Review: Je Joue Mimi Soft
A few years ago I tried out the Je Joue Mimi because a lot of people raved about it. I remember being okay with the vibrations, but not in love. The shape wasn’t perfect for me, but my biggest complaint was the buttons. They were very hard to press. The buttons alone made me never use that vibrator. Then Mimi got a revamp. They added a third button, just for the patterns. On my original, you’d press and hold the + button to turn it on, then press for each jump up in speed, and if you went too far you’d go in to the patterns. Since there was a minus button, you could back out of the patterns easily enough. With the revamp, that bit of irritation was taken away. If you want to ignore the patterns, you can do so easily. I always wondered if my original Mimi was somehow defective. My buttons seemed very hard to press but also I didn’t seem to rate the motor quite as powerful and rumbly as other reviewers did. I finally got my chance to find out with the new Je Joue Mimi Soft.
This has, of course, the revamped buttons but it doesn’t seem to be all that much stronger than the original. I do think that my original was defective, because there is a tiny bit of a difference — the Mimi Soft feels just a hair more intense. I’m told that Je Joue thinks this is because the vibrations travel better through the soft tip, something I’ve not really found to be true. I’ve found that the more material there is for the vibrations to travel through, the less you feel said vibrations. I personally think that due to the slight bit of extra cushioning from the layer of softer material under the silicone skin, the vibrations on the Mimi Soft do not suffer as much from the Vibration Dampening Syndrome like the original Mimi did. The buttons on my Soft, I’m happy to report, are pretty easy to use but you’ll find that in any Mimi you buy these days.
So what’s the big deal here? Is it really soft, plushy and squishy?
Not as much as I was expecting, and not as much as the promo photos had me thinking. Maybe not enough to make a huge difference for some. At first, in a blind test, I thought I couldn’t tell the difference during use…..until I applied some pressure. The Je Joue Mimi Soft felt just different enough that, for those who like some pressure on the clit but hate rock-hard vibes, this is their vibrator. I think that the distinction between the two should have been even more pronounced. I would have liked to see a more marshmallow-plush tip, like Vixen’s Vixskin (like on the Raquel), but the silicone skin is pretty tough and thick. If you’re imagining something like the Tenga Iroha vibes, it’s nothing like that. The soft tip is pretty much where most people would want it, just on the tip. I think they could have extended it all the way around. They’re really on to something, here. Covering a hard plastic vibrator in a non-plush silicone skin is confusing. Adding a little layer of squish would be enough to up the comfort factor but not interfere greatly with vibrations traveling through material.
Specs, Packaging, Etc
The soft tip does make Mimi Soft just a teeny bit bigger, but it’s nothing to really write home about. The charging style is the same as regular Mimi, a magnetic fob which I don’t love but will tolerate. The box design has gotten cheaper, if you care about that. I remember being impressed with the original Je Joue boxes, hinged lids that tied shut with a ribbon. The outer box is okay, but the inserts to lay it out all nice for presentation are flimsy and won’t last long. That’s not a big deal, though, I usually rip them apart anyways.
As I dug through the box looking for the ubiquitous soft drawstring pouch that seems to come with just about every silicone sex toy, I thought I found it. Something black, silky……nice material, I thought. Until I went further. It was like a magician’s trick, where they pull the hankie out of their sleeve and it keeps coming and coming, in various shades? Well, it was like that, minus the rainbow. “What the FUCK?” I thought, until I realized that it was maybe supposed to be some sort of blindfold. I checked out the description on Shevibe’s site, since Je Joue’s site has not yet acknowledged the Mimi Soft, and sure enough, it’s a blindfold.
*insert confused and slightly irritated face here*
I can’t really put into words why I find the inclusion of a blindfold at the expense of a nice storage pouch so irritating, but I do. I fully support sex toys being used by partners together, but I equally support solo sex toy use. Both are healthy and should happen. So why include a half-ass blindfold? Actually, no. A crappy blindfold. A men’s necktie would do better. The material is super thin and bunches up easily, feels awkward in use and plain old doesn’t work. It’s a waste of material that would be better spent as a storage bag. If someone actually wants a blindfold, they’ll buy a proper one; if they’re curious then there are plenty of things that people already have around the house to use as a makeshift blindfold that would be better than this thing.
Verdict
Of course, We-Vibe’s Tango is the most powerful of all of these, but the Mimi Soft and the Leaf Fresh+ seem to almost be neck and neck with vibrations yet the Fresh+ wins by a nose as the shape works a little better and there’s less vibration dampening. Of course, the Fresh+ is louder than the Mimi Soft, too. Minna Limon though is more rumbly and deeper-reaching, yet the shape means it doesn’t work quite as well for me as the shape of the Fresh+ or Mimi despite it seeming to be a little more powerful. Lelo’s Mia 2 ranks in just a little less powerful than the Mimi Soft, while still being powerful enough to work for me. A similar idea in design, the Tenga Iroha Midori is much less powerful and even less user-friendly in terms of shape. The Lovelife Smile ranks at the bottom in terms of vibration power.
Crappy, out-of-place blindfold aside, I actually really do like the new Je Joue Mimi Soft. It’s not my tippy top favorite, but I’d rank it in my top 10 clitoral vibes I think. It’s just about $10 dollars more than the regular Mimi, which is around $88 currently.
