push and hold to increase intensity and push and release to turn it off. It’s similar to the Couture Collection wand I have. I can’t fault them because it works but I can say it kind of feels like they’re reinventing the wheel and that if you frequently use other toys that require you to push to get to the next setting, you may find yourself turning off the Jopen vibrators and this can be frustrating. Really, I like the style of the controls but I probably won’t be able to get used to them unless the entire sex toy industry adopts them.
Another difference is the location of the motors. In the Vr5, these vibrations are centered in the tip and mid-body, instead of directly in the clitoral stimulator. Thus, you get more internal stimulation with residual vibrations against the clitoris–if the clitoral arm even reaches yours. Unfortunately for me, that’s not really an option with the Vr5. Nevertheless, both vibrators I’ve had a chance to try have impressively strong and deep vibrations.
The claim is that this entire line is waterproof even though there’s no cover over the charging port, and it seems to remain open all the time. However, I’ve not had any issues with this and other reviewers have even submerged their Vanity by Jopen vibrators while turned on with no ill effects. Cleaning is a breeze, with soap and water; although the material does collect lint. You can minimize it by storing this in the Jopen pouch that comes with every toy in the line. It’s large enough for the charging adapter, but I found the bag so big it’s unwieldy. I wouldn’t mind something a wee bit smaller.
Sadly, I prefer the shaft design of the Vr5, even though I probably would have been more apt to pick the Vr6 as a customer. Unfortunately, the short clitoral arm would just never work for me.
Love Bunnies
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This is an archived review of a discontinued item
Some bunny loves me.. but it’s not one of the Love Bunnies. I requested to review these tiny vibrators from Babeland because they’re absolutely adorable. I didn’t know if they’d get me off but tis the season for bunnies and bright colors and all that bollocks.
So the Love Bunnies come in a super colorful box. It’s reminiscent of a child’s toy and you may even want to keep it out of your kid’s line of sight because of the design. While fun, it’s sort orf confusing. To add to the fun, the package comes complete with an “Official Adoption Certificate.” Lovehoney’s packaging is amazingly detailed with this product and I almost want them to come out with actual children’s toys.
The colorful Love Bunnies vibrator sits in a plastic holder inside the box against a brightly colored backdrop. The bunnies themselves are pretty straightforward. A tiny bullet vibrator sits inside a bunny shape—complete with ears and tail. You have to uncap and remove a paper tab before you can use the Love Bunnies. There’s a single push button for the single speed. I found that it likes to stick, so sometimes I have to press it twice or more to actually get it to work.
Of course, as any watch battery-powered toy, the vibrations are both weak and buzzy. They’re the type that I quickly become “numb” to after a short period. That is to say, I literally cannot feel them after a few minutes. This is a shame because the roundness of the Love Bunnies actually stimulates me in a way that I find quite enjoyable. You may prefer to surround your clit, nipples or other sensitive parts with the ears but I like round shapes and pressure rather than pinpoint stimulation. The Love Bunnies actually provide both, unlike some other novelty vibrators (coughIRubMyduckiecough).
What disappointed me even more was that, as I used the Love Bunnies vibe for the very first time, the batteries died–maybe 20 minutes in. As these type of batteries can be difficult and pricey to obtain, that’s definitely a major drawback. I toss toys that require specialty batteries or suck them dry into a drawer, rarely to be touched again.
Washing up was easy enough, although I don’t know if these vibrators are supposed to be water—or splash-proof. There’s very little information in the packaging. As I began to type this, I didn’t even know what the Love Bunnies were made of—silicone, as it turns out—but this information is sneakily printed on the bottom of the box.
So while cute and silicone, easy to use, and packaged quite nicely, the Love Bunnies best get to hoppin’. They just don’t cut it.
Cake Lip Plumper Angel Food
This product has been discontinued since I originally reviewed it.
I don’t know about you but I own a lot of lip glosses. I don’t know why exactly. I just love when my lips are shiny and shimmery and smell good, even if I’m not being kissed. I expected that I’d love the Cake lip plumper because I also love sweets.
This plumper comes in a .20 fl ounce tube with the typical lip gloss applicator. The tube is a little smaller than most of them I own but that’s not a bad thing necessarily. The design is super cute: black and liht teal with red accents. The tube and box feature a pin-up style woman and even the font alludes to a previous time.
The product makes a couple claims. 1) It tingles. This is pretty accurate. You can definitely feel the plumper at work after you apply it. If you’ve used other lip plumping products, then you’ll be familiar with the feeling. It can get a little uncomfortable so you may want to be pretty sparse with our applications at first.
Secondly, the product is scented. I received the Angel Food Cake scent; however, there are other cake scents available. My biggest complaint with the product is that it does not smell like angel food cake. There’s a distinct mocha sort of scent and, as I’m not a fan of coffee, this is both confusing and a turn-off.
At least it’s not as terrible as the rancid-smelling body butters in this line.
Lastly, the Cake Lip Plumper is supposed to taste like cake. Let me tell you this: the cake is a lie. It is not flavoured. It tastes like wax, which is typical of many lip products. Thus, you won’t want to run around licking your lips the way you would when wearing VS lip gloss. Just sayin’. Nevertheless, this lip gloss is far less sticky than any I’ve tried by VS, which I do like.
Appearance wise, the Cake gloss adds shine but no color. As for the plumping abilities, I can’t say that I noticed much of a difference and this obviously isn’t intended to have permanent effects.
I’d still be satisfied with this product if I enjoyed the scent and I suspect that I probably would enjoy some of the other scents (cookie dough, devils food), if they’re actually what you would expect. The Lip Plumper is decent as a lip product, with vitamins E and C. I just wish the angel food scent was accurate.
Bondage I Rub My Duckie
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This is an archived review of a discontinued product.
I think we’re all glad that this is my last review for any item in the I Rub My Duckie line. I’m kind of sick of repeating myself, and I have officially drawn the line. No matter how cute these damned things are, I don’t need another one, especially when they just don’t cut it.
The Black and Red Mini Bondage duckie is probably one of the best designs, in my not-so-humble opinion. The original bondage duckie is awesome but this color scheme is just spectacular. The details, from the spiked color to the corset lacing in front, are immaculate. The ball gag is adorable and, once again, the painted eyelashes are gender coded. As you can guess, this duckie is much less inconspicuous than its brothers and sisters, so you’ll want to tuck it away when Mom and Dad visit (unless your parents are into BDSM!).
But aside from that, this duckie just doesn’t cut it. The shape doesn’t work well to stimulate any area or to hold while you struggle to get off. The spikes on this one can actually be a little uncomfortable or painful, too. It doesn’t float. The molding is sloppy, and water gets into the battery area. The duckie flops on its side when in water (boo!). There’s only a single speed of vibration, and the knob requires a bit more effort than a button. The vibrations are buzzy and ridiculously weak, as you would expect from a vibrator powered by a single AAA battery. You need a fingernail or steel, a coin, or some other flat device to open the battery compartment in the first place. For its size and strength, the duckie is just far too loud. All the ridges and text and other crap on the bottom of the Bondage I Rub My Duckie Travel Vibe just create a ton of space for lubes and liquids to make themselves at home. I will never feel like any of the duckies are truly clean.
For $20, you can get a decent bullet and actually get off. Consider the duckie vibrators as novelty only.
Jopen Vanity Vr.6
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This is an archived review of a discontinued item.
I first ran across the Vanity by Jopen line a few months back. I was intrigued. Cal Exotics has really been trying to bring higher quality items to the market, and while it was good to see that from one of the big five (four?), none of the products I’d tried really caught my interest. While better designed, they all lacked power. So, while I was intrigued, I tried not to set my expectations too high because I’d been disappointed before.
Let me get straight to the point: Cal Exotics has finally gotten it right in terms of power. The Jopen Vanity Vr.6 has vibrations that show both great strength and depth. The vibrations are deeper than Lelo’s Ina, for example. For me, this means I don’t have to adjust them too much to find the right setting, and my G-spot responds ridiculously well. When I turn on both functions, each with their own motor, it’s a damned experience. A++++ as they say on Ebay. Of course, no toy is really whisper quiet. You can hear this one, although I can’t say it operates at an unacceptable volume level.
And turning them on is really easy. Cal Exotics has created two simple buttons. One push turns them on. Push and hold to increase intensity and push and release to turn it off. It’s similar to the Couture Collection wand I have. I can’t fault them because it works, but I can say it kind of feels like they’re reinventing the wheel and that if you frequently use other toys that require you to push to get to the next setting, you may find yourself turning off the Jopen vibrators and this can be frustrating. Really, I like the style of the controls, but I probably won’t be able to get used to them unless the entire sex toy industry adopts them.
Design-wise, the Jopen is attractive but not stunning. I still prefer the look of Lelo toys. The Vr6 is a bit boring with its all-over color, but I have to say that, in person, it’s a lovely shade of fuchsia that just doesn’t show up very well in pictures. It’s slightly more pink/red than the images show and is more attractive. It’s still purple, and that’s still majorly overused in sex toy design, but it’s an interesting sort of purple.
I usually yell at people who do not explicitly spell out what a toy looks like in their review, so the Jopen Vr6 is a rabbit vibrator with a shape similar to the Lelo Ina. The clitoral arm curves toward the boy while the shaft curves upward toward the G-spot. The shaft is quite thin but grows into a bulbous animal at the end. It’s a pretty typical design in terms of contemporary rabbit vibrators.
As I mentioned, the all-over color is due to the pure silicone exterior of the Vanity by Jopen line of toys. Like any claim of seamlessness, this isn’t quite the case. You can see it and feel it with your hand–although, not in use. It’s not one of those seams that’s going to let water in, however. In fact, California Exotics claims 100% waterproofness despite the fact that you still plug the AC adapter into a port on the back of the toy. The port is snugly surrounded by silicone that retains shape after removing the charger, like some of the newer Lelo toys. To be honest, I never play with toys in the shower, but I’m pretty messy when I clean them, so as long as a toy holds up to soap and water, I’m fine.
Speaking of silicone, the texture on this one is velvety and, yes, attracts lint more than my couch during shedding season (that’s now boys and girls!). It feels nice to the touch, offers a bit of drag which could be a pro or a con for some.
I haven’t mentioned how this performed for me, because, well, it sucked. California Exotics has finally created a quality toy that I want to love and I just can’t. The specific design of the Vr6 just doesn’t sit right in my body. The shaft struggles for space, against my pubic bone, in my vagina. The bulbousness, the length, and the angle all seem to be wrong for me, even though the numbers (1.5″ diameter and 4.25″ insertable) are not intimidating. It’s pretty run-of-the-mill. Yet, I can’t even fully insert this and because I can’t fully insert it, the clitoral arm comes nowhere near my clitoris. It just pinches against my pubic bone on the outside. So, really, they could call this the “Destroyer of Adriana’s Pubic Bone” and be right on the money. Nevertheless, I have long suspected that my bone sits at a unique angle and, perhaps, pokes out a little further into my vaginal canal, so I suspect that most will not have that problem.
One thing I am happy to announce is the Cal Exotics is slowly introducing better packaging. The white box is simple and the logo may not be that impressive but it’s not a giant, plastic box that cuts you and breaks open during shipping. The company has also included a storage pouch with this vibrator. A gigantic, stretchy pouch that I could probably stuff one of my cats in. It’s huge. A little overkill, to be honest. There’s almost so much fabric as to be unwieldy.
So, hats off to some great improvements. Overall, the Jopen Vanity Vr.6 is a pretty fantastically functioning toy, but be sure to take your time when picking out the vibrator that’s right from you in this line. They all seem so similar, but I’m willing to bet those subtle differences have an astounding effect.
