Sex Toy Reviews

Review: Icicles No. 24

Kate Sloan

Pipedream’s Icicles collection is notorious for ripping off other people’s designs. However, I’ve never seen anything like the Icicles No. 24 anywhere else. It’s a pink tentacle. A gnarled tongue. A glass octopus cock. My curiosity was piqued the moment I saw it.

Conscious Contraceptives was nice enough to send me one, and when I took it out of the box, I just fondled it for a while. It’s kind of scary; the bottom side bears two long rows of pointy-ish bumps, and the top side has some tree branch-like lines carved into it. It’s one of those toys that could either be amazingly pleasurable or unprecedentedly painful. My vag was nervous.

But actually, this is a pretty awesome dildo. Sure, you need to use a boatload of lube on it, or your delicate internal tissues could snag uncomfortably on the ultra-mega texture all over this toy. But once lubrication is taken care of, the Icicles No. 24 provides some very unique and very intense sensations.

I prefer to use the dildo with the handle facing up toward my clit. This puts the bumps on the bottom side of my vag, where I can’t feel them as intensely – and this is a good thing, because even when I face them upward, they hit the perimeter of my G-spot without actually rubbing the spot itself. The feeling of those bumps took some getting used to, especially since that part of my vagina rarely gets much attention at all, but a few well-lubed practice sessions taught me to enjoy all that texture.

The top side of the toy is less texture-heavy, boasting an interconnected web of ridges that can definitely be felt but are never uncomfortable the way the bumps can be. The shape of the toy puts those ridges riiiight on my G-spot, while the tip curves downward into my posterior fornix. There’s not as much sexual sensitivity there as there is in my anterior fornix, but it still feels nice.

The curved handle is easy to hold onto, though I usually just grip it in my fist instead of bothering with the fingerhole. If the handle is intended to stimulate my clit, it’s a fail; I have to push the toy in uncomfortably far for that to happen. Besides which, it’s bumpy glass, which isn’t my clit’s favorite thing in the first place.

Overall, I’m fairly shocked by how much I like the Icicles No. 24. It’s not going to be my new go-to dildo or anything, but it surpassed my expectations. It might surpass yours too, if you like glass, texture, and tentacles, and you’ve got lube to spare.

Thanks so much to Conscious Contraceptives for sending me this toy! Check out their mission statement – a portion of their profit from every purchase is donated toward helping underprivileged communities get the contraceptives they need. Shop for sex toys and help the world!

Review: Fleshlight Stamina Training Unit

Kate Sloan

My boyfriend is a lucky guy. I buy him Tenga Eggs practically every time I’m in vicinity of a sex shop (which, as you might imagine, is often), and this past month I asked him if he’d be interested in reviewing a Fleshlight with me. Naturally, he said yes.

After poring over all the options, he settled on the Stamina Training Unit, or STU. It’s marketed as an aid for guys who want to last longer, but it only “helps” with this problem because it’s so stimulating that lasting five minutes with this Fleshlight is supposed to be like lasting ten minutes in a real vagina. My boyfriend just wanted it because the texture looked awesome, though.

Like I said, he has tried a few Tenga Eggs, including the Clicker, the Wavy, and one of the limited edition models. He reported to me that the Fleshlight actually feels very similar to the Eggs – soft, squishy, textured – but that the Fleshlight is better overall.

Why is it better? Well, one obvious reason is that it’ll last longer. If you take care of a Fleshlight properly, it could conceivably last for hundreds of uses, unlike a Tenga Egg which tend to start to fall apart after 5-10 uses, even with diligent cleaning.

The Fleshlight is also significantly quieter than an Egg. The Tenga products we’ve tried have always produced loud squelching noises that could definitely be heard by a bedmate or roommate. The Fleshlight does make sounds in use, but they’re quiet and subtle. You might even be able to get away with using it while someone sleeps in the same room as you, if you can control your moans.

For my boyfriend, the biggest factor giving it a leg up over Tenga Eggs is the cushiony “vulva” which he can press into his pubic mound. He likes pressure at the base of his penis, not only because it feels like “the real thing” but also because it just feels good, so he appreciates that he can apply that kind of pressure to his heart’s content with the Fleshlight.

There’s also a suction function, controlled by the screw-off cap on the end of the toy, which he doesn’t really dig, though he says that plenty of guys would like it.

He likes that the Fleshlight allows for “a level of disconnect” that the Eggs don’t. Using the Fleshlight almost feels like he’s not jerking off, like someone else is in charge of the motion – perhaps because he doesn’t have direct control over the tightness of the Fleshlight’s grip, unlike he does with the Eggs.

I asked him what he thought of the visual of his penis going in and out of a rather realistic-looking vulva. He said he’d prefer if it was just a plain slit, because as is, it “feels a little objectifying.” I asked him if he thought my realistic dildos were “objectifying” and he wasn’t sure what to say to that. (My boyfriend is such a feminist. It’s nice.)

As for the actual texture of the sleeve, it’s very intense. He’s uncut and very sensitive, so I was worried that this texture might overwhelm him, but he really likes it – as long as it’s thoroughly lubed. I gave him a bottle of a thin Sliquid lube to use with it (the Fleshlight’s material can only handle water-based lubricants), and he says he likes it but it dries out too quickly. Something thicker and more gel-like would probably be a better choice.

The main downside to owning a Fleshlight is that cleaning it is a big fuckin’ deal. You have to clean it after every single use, as soon as possible (i.e. ideally within an hour), or it risks becoming gummy, tacky, or even mouldy. You can’t use soap, only water and maybe some isopropyl alcohol if necessary. You can’t turn it inside out, or it’ll tear. And once it’s clean, you have to set it out to dry, and you can’t put it back into the case until it’s completely dry or it’ll get mouldy. Does this sound like a process you want to go through when you’ve just had an orgasm? Not so much.

Another “con” of this product is that it’s not discreet in the least. For a company that has built an entire line of toys on the idea of “looking like a flashlight,” the STU really doesn’t. It’s way too big and bulky to be a flashlight, plus it’s gold, plus it has the word “Fleshlight” emblazoned on the side of it. Yeah, real subtle. Needless to say, my boyfriend would prefer if the case was plainer and looked less like a prop from a Las Vegas burlesque show.

I asked him for an overall rating out of 5, and he said 3.75. At $70, the Fleshlight STU would be worth the money if he was single, he says, but as a guy in a happy sexual relationship, he just doesn’t use it often enough to make it worth that price tag. It feels great, but the impending cumbersome cleanup makes him reluctant to use it as often as he’d like to. Still, he likes it more than I was expecting him to.

Thanks so much to Sex Toys Canada for sending us this toy to try out!

Lube Week, Day 4: Sliquid Organics Natural

Kate Sloan

The final product in my week o’ lubes: Sliquid Organics Natural, sent to me by Conscious Contraceptives!

This lube is from Sliquid’s line of 100% organic products. Great news if you’re passionate about keeping grossness out of your body! The line includes arousal gel, a thick gel lubricant, a water/silicone hybrid lube, and a warming lube. But today we’ll be looking at the basic model, which is simply called Natural.

It has a thin, runny, liquidy consistency, pretty much the opposite of a gel. This means that it’s probably better suited for vaginal play than anal.

Without any extra moisture, it dries within about three minutes. It can be reactivated with a little spit or water, which gives it another thirty seconds or so. Because of the short lasting time of this lube, I’d again recommend only using it for vaginal purposes; if you apply it at the start of a session and jump right into the action, the lube will probably wear off just in time for your natural fluids to kick in.

I haven’t really found much use for this lube because of how thin and short-lasting it is. If it’s important to you that you only use organic products, then Sliquid Organics Natural is certainly one of the best choices, but I’d encourage you to also check out the gel version because it’ll stick around for longer and be useful for more situations.

Thanks so much to Conscious Contraceptives for sending me this product and most of the others that I’ve reviewed this week! Make sure you read up on their mission so you know what they’re all about (trust me, it’s good!).

Lube Week, Day 3: Sliquid Organics Stimulating O Gel

Kate Sloan

I’m not the biggest fan of “arousal gels,” but if you’re gonna get one, you should get Sliquid Organics Stimulating O Gel.

Seriously, even high-end companies make the mistake of putting glycerine in their arousal gels. As if they think it’s not a big deal because you’re only putting it on your clit, not in your vag. As if gravity doesn’t exist. As if no one likes to get their G-spot tingly as well as their clit. Silly lube manufacturers!

As usual, Sliquid gets it exactly right. Their ingredients list doesn’t contain anything that’ll lead to vaginal misery.

Peppermint oil and menthol create that tingling sensation. It has a sweet, minty taste and smell. The tingling lasts about five minutes, which is more than I can say for any other arousal gel I’ve tried.

But is it orgasmic? Well, sorta. When I can manage to reach orgasm during the five-minute tingling window (rarely), the orgasm does seem to be more intense. Then I’m left with a sticky clit, of course, but that’s no biggie.

I’ve never really been a fan of cooling lubricants – I find them more distracting than arousing – but if you like ‘em, Sliquid O Gel is the one I would recommend.

Thanks very much to Conscious Contraceptives for letting me try out this gel! Be sure to check out their mission statement and support their good work in any way you can.

Giveaway: Tantus Tsunami from SheVibe!

Kate Sloan

I have excellent news for you today, lovelies: I’m teaming up with primo sex toy retailer SheVibe to give away a Tantus Tsunami!

I had the good fortune of reviewing a Tsunami last month, and it’s easily one of my favorite dildos. Made of 100% body-safe silicone, it features several delicious ridges and a curved tip. If your G-spot or A-spot need some loving, the Tsunami is just the ticket. It also has a flared base, so you can use it anally, and a spot for a bullet vibe, which it comes with.

This competition is open to anyone in the USA, Canada, UK, or Australia who is age 18 or older. The winner will be chosen at random; the more ways and times you enter, the more of a chance you have to win! The winner will get to pick whichever color of Tsunami they’d prefer (strawberry, purple haze, or midnight purple).

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Edited to add: Please note:
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2. When you submit an entry for “blog about this giveaway,” that entry must have a link to this post.
3. When you submit an entry for “comment on another post,” that comment must be thoughtful and non-spammy. For example, a smiley face or “Great post!” does not count.