silicone

Sex Toy Wishlist #4

Kate Sloan

Here’s another round-up of some sex toys I’d love to snap up one of these days!

1. Betty Dodson’s vaginal barbell – It’s the only sex toy ever to be designed by female masturbation guru Betty Dodson. She’s one of my heroines, and so naturally, I want her barbell in my vag, like, yesterday. She advocates using it for kegel exercises and for vaginal pleasure, and emphasizes that one of its best qualities is the way its weight keeps it inside without you needing to hold onto it all the time. Awesome.

2. Happy Valley Hottie – Happy Valley’s silicone is swirly and colourful and beautiful. The Hottie has been on my wishlist for a while because its dimensions are fairly close to perfect – 6 ¾” long, 1 ¾” wide. The ridge looks a bit intimidating but I think I could handle it if enough lube were involved.

3. Lelo large Smart Wand – Several reviewers have expressed disappointment about Lelo’s new-ish Smart Wands, but the large size seems to get less flack than the medium. It’s been reported that the large wand is very strong and rumbly – and dude, it’s waterproof. One of these days, I’m gonna want a Hitachi alternative I can take in the bath with me, and this looks like it can fill those shoes.

4. New Sensations Virtue Trio Massager – This badass-looking vibrator has a shape that’s very reminiscent of the Ophoria Beyond #3, i.e. the best G-spotting toy I’ve ever come across, which has tragically been discontinued. I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on the reviews for this one, to see if it measures up.

Review: Lelo Lyla 2

Kate Sloan

I had no intention of checking out Lelo’s newly updated Insignia SenseMotion toys, because my experience with the original Tiani had been so mediocre. But then I was offered the Lyla 2 to review, and, well… I just can’t turn down free Lelo.

It worked out pretty well, in the end, because the updates Lelo has made to the SenseMotion toys are actually useful, not just for show.

The Lyla is a remote-controlled egg vibrator. It has a sturdy retrieval cord, so you can insert it vaginally with no concerns. As with the other SenseMotion toys, the accompanying remote is a small disk which is very chic-looking but comes with a host of inconveniences. For instance: it requires batteries, which sort of defeats the purpose of the Lyla being rechargeable, and in order to get the batteries in there, you have to use this annoying-ass “key” to get the chamber open.

Plus, the remote vibrates right along with the egg, which I’m sure Lelo thinks is an innovative and useful feature, but which actually just irritates me in almost every situation I’d ever use this toy. You can turn off the remote’s vibrations… in most of the toy’s modes. Not all.

As you can see, most of my gripes are about the toy’s remote rather than the toy itself – and that’s because the egg is pretty great. Its shape reminds me a lot of Lelo’s brilliant Siri vibe; rather than being entirely rounded, it’s got a soft “point” on the underside which sort of helps it to dig into my clit. This results in the vibrations feeling like they penetrate deeper into my clit, rather than just dancing on the surface.

One of the “new and improved” features of these updated SenseMotion toys is that the vibrations are supposed to be stronger. I would damn well hope so, considering how laughably weak my original Tiani was. And indeed, my Lyla 2 is stronger. It’s still weaker than I’d prefer – I find myself wishing there were maybe two or three more settings at the high end – but it can still get me off, so whateva. (Power queens beware: look elsewhere. Though, you probably knew that already. After all, it is Lelo.)

The other major update to this toy is that it supposedly has better wireless strength. This does seem to be true, but there’s still pretty significant delays sometimes: my boyfriend may change the remote’s setting from across the room and it can take several seconds for that change to be reflected in the egg. I’d say Lyla is leaps and bounds better than the other wireless remote-controlled vibes on the market, but it still isn’t perfect. Maybe it just isn’t reasonable to expect a company to ever get the technology right on this one.

I actually prefer the Lyla as a solo clit toy. True, you can’t use a dildo with it, because one hand has to hold the egg while the other holds the remote, but that’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make sometimes. The SenseMotion mode, wherein tilting the remote to different angles produces gradually increasing vibration strengths, is easier and more intuitive than manually pressing a vibrator’s buttons – so when I want a simple and quick clitoral orgasm, I like using the Lyla. It’s also completely waterproof, and is fun for bathtime hijinks.

I don’t know how I feel about recommending the Lelo Lyla 2 to folks. It costs $139, which is expensive even for Lelo, and it’s not a perfect or versatile toy. But if you really, really want a remote-controlled vibe of the highest caliber, Lyla’s the one you’re looking for.

Review: Vixen Creations Raquel

Kate Sloan

Pictures of the Vixen Raquel don’t do it justice. Its shape is deceptively simple: a somewhat skinny 7 ½" shaft, topped off by a slightly bulbous head that’s 1 5/8" thick. It doesn’t look fancy or fabulous, but that’s because all the magic is in the material.

See, the Raquel is made of VixSkin, a deliciously squishy dual-density silicone formulation. There’s a firm, barely yielding core, encased inside a very plushy softer silicone. So while Raquel looks more like a tentacle than a penis, it actually feels quite penis-like in use.

If you’re looking for jaw-droppingly intense G-spot stimulation, keep looking: what Raquel does is subtler, gentler. It can certainly be felt, but its presence in my vagina is cloudlike, ethereal. And my G-spot can only be satisfied by the Raquel when it’s in motion, usually being thrust pretty quickly.

But oh, does it satisfy. That bulging head rubs over my G-spot with the dexterity and sweetness of an adoring lover. This is not the kind of dildo that makes me scream, “Oh fuck yes!” like the Pure Wand does, but it can make me want to moan, “Oh yeah. Just like that.”

It has some other nice features, too. A beautiful, iridescent white base. A moderately successful suction cup on the bottom. But really, it’s all about that big juicy head. It’s a total G-spot seductress.

I don’t know what else to tell ya, bro. If your G-spot is into soft, squishy, but pussy-meltingly spot-on stimulation, get the Raquel. There’s a reason why VixSkin is one of the most lusted-after materials in the sex toy kingdom.

My Love Affair with the VixSkin Mustang

Kate Sloan

The Mustang dildo by Vixen Creations has a formidable following. People rave about it. As one of the only Vixen dildos with manageably average measurements, it’s a very popular choice. After deciding I needed to own something made of VixSkin, it wasn’t long before I set my sights on the Mustang.

But for the first month or so after I got it, I wasn’t that impressed with it. “The VixSkin Mustang is too squishy and floppy to rub my G-spot the way I like,” I wrote in my initial review. And it was true – up until that point, my G-spot had only really been exposed to firm silicone, glass, steel, and hard plastic. To use a metaphor: if you’ve been blasting Led Zeppelin all your life, you’re unlikely to be too impressed by Vivaldi when you first start listening to his delicate compositions. But give it a while, and you might come around.

That’s what happened to me. I kept trying and trying to make the Mustang work for me, because it’s an expensive toy and I didn’t want it to go to waste… and after some time, I grew to like it. And then I grew to love it.

As far as realistic dildos go, it’s hard to find one more perfect than the Mustang. It’s non-porous and body-safe, has a killer G-spot curve and ultra-stimulating coronal ridge, flares comfortably in diameter to its widest spot at the bottom of the shaft, and isn’t so realistic as to look creepy. (Well, it creeps my boyfriend out a little, but that’s okay, he’s not the one shoving it inside of him.)

The VixSkin Mustang has surprised me by becoming one of my go-to dildos – so much that I find myself lusting after it in the new “fluoro-green” color even though I already have one. When you wish you owned more than one of the same toy, that’s a pretty dependable sign that it’s a keeper.

Review: Lelo Siri

Kate Sloan

I’m a Lelo fangirl. (What sex toy reviewer isn’t, though?) My first-ever luxury sex toy was the Nea; it served me well until I discovered stronger, rumblier vibes and decided to give my unsatisfying Nea away to a friend. I also own the Mia, Mona, Tiani, and Ella, all of which are, if not great, then at least beautiful and luxurious.

My latest Lelo acquisition is the Siri, and it is – dare I say it? – maybe my favorite of the bunch.

When Lelo first launched Siri, they marketed it as the strongest vibrator they had ever made. They’re not exactly known for the power of their toys, but this was still an intriguing claim. Could there finally be a toy that truly possessed the holy duality of power and glamor?

Yes. It exists. And it’s spectacular.

The Siri comes in three colors: red, pink, and purple. I picked red, because there are enough pink and purple vibrators out there, dammit. It’s really sweet-looking; it’s often been said that Lelo’s products look like what would happen if Apple tried to take on the sex toy market (funny, given the whole “Siri” thing), and this is certainly true of Siri. It’s made of smooth, shiny ABS plastic, and the part that’ll be touching your vulva is covered in a layer of silky silicone.

As with most Lelo toys, it has four buttons: two of them control the intensity of the vibrations, and the other two control the modes, which range from standard pulses and waves to a really weird song-like pattern that goes all over the place. I like the modes, but it’s annoying that they don’t loop around once you get to the last one – you have to scroll back through them if you want to get to the first one again.

All the times that I’ve picked up a Siri in a sex shop and felt its vibrations, I’ve thought, “Yeah, this is strong, but it’s not that strong.” It didn’t seem likely to rock my world. But the shape of the Siri, and the way the vibrations are located at the surface rather than being buried inside, make all the difference. This is how efficiently these vibrations are placed: I’ve never needed to use the highest setting of this toy. I seem to always get off around setting 6 or 7, rather than going all the way up to 10. Amazing.

When testing the Siri, I spent a lot of time mentally comparing it to the We-Vibe Tango, my other favorite clitoral vibe. The Tango is definitely much stronger and rumblier, but all that power is concentrated into only four possible speeds. Many times, I’ve moved up to the next speed on the Tango and found that it felt too strong. I got overstimulated and needed to back off. The Siri’s settings move up much more gradually, so I can get exactly as much power as I need at any given moment; no more, no less. (The Tango is absolutely the better choice if you’re a Hitachi girl, though.)

The only real downside to the Siri is that it’s not waterproof. It’s not even splashproof. This is a tragedy. Lelo recently re-designed some of their line to be completely waterproof, and I’m really hoping that Siri gets a similar overhaul. It’s disappointing that a toy so expensive would be so lacking in this way.

But overall? I’m in love with Siri. It has charmed the hell out of my clit. It’s small, strong, quiet, intuitive, ergonomic, beautiful, reliable, and portable. I wish I could kiss the Lelo design team, because they really know what’s up.