I love being a sex toy reviewer more than anything. But there are some obvious downsides to doing it in Australia. There’s no major manufacturers located here, popular toys aren’t always stocked by local stores, shipping prices from everywhere else are ridiculously high, and in terms of a blogging community… well most of the time it’s just me. There is one thing, however, that has disappointed me most over the years though, and that’s the lack of independent makers. Overseas, but particularly in the USA, there seems to be an abundance of people creating silicone toys from their very own homes and selling them places like Etsy, allowing them to push the limits of what is considered a sex toy by producing imaginative designs in a kaleidoscope of colours that would have never been able to occur within a larger mass-producing company. I could browse these stores all day, and often do, but with shipping typically costing far more than the products themselves, actually making a purchase is sadly not an option for me. It’s because of this that I have spent a good part of the last six years wishing and hoping someone would kick off a similar community here (and making my own plans if I were to ever move to a bigger apartment), and now in 2021 it finally seems my cries have been answered.
Review: Lovehoney Glow-in-the-Dark Dildo
As an Australian I don’t tend to make as big as a deal here about the current spooky season as some of my overseas friends, but growing up in Britain means that Halloween is still very much a holiday that holds a dear place in my heart. Still, it’s because of this, and my usual affinity for cute rather than horror toys, that it’s not often you’ll find me participating in any spooktober-style reviews. So when Lovehoney recently reached out to me about their new October releases, my eyes were immediately drawn to the adorable-looking Glow-in-the-Dark Dildo far more than any of their Halloween inspired products. Little did I know however, that when the lights are turned off this dildo become possibly the most spooky of them all! Thus, for the very first time, here I am with a extra special Halloween review!
Review: Satisfyer Curvy 1+ & 2+
When suction toys were first announced, I couldn’t help but be sceptical. But as soon as I tried my first one, I knew it was something special, and since then they’ve just kept on getting better and better. Never before has a type of sex toy so consistently raised the bar year after year, somehow finding new ways to improve upon things that I had already deemed perfect (and really messing with my ratings system). Something else about these toys that has raised over the last few years, however, is the price …at least it has on my blog. That’s right, while suction toys still come in a huge range of prices, my personal love for them has seen me requesting more and more costly options lately, with the culmination of that being my recent review on the Womanizer DUO, a $330 AUD product that (as far as I know) is currently the most expensive stimulator on the market. But while trying these luxury products has been fun (particularly for me), I also want to be able to promote and recommend products that the average person can consider purchasing, and that is not the DUO. So today I am finally breaking my streak and taking a look at two of Satisfyer’s brand new mid-range products, the Curvy 1+ and Curvy 2+.
Review: Bestvibe Realistic Dildo
I’ve been reviewing vibrators from Chinese white-label retailers, such as Bestvibe, Adorime and Paloqueth, for many years now. While their designs may be pretty out there and websites often lack proper translation, the products themselves are typically great quality for the amount you pay. Plus, at the end of the day, these sorts of budget options that are primarily sold through sites like Amazon are always going to be much more widely purchased than the hundred-dollar sex toys I often find myself reviewing. But there has been one aspect of all of these stores that I have avoided till now, and that is their range of dildos. Dildos, unlike vibrators, are much more likely to be secretly made from non-body safe materials, and I have never quite trusted that this won’t be the case with these retailers. More and more lately I’ve been receiving messages from readers who have noticed my affiliation with these sites though and want to know my thoughts on their “silicone” toys, and it just hasn’t felt right that I continue to support these companies whilst also harbouring these kinds of concerns. So, that was when I decided it was finally time to take one for the team, and I requested the Realistic Dildo from Bestvibe. I figured, if it is silicone then it’ll be a great budget-friendly option to recommend to people, and if it is not then I won’t be able to test and review it anyway, plus I’ll know to cease my support.
Review: Bestvibe 3 Motors Rabbit Vibrator
Bestvibe has genuinely got to be one of my favourite online sex shops to browse. While a lot of their products are made with questionable materials, or just straight-up not body-safe, I can’t deny there is a strange charm to their huge variety of sex toys. Confusing images and text aside, the concepts for their toys are often so completely out there that I can’t imagine seeing them anywhere else. It’s a middle-ground where weird and wacky meets innovation, and while I’m sure there are a lot of failures, based on their customer reviews it seems there are a lot of successes as well. So when the company recently reached out to me about reviewing some of their toys, I knew I was going to have a difficult time narrowing down my wish list. Ultimately though I decided the weirder the better, and ended up choosing two toys that could easily end up being either brilliant… or disastrous. The first, an ultra realistic dual density dildo that seems too good to be true, and the second, a vibrator with not two, not three, but four arms! Today I will be reviewing the latter, but keep an eye out for the next review in this series soon!
Review: Deeper Blue Ceramics Lilac Matte
It was at a sex convention that I first fell in love with adult products all those years ago, but while so much has changed in this industry since then, it seems conventions, sadly, have not. Walking into a sex con, such as Sexpo, today, looks much like it did seven years ago, and if anything things have gone backwards. With the vast majority of products being non-body-safe, barely any representation from quality brands or retailers, and questionable guest stars, I find myself struggling more and more each year to attend. But the thing that keeps me going is the thought of finding a diamond in the rough, and by that I mean the opportunity to scout out new local businesses that I might not have found out about otherwise, and then share them with you all. In previous years this has led me to finds such as the MiaMaxx Hand-Held Thruster and Cloudnine Hummingbird, and it’s even where I first met Geeky Sex Toys, who I now work for. But it was at the most recent convention that I first came into contact with a small business who I believe represents everything this industry needs right now, and that business was Deeper Blue Ceramics.