Review: Treeze Redwood Medium Tear Drop Plug

Really, I should call the next few weeks "Butt Month" or something because the last few toys in my review queue are mostly all anal toys... not that I'm complaining

The Treeze Redwood Medium Tear Drop Plug (phew), first of all, is not actually made of wood. It's a wood/urethane hybrid. Don Wands' reason for doing this is that it prevents splintering. Most wooden toys have a coat of varnish to prevent that, but Don Wands insists their way is better because there's no chance of the coat cracking. Uhh, I'm not an expert on wood, so I have nothing to say about that, but I think combining it with urethane has less to do about splintering and more to do with the Tear Drop Plug costing under $50. (Most wooden toys from makers like NobEssence and Hans Hardwood Dildos cost around $100 or more.) For me, it was a bit of a disappointment because a big reason why I wanted to try a wooden toy was for the lovely feel, smell, patterns, etc that's purely wood. Think of a well-made, mahogany desk. Wood is classy.

The Tear Drop Plug, however, is not very classy. The wood looks tacky, the color is more washed out in reality than the photo is, and it retains this artificial, manufacturing-plant smell even after I've used and washed it many times. That said, the Tear Drop Plug is quite good-looking as toys go. The Actor & I both thought it looked kind of like a chess piece. And of course it functions just like wood; it's hard, it has no give, it's relatively light, you can use any kind of lube with it, etc. And you won't have to blow a giant hole in your wallet in order to own one.

As you can see, the Tear Drop Plug is not a beginner plug. Before using the Tear Drop Plug, I had only used the njoy Pure Plug (medium), which is very small in comparison:

The first time I used the Tear Drop Plug, I had to try five times to get it inside me. The tapered shape is good in that sense because you build yourself up. The plug's widest point really was the most difficult part for me. I would insert most of the plug in, get to that last bit, and then I'd have to take it out again because it was too intense. After a good amount of perseverance (and lube), I was able to get it in.

It was love at first... swallow. It felt amazing. Hard and filling. I worked myself up to orgasm and clenching around it felt amazing too. It's very different from all the other butt toys I own (which are all made of soft silicone, except for the njoy Pure Plug), it's the only hard, large one I own. Yeah, stating the obvious, right? But I really like having that nuance of sensation in my arsenal.

I also like the base. It's big enough for you not to be afraid that it will suddenly slip inside you, but isn't so big that it will get in the way, and the circular shape ensures that it won't poke into your buttcheeks:

Don Wands was also thoughtful enough to include a padded, drawstring pouch for it (which is apparently the same color as my sheets. Didn't notice until I took the pictures):

The Actor really liked this toy. In fact, he liked it so much that he went online and bought one for himself right after I used it on him. (I put it inside him and he jacked off in front of me until he came all over his belly. SO. HOT. OMG. Anyway...)

I'd say buy this toy if you're looking for an intermediate-sized plug, want to experience wood, but don't want to shell out too much dough.

Specs:
Material: Wood/Urethane
Length: 4"
Diameter: 1" - 1 3/4"
Colors: Redwood (Red) & Oak (Beige)
Price @ SexToy.com: $40.50

4/5 hearts

sex toys | butt plugs

Review: Fun Factory Bendybeads

Anal beads were one of the only sex toys I knew about before I ventured into the wonderland of sexblogging. I always pictured anal beads as precisely what they were called - a bunch of plastic beads on a string that, for some reason, people then stuck up their ass. In short - tacky.

During my extended perusal of sex toys online, I've come across a daunting number of anal beads that look exactly like I imagined. I'm happy to tell you that Fun Factory's Bendybeads, which PinkCherry.com sex toys gave me to review, is not one of them.

Fun Factory is one of a few sex toy brands that I trust off the bat to deliver quality products. You can already tell as much when you open the glossy, red & clear package it comes in. The box fastens shut with a fancy magnet, and inside the box is an instruction booklet which provides all the info you need about the Bendybeads, and a couple of packets of Fun Factory lube. How nice of them!

So how are the Bendybeads better than the "typical" anal beads I glimpsed in my tender youth? Let's do a comparison, shall we? Well, like I said, I expected anal beads to look more like this:

O hai Cal Exotics...

And the Bendybeads look like this:

I mean, do I really need to say anything else? First off, the Bendybeads are made of silicone, and we all know how wonderful silicone is. Non-porous, phthalate-free (holy crap I actually spelled that word right on the first try this time), sterilizable, BUT don't use silicone lube with it or store it next to other silicone toys. Right. The beads also aren't bead-shaped, i.e. they're not round, but oval. Ever so slightly tapered towards the tip. This makes them easier to slide in. The beads are also graduated - the smallest is about the phalanx of a finger, the largest... um, a rather large nut. Or in more specific terms, from 2.5" to 4" in girth. This isn't only more interesting, it also helps ease more inexperienced butts into accepting larger and larger objects.

See: graduated beads! Also, see how big it is compared to my tiny hand.

The Bendybeads are also less likely to get lost in your butt, because we all know we're worried about that. We'd like to keep the embarrassing hospital visits to a minimum, thanks. Unlike some anal beads, when after all the beads are inside you, the only thing left hanging out is the end of the string, Bendybeads have this large curl at the end. The curl is large enough to not enter your butt unless you, uh, actually try to ram it in or something (I don't recommend it).

Finally, the Bendybeads is one solid piece of silicone. That's right. I've seen beads where the string is "naked", or coated in silicone/plastic/something but "naked" at the very tip, but neurotic me would still be worried about the possibility of dirt deteriorating the string somehow. No worrying about that with Bendybeads. The design of the beads does make it a little more difficult to clean, since its design is like peas-in-a-pod, with this ribbon of silicone winding around the beads. This design means there are little grooves where dirt might hide, so you'd have to be careful of those spots. That said, I am very fond of the design. Very pretty. Fun Factory, as their name suggests, mostly uses cute and fun designs on their toys, things like bugs and dolphins. Sometimes almost disturbingly cute. Anyway, moving on...

How do the Bendybeads hold up during use?

Like their name, the Bendybeads are... very bendy, which lets them curve according to how your body curves.

Anal beads are a strange beast. As wonderfully made as they are, I actually don't use them on myself very much, preferring the constant, full feeling of plugs. Having something to clench my butt around while I'm jerking off is nice, and building up from one bead to the next is nice too, but it's just not that exciting a toy to use by myself. I enjoyed using them much more on the Actor - inserting them slowly, watching them disappear inside him and listening to his reactions, then swiftly pulling them out. He could also take the entire set in, while I could usually only take in three... feeling objects that deeply within my butt wasn't that pleasant an experience for me.

So I really don't have anything bad to say at all about the Bendybeads, except that anal beads aren't quite my cup of tea.

Specs:

• Length - 10 1/2"
• Insertable length - 7 1/2"
• Girth - 4" at largest bead, 2 1/2" at smallest
• Material - Silicone
• Colors available - Red, Black, Purple
• Price @ PinkCherry.com: $34.99

4/5 hearts