Investigating Vamp Silicone and Tulip Toy Gallery
Last July it appeared that Tulip Toy Gallery and sister company Vamp Silicone were gone for good – various people reported that a few Tulip Toy locations were shuttered, and the Tulip and Vamp...
Category: Lilly Investigates
Coconut Oil and Silicone Sex Toys
The world is divided on their feelings about coconut oil as lube, but I didn’t know that people truly believed that coconut oil and silicone sex toys were incompatible. It doesn’t work well as...
Why I’ve Removed Blush Novelties from my Blacklist
My Blacklist of companies I don’t support is long and growing – companies seem to only be added, not removed. Until now. So why now, why Blush Novelties? The answer is complicated, yet simple....
Ask Lilly: Why Does My Silicone Sex Toy Smell Like Chemicals?
When we talk about the many benefits of body-safe silicone for sex toys, we have to talk about how folks can tell the difference between silicone and well, not silicone. There are clues if...
The Amazon Sex Toy Cleanup Project
Recently I posted an article calling out Tracy’s Dog for being a shady, shady brand. This isn’t the first time I’ve purposely purchased a sex toy from Amazon suspecting bad results (see also: Glass safety post, Silica Gel post) but it’s the first time I took a leap of faith and committed to filing a report with Amazon. If more folks would file reports, and go beyond just leaving a 1-star customer review, we might be able to slowly whittle away at all of the counterfeit products and the incorrect material claims. Here are all the various things you can do:
Tracy’s Dog Flirt Rabbit Vibrator
Remember when I thought that “Womanizer” was the worst name for a sex toy? “Tracy’s Dog” is worse, and it’s the brand name. It might be the worst brand name I’ve ever heard. Stick...
Are Clear Silicone Sex Toys Possible? Absolutely!
Silicone sex toys have come a long way, baby. I often am asked to give someone my opinion on whether or not a sex toy is actually the silicone it claims to be. When...
Soothing the Genital Burn: When Toxic Toys or Poison Lube Strike
If your vulva is on fire, if your vagina feels like fire ants invaded your space the confusion and fear can result in days (or weeks) of pain. If you don’t suspect your cheap sex toy or dubious lube, think again. You may not have a yeast infection or bacterial vaginosis, you may be suffering from a mild chemical burn. Hopefully the following tips can help you soothe the burn.
Sil-a-gel Seems to be Causing Chemical Burns. Dear Doc: STOP IT.
On the days that I wonder if I’m still relevant, if I’ve done enough of worth to make this blog helpful, I have to remember situations like this email shown below. My heart absolutely sunk as I read it. I was grateful that I wrote about Doc Johnson sil-a-gel additive and all of its problems so that this reader could get the truth on what could be happening to her, but I am so angry that this is happening. WHY IS THIS HAPPENING, DOC JOHNSON??? Why do you insist on trying to polish the turd that is heavily-softened PVC by boasting about some mysterious “anti-bacterial” chemical that you add to your porous materials? A chemical that is clearly NOT rainbows and puppies judging by the number of people who have told me that their Doc Johnson sil-a-gel containing sex toy caused rashes, redness, small blisters and extreme pain. In addition to this reader email (which I need help answering) I found some truly problematic statements and answer provided by a Doc Johnson employee on the Doc Johnson site. My love of their Truskyn products is starting to fail me here.
Is Your Glass Sex Toy Truly Safe?
Everybody and their brother claims to be creating/selling high quality glass sex toys; they may tout brand names like Pyrex or toss out the term “borosilicate” as if those words automatically mean quality anymore. When we know how shady many sex toy companies can be and how they can say whatever they want about their product without the need for truth in advertising, people naturally get skeptical regarding the true safety of glass sex toys. I’m always trying to find new ways of testing sex toys at home for quality, material, and relative safety. Since one of the few things I could do is burning to see if it’s silicone or not, I never thought I’d be able to test a glass sex toy at home until Crystal Delights talked about using a polariscope on some glass pieces which shows stress in glass. I figured out how to run the test at home, cheaply, and then proceeded to spend more than a few dollars buying various brands to test. I tested them all for glass quality and lead content – I have no way of testing for Cadmium or other harmful heavy metals, though. I have always received questions about the relative safety of inexpensive glass sex toys and I can finally give you some more in-depth answers. I suspect we won’t stop with this post; I’ve already talked to Crystal Delights years ago and I plan to present you with a more in-depth chat with the people behind Fucking Sculptures, soon.
The Jar of Melted Sex Toys – Where Are They Now?
To really see the bigger picture with my infamous Jar of Melted Sex Toys (aka Jar of Horrors) it helps to see the progression of the jar all at once. This month marks 3 years since I first decided to toss some manky sex toy bits into a glass jar and begin my Smitten-Kitten inspired experiment. Over these three years the jar has changed a lot and if you take a step back from the initial “ew, so gross” perspective it’s actually really neat and educational.
Ask Lilly: Silicone vs Silicon vs Silica Gel
Silicone. It’s the “gold standard” material of sex toys for most, and it’s also the material we’re the most leery about. You see, for years we were tricked. For years we were sold silicone...
A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing
Author’s Note: This post is continually updated as things happen so please be sure to read to the bottom for the latest updates. I’ve been accused once of being a bully, and a mean...
Sex Toy Snopes: Myth or Fact?
I often wish there was a sex toy / sexuality version of snopes.com. There are so many myths, uncorroborated theories and flat-out wrong ideas. This will have to do! Comment with your own myths...
Are Toxic Sex Toys Still a Problem?
The first official lab test of sex toys happened in 2006, with results confirming that toxic sex toys were a big problem. But the industry has come so far since then. While there are...
