Tag: Lovehoney

07

Sexy on a Budget: freebies and discounts

Reading is an expensive hobby. A romance here, an erotica there … If you have  bit of a book addiction, like me, the costs soon add up. And that evil thing, the eReader, doesn’t exactly help. I can’t tell you how many times something shiny has caught my eye in an online bookstore – something I had no intention of reading – and I’ve subsequently found myself stabbing merrily away at the ‘download now’ button.

Similarly, keeping the toy box interesting can leave a pretty serious ding in the old bank account. I don’t tend to buy vibrators and dildos at the same rate I buy books (I doubt I’d be able to stand upright if I did!) but, even so, the good stuff is never particularly cheap.

So in the spirit of preventing whacking great reading bills and giving you frugal orgasms, I thought I’d compile a list of current deals and freebies. I’m going to try and do this every Friday, if I can – so if you fancy a little something for the weekend you’ll (hopefully!) be able to find a book or toy that won’t break the budget.

 

FREE EBOOKS

*Please note that all of the below were free at the time of this post’s publication but pricing can change at any time. To that end, please double-check that the prices are still at zero before you start downloading. Continue reading →

14

Cheap and cheerful: the Lady Lustfinger Mini Vibrator

What we used:  Beginners Basic Lady Lustfinger Mini Vibrator (silver)
From: Lovehoney
Price: £3.99
Material(s): Phthalate-free plastic
Reviewer: Victoria

Small, simple, and inexpensive. Does Lovehoney’s sub-£5.00 Lady Lustfinger Mini Vibrator hit the mark?

 

First thoughts
Being a bit of a vibrator novice I was very intrigued to receive the Beginners Basic Lady Lustfinger through the post. I hadn’t used a vibrator either with a partner or on my own before (although do own a dildo), so I was looking forward to giving it a whirl.

So first of all, I have to say that I hate the name ‘Lady Lustfinger’; it sounds like a character from an 80s porn film but (thankfully) there’s no porn on the box. On the looks front, the packaging has ‘Basic’ written on the front, and that pretty much sums it up.

The vibrator itself isn’t intimidating at all as it’s only 5.5 inches long (the insertable length is 4.5 inches) but although it is silver I was quite disappointed at how plasticky it felt and therefore how light is was. It didn’t come with any batteries, either, (the Lustfinger requires a single AA) but then for £3.99 you can’t expect everything! Continue reading →

18

Toy with me Tuesday: A mere bauble

Little baubles

I originally shot a ‘cock wreath’ (read: a cock ring adorned with holly) for this week’s Toy with me Tuesday but got a little distracted by shiny things after the fact. What can I say? I’m such a sucker for a bit of sparkle. In fairness, I had to take some pictures of this little Lady Lustfinger mini vibe before sending it off to its reviewer and it seemed crazy not to stick it next to all the pretty baubles from our Christmas tree before it went in the post. Continue reading →

14

The price of lube

The cost of lube

How much are you actually paying for a bottle of slippery stuff?

Over the past decade, there’s been something of a lube revolution. Where before we had pretty limited personal lubricant options (K-Y Jelly, basically), we’re now able to choose from a mind-boggling array of products – organic, silicone-based, water-based, sperm-friendly, anal formulations … The options are seemingly endless.

Recently, however, I’ve noticed that there’s considerable variation in the cost of the products out there. Obviously, the ingredients used in the different manufacturer formulations affect price (and a bigger bottle will, generally, have more of an initial impact on your pocket than a smaller one) but what are we actually spending, ml for ml, on the slippery stuff? I decided to do a little experiment and compare a random bunch of popular personal lubricants from different retailers, ml for ml. Here are the results, from least to most expensive  … Continue reading →

07

Alert Me: No-Sign-of-Sadomasochism – The Boardgame!, Ann Summers on TV, and printing 3D sex toys

In this week’s Alert Me: Fifty Shades consumer products go not-so-wild, Ann Summers hits our screens, and sex toys from printers.

 

Fifty Shades of a bawdy board game
Source: Evening Standard

I actually have no words. A Fifty Shades of Grey boardgame with ‘Inner Goddess Tokens’ a ‘Red Room Expansion Pack’ and a non-disclosure agreement between the players and Christian Grey (otherwise know as the ‘Receiving Party’).

As someone who spent nearly a decade protecting the integrity of a rather high-profile brand that shall remain nameless, this kind of cash-in merchandising actually makes me feel slightly ill. Worse, if Susannah Butter’s article is anything to go by, those who fork over their hard-earned cash for this thing aren’t even going to be rewarded with anything particularly titillating or racy. Sample question:

 

“Which girlfriend would buy the best present for the man who had everything?”

 

No joke, I can’t decide whether to laugh or cry. Really E.L. James? Really? Stick with Monopoly, people. I guarantee fighting over who gets to be the boot will be more fun. Continue reading →

24

Bliss for bottoms: Beginners Basic Anal Beads

What we used: Beginners Basic Anal Beads (purple)
From: Lovehoney
Price: £6.99
Material(s): PVC

 

If you’re new to anal play, this review may be for you. Lizzie and Thomas roadtest a set of anal beads from Lovehoney’s Beginners Basic range.

 

First thoughts …

Lizzie
Anal toys. There are so many to choose from. Plugs, beads, dildos, hooks – from the small and slender to the eye-wateringly enormous, the choice can be both overwhelming and daunting. Although Thomas and I have played with butt plugs and anal dildos in the past, we’ve never owned a set of anal beads. These were unchartered territory. We’d heard lots of good things about them, though – in particular the effects they have when extracted at the point of orgasm. So this little sex toy road-trip was quite exciting for us – and a product orientated towards first-time users seemed a logical place to kick off our adventure.

Thomas
I’d never used anal beads before but I had heard many a story of their effectiveness when extracted during an orgasm. Since these anal beads are quite a small toy (in butt terms) I was interested to see if their performance would equal their reputation. Continue reading →

08

Lovehoney to release official range of Fifty Shades of Grey sex toys

Last week, U.K. sex toy retailer, Lovehoney, announced that they would be selling a range of sex toys developed in conjunction with Fifty Shades of Grey author E.L. James. (You may have seen the @ChintzCurtain tweets about it.) Per the Lovehoney website:

 

‘The Fifty Shades of Grey official collection is beautifully packaged, discreet and couple-friendly. Products are supplied with a luxurious, branded storage bag and each comes with suggestions for use and tips on introducing the toys into a relationship.’

 

Image: courtesy of Lovehoney

Yes, fans of the series will soon be able to buy ‘Inner Goddess – Silver Pleasure Balls’, ‘You. Are. Mine. – Metal Handcuffs’, a ‘Submit To Me – First Time Bondage Kit’, ‘All Mine – Deluxe Satin Blackout Mask’, the ‘Sweet Sting – Riding Crop’, and the ‘Twitchy Palm – Spanking Paddle’. Continue reading →

31

A not-so-Happy Rabbit

What we used: Happy Rabbit G-Spot Rechargeable Rabbit Vibrator
From: Lovehoney
Price: £49.99
Material(s): Silicone (main body and operating buttons) and plastic (base)
Lizzie is on a quest to find a new rabbit vibrator. Will Lovehoney’s Happy Rabbit G-Spot rechargeable rabbit vibrator make her, well, happy?

First thoughts …

Lizzie
I have been looking for a new rabbit vibrator for AGES. I bought my first one over ten years ago and fell completely in love with it. It was ridiculously cheap, was likely full of terrible un-bodysafe plastics, smelled dreadful, was louder than a 747 at take-off, and had an awful and superfluous bubble of moving beads the colour of boiled sweets near the base. But it could make me orgasm, no problem at all, and it was used on a weekly basis with much enthusiasm.

Unfortunately, after a few months of faithful (heavy) service it gave up the ghost – the battery chamber corroded – and, in any event, I’d started to do a bit of research on phthalates and had decided that I shouldn’t be putting things that were potentially harmful inside myself.

So I bought another more expensive one – and to my great disappointment, it was not a patch on the cheap-as-chips original. The rabbit ear position was slightly different and even though the vibe was quieter and smelled loads better, it wasn’t nearly as easy to orgasm with. Eventually, I got cross with it, threw it away and started experimenting with some different vibrator designs to see if I could find something I liked better.

But nothing I’ve tried so far has given me quite the same pleasure as my first rabbit and I’m desperate to find one that I adore as much as my original.

Bring on the Happy Rabbit. Continue reading →