silicone butt plug

Review: Bestvibe Glans 10 Vibration 3 Thrusting Cock Ring Anal Dildo

mb

Note from Kate: Here’s a toy review written by my spouse!

Which is better: being a jack of all trades, or a master of one? There’s a long-running debate in the business world about whether it’s more advantageous to be a career generalist or a specialist. There’s even a buzzword for people who do both: “T-shaped people.” Come to think of it, that sounds a little like the shape of a good butt plug, doesn’t it?

But when it comes to sex toys, most multifunction products disappoint me by doing everything just a bit worse than their single-purpose counterparts, and not making up for it in the combination of their features.

That was my biggest concern when last month, Kate asked me to review the Bestvibe Glans 10 Vibration 3 Thrusting Cock Ring Anal Dildo. That name – what a mouthful (assfull?)!

 

This toy styles itself a 4-in-1, which is a lot of trades to jack off, or rather, to be a jack of. It’s a butt plug, it’s a cock ring, it’s a thruster, and it’s a perineum stimulator – all things I frequently crave on their own but have never tried all at once. So, of course, I agreed to review it. I had to know what this toy would feel like; the combination of a thrusting plug and a cock ring was too hard to pass up.

The Bestvibe Glans (as I nicknamed it) is a 1.7″-thick, 4.5″-long, black silicone butt plug. It’s shaped like an idealized penis with a prominent head, textured neck, and prostate-targeting coronal ridge. The plug’s base extends 6.69 inches (nice) and ends in a 1.3” stretchy cock ring. The IPX6-waterproof toy arrives in a crinkly storage bag with a small battery-powered remote and USB charging cable. The plug takes around 2 hours to charge and can run for an hour or so straight.

Since this toy does four things, I’ll discuss them individually and how they work together.

 

Butt Plug

First and foremost, this toy is a butt plug. And as a butt plug, the Glans is stellar. Its soft silicone, manageable girth, pleasant weight, and flared base made it easy to insert and wear during play. Even covered in plenty of water-based lube, it stayed in place perfectly during my testing sessions, thanks to the rippled base and pronounced tip.

While the plug doesn’t have a prominent curve like an Aneros or Pfun for intense P-spotting, its glans gave my prostate plenty of pressure and pleasure when I squeezed around it, even before I turned the toy on.

 

Animation via Bestvibe

Thruster

But wait, it thrusts! Many of the best thrusters on the market are made for folks with vulvas, so I’ve long been envious of toys that do the thrusting for you, and this toy absolutely fucks.

After turning it on by holding the power button on the toy’s base or the included remote, the toy both vibrates and thrusts. Keyword: “both,” because there’s no way to disable thrusting while it vibrates, or to have it just thrust without the vibration. That’s A-okay with me because the two sensations feel amazing paired together.

As you tap the one button on the toy or the +/− buttons on the remote, the cock springs to life and cycles through its three thrusting speeds, topping out at 100 thrusts per minute. The plug telescopes 0.4” back and forth, which may not sound like a lot, but feels highly satisfying as you feel the base stimulate the anus while the head hits the P-spot. After a while, I could sense how the friction had excited both my prostate and my hole. The drag eventually led to a pleasurable heat that reminded me of getting fucked by a partner with a strap-on.

The downside here is the controls. The only way to change which vibration pattern you’re using is to also increase or decrease the thrusting speed. Independent controls for these two functions would have made it much easier and less frustrating to use. It sucks to loop all the way around and get fucked too fast or slow just to switch up the vibration.

 

Cock Ring

Oh, right, it’s also a cock ring. The ring has a 1.3” diameter with no adjustability other than stretch. While it’s impossible to make a cock ring that will fit all bodies, I think adjustability is important because dicks come in all shapes and sizes and even can vary in girth and firmness by the day.

I typically use cock rings for a few reasons: to increase the hardness and sensitivity of my erections, to make my orgasms stronger, and to last longer while penetrating. This cock ring worked well to increase sensitivity but wasn’t as good at boosting firmness as harder rings with tighter fits, and I don’t think it’d help me with stamina because of all that anal stimulation.

While the manufacturer suggests slipping the ring just around the base of the penis, I found I enjoyed it a lot more when I used it how I use most cock rings: around both the penis and the scrotum, which also helped with fit and comfort.

 

Perineum Stimulator

This t’aint it.

This toy’s claimed perineum stimulation amounts to a hilariously tiny section of the connecting silicone covered in a bumpy texture that theoretically rubs against your taint while the toy fucks you. In my testing, no matter how I wore the plug and ring, there was no way this was going to press my perineum, and even if it did, its texture and the vibrations that reached it were far too subtle to provide any noticeable stimulation. My perineum, and the prostate accessible through it, respond best to either deep pressure or sensual stroking, and these tiny ineffectual bumps provide neither. I wish they had just left them out.

 

It’s All Coming Together

The Bestvibe Glans is a great butt plug, a powerful anal thruster and vibrator, and a pretty good cock ring if it fits your dick. But it truly shines when those separate functions work in combination. The plug provides a feeling of fullness, the thruster/vibrator fucks your ass and rubs your P-spot, and as it does, the cock ring tugs on your junk to keep you hard and sensitive for additional stimulation. The blending of all those sensations made it very easy to make myself come with this toy without even needing to touch myself or penetrate anything with my dick, which can feel gender euphoric for me, in addition to just being a fun time.

In addition to trying this toy and having fast, intense orgasms with it as advertised, I also took it for a spin under the dominance of my Keyholder while locked in a chastity cage and forbidden to come. Neither of us was sure if the ring would fit around both the steel cock cage and my balls, but its stretchiness made that a breeze. If you’re into orgasm control and denial, it can be super fun to hand the remote of this toy to your dominant partner and let them fuck you with it while you can’t touch your cock. Not to mention all the other fantasies this toy could enable: a “threesome” where you’re fucked by a hard cock while you use yours to fuck another partner, a dominant who distracts you by remotely rubbing your prostate and keeping you erect while you orally service them, or even as a way to have strap-on sex while you’re all alone or away from your partner.

At less than $50 USD, I strongly recommend this toy to just about anyone with a prostate and a penis who likes them both stimulated simultaneously. The Bestvibe Glans taught me an important lesson: not all multifunction sex toys are bad, and even when their individual parts do have flaws, the combination of different sensations within one object can be a huge benefit all on its own. Fewer things to buy, charge, pack, clean, and coordinate during sex. If you’ll excuse me, I gotta put this thing back to work. I have, uhh, many different jobs for it to do.

 

This post was sponsored, meaning we were paid to write a fair and honest review of the product.

Review: Fun Factory Bootie Fem

Kate Sloan

Fun Factory is one of my all-time favorite sex toy companies. They make cute, colorful toys that generally perform very well, whether we’re talking about a rumbly G-spot vibrator, a harness-ready silicone dildo, or an innovative pulsator.

One of their most recent releases is the Bootie Fem, a butt plug. I’ve been testing it out over the past few weeks and am overall a fan, though I definitely have my quibbles with the product. Let’s talk about it!

 

What is the Fun Factory Bootie Fem?

Fun Factory has a line of “Bootie” butt plugs which I’ve recommended to beginners of all genders and anatomies for many years, because of their newbie-friendly shape and dimensions (depending, of course, on which size you go with). The Bootie Fem is a different product altogether, designed specifically to be worn by people with vaginas. (Could people who don’t have a vagina use it, though? Certainly!)

Its insertable length is 3.35 inches and its diameter tops out at 1.14 inches, so it’s appropriate for beginners but can also be enjoyed by users with more anal experience. (I’m somewhere in the middle – I usually use a butt plug a couple times a month or so, but don’t often do much anal play beyond that.)

 

Things I like about this toy

  • One of the design choices that makes this plug extra suitable for people with vulvas is its asymmetrical base. Butt plugs have to have a flared base in order to be safe to use, but too often, plug bases are too chunky and/or long and end up blocking my vagina so I can’t do double penetration if I want to. On that point, Fun Factory has succeeded here: one side of the base is shorter than the other (though still long enough to be safe to use), and you can orient the plug so that that side is closest to your vagina, minimizing any obstruction of your vaginal opening. Yay, more access to my holes!
  • On that note, the base is also slim and comfortable. I had no issue wearing this plug for a long time, whether sitting on the couch, lying in bed, or walking around. As long as I re-lubricated as needed (which isn’t necessary all that often if you’re using a thicker water-based lube, like my beloved Sutil Rich), it was comfortable for up to 2-3 hours of wear (I didn’t test it for longer sessions than that).
  • The plug stays in place well. I never found that it slipped out, twisted around, etc. like some other plugs can.
  • The dimensions are such that I don’t have to warm up for this toy but it’s still definitely noticeable when it’s inside me (in a good way). I still tend to prefer a slightly larger plug sometimes (my favorite, the medium Njoy Pure Plug, has a 1.25-inch diameter, while the Bootie Fem’s is 1.14 inches), but this one works well for days when my butt is being a little temperamental and I want to err on the side of small.
  • As with many butt plugs, I found that having this one in was helpful in boosting my arousal, and also intensified other sexual sensations, like masturbating clitorally or receiving oral sex. This has a lot to do with my being able to feel every muscular contraction more vividly, due to the presence of the plug.
  • I have mixed feelings on the tulip-esque shape of the plug’s tip (more on that later), but it was designed to act as a “lube channel” and it does a good job of that. Lube tends to stay where I put it, if applied to the tip of the toy. Granted, I’m going to spread it all over the rest of the toy almost immediately after that, because that’s what you gotta do with anal toys, but the tulip lips are helpful in those moments when I’ve still got an open lube bottle in one hand and the plug in the other, and I want to close the lube bottle and set it back down without needing to worry that lube will drip all over me.

 

Things I don’t like about this toy

  • The name is poorly thought-out. I know naming sex toys isn’t easy, but 1) the Bootie Fem bears very little resemblance to the other Bootie plugs, aside from being a butt plug, and 2) the name implies that all people with vaginas (for whom the plug was designed) are female or feminine-presenting, which just isn’t the case. Trans men exist, non-binary people exist, intersex people exist, and on and on. It’s 2023; we don’t need to be doing this.
  • There’s a Fun Factory logo etched/inlaid into the side of the plug’s neck. There should ideally never be etching or other tiny divots/grooves/seams on the part of a toy that’ll be going inside you, because these design features are hard to clean, usually requiring a small scrub brush, which (realistically) most people are not gonna bust out every time they wash their toy. It could therefore become a breeding ground for bacteria or, at the very least, gross. This is also true of the groove that descends from the tulip tip on either side of the toy, though that’s easier to clean than the logo.
  • While the tulip-like tip of the plug is helpful when I’m applying lube, it’s not always super comfortable during insertion. There’s a reason butt plugs traditionally narrow to a single, slim, tapered tip: your sphincter muscles need insertion to be slow and gradual in order for them to relax and open up, so it makes sense to start with something small. The Bootie Fem’s “double-pronged” tip (for lack of a better word) can feel somewhat pokey and abrasive during insertion, a feeling which sometimes lingers uncomfortably for a few minutes.
  • There’s no particular curve to this toy. It’s supposed to be angled such that anything you insert vaginally (a dick, a dildo, etc.) will be pushed toward your G-spot by the pressure of the plug, but of course this only works if you are inserting something vaginally. I’m generally not, so I prefer a plug with a slight curve that can hit my G-spot through the vaginal wall.
  • I’m not particularly a fan of the colors the Bootie Fem is available in. The one I got is what Rosie Jones would call “sad purple,” and the other option available is a lighter purple.

 

Final thoughts

I’m always interested to see what new stuff Fun Factory’s come up with, and I’m glad to have the Bootie Fem in my collection because it can be tricky to find butt plugs that are comfortable, sized appropriately for my not-particularly-ambitious ass, and won’t block my vag.

However, this toy definitely has its issues – most pressingly, the odd shape, poor logo placement, and cissexist name. I still think the original Bootie can fulfill most people’s butt plug needs, though its logo is also placed in a location that makes no sense, hygiene-wise. But the original Booties at least taper to a single, slim tip, and have a curve that can hit your G-spot or prostate, as the case may be.

 

Thanks to Fun Factory for sending me this product to review! This post was sponsored, meaning I was paid to write a fair and honest review of the product. As always, all writing and opinions are my own.

The Hole Punch Fluke is a Perfect Sex Toy

Kate Sloan

One of the hazards of being a professional sex toy reviewer is that sometimes I’m so busy reviewing toys I have to review that I neglect to review the toys I actually bought with my own money. But quite often, they are excellent and deserve to be written about!

My friend Epiphora mentioned the Fluke by Hole Punch Toys in a recent blog post of hers, and it made me realize that I’ve never reviewed this toy on my blog, despite it possibly being one of my top-10 favorite toys of all time. So let’s rectify that, shall we?!

 

What is the Fluke?

The Hole Punch Fluke is a silicone plug that can be used either vaginally or anally. Like most plugs, it is designed to stay put once you insert it, comfortably, without requiring much (if any) readjustment. I personally have never used it anally because it’s a bit too large for my butt – its diameter is a hefty 2″ at the widest point – but I love it for vaginal use, as I’ll explain in more detail below.

That’s pretty much it. It doesn’t vibrate or do anything fancy, and it doesn’t need to; it’s just an exceptionally well-designed plug that fulfills a purpose in my sex toy collection that no other toy really does.

What makes this toy so great?

  • First and foremost, the Fluke is simply the best toy I’ve ever found for passive G-spot stimulation, by which I mean, G-spot stimulation that requires zero ongoing effort on my part. Because of its girth, its exaggerated coronal ridge, and the firmness of its silicone, it exerts pressure constantly against my G-spot while it’s inside me. This makes it excellent for lazy masturbators (i.e. me) as well as for people who have chronic pain or strength issues that make it difficult for them to thrust a dildo in and out (also me).
  • Because of how it passively provides stimulation, the Fluke pairs brilliantly with anything and everything that would benefit from added G-spot (or prostate) stimulation: clitoral or penile pleasure, making out, grinding/dry-humping, spanking, public play, forced orgasm play, performing or receiving oral sex, watching porn/reading erotica, and so on.
  • It makes my orgasms extra intense, because of its girth, firmness, and ability to target my G-spot so directly. I most often use this toy during phone-sex scenes that are focused predominantly on me receiving oral sex; I find that orgasms from clitoral stimulation alone are not always the most satisfying for me, but having a thick piece of G-spot-focused silicone inside me makes them much more intense.
  • Amazingly enough, I have found that the Fluke can make me squirt without me having to actually do anything. It is one of the only toys in existence that can do that, because of the intensity of G-spot stimulation that’s generally needed to produce squirting. Wow.
  • The Fluke is available in a few different colors, all gorgeous ombrés. Mine is a stunning teal/blue and it also comes in orange/yellow and pink/purple. I deeply appreciate sex toy companies that offer fun colorways, especially since it makes their toys potentially more accessible to folks who experience gender dysphoria.
  • Hole Punch Toys is owned and operated by an awesome human named Colin who makes unique, artisanal sex toys out of his art studio in Saint Paul, Minnesota. I really admire the boldness and artistry of his work, and hope to someday own the terrifying-yet-sexy gun dildo he makes! (Content note: it’s literally a dildo that looks like a gun.)

 

Does this toy have any flaws?

  • I think the girth of this toy is likeliest to cause issues for users if anything will. As I mentioned before, it has a 2″ diameter at its widest point, which is significantly larger than most penises and “beginner-friendly” dildos. I find it comfortable if I’m already plenty aroused when I insert it, and if I use lots of water-based lube, but if your orifice prefers petite penetration, this probably isn’t the toy for you.
  • The silicone is a little draggy so you do need a lot of lube.
  • I literally cannot think of anything else that I dislike about this toy. It is that good.

 

Final thoughts

The Hole Punch Fluke is my go-to toy when I want to feel filled up, and have my G-spot stimulated, with minimal effort. I have not found any other toy that does what it does quite so effectively. It also happens to be so cute and beautiful that even just seeing it on my nightstand improves my mood.

Supporting indie toymakers is a cause close to my heart – some others I love are Funkit Toys and Weal & Breech, FYI – and so I’m thrilled to be able to introduce my readers to this glorious toy!

 

You can buy the Hole Punch Fluke at SheVibe ($67 USD), the Smitten Kitten ($66 USD), or Come As You Are ($98 CAD).

This post was not sponsored, but I do get a little kickback (at no extra cost to you) when you buy through my affiliate links. As always, all opinions stated here are my genuine opinions.

Review: We-Vibe Ditto

Kate Sloan

I was in a room full of other sex toy salespeople, at the sex shop where I used to work, when we first heard about the We-Vibe Ditto. At that time, it was a new development and being kept hush-hush – but the room erupted in excited exclamations. “Yes!!” the common sentiment went. “We-Vibe is finally making a butt plug!”

However, that excitement didn’t stick with me once I actually held the Ditto in my hands (and in my butt). It isn’t quite what I wanted.

My first problem with the Ditto: I can’t figure out which way it’s supposed to go. Normally my advice to anyone struggling with this question would be, “Put it in whichever way feels most comfortable/pleasurable!” but I find the Ditto slightly uncomfortable and not-quite-right whether I insert it with the base pointing forward or pointing backward.

Most of the time, I wear it so the base extends forward, toward my vulva, because it feels a little less awkward that way and the plug’s protruding curve can stimulate my G-spot (indirectly and gently) if I orient it that way. But then the base slightly blocks my vaginal opening, making it difficult to combine the Ditto with girthy dildos (or big dicks).

I had a cis male partner try out the Ditto, and he observed that its shape made it feel difficult to insert but not all that filling once actually inserted. I’ve noticed the same thing: insertion is awkward and a little uncomfortable, and what results is a surprisingly underwhelming feeling once you’ve got it in. It makes me miss the heaviness and impactfulness of my Njoy Pure Plugs, with their ergonomic shape and delicious neck-to-plug width ratio. The Ditto feels like it’s stretching me, but not in an especially pleasurable or comfortable way.

One side of the Ditto is flat, and a partner pointed out to me that this might make it more comfortable for double penetration, since the dick or other dildo wouldn’t have to compete with the plug’s curvy swell for purchase. However, I find the plug so uncomfortable oriented that way that I can’t imagine being able to fully focus on other sexual sensations while that was going on.

Aside from the shape, though, the Ditto is a wonderful plug. The vibrations are pleasantly rumbly and strong, so I can feel them all through my G-spot and perineal sponge when the plug is in. You can control the vibrations via Bluetooth using We-Vibe’s fabulously designed We-Connect app, which is intuitive, fun, and allows for a long-distance partner to control the toy if you so desire. The plug is rechargeable and waterproof, and comes with We-Vibe’s 2-year warranty. It’s made of soft, smooth silicone that plays well with water-based lube and feels luxurious to the touch.

But the shape of this plug just doesn’t work for me. I want We-Vibe to give it another shot – because if they did, they could make one of the best vibrating butt plugs on the market, right up there with B-Vibe’s excellent plugs. For now, though, my butt just refuses to enjoy the We-Vibe Ditto and its strange, uncomfortable shape.

 

Thanks to We-Vibe for sending me the Ditto to review! You can grab yours at SheVibe, Peepshow, Ignite, Come As You Are, or from We-Vibe direct.

Review: Tantus Ryder

Kate Sloan

image

My favorite fuckbuddy calls the Tantus Ryder the “sleep number plug” because, when he fucked my vag while the Ryder was in my butt, the plug made me so much tighter that he exclaimed, “Who turned the sleep number in your vagina up to 100?!” and came almost immediately. I still make fun of him for that particular ejaculation (I’m using “ejaculation” in both the sexual and verbal senses of the word).

But the Ryder isn’t just a tool for making your vagina feel tighter. It’s also an excellent butt plug in its own right.

Here’s how much I love the Ryder: when Cailey from new Canadian sex toy shop La Petite Mort asked me what I’d like to review from her site, I requested the Ryder even though I already owned one. Tantus redesigned the Ryder sometime in the past couple years, giving it a comfier base and a smaller, slimmer shape. Some people rabidly buy each new iPhone model the day it launches; me, I needed the latest iteration of this butt plug.

imageTantus has done a pretty significant overhaul of this plug, to the point that the new and old Ryders look and feel substantially different from each other. I’m not sure the new one lives up to the “sleep number” hype of the old one, because it’s smaller – both lengthwise and girthwise – and therefore wouldn’t make my vag feel as tight to anyone fucking me while the plug was inside me. So when I see the particular fuckbuddy who’s a fan of that sensation, I’ll pack my old Ryder in my toy bag – but aside from that one aspect, I overwhelmingly prefer the new-and-improved version of the Ryder.

The base, notably, is flatter and slimmer than it used to be, and curves with your body rather than jabbing into it. It’s unobtrusive, but not so slight as to make me worry it’ll get sucked into my butt. A more comfortable base means I can keep the plug inside me for longer. It also seems less likely to get in the way if a partner was to go down on me, finger me, or fuck me while the plug was in. Hooray!

The smaller size makes the new Ryder feel like less of a stretch and require less warm-up, though of course, it won’t be as satisfying to fans of girth. (If that’s your jam, Tantus makes the Bronco, which is 1.75″ in diameter versus the old Ryder’s 1.5″.) The tip of the plug is more gradually tapered now than it used to be, so it’s easier to insert and doesn’t cause me pain or discomfort like my original Ryder occasionally did.

imageThe new Ryder is also made of a silky, matte silicone, which glides against the skin more smoothly than the sticky, glossy silicone the Ryder used to be made of. It collects less lint and debris, too. (Nobody wants lint and debris in their butt. Nobody.)

I’m super glad I have both versions of the Ryder, because they’re different enough that they’re essentially two different toys. The current version is better for beginners to butt stuff (though I’d still recommend something smaller for true novices), less intense, and more comfortable for long-term wear. The old one still holds a special place in my heart, though, for being one of my first butt plugs and the only toy that’s ever caused a partner to joyfully exclaim about how tight my vagina felt when I used it. Ah, memories!

Thank you to La Petite Mort for sending me this plug to review! Canadian sex toy shoppers, you should take a look at their mission statement; they’re all about inclusivity and material safety, and that’s a mission worth supporting.