Lelo Luna Beads – Noir
As someone who vastly prefers grey & black to pastel shades, you would think I would love the Luna Beads Noir. After all, one of the very few aspects that I didn’t love about the Luna Beads from the very beginning was the color scheme – kinda practical/clinical/boring. And I admit I do indeed love the look of the Luna Beads Noir. But the thing is, vag balls are not a fashion accessory. Nobody is going to see them. I don’t wear them on my wrist, or loop them around a lanyard. So the only thing that I can think of as to why Lelo produced these, is to capitalized a little more on the Fifty Shades crap. And yes, that is a factor in the production of the Noir beads. I didn’t feel that the Minis were anything to do with the Fifty Shades crap, because I had read numerous reviews in the past where some women stated that the Original Luna Beads were a bit too big to be comfortable for them. But the overpriced singular pair of Luna Noir in their graphite color scheme? Totally Fifty Shades. I even asked Lelo about that aspect and this was the response:
Fifty Shades did have some influence on the creation of Luna Beads Noir, since we had feedback from consumers to make a more sensual version of the world’s best selling sexual wellness product that is more focused on intense foreplay sensations. Luna Beads Noir are smaller for easier insertion and extraction and are a heavier weight compared to our classic version for stronger, more pleasurable sensations.
However, to me, Luna Beads Noir set is a bit of a head scratcher. They come only in one size – the mini size – and just one weight! The heavier weight. If you’ve never used a kegel bead set I wouldn’t recommend jumping right to using the full set of these. I did that once after going a long time without using any kegel exercisers and I actually had sore, overworked PC muscles the next day, akin to overworked abs after doing way more crunches on the first day back to the gym than you really should have attempted. You could use just one bead at first; I would only recommend using one bead though if your kegels are toned, you consider yourself to have a tighter vagina, and truly do not prefer dildos above 1.25″. Otherwise?
You might very well find yourself doing….whatever it is you do whilst wearing fancy Luna Beads…and out of your pant leg rolls your singular Luna Bead.
Ahem.
Anyways. Since I’ve noted that these are the same size as the Minis that I recently reviewed (and did not like) I also wanted to note that Lelo fixed the problem that I and a few others reviewers had with the initial run of the Luna Minis – the inner weighted ball is back to how it should be, covered in rubber to muffle the rattling sound. But just as with the Minis, the issue is that the weighted ball is too large to produce any real noticeable sensations for me. The less room the weighted ball has to move around, the less you’ll feel it. So to me, not only does it fail as a kegel exerciser (which doesn’t seem to be the intended use if I read Lelo’s answer) but it fails as an “intense foreplay” toy. It was really hard to capture this because of how dark the Noir beads plastic is, but you can see pretty well in the photo below how much more “wiggle room” that weighted ball has in the Original set on the left. I couldn’t show this with my set of the Minis because my weighted balls appeared to be a bit smaller due to the lack of a rubberized coating.
The materials are the same, the care instructions are the same as all other Luna Bead sets.
Given the price factor I don’t really feel like these are worth the money. I do like the look better; hell I’m the girl who wanted a new Acuvibe because it came in black and to replace my Devine Play Chest because it was out in a black-on-black (instead of my pink-on-black). If Lelo had made the Noir set as simply another color option to the Originals and Minis and kept the whole system the same I’d tell you that it’s just a color preference. But the Original and Mini set both have the graduated 4-ball weight set that I’ve always loved so much, priced at $42.99 (the not-on-sale price at EF). So when I saw that the Noir set, which only included 2 balls, was $35.99 I felt even more reluctant to recommend them. I’ve always preferred the Luna Beads to any other kegel system out there but the Noir set, as it stands, is another story altogether.
Oh my gosh, I am so terrible at remembering to do Kegels and need to look at more stuff like this.
~I’m awful too which is why I love the Luna Beads. Anything that requires no actual effort or memory on my part = win
I just received these and think they are gorgeous. Haven’t used them yet but never used the originals either.
Hopefully I like mine a little more!
~ Oh they are beautiful, that is true. I do recommend that you restrict your wear time to a couple hours at most for the first half dozen times.
I have the original beads and I like them too because they do not require much work but I do have some concerns after wearing them a couple of times. My first concern is not pushing them out when I am doing something strenuous I’m always worried about that. Second concern, is that I’ve read a lot of reviews for them and so many women say that they incorporate them in the bedroom with their mate. Aside from one obvious way of using them (say during oral sex) I do not see all other possible ways of using them. If anyone else knows anything about how to deal with these concerns better or can provide more ways of how to incorporate them in the bedroom please respond.
~ Ok well for the first…with the Original set, they’re a pretty good size. I would say that they’re no more likely to fall out than say, a tampon. I know that it can *feel* like they’re right there and ready to come out, but they usually won’t. Just wear a semi-snug pair of regular panties the first few times you do this to give yourself the back up just to reassure. On to the second – I know that some women will use the smaller, old-fashioned “ben wa” balls, the kind without a harness or string, during sex. Not good if your partner is well-endowed, no matter what. But to use the Luna Beads?? I can’t even see how. Almost seems to me as if these people are writing a review without even using them! Even to have them in during oral (or keep them in vaginally while having anal intercourse) just doesn’t seem like they would perform all that well. These aren’t activities that were meant to go hand in hand with wearing the Luna Beads. They have a purpose and a use, I don’t see why others feel the need to make them pull double-duty.
Could these possibly stretch me out in any way?
~No, in fact, the exact opposite. Firstly, no sex toy or penis will “stretch” you out. The vagina is incredibly elastic and forgiving, and it expands during arousal. You won’t get a loose, flappy vag from giant dildos or anything. The tightness can decrease a bit with age and childbirth, because there are muscles in the vagina, the PC muscles….which is exactly what the Luna Beads and other kegel exercises work.
I can’t really feel the pink balls, they appear to be inside pretty well but I can barely feel the vibration. Does that means that I am too wide inside or what is the reason
~No, they’re just a very light weight. You don’t have to DO anything with the Luna Beads, that’s the whole point. They do the work for you. There’s not “vibration” in the truest sense of the word, that term is very misleading when talking about most vag balls. You’re not too wide. There is no such thing. Try the blue beads. You should feel something rattling around inside of you, lightly.
I got the noir set of beads first without really doing my research. I’m wearing them for the first time today- I can’t feel them at all and they don’t seem to want I fall out or anything. I’m young, have not had a child and believe I have a tight vagina naturally- but I want a set of beads that will have the most bang for it’s buck so to speak. Do you think that the original set is a better choice/ will have noticeably better results? I should have read up first, wish I bought the original after reading your reviews- but I’m also on a tight budget- do you think the originals are a dramatically better choice to achieving results such that I should get and use them instead?
Short answer: Original is much much better.
Ok. So I have just purchased these without much research. And now I am finding different info… is it the “vibration” that makes your pc muscles work or the actual weight. I have purchased them purely to strengthen my pc muscles.
They don’t really vibrate. Here’s the info on how they work from my review of the Luna Beads Original:
It’s actually not so much the large Luna Bead moving around inside of you, but the smaller weighted bead rattling around and pinging off the sides of the plastic ball. Whenever the weighted bead taps your vaginal wall, your PC muscles automatically contract just a tiny bit. The muscle contraction is not something I’ve ever felt. But this is how they work those muscles without requiring you to clench and release yourself. Over the course of a few hours you’ll have achieved the same level of Kegel exercise as if you’d done 4 or 5 “sets” of active exercises throughout the day. These only work if you’re mobile, however, not if you’re sedentary. It’s best to insert them before you go for a walk, run errands, or anything slightly active. The more active you are, the more these weighted beads will rattle around inside the plastic shell and the more your muscles will be tapped.” (http://dangerouslilly.com/2012/05/updated-review-lelo-luna-beads/)
Because of the fact that with the overall smaller beads, Lelo didn’t make the inner bead also smaller, I found that the Noir and Mini beads just don’t work very well. There’s a world of difference between the mini and original size in terms of how they actually work. The various weights of the Original set means that the heavier the inner ball, the more of a “ping” to your PC muscles, therefore a stronger contraction (yet it’s still nothing I can feel, nothing like period cramps or even orgasm contractions, it’s so minor).